Green Light with Chris Long - NFL Stadium Cleaning Drones plus The Last Dance Episodes 7 & 8 Review.

Episode Date: May 11, 2020

1:00 - NFL News. 9:20 - The Last Dance Episodes 7 and 8 Review. 30:00 - Jordan and Baseball. 32:30 - '93 Season and Scottie. 1:00:30 - Bulls vs Magic. Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy Monday. I'm your host, Chris Long. This is the Greenlight Pod. And we're going to talk a lot of Michael Jordan today. Those are my two favorite episodes of The Last Dance. I looked online. I looked at the timeline. It looked like I share that sentiment with a lot of my friends on Twitter. Just some really strong moments last night. Some really strong sequences. And I was up late watching it. I was diving in to some of this information that was shared last night. reading about some of the themes. I'm going to hit all that and a little bit of NFL stuff. We'll just do the NFL stuff off the top. Okay, so an interesting article that I read having to do with the possibility of the season resuming in stadiums with fans was about a drone that could be peddling some hope, could be peddling some false hope,

for fans hoping that there is a safe way to sit and watch your favorite team in an arena among thousands of other fans. There's a Syracuse startup called Eagle Hawk. It's a drone company. And it is being advertised as quickly killing COVID in arenas and stadiums. There's a hose attached to a drone, basically fed by a tank of what sounds like pesticide or some shit like that, hand sanitizer, misty hand sanitizer. And obviously the drone takes it around the stadium and sprays everything and makes the COVID go away. There's another drone that actually holds the hose.

So this is quite the operation. This is good news for employees now. People are lauding it as a really safe alternative to having workers risk exposure to COVID cleaning up a stadium. And that is true. Now, the one thing that leaves out, and there's a leap of logic here, is that there's still people with COVID filing into the stadium. The stadium's in question by the thousands. So while it might be clean five minutes ago, it's not as soon as concessions opens and the stadiums pack. So it's good for employees for now.

Another thing that maybe we're not thinking about is that this is the way things are going to go in the time period after COVID. I mean, this seems like a long-term play for the good for. folks at Eagle Hawk. This is going to alter not just the way this fall goes, but in the future, it'll be interesting to see how sports are different from a spectatorship standpoint. I don't even know if that's a word spectatorship, viewership should work. It's going to be interesting to see how spectators treat live sporting events. I know I'm not going to have any reservations once there's a vaccine, but some people are talking about the new normal as if it's a forever thing. Listen, and we're going to learn things from this.

I think, you know, we learn things from 9-11. TSA protocols change forever. Certain ways we go about security change forever. And I think they're probably for the better. We will get smarter and safer about this thing. I don't think if you're going to sell me that sporting events, you're never going to look the same from a fan standpoint. I'm not believing you.

But I do think that, you know, the introduction of technologies like this can cut the bottom line for these stadiums in the future. I could see this definitely being a long-term thing. It's not really doing much for me to make me want to sit in a stadium this fall. It ain't the seats that's scaring me. It's everybody that's about to pack the seats in a couple hours after that drone runs through the stadium and cleans it. Maybe I'm out of my depth talking about this thing, but it's just not quite doing it for me this fall. But I do think that it's a good news, bad news situation in the future. The good news is that this could be a viable option for keeping stadiums really thoroughly clean. But the bad news is that it's probably going to put a lot of

people out of work, but we know that. I'm anti-robot. There is a point of diminishing return. We'll see where we find that point of diminishing return on technologies like this. This will be good for efficiency in the long run. Don't know if it's going to put me in a seat this fall. Exciting news for Eagle Hawk, though. I'm sure they're going to make some money on this thing. Listen, NFL from a COVID-related, a loosely COVID-related standpoint, the NFL came out with some, I mean, they didn't hide this in the schedule stuff. I didn't get a chance to get to it, quite honestly. I missed it as I, you know, last Thursday night, late, recorded the pot on the schedule release. I didn't get into the fact that the NFL has baked in some contingencies from a scheduling standpoint, which are kind of slick.

and honestly, hard to follow. I struggle with stuff like this, but I'll just read it to you. Every team shares the same by week as their week-two opponent, meaning the NFL could shorten the season by one week. You know, the league could cancel week two and have each team play its week two

during the by-week. Slick during weeks three and four, every team has one road game and one home game with no divisional games during that time period. So that means the NFL could eliminate those two weeks without any repercussions to make a 14-game season. You can move things around.

You can trim some games. The first four weeks of every team schedule includes two away and two home games, which seem to be in case the NFL wants to move or remove those first four weeks for delayed start or a 12-week season. So a lot of ways the NFL can play with that. That was slick. Didn't get a chance to get to that the other night. You know, the big news today from a football standpoint,

Larry Warford's on the move that's that's been talked about Dax still balking at that contract offer I guess he wants four years and and if he signs that deal that's definitely gonna put him over 15% of the salary cap a little snippet we saw was that since 2000 no team has won the Super Bowl with a player commanding more than 15% of the salary cap that's bad news for DAC and negotiations with the Cowboys because it seems like at this juncture at least in May, and that could certainly change. That's the way negotiations go. As you get further down the road, we'll see if they change their stance because right now it seems like the Cowboys have some sort

of a value in their mind on DAC as it pertains to them winning football games. And, you know, they might not budge as much as we think they would. And it will be interesting to see who wins the standoff. For the sake of comparison, you know, this. statistic could be bad news for Philip Rivers. I mean, on the surface, he might be only making 10%. But him and Jacoby are combined for 19% of the salary caps. So that's a lot of money sunk into that one position. And Jared Goff.

Now, that makes sense. Listen, Philip's older. He's going to have better protection in Indy. It's not like he has this injury history that he's known for necessarily. But he is older, a new team, strange offseason. Jacobi was able to win you a few games last year. He's very good in the red zone. So, yeah, I mean, there's a value there, but that's 19% of your salary cap.

Jared Gough is there at 14.2%. So, you know, depending on what you think of the Rams, that statistic doesn't bode well for them either. But yeah, Dak, if he signs this deal, is going to be north of that 15%. And the Cowboys certainly feel like they're a championship team, and they have to, they have to figure that out in their heads.

You know, how much do they want to invest in a franchise quarterback that, you know, at times you might feel like he can help them win, but is he the reason they're winning? This year will tell whether that's true or not because the window is wide open. He's got as many weapons as anybody in the league, that offensive line, the receivers that they continue to invest in, that receiving core. you know, we'll figure it out. I think this year is truly a make or break for Dak. And, you know, to play under the franchise tag, he is certainly betting on himself.

Tess and Booger are out. Please replace them with someone either really good or really bad. Nothing in between. It's also interesting to see everybody flooding the timelines to hint that they might be deserved. of the Monday night football job. There are about 10 million people since Tony Romo got broke off that really want those jobs.

