The Ariel Helwani Show - Kenny Mayne

Episode Date: March 3, 2022

One of America's favorite sports broadcasters joins Ariel to talk about his 27-year run at ESPN, which concluded in spring 2021. The guys discuss Mayne's political commentary on social media and how ESPN executives felt about it, as well as Mayne's bold decision to enter into contract negotiations without an agent (15:52). Plus, he tells Ariel whether he still watches SportsCenter, if he holds any resentment toward ESPN for asking him to take a paycut, if the highlight show will ever make a comeback, his 2016 interview with Conor McGregor (29:22), his relationship with Packers QB Aaron Rodgers (34:26), and his work with Run Freely, a charitable organization that provides financial support to veterans.Kenny Mayne is an American sports broadcasting legend. During his 27-year run at ESPN, Mayne entered American households as the host of SportsCenter and as the star of many unforgettable "This is SportsCenter" commercials. He also contributed to off-the-beaten-path stories, most notably in horse racing, motorsports, among many others.You can follow Kenny on Twitter @kenny_mayne and Instagram @mayne.kenny.For more episodes of The Ariel Helwani Show, please follow the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on Ariel's YouTube channel.Theme music: "Frantic" by The Lovely Feathers

Hello everyone, welcome back to a brand new edition of the Ariel Helwani Show. I, of course, am Ariel Helwani. It is Thursday, March 3rd, 2022. Hope you're all doing well. Thank you very much for tuning in once again. And thank you very much to our good friends over at the Lovely Feathers for this great theme song. It's entitled Frantic. Go check them out. I'm trying to get them out of retirement. I love them very much. Now, today's guest is an amazing talent. His name, Kenny Mayne. If you're a sports fan, you know who Kenny Mayne is. Kenny Mayne is a sports center slash ESPN icon. He was at ESPN for 27 years, 27 years and one month. In May of last year, he left the company, a well-documented divorce, if you will. His contract was coming up. They asked him to take

a pay cut and he said no. And so he left with his head held high. And since then he has popped up in a bunch of different places. He was doing stuff for Peacock during the Summer Olympics. He's done some stuff for Caesars Sportsbook. He's done some commercials. He's an incredible talent because he has a very unique style, a very unique voice. It's very dry. It's very witty. It's somewhat sarcastic.

He's unflappable out there. I've been watching him for years and years. And in fact, I struck up a bit of a relationship with him because, as you may know, when the ESPN deal and the UFC deal came together back in 2019, when it all started, a lot of the SportsCenter anchors knew nothing of the UFC and mixed martial arts. Some of them reached out, some of them didn't. Kenny was one of those who reached out. And in fact, he struck up a pretty good relationship with Jorge Masvidal. And so he would check in and he reached out to me after I left and just a very nice, caring, genuine, authentic guy. So we talk about his great career, some stuff that you may

not know about his career, the departure from ESPN, where he's headed these days, some political stuff as well. He's very politically opinionated on social media, all that and more with the incomparable, the inimitable Kenny Mayne here on the program. So sit back and enjoy. It's a wonderful conversation with a man that I respect very much. Here it is. Kenny, how are you, my friend? You read all his books? Yes.

I just finished this one right over here. I'm reading a couple. I've been bad about reading. I love reading. And for some reason, you'd think the pandemic would have been better, right? Like, what's there to do? Sit back. And I think I'm just too anxious all the time.

I'm always wanting to be on the move. But I'm going to dedicate myself to finishing the books I'm into because of that inspiration right there. What are you reading right now? I got it right here. Oh, 16, 19.

Okay. Controversial. What is it about? Well, it's about American history and the fact that the country was born in slavery. And it's a lot of the controversy I'm speaking of is like what's going on around the country where they're trying to block teaching American history in a way that would potentially make white people feel like we did something bad way back when. When, in fact, that's kind of true. So it doesn't make all white people bad.

It doesn't make the country bad. It doesn't make the ideals of the country that's founded on bad. But it's the truth. And it's funny because the whole critical race theory thing, man, we're just going heavy right out of the gate. I love it. It's only taught in certain places,

like high level, you know, about how institutionalization level, you know, about how institutionalized, institutionalization of, you know, the unfairness of one race being put above another. That's not like widely taught in grade schools, but teaching grade school kids about the true origins of the country, the truth, you know, about how the country was founded and what people have suffered in this country. That's not, that's a good thing. That gets us in a conversation where maybe we can get to equality and maybe we can live up to the ideals that are so beautifully written in the Constitution, but they weren't exactly lived up

to way back then or even now. At this point in your life, Kenny, because obviously I follow you on social media and whatnot, the vast majority of the things that you're tweeting about are political history, things like that. It's not a lot of sports. Would it be fair to say that you're more interested in that world than you are in the day-to-day sports world at this point? That's correct. I probably was in the first place.