So it'll be interesting to see who actually can beg their way to getting it. So the last dance here. So this episode for me was, or these episodes, this night was one of my favorites. And as we inch closer towards the finish line and what seems to be a never-ending summer

quite possibly, I am shaking in my boots for the absence of this docus series. This has given me life as a sports fan. This has given me something doing Sunday, something to get you through the Sunday Scaries if they're still going on in quarantine. This episode was a deeper dive into the psychology of Jordan. It's centered around his kind of abrasive personality and his motivations.

These are themes that keep coming up. And there are questions as to how this is done. Now, it wasn't just about his psychology, as I mentioned. It also detailed the corresponding events that occurred, you know, his burnout, the murder of his dad, subsequently retirement, also detailed that retirement, you know, the baseball, the comeback, close the gap between the chronology, between the first repeat and a climax of a docket series. This episode was largely, though, for me, about that psychology and his motivations. I mentioned last week that although this has, you know,

peeled back the curtain a little bit, I still don't feel like I know Jordan. And we might not know Jordan at all at the end of this thing from a true sense, but we know more about at least what Jordan wants us to know. I mean, I know that the producer of this thing said that Jordan had legitimate reservations about sharing this because of an insecurity that people would hate it. And so far, I don't hate him. I like him more for what he is.

You know, you don't have to want to hang out with somebody to admire. Meyer, their work ethic or their drive or their remarkable headspace. I mean, he just was on another planet from a mentality standpoint that's shown. And a lot of this centers around his inability or struggles to relate to other people. I just get that feeling watching these shows that, you know, the lead is certainly his competitive drive and that almost tendency to self-isolate himself because, because tendency to self-isolate, I'm sorry, because, you know, it made it hard for him to relate to other people. And you saw that with his teammates and people around him, I still don't feel like

his, Jordan's meaningful relationships as I go back through this, unless there are ones that I just don't know about and are underplayed seem to be people like Ahmad Rashad, his personal trainer, you know, the Jordan security guard guys, as much as it was, you know, his teammates. And Ken Burns killed the documentary because of, you know, Jumpman's involvement and not being real journalism. Are we falling for Jordan's new branding push, you know, in a time where authenticity and raw are in? I say that, you know, I ask that to ask, you know, this is, this seems like it could be a Trojan horse situation where Jordan is appearing vulnerable, appearing authentic, edgy, but this is the time where that's acceptable.

In the 90s, that might have never been acceptable now with the advent of like player blogs and, you know, peeling back the curtain on your favorite stars. He had to know that although he might have had reservations about people that buy his sneakers or corporate partners hearing him say fuck or ho or whatever else you know this was for his public image something that people would eat up I mean who's really going to hate you for being competitive when that's kind of what you knew about him and you know Ken criticized it not being real journalism you know because of his involvement so he'd never never do a documentary this way and the question I guess you have to ask again is does does

Jordan's saying, you're going to hate me here. Peek our interest enough while lowering the bar, under promise, over deliver. I mean, there might be some of that going on. There's also questions about his leadership in the aftermath. And again, all this is through a lens, good and bad, of Jordan's control. We mentioned that in the other podcast here. You're getting to know Jordan, but he's the gatekeeper. This isn't stream of consciousness.

this is, I've run through the edit. It's a lot like this podcast. If I fuck up really bad doing this podcast, I'm not just going to send it out over the airwaves. If Jordan said something controversial or something he didn't want you to see or here, he would ixnay it at the end of the editing process of this thing. He had control.

But there are questions about his leadership in the aftermath. I read where Winnington said that in various settings and with various techniques, you had to stand up to him and earn his respect. That was a quote, you know, was he doing that to filter people? You know, the Kerr comments, the Jordan comments, relative to, hey, if you can't handle my asshole nature, how are you going to handle the pressure of the playoffs? You know, was he doing that to filter people? Or was it something personal in his personality, really, that just didn't allow him to relate to his teammates?

you know, in a very warm and accepting fashion. We know he wasn't the leader that was going to put his arm around people and, you know, tell him it's going to get better, you know, hey, just work a little harder. That wasn't his style. You know, what was, was that out of his personality or was he doing this very intentionally 100% of the time? That's what I can't tell. I can't tell if this is 100% leadership or if it's separate.

75% leadership, 25% Jordan's inability to relate to people. Whether he was going to be a great or not, he was this angry guy. And he took it out on the court and he took it out on the process and his teammates. And it made them better. But it also alienated some folks. I mean, in the 2004 Michael Leahy book, when nothing else matters, Tex winner questions the motivation, the leadership tactics. You know, he said, and I quote, I think he expects too much for his teammates.

No doubt, an awful lot of players that he's played with in the past believed he alienated them. They've resented the treatment they've received. You know, to be fair, and Tex had his criticisms, Phil Jackson, who was an ally of Texas, and they come from the same school of thought from a basketball schematic standpoint, and they were buddies and probably had a lot in common. But, you know, Phil, in his 11 Rings book, he calls the fight that we saw last night

with Steve Kerr a turning point that year and made it sound absolutely necessary. And, you know, in a pod with the ringer, Kerr, the subject of that story, said that the difference between Mike and Tim Duncan is that you feel like you were playing with Tim and for Michael. So again, he's like this coach.

You know, he also, to be fair to Michael, said that all these leadership techniques, although different, work. And I can tell you as a player that there are tons of different ways skin a cat. I mean, it's just it's got to fit your personality. And that's why I think that Jordan and people that aspire to be like Jordan, hey, you have somebody tell you, hey, if you want to be a leader on a team, you've got to be like Jordan. we've talked about this on my pod i mean jordan was jordan before he was jordan like your personality is your personality sure it can get shaped through his NBA career but that guy was inside of him and you know you have to be damn good to lead like that you can't be an asshole and not be damn near perfect that's why that's not a one-size fits all leadership style and i play with a ton of guys that were

more welcoming leaders. I'd play with guys that were assholes. It all works, but you've got to be true to yourself. And it's got to fit your role on the team and your play style. And with Mike, he could have picked any leadership style, but he picked the one that came most naturally to him. I believe that. I believe that was inside of him.

And I think he would have been the same way had he been great or not so great. whatever you think of it, whether you think like techs, that, you know, in some ways it probably alienated teammates, whether you think like Phil Jackson, you think that dust up with Steve Kerr was a turning point, that stuff was necessary. It is what it is. That's how Jordan let. And, you know, there was even some really choice words for Kwame Brown that I saw shared, very choice words about not getting calls in practice, homophobic, in fact, reportedly. But again, I'm not sure any of is unique. Any of this is unique at a professional sports level. And I'm talking about the entire thing. The thing that I think made it unique was that it was Jordan's attitude coupled

with his greatness. You couldn't just shrug off him being an asshole of you because he was the greatest. And a lot of those players that joined him on the second half of his career probably idolized him already, the younger players and the guys you play with. I mean, you're talking about the goat. What do you say back to the goat? He can make any stupid fucking joke he wants to. You just have to uncomfortably laugh at all. And I saw a funny tweet last night by Dragonfly Jones. Great follow. Not sure how effective MJ's leadership style would have been today. Steve Kerr would have had three million Instagram followers and been dating Demi Levato. He wouldn't have given a damn

about that shit MJ was barking. And that's funny. I mean, like, I'm just starting to picture these guys in in in 2020 you know what their personas would be like could you recreate a culture like the Chicago Bulls in the 90s because that took years to create could you recreate that in the 90s you know with player movement with uh quite frankly the fact that so many things are not kept private i mean you do something like mike would have done in the 90s it would have been on first take. I mean, these stories would have gotten out. You know, we hadn't heard a lot of these.

And yeah, I mean, you read the books. That's great. But these haven't been detailed, these interactions with the depth that they had last night and the past few weeks in the last 20 years. I don't think this stuff would have been kept under wraps. And I don't know that you would be able to build a culture like they've built. Now, there's different kind of cultures that have been built in the NBA. I'm sure the Warriors have a distinct culture, you know, different teams like that.

But I don't know if you could recreate that in the 90s. Also don't know what Jordan's IG would be like if he was a player in 2020. Jones's tweet had me thinking about that. He'd probably be very branded, lots of black and white pictures, short captions. You know, those pictures that join together and make a bigger picture, he would have those for sure. And maybe he'll follow like one person. I'd probably be like Jordan. He probably follow some corporate sponsor,

and it would just be like one account, maybe two. He'd probably follow like Harrow's too. Yeah, I mean, so that was, it's a theme in this episode, and I loved it. I mean, I loved it. There were some really strong sequences that had to do with Jordan's leadership style, his motivation, his abrasive personality. So it also detailed, as I mentioned, the events. Off the top, by the way, Ahmad Rashad, 70 years old.

70 fucking years old. He got married in 1969. You know, I'm 35 years old. I look in the mirror every day and, you know, I see a wrinkle or a gray hair. And I got Ahmad Rashad laughing at me like the wicked witch of the West in the mirror. I mean, like, that's, I read that last night. Guys, 70 years old. He got married in 1960.

So we see a lot of Amad Rashad. It starts, the whole thing starts with, with Krause, you know, pulling a DJT on the media and walking off like a little, like a little petulant child because he's not with the question of backstabbing between him and Phil Jackson. And the funniest line of the night was as Krause walks off and, you know, the, you know, the, The media is all standing there with their dicks in their hands. This dude's way to go, Craig. One of the media members chastising the guy who asked Krause the tough question. And they were prepping for their net series that Jordan said he'd have to fall asleep to lose. You know, the footage of these series in the late 90s are so nostalgic for me.

You know, the basketball logo on the Bulls Court. you know, they had that basketball behind the center court logo. Very nostalgic. I'm seeing Carrie Kittle out there for the Nets, Gatling. You know, they win the first game by three and the sky's falling. That's how good they were. I mean, they beat this team by three. It happens.

People were saying Jordan looked exhausted like the Jordan of 93, and then they rewind to 93, and this is where they talk about his dad. And feeling similarly exhausted, you know, him and his dad's, special relationship, obviously. He had to be one of the most visible family members of an athlete in the last 30, 40 years. You know, his pops was everywhere and not in a annoying way. You know, how a lot of, it just popped in my head. I didn't start that sentence thinking about Lonzo Ball, but, or, you know, the Ball family. But I got to admit, that's the first example that came to mind here. But Mike's dad seemed to be very unintrusively, authentically interested in his son's life, as he always was.

And that's why his loss was such a big deal. That was a tough little sequence to watch because if you frame that in 2020 terms, can you imagine, God forbid, some star on the level of Michael Jordan's fame, losing, a child, a family member, a father, a mother, and they're missing for three weeks. And at that point, you know what's going on. That had to be not only crushing to Jordan, but it would have been a sports story that would have sadly captivated the country. I mean, three weeks of the best athlete in the world wondering where his father is. It's sad and it's hard to imagine Jordan being able to come out of that and just put the uniform back on and go back to business as usual.

So it makes sense to me with the relationship they had. By the way, cool footage, cool pictures. One of them I noticed was him and Mike, you know, James and Mike hugging in the UNC locker room. And James is smoking a bogey. I mean, he's just got a cigarette in the UNC locker room. And again, that was the early 80s. And Mike talked about cigarette smoke in locker rooms in the 80s. But it's hard to think of an equivalent right now.

And the media was brazen. I mean, that reporter calling it, quote, another twist to the dark side in an American success story was she might have been one of the biggest villains or her news outlet that made her parse the, you know, the disappearance of Michael Jordan's father in that way. She might have been the biggest villain of the night, and she was representative of a media shitstorm that ran with the gambling stuff. And it's a bad night for those reporters. You know, those articles that they were highlighting and, you know, bolding the, you know, the text, the headlines.

Those folks should be viral. I don't know if they are. I'll go check. But those writers should be ashamed of them. themselves. I mean, there were articles spinning unfounded threads. And, you know, the, I feel like the, I don't know if the threshold for what's acceptable has changed a great deal since the mid-90s. But I got to feel like those headlines wouldn't fly at this juncture. So he retires. Phil gets it. And you wonder, you know, if he would have been capable of coming back again. How do you remain motivated when you lose someone like? that. It is so hard to do what he did and carry that burden. To add that to his list of burdens psychologically would have been too much. And you think about the psychology of that event on a normal person, then add the stressors of that much fame and that much responsibility

and that workload. You know, it would have been unrealistic. I really believe that. But it breaks at Kamiski. I mean, he's out there in a Canadian tuxedo. Stiffest looking denim I've ever seen thrown out the first pitch. You know, the news, I guess, broke that same night

and he had to rush out of the stadium. What's crazy to me is, like, if this happened in 2020, everybody would get the alert on their phone at the same time and MJ would be in the stadium. This thing was spreading like a game of telephone. I mean, it was probably, you know, seat to seat, that sort of thing.

And I wonder how quickly that news spread. That would be interesting to me to see, you know, that night just, just how it went down. If they took a closer look at that, I would have been very, very captivated. You know, the media craze was insane. So much hyperbole. You had like people crying. I'm like, did this guy fucking die? I mean, this one reporter soundbite was like,

It looks like the last supper out here. I'm like, holy fucking hyperbole, man. I mean, they were literally like Jesus comparisons going on out here. But he never closes the door on retirement. And if you're going to tell me it was a secret suspension, and I'm echoing, and I'm really glad I'm echoing the sentiments of most people on social and in the documentary, I don't believe you. How would you keep dirt like that?

under wraps unless you had dirt on each other. And I'm talking about David Stern and Michael Jordan. And consider the dirt that they'd have to have on each other to keep that secret in a mutually beneficial way. And there's no deterrent value either. I mean, if you're going to suspend the greatest player of all time, like, because you really don't want gambling to happen. Like, suspend him so everybody else sees. I don't get that. There was a Jeremy Piven sighting at this juncture.

golly, that guy disappeared pretty fast. You know, you go into the baseball stuff, and this was something I thought I'd be relatively bored with. You start the show. You just want to see more Jordan hitting big shots. You're eating it up. You're loving the competitive drive stuff. You're loving.