When I started out, I played football back in college, way back when. And I always and I was taking broadcasting and political science and English and debate and all these different things. I always wanted to be more serious. I want to read all those damn books behind you. Right. I wanted to be like doing PBS Frontline at this point in my career and doing serious stuff. But what happened was I got this job in local tv in seattle i started doing like news reporting after a couple years of you know being a production assistant and a producer and all of a sudden we had no news on the weekends it was a monday through friday small place we always joke that if there's news on the weekends it's news to us that should be our motto but they they added a weekend a couple weekend shows and jack eddie was my boss my

news director he's like you played football you're doing sports it was just like that it was like and i was feeling like i didn't want to do sports i wanted to do serious stuff but sports became so fun and was such an outlet i think for my personality i just started drifting over there so it's like my vocation, you know, became doing broadcasting and sports and my avocation, you know, considering all the other things that mattered to me in my life. Was the dream initially like frontline, something like that? Yeah, for sure. Or, you know, be Ken Burns is, is, is a model,

like, you know, doing real serious long term projects and and who knows maybe i maybe there's still a chance i can do some of that but um but yeah it was funny because everybody thought oh he played football not that it was any good but you know went to college and played football there the unnatural that you then go into sports broadcasting and i was i always felt like man that's so cliche it's like i can, I can do something different than that. And most of my time and energy was put into this. My favorite class by far was political films, it was called. And you went once a week, night class.

You'd watch a movie. First, you'd review last week's and read the papers. Then you'd watch a political movie. And then you'd write a paper on it and come back. But, you know, kind of opened my eyes to a lot of things. Even when you were in your prime, you know, in the midst of your tremendous 27 year and I believe one month run at ESPN. Was there ever a point where you were like, yeah, I'm itching to go back into that world. I want to try out, you know, the political reporting life.

Like, did you ever feel like you were close to leaving and completely pivoting into that world? There were a couple other times where I was close to leaving, but I wasn't sure what for. Empty threat. Yeah, I don't know. That's a good question. I mean, to do it all over again, my passion would have been the other, but it's kind of hard to change horses in the middle of the stream at that point when you put so much time in. And probably, to be really honest, probably got used to the lifestyle that I was leading, the money that I was making, doing the things I was doing, being in commercials. It was kind of hard, you know,, given this and I got remarried.

So we have four daughters together. So like, there were a lot of reasons to kind of keep doing what I was doing economically, like for the good of my family and yet still keep my hand in the other, in the little bit of a way that I have, like you mentioned on Twitter. And it's funny because not that I have any great power or anything, but I do believe in one person making a difference, influencing another. It's not like I've proclaimed something and I think legions of people are going to follow my command. It's not like that. It's more, maybe wake up some people like, hey, read this article or hey, listen to this viewpoint. Things are a little bit different now than they were maybe 10 or so years ago. And I've heard you talk about this supposed Twitter watch list that you were on and they would tell you you know

hey maybe don't talk about the president's physical and Trump and all this stuff but did you ever feel like you were not being true to yourself at any point when you had to think twice about reading about something that meant a lot to you that you believed in that you cared about you're like yeah you know I work for Disney I can't do that did that disappoint you did you feel like you were letting yourself down because you have to censor yourself you know at the expense of not getting in trouble or getting that phone call oh for sure i mean i always said i shot from beyond the jamelle line so that kind of as a joke and kind of as a tribute to jamelle hill because she you knowel Hill because she went down low. She was like, I mean that in a good way, like banging in the paint,

making plays. And the rest of us were like, am I going to get nicked for this? Am I going to get in trouble for this? Should I say it in such a way? Hopefully I get my point across, but it doesn't cross the line where they might be upset about it. And again, when people ask that question or I talk about it, I'm not like slamming the company. Like I get why they didn't want the problem, 100%.

But it's sort of like the policy was really not so much you can and can't do this. It was will there be an impact or will there not be? So if you said something and nothing happened, it's like the old, you know, if you yell in the forest and nobody hears it. But if somebody said something and it got picked up and all of a sudden it's controversial, now you were kind of like, hey, you can't be talking that way. You can't say this. You know, there weren't that many examples where I thought I was so overt about what I was saying.