But last on my list was baseball, and I came away from this thing thinking, this was pretty interesting. And the fact that he had told people a couple of years ago what he'd be doing. Now he was doing it. He called his shot, no pun intended. It just shows how resolute he was.

It shows the influence his dad had. This is what his dad said he should do. And by the way, baseball dad vibes are strong. Like, if you're a baseball dad, I mean, this, James Jordan might be the king of all baseball dads. I mean, you have a greatest of all-time basketball son making more money than God. He's on top of the world. And you tell him he should quit and play baseball.

I mean, you are the boss of all baseball dads. He is in double A baseball right away. There's an awkwardness there. People who play their whole lives don't get to that level. And AA ball is for people that throw hard and people that. are getting real looks at the majors. I read that quote from a minor league guy in one of these Jordan articles

about his baseball career, but people spend their whole life doing it. So why would you not feel a little bit resentful? That is unless, you know, he shows you something different from his work ethic and from his personality. And I think he did that. And we'll get to that in a second.

But why not single A? That was interesting because most people watch the show last night and in general thinking about his stint with the barons or you know thought he jumped the line a little bit well they talked about that you there were press limitations in a ball you couldn't put him there um they could not they could not handle that influx of reporters um and press you know not to mention game attendance went from like a thousand to 10 000 you know with him shooting up for the barons so there was a big capacity concern with Jordan and minor league ball.

And that's why it was double A. You got a Francona appearance. You got the press conference. I mean, look at his first press conference. It's huge. I think he had foot joy gloves on. I think he was, I think he made bank in that press conference. He had the gloves on at the podium to Ching.

You know, it's a spectacle. And yeah, I mentioned the Francona appearance. I forgot they were friends. You know, people. are making it sound like he was good and I believe them. 13 game hitting streak. I talked to Wookie. This is a this is a Wookiee special for anybody who's watched the show or listen to the show

for a long time. My high school baseball coach was a very good baseball player played in college. Knows a lot of people in that minor league circuit. And, you know, he's, he said Jordan was good from everything he heard. It was just that he couldn't hit the slider. And that was echoed by by these guys that talked in the, documentary and people that have given quotes, you know, in reading, was that he had all the tools. And if he had 1,500 abats, that's what Frank Cona said.

He could play in the majors. But at 31, you know, this is a game. People have been working their whole lives at, and you don't have time to catch up, you know, to the rest of the population when it comes to hitting off-sweet pitches or writing, you know, some wrongs in your, in your toolbox. And he just didn't have the time. But he was good. You know, there was a learning curve. You know, you had the your embarrassing baseball headline, which turned into motivation for him.

And that was from SI. And he never spoke to SI again. You think Michael Jordan can hold a fucking grudge? I think so. You know, that was the biggest old man yelling at the cloud, SI headline ever. And probably all they got out of it was being heavily featured. featured on, you know, the last dance, probably a misfire.

He ends up with a 202 batting average 50 RBIs. He looked happy, okay? He looked like he was in a place where he could chase something and not answer his own expectations. I mean, teammates seem to enjoy him, the strike, you know, that's why he went back. But he was in baseball shape. He changed his body. He looks weirdly awkward running around.

but there's something to be gleaned about his mentality, his psychology from the baseball stint. I really believe that the way he was described as a baseball player and a baseball teammate was totally different than how he was described as a basketball teammate. And guys were skeptical. Of course they were. He skipped the line.

What was he going to be like? He's this larger-in-life presence. but he was described as humbling himself and described as literally asking to be coached harder. His work ethic won teammates over. He studied guys' names. Like there were stories about guys that he walked into a room and knew a guy's name that he hadn't met. And guys would be like, holy shit, he really like studied the roster to make sure he knew everybody's name. Little things like that were noticed.

And that's a far cry from the guy that was calling Borel a ho, 36 times later in the documentary. I mean, he would play ping pong with this catcher, Nunez, and he'd pay him $100 for each English word he learned while they played. And so Nunez would put money in his pocket. He'd improve his English and they would gamble and have fun. You know, when he was gambling, guys said he was the bank. Of course, these guys are making $20 a day on meal money in AA, so they avoid gambling against them.

But the quote was, he made it an incredible year. That's what a teammate said. You know, again, you have 10,000 people playing or watching you play all of a sudden. You're going to McDonald's. You're seeing Michael Jordan order a Big Mac. People are freaking out that he's doing regular stuff. And he seemed to be at home doing the regular stuff. But when it came to his mentality and his psychology, I think the big thing was that he was burnt out.

on being coach and player. He wanted to be led and not lead. That's what I took from it, was just seeing the difference in how he presented himself and how people thought of him as a baseball teammate and how carefree he seemed to be, juxtaposed to the height of his basketball career where he seemed miserable.

And that reinforces something that I've always known to be true. For you to be truly great at something, you have to have a level of not being so happy because you're isolated. You have to be different. You have to rise above. You have to do things that other people aren't willing to do. You have to alienate yourself to a degree to teammates and beyond. And he didn't have to do that in double A ball.

He wanted to be led. His dad was gone. It felt like a lot watching him take on being paternal on the court with no North star of his own anymore. So like all of a sudden, you know, he, we mentioned earlier, Kerr talking about that he was more like you're playing for Michael. He had to be the best player in the team and the coach every night. Whatever you think about his leadership tactics, that was the reality.

And he didn't have to do that in minor league ball. He could hang out, eat McDonald's, learn a new craft, get coached hard, instead of having to coach people hard. And without his dad, that probably seemed a lot more manageable. That was my takeaway there. And maybe that's why baseball was so great for him for a little bit to hit the reset button. He had to earn everything and he had to be led. He didn't have to do the other way around.

You know, so they snap out of that. They go to the Net Series. And, you know, they use it to get into the teammate personality thing again. You got coo coach saying the word motherfucker, which was brilliant. You have Jordan's real personality starting to come out. This was the juncture in the documentary where the characters are starting to get drunk towards the end of the night and saying things they mean. That's the way I looked at this whole thing.

This is the point in the party where everybody's getting liquid courage and you're getting to know people. Jordan's personality really started to come out with Scott Burrell. Scott Burrell was a guy that for a non-athlete, you know, if you're watching, you probably think Jordan hated. I think Jordan loved him. I think Jordan made him his pet project. They probably hit the streets together.

They probably sat on the plane together. They probably sat on the bus together. They probably gambled together. But Jordan went at him in practice because he probably liked him. And it was a three-minute montage of Jordan calling him a ho. It was Christmas out there. Ho, ho, ho. I mean, it was non-stop.

And it was also funny. It was like, is that a very 90s thing to call? people to call a dude in a in a shit talk situation and it's so funny the subtitles they to see host spelled out H.O. I spelled H.O.E. Jordan spelled H.O. Yeah, but the whole thing was I think he really likes Scott Burrell. I don't look at that as again, if you're trying to prove to me that Michael's a dickhead, you're not doing a great job. I've heard plenty of people talk shit to each other in practice there's just a certain amount of belittlement that I think, you know, Michael, if he were more self-aware, or maybe he was, he would walk the line better on realizing he's the goat. And him calling somebody a ho is much different than the seventh man on the roster calling somebody a ho in stretch.

I mean, like, that could crush you. And that's why I like Scott Burrow. You just seem to take it pretty well. Now, some people might be saying, you know, nobody ever talks to me like that. Okay, we'll get into that a little bit. I don't think anybody's hauling off and punching not just the franchise, the game in the face. He's the game. They'll ship your ass out of there so fast if you punch Michael Jordan in the face.

You have that in football. There's certain guys you just don't fight. You don't mess with not just because they're big and bad and their respect on the team, but because like if you're an up-and-combing player and you beat up the third guy in the roster, like good luck in football. That's not going to go well for you. It's kind of like running into a quarterback in practice. I've heard plenty of, I've seen plenty of guys trying to win a pass rush in August,

flailing around, young unsigned rookies, falling into a quarterback's knee, hitting, you know, the franchise guy late. They're out of there the next day. JetBlue, the fuck out of here, wherever you want to go, but you can't come back. That was what would happen if you punch Michael and Jordan in the face. So for a lot of you tough guys out there saying that if I was on the Chicago Bulls, In the 90s, I would have punched Michael Jordan in the face for calling me a ho. I think your best bet would just be go back at him on the court and verbally.

And that was his standard, though. I mean, and maybe, by the way, Scott Borell, I saw this. Scott Borell was a minor league baseball player. Did I see that correctly? Scott Borell, being a minor league baseball player, may have bothered Michael. The whole thing, though, was his standard for his teammates. And it was high. You know, if you don't get on my level, it's going to be.

a motherfucker for you. That's basically what he's saying. And this is the sequence that we really know Jordan. And this is towards the tail end of episode seven. Yeah, it was seven. I'm losing track here. They're talking about Jordan like he was a coach. Again, this is how kids talk about college coaches. Man, he was hard on me, but I love him now. Man, he was tough. I didn't understand what he was doing, but I get it now. He was playing chess, and he was capable of doing it because he was Jordan. And again, I mentioned this, who's bucking at Jordan? You go back to 93. You got the retirement. Scotty's ball, and he's the man. It's his first year without MJ. He's averaging 22, 9 and 6, first team all-MBA, all-star game MVP, all defense, 55 wins,

one win away from the Eastern Conference finals. Things are rolling for him. It's a new day in Chicago. Scottie Duncan on people. You've got MJ in the stands and a turtleneck cheering him on. You've got Tony Koo Coach, you know, entering the building. He's standing next to Krause. How could somebody so tough and from such a tough war-torn play sucks so bad on defense? I mean, that's crazy, which makes me think.

It's the same thing in football. Some of the toughest, most badass guys off the field I ever played with. they kind of had tendencies on the court, or on the field, rather. So I don't think it always translates. You know, the Tony thing, it was interesting with him and Scotty, and of course it came to a head, you know, with that game winner. Tony couldn't play defense. He could hit the shots.

He wasn't afraid to hit the shots. And speaking of fear, nobody on that team seemed to, to be afraid of Jordan, afraid of that authority figure that was always looming. The big brother was gone. The authority was gone. It was like when,

it's like when guys leave, you know, the Patriots, okay? It's just they've been doing this thing that's tough, that's good for you, that's, that's stressful.

and the cloud is lifted. That authoritarian atmosphere is gone. And they had to feel like they were on vacation. Ironically, the job that Phil did with the triangle offense, it's a lot like what Bill did winning 11 games with Matt Castle. So that's two Patriots references in this pod. We're going to have one more, I think. It also worked out well for Scotty because he was a distributor.

The backdrop here is that Scottie's done pretty well. You know, he's being more appreciated. He survived within the sense of the documentary, the PR hit of that surgery situation being put on Front Street. And, you know, he got a pass for that. And Jordan actually took some shit for kind of throwing him under the bus the way viewers looked at it. But now you got a problem if you're Scotty. Okay, you survived the surgery thing. but there's a tie game versus the Knicks.

Scotty wants the ball. He's the inbound guy, refuses to come in. Phil can't believe it says fuck him, you know, like something to the effect of, let's get Peter Myers in there, whoever the fuck that was. Kukho hits the shot. He's yelling Eastern Block profanities at a crowd. And I'm looking for Scotty. I'm looking for the Scotty Cam.

Tragically, there was no Scotty Cam. I wish I could have been in the locker room for that one. That's the weirdest thing I've ever heard. They get in the locker room. Guys are shook. You can hear it when guys are talking about it. And of course, Bill Cartwright, who has the perfect paternal voice to do a speech in that situation is the voice of reason. They all seem to get past it.

But I don't think Scott ever recovers from it. I can hear it in Steve's voice, you know, Steve Kerr's voice. You know, Scott said it was an insult. I can't get over Scott's enunciation on insult. Insult. He put all the emphasis on the wrong syllable. Insult. It's called an insult.

Anyways, he said he would do it again effectively. And I don't know if they took that out of context. But Scott, he said, you know, he would do the same thing again. And I don't know if he was saying that a sense of, you know, everything I've done that, you know, that I don't like. strengthens me or teaches me, but it came across kind of poorly. And I'm just saying that because, you know, the surgery thing,

although as a teammate that would have really pissed me off, I think he survived in the minds of some fans from an image standpoint. Last night was tough for old Scotty Pippen's image because that was something that got dug up that people watching the news, following sports in that time period, consumed and then probably discarded. But there's a whole younger generation that's just learned a lot about Scotty Pippen.

And Scotty Pippen, it's just a theme again. And, you know, it was detailed. The backdrop for his frustration was very obvious. I mean, Scotty's gotten the short end of the stick at different points in his life. He's dealt with a lot of tragedy. He also played under a contract that was laughable relative to his skill set and his production. But Scotty also seemed to be perpetually frustrated. He's the mayor of frustration city, as I called him last night.

And there's no term limit. He just, he's just frustrated. I mean, from the footage of him throwing the ball to or throwing a chair on the court last night to probably being very perpetually frustrated about his role and the way he's viewed. I mean, the guy's got six championships, but he probably does feel like he's always looked at as more of a Robin than he really is. And he was underpaid, underappreciated. Obviously, there's the whole thing with future that the Internet's having fun with, unearthing that. But, like, you know, he just seemed to have this personality where he was prone to frustration.

And with Jordan gone, I really do feel like this was the point for Scott where he said, okay, it's my time to shine. And in that situation, he had watched Jordan hit shot after shot, tie ball game late, big ball game, down one, you know, whatever it was. And I think he envisioned with Mike gone that the way this thing worked was Robin moved into the Jordan slot. And they mentioned him not being, you know, an attacking offensive player and more of a distributor, but this was a chance for him to hit big game winners.

How many big game winners did Scotty hit? I don't know, but I haven't seen a lot. You know, and that's the narrative that I think he was trying to change. And to that point, it was Jordan and it was ironically Paxson that hit a lot of those shots. This was his chance and it was taken away from him. How long and how heavy was he carrying that, that, that, that, that yearning to be more like Mike in those scenarios? And Mike's gone. And he can't even slide into the number one spot.

So he was frustrated. And I would have been frustrated too. But to not go into the game, that's something that's going to be hard for him to come back from. So they fast forward to the Nets series, his game two, that's where we get, you know, a cream. of the crop, defining sequence to get out of episode seven and into episode eight is Jordan getting honest and emotional. One of the biggest takeaways that was that he would never ask people to do anything he wouldn't do.

And that's the standard for being a leader. You know, that's what's like setting an example. Another quote that stood out was, that's because you never won anything. And the quote that he strangely teared up delivering was if you don't want to play that way, don't play that way. And he said he needed a break. I don't know if he's crying because there's a sadness in him where he wishes he could have been better liked or that there's some remorse for the way he acted or the way that he carried himself or just that he missed busting people's fucking ass, man. but that delivering that line shook mj enough and he's talked about you know he cruised through his father's passing he's cruised through the injury season uh he's cruised through certain

peaks and valleys in his career without getting emotional he could not deliver that line and i don't know why that is but there are a few theories that i would have And I listed them there. I mean, I really don't know if there's some deep, deeply rooted regrets that he has about the way he's viewed, about the relationships that he could have had, but he sacrificed in order to be great, or if he just misses it. So episode six starts with the playoffs. And it's funny, they're showing the bracket.

And I think below the bracket, the Bulls were awaiting the winner. of the Hornets and Hawks, and that brought me back to the artist's storytelling part two, which is my favorite outcast song, probably one of them, where I think it was Big Boy talks about that series, playoffs with the Hornets, and they won. And that was the series that he referenced. So I thought that was cool right there. Isaiah Thomas was the commentator and some of that game footage as they were detailing that series.

B.J. Armstrong, he emerged as a big winner last night. I think B.J. Armstrong in the beginning looked like a narque, you know, on the interviews. He looked like a guy that was probably not a lot of fun to play with. And maybe it was the button down and that sort of thing. But B.J. Armstrong had some fucking, he had some shit to him. He had some dog in him. And I like B.J. Armstrong. He's the one guy.

BJ Armstrong has yet to be really torn down by Mike in the documentary, unless I miss something. Greats, all-time greats have been thrown shade at. BJ went right at Mike, had the audacity to do it after leaving the Bulls. And, you know, Mike poured it on on the court and referenced that, but did not, he was not gratuitous about it. I'm learning that BJ Armstrong might have been a guy that Mike actually really respected. And BJ, he was a mind fuck for George. and early in the series.

I mean, he went right at him, hit the game winner, quote, I let Michael know, I let Sky know, I let Phil know. And this is like you're probably wondering how I got here a moment. This was what not to do. This gave Mike motivation. How is BJ Armstrong the coolest teammate in the dock? I think right now he's in the running for that. He just seemed to take things well.

I mean, Chuck obviously was real cool in his interviews. We know Chuck's cool. But BJ Armstrong really emerged as somebody that I think is pretty. likeable and somebody you want to play with it seemed like a guy you really want to play with but he gave Michael motivation he added his name to a long list of people that that lit that fire in Mike's belly and that leads us into Labratford Smith who I'd never heard of and he played for the bullets and somewhere in this I'm watching and when they bring up LeBradford Smith they're like have you heard the LeBradford Smith story I'm like oh fuck what

happened to LeBradford Smith and is LeBradford Smith watching this thing right now just feeling his his stomach turn as his name is uttered in front of an entire captive audience in the pandemic. I'm just like this this fucking guy is watching and he knows the end of this story and he's like please don't torch me too bad. The first game, he comes out there. They're playing each other in a back to back bullets in the bowls he gets like 37 on jordan uh jordan says that he says to him nice game mike after the game which turned out to be a total lie jordan is a psycho like is he pumping his team up with that or or not like because he knows the truth did he really make something up to motivate himself that is psychotic and i love it and there was even that handshake before the game before he torches him

It was just so nonchalant. I got something for you. I'm going to walk right by you if you caught that. And Jordan goes for like 37 and a half. And that's what he said he was going to do. You know, spin zone was Jordan, could Jordan have been more motivated? Like if you had the ability to just flip a switch and make something up and go for 37 and a half, couldn't you have done that more often?

I mean, that's spin zone. I don't believe that. But it stands to reason that Jordan could have done this more than he did, and it was dependent upon his ability to conjure up emotion and motivation. So he torches Labratford Smith. We get another Wozniak sighting. By the way, Wosniak's walk is cooler than Jordans. They get that slow-mo walking through the United Center.

It reminded me of the opening scene in Belly. If you just set it to the same music and there were like black lights and shit. they would look so fucking cool but Wozniak would look cooler than Jordan I mean this guy has gone viral made multiple multiple appearances that have gone over very well for him rest in peace

Wozniak also to get to walk next to Michael Jordan on the reg you got to have a walk like that game three they come back to this is the the post BJ Armstrong game two performance and Jordan was doing

Globetrouder shit to the Hornets. Again, BJ Armstrong, very relatable, came out to be one of the coolest characters and the whole thing. They're back to 95. Baseball strike happens in 94. M.J. didn't cross the picket line. You know, there's a one-on-one game with BJ again. So BJ's coming up again. You know, by the way, it's interesting to me that MJ calls BJ to hang out. Like, again, this strengthens the case that BJ and Mike really cool. And BJ was where I respect. He comes out of this whole thing pretty good. You've got a Charlie Steiner appearance.

It's good to see him. I hadn't seen him in a long time. Is he doing like Dodgers stuff now? It's crazy. He like disappeared. If you're not a baseball guy, maybe, you know, maybe baseball fans are seeing him all the time. He was great in SportsCenter commercials, and he was one of the OGs of SportsCenter and an iconic voice up there with Kenny Maine,

Dan Patrick, that just serenaded my youth with sports highlights. And then there's the on-back thing. So he's back, the team is struggling. Scotty throws a chair. He's frustrated. I mentioned that earlier. Mayor of Frustration City.

Jordan tells Wellington to jump on the cape, but hold on, which was ridiculous. Also, the guy Greg Kohler, best friend and personal assistant. I wonder what you got to do to get that. Like what went into that process? Like, because when they do TV, they say, what do you want your, your lower third to be? We do that on the pot.

When we have somebody on the pod, we think about what their lower third should be. I mean, Kohler hit the jackpot. Best friend and personal assistant. Do you think he asked Mike for that? Hey, Mike. Just make sure can I get best friend and personal assistant on my lower third? Like, yeah, whatever, Bill. Best friend and personal assistant.

That's how I know him. he could be his best friend i don't know first came back he goes seven to twenty eight that was a game that had that atmosphere you could just tell it was crazy i wish i was like watching that live in a sense that i could remember it i don't remember that game i turned to my dad watching because we were watching it together i said man you can really feel atmosphere like that that's there's only few games you know that that that have that vibe and i think it's a look of everybody in the stands with the lights on, just buzzing with energy before tip off or kickoff. If everybody is in the stadium, like 30 minutes early, that's only the Super Bowl.

That's only a big playoff game. That's only Jordan coming back. You know, that's only the Kobe last game, which is one of the most memorable games I've ever seen in the regular season. This had to be up there. And you could feel that atmosphere. And then, you know, after going 7 to 28 in front of all those people who drops 55 on Knicks like five games later at the garden and I think everybody's like you know he's back now

and the quote from Patrick Ewing was I think that I had a great game but nobody remembers that you got to feel like you know Ewing although it's untrue has to feel like at times a bit of an inferiority complex like man what the fuck I was this absolute legend and there just happened to be this fucking guy from North Carolina named Michael Jordan who robbed me of my glory. That game was a microcosm of Ewing's career. There was Orlando. This was something that I think people before looking back at this series could have easily forgotten about, which was that, you know, it wasn't, by the way, that was a very good Orlando team. So it wasn't like they lost any slouches. I think, you know, there's a few organizations in the 90s that people

forget how good they were. You know, the magic would be one. You know, there was the Nick Anderson's deal. He threw the ball away. I mean, he changes his number, which is funny because all that's the meaningful reasons he said he was wearing 45. All it took was one little jab for him to change it. Was MJAM's insecure? I think all the great ones are on a level. Also, the parquet on the magic court.

I forgot about that. I forgot about the magic being good. This was an easily forgettable series. in the Jordan the Jordan storybook. And, you know, it just goes to show

that it was really hard for them to just pick it up and go. There was a culture built there. There was a team built there. And just adding Jordan back into the equation didn't necessarily mean

that they were just going to turn it on and beat everybody. The magic were very good. And it had to sting seeing Horace getting carried off the floor. Because I know he fucking hates Horace. And it's almost weird in retrospect. And I wonder at the time,

Did people, and the only way, you know, you can answer those questions, if you were really watching intently at the time, following the trends, did you think that this series signaled the end? And I'd be interesting to hear that from people. Was there a sense that, you know, when MJ came back and they lost that series, that, you know, might never be the same? Like, maybe this was a sign that there, they're not going to be what they were.

And this might be more normal. The guard has changed. Although he was dropping 55 at the garden and playing his ass off in spurts, he did look rusty. He had to get back in basketball shape. You know, baseball shape is much different. Totally true. Totally true.

Somebody used to play baseball. I can tell you that baseball is one of the most, it's an incredibly skilled sport, but from a training perspective, it's a different type of training in your body. your physiology changes. And I couldn't imagine going from, you know, the highest level in basketball, which is so specific and specialized to one of the higher levels in baseball and trying

to chase that down and then having to change gears again. So, you know, that space jam summer was big for him getting, you know, his feet truly underneath him. And he was having guys from around the league come and play pickup games and study them. I can't believe it. They fell in the trap. All these legends. Let Jordan tell it.

Let the guys on documentary tell it that he was doing, you know, research on these guys. He was prepping. He was prepping for the next season. So the old guys weren't just softer than they let on to be, Danny Age and Michael playing golf. They were also dumber than they let on to be. What the fuck are you doing? You're walking right into the trap. or maybe Jordan was just trying to overplay that angle in narration is blown out of proportion.

You know, I saw a good tweet from Micah Kaiser who played at UVA in response to Colin Coward. The whole generational toughness thing, you know, Micah made a good point. Kids now have been, they're used to getting criticized and made fun of like adults on social media since they're 11. I don't think it's the right way things should be, but that's the reality. And that's why I think kids, you know, make a good point. The scrutiny people are under now 24-hour news cycle. The analysis ad nauseum with your performance. You know, people don't miss anything.

So I think kids are pretty competitive and tough now. I mean, I think some things have changed. We can do a whole pot on that. But I do think some of this stuff is overblown. when you look back and realize it's funny my dad always tells me this story okay and my dad's not a big like oh we were way tougher back then they were tougher back then i think that when it comes to the NBA it's overblown as far as the toughness gap i think when it comes to the NFL there is a toughness gap from the guys in the 80s early 90s but now there's a definite toughness gap because the workload was so exponentially more

It was extremely unhealthy to go through what those guys went through on a football field. The volume of work, the collisions, the lack of rehab, you know, the overall attitude towards rehab and towards, you know, get back out there, shake it off, that sort of thing, the head trauma stuff. Those guys were just tougher. And that's all they knew. I don't know if people today would be that tough if we didn't know a softer alternative. but I can say with certainty that football players in the 80s and 90s were tougher at work than we were in the span of my career, at least. Now, some guys might, because a lot of guys in an alpha male sport can't admit to anything

like that because they might feel emasculated or like they're weak. I can admit that those guys with tough motherfuckers. I do think we are just as good at football and probably better than the guys in the 80s and 90s. the game continues to get faster and better. But I think with basketball, you know, the discussion at least is that maybe the gap in toughness and mentality wasn't as great as we thought or it was exaggerated by, you know, some, when I was a kid, I walked seven miles to school uphill in the snow type dudes. And that is on display, you know, as I mentioned with Jordan playing golf, with guys. hanging out with the pickup games

the whole thing. Now, back to the story my dad was telling me. My dad tells me a story about when, you know, my dad's favorite player was me and Joe Green. And me and Joe Green had a teammate named Cedric Harbin, I believe it was,

and Cedric was a great player. I'm thinking it was Cedric that it was his teammate down in Texas in college. And Cedric and my dad lived together. And my dad and Cedric became pretty close early on. He kind of took my dad under his wing, which also let old-timers tell it. It never happened.

You know, you had a vet being nice to a young player living with him. And before they played the Steelers at one point, my dad's idol, Joe Green was coming to town. And the night before game, Joe came over to eat with his college roommate, Cedric Hardman and subsequently my dad and they're all sitting at a table the night before the Raiders play the Steelers. And I always bust my dad's balls.

I'm like, yeah, I thought you guys were tough back in the day. Can you imagine if a star from another team and me had dinner at night before a game, not that I was a star, but I'm saying like, could you imagine if two stars had dinner before a game? People would crush him in the football world. if they were photographed out. So it's just, it's just different.

It's just a, it's a different era. There are, there are differences. I'm acknowledging that. Again, in the NBA, I think the gap is, isn't as big as people made it seem when it came to a toughness quotient,

you know, a mean-spirited, a quotient in the NFL, I don't think that gap is exaggerated. I think it's real, but there are stories like my dads that make me wonder if maybe, you know, that part was exaggerated.

Yeah, so Space Jam was a big summer for him. He got his feet back under him. The preseason, you know, before that 95 season sounded like he was a man on a mission. You had Steve and Luke getting jabbed right off the bat verbally by Jordan. And I'm like, oh shit, I hope Steve Kerr survives this one. I love Steve Kerr. you know don't don't take steve mj like don't don't don't do don't i know there was a fight i know we're going to talk about it but just be respectful and he was i mean but he was getting mad

talking about it you could tell jordan's neck was bulging just like just going through it and i can't i can't tell if it was michael's discomfort with how he handled it that is what he said he said in the shower. He was sitting there after the fight and he said he felt small. You know, or if it was that he was just so uncomfortable that he had to talk about somebody bucking back at him. And Steve did stand up to him. He didn't hit him in the face, of course. Listen, I'm not going to say that Steve would have punched him right in the face, but I'm just saying, and I brought this up earlier, you don't punch Michael Jordan in the face if you want your job. I don't think that's the way it works.

It certainly hasn't been on pro teams I've been on with the best player. That's not a great strategy. I know you might earn Mike's respect in some weird way, but you're not going to ingratiate yourself with the coaching, the coaching staff and the front office if you punched Michael Jordan in the face. He pushed him in the chest. Jordan stole off on him. He said he felt small afterwards.

He said he went and procured Steve Kerr's number, which tells you that he didn't have Steve Kerr's number. And it was a cell phone, car phone, home phone, I don't know. But again, Phil Jackson calling that a turning point in that season. 70 wins. You had it don't mean a thing without the ring hats. Again, New England Patriots, drive for five, blitz for six, all that stuff. I'm seeing where they got the blueprint from the last dynasty in sports, the Bulls and the 90s. well, not the last dynasty in sports, but probably the most iconic dynasty.

And then football, you could say that the Patriots are the NFL version of the Bulls. So they drew some, I don't know if teams had these sayings back in the day, but it don't mean a thing without the ring. It just sounds like a lot like Drive for 5 and Blitz for 6 and that sort of thing. Also, a lot of bad signs in the 90s. Are sweep signs still in? Can you just roll up to game 4 of a series? with a fucking black marker poster board sign that says sweep are you getting laughed out of the arena

the signs were bad they're very aged all the catchphrases they were like zingers you know like corny kind of kind of cut downs as you call them in the 90s uh I think the signs were super lame and I love the supersonic series footage that was great I love the series I still wish they'd have gone seven or something I miss the sonics the uniforms etc. That was again the height of Gatorade caps. So if you were a kid, you had the Gatorade caps. And you tried to once you, once you opened your Gatorade, you looked under the cap and it was like a Snapple fact and it said, hey, Bulls and Six, Magic and Four, whatever, Sonics in Seven, it was at the beginning of the playoffs. And whoever got the right bottle cap got a free,

some free Gatorade swag, a towel, you know, polo, something like that, a water bottle. dumbest shit ever because by the time I was in college it had so many gatorade water bottles around that facility it made those gatorade caps seem like they were pointless but that was the height of it and that was the year that I actually got the Bowls in six but I wanted the Sonics to win

I was really conflicted in my kid brain but there was the whole Gary Payton sequence last night which was hilarious and I kind of felt like watching I was like Gary is definitely he's definitely talking himself up and he should. I mean he's self-respecting and

you know stood up to Jordan he was never afraid of anybody who was a fearless player but you know it got the sense I got the sense that they were they were priming for a punch line with these with these snippets and interviews

which of course Gary doesn't know in real time where the producer is going to go with this thing which basically question why anybody any opposing player did did an interview in this thing knowing that they might get flamed at the end of the

series or the conclusion of the sequence like when Jordan got that iPad when Jordan gets the iPad it's bad news when Jordan's looking at the iPad this has happened a few times now it is bad news whoever he's watching for the most part

should tread carefully and of course Jordan says he had no problem with the glove, shades of OJ. He, you know, they switched Gary late in the series. It had an effect, but they were only able to win two games, Bulls and six. And that was a Sonics team that won 64 games. They had two all-MBA players. They had a Hall of Fame coach.

They beat Drexler, Elijah won, Stockton, and, Malone. Stop it with the Jordan didn't beat anybody's stuff. I mean, that's a damn good team there that would have won a lot of other championships had Michael Jordan never been born. Or, you know, you insert them into any amount of years throughout the NBA's history and they probably would have been champions. They were a good team.

And the Bulls, the Bulls damn near swept them, which goes to show how big of a deal, how good the Bulls were, was that when they didn't sweep them, everybody was like, It's a big deal. It was almost like some moral victory. And what was George Carl doing? Joining the ranks of BJ and Armstrong, countless others, motivating Michael before the finals. But I guess that begs the question.

Did Michael make it up at this point? I can't be sure. The Father's Day sequence was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. That's something I missed as a kid, you know, that he won that championship on Father's Day, crying on the ground. It was, that was a rush of nostalgia, seeing that footage. But framing it in that Father's Day conversation took us to the next level. And again, we're peeling back the onion more and more with an asterisk that, of course,

Jordan has final say on editing. And then we finished with the Pacers Eastern Conference Final, the first time seeing Jordan's kids, I think in the whole thing hanging out with MJ before a game. You had bald mullin. You had bald smits, which is an interesting look to go with in the state of Indiana. And you had Reggie Miller saying that, you know, we're going to be the ones to retire Michael Jordan. And for people that don't remember, the Pacer's team was really good

and posed a real threat to Michael and the Bulls. And as Reggie delivers that line, Game of Thrones music. The build up for next week is going to be fucking crazy. I can't wait. So my favorite two episodes, I was blown away. A lot to talk about there. I hope you enjoyed this pod.

We back Wednesday, probably with Macon. And Friday, again, we probably have my good buddy, Ryan Rusillo, joining the pod. I don't know what we'll talk about yet. But again, I asked you guys to chime in on what I should rank on this pod. I got to do three pods a week, guys. Okay, so, you know, there's no sports on TV. Help me out here. You could say I'm farming content. You could say my Twitter followers are writing the script to these podcasts, but I really don't give a fuck. This is the people's podcast. Tweet me, let me know what you want me to rank. I know what you want me to rank and who I should rank it with, and I will try to wrangle them. Again, I've got a roller decks. I can hit some folks up. We can make some things happen. See you Wednesday. Y'all take care.