Oftentimes I'd quote a Stevie Wonder song that spoke to, here's where I feel today based on what's happening in the news today. And some people really got it. And some people thought I didn't really like Stevie Wonder, which I do. But I definitely, to answer that question, felt like I sold out in a few cases. I kind of went halfway, didn't I? Because I was protecting my income and my job. So I didn't actually necessarily want to start in this department, but I'm happy that we did. I actually wanted to start with a thank you. You helped me out greatly, even though you didn't know that you were helping me out. Because I left ESPN around the same time that you left ESPN. I left on June 15th. I believe your last day was June 1st, correct?

May 24th was my last show, but May 31st was my last work day. And so you were there for 27 years and one month. I was there for three years. And I was feeling sad around the time, early May, when you announced that you were leaving, when you put that tweet out saying that you were a salary cap casualty, if you will, and you would do eight or so more shows and then you would be leaving. I was in my feelings. I was feeling sad because my dream of going to ESPN and being a Kenny Mayne or a Chris Berman or a Dan Patrick

and being there for 20 years was ending a lot sooner than I expected. And I felt a certain way about it and I felt like I was wronged and all this stuff. And then I saw the way you handled it. And then I read your LA Times piece and I saw that you were kind of leaving with your head held high and not taking shots

and not feeling sorry for yourself. At least that's what you were saying to the public. And I was like, if this guy who was there for 27 years is feeling this way, I can't feel sorry for myself. I was only there for three years. And so you actually helped me kind of like snap out of it and hold my head high and say I made it and it was all good.

And, you know, better days are ahead. So I appreciate that very much, even though I know you were just, you know, it was the way you were feeling. You weren't doing it for anyone else. But you really did help me. I will always feel somewhat connected to you because we left that around the same time, even though you were there 24 years longer than I was. It really, truly did help me.

So thank you for that. I heard that from somebody else who left before I did about the way I handled it. And I wasn't putting on some show. The whole story you're referring to, for those who don't know, John Walsh, who was one of the exalted leaders of ESPN for decades, he called just to give me his best, like, hey, hang in there, something good will come. And he was giving me like an attaboy little phone call. And then he, I think he called the second time and said, look, I want you to do something. I think you should write, write out your own story, write your thoughts.

Just next time you got the free hour, just sit down, let it pour out. And I wrote the thing in like 90 minutes, did a couple of corrections later. And he said, write a good story about whatever you want. What's on your mind, what happened, where are you going? What happened before? How'd you get there? Because everybody else is writing about you or telling their version of why you left and speculating and so forth. Why don't you just do it and own it yourself? So it's almost like John Walsh, who doesn't even work there anymore, is not even my boss anymore. I still felt like it was an assignment that I owed him because he's one of the guys that you know pushed me along during during my time there and so I did and I'm glad I did it and I I don't think I don't think I had to fake

anything I didn't do like here's my real story here's my story for the public but here's how I really feel to other people I mean they made it a business decision that I was worth x amount that's totally their right to do. You know, first day, like, oh, they don't think as much of me as, you know, so it hits you on your ego that way. But right after, I was like, that's fine. It's their building. They get to choose who they want to promote and who they don't.

They had come to the conclusion that for what I was doing for the company, I wasn't worth what I was making. And they cut it way back. I looked at that number and just looked at like in gambling terms, like they set the over under on me, right? They said, they set a line on me. I was like, what the hell? Let's, let's go see if we can play the over. And I did. And, and it all worked out. So I knew I'd be forgotten there. You know, after two weeks, they're going to still do shows. They get on the get on and off the air really well. They got great people. They're still doing great shows. And I got to

go and do something else and open up different opportunities, free myself a little more on Twitter. And everybody did okay. It's okay. I have read that you say that you don't have an agent. I'm assuming that's still the case, right? True. For those that don't know, somewhat of an anomaly in this business. Most people have an agent. You can make a case that it's a crazy thing. And in most lines of work, you don't need an agent, but it's just kind of the way the system has been built. Do you think if you had an agent, the negotiations with ESPN would have gone differently? No, because I know a bunch of people who have agents who were caught in the same thing where if you want to stay, you're going to have to take some kind of cut. And then, you know, there are a handful of other people who stayed at the level or even moved up.

That's their choice. Again, we're going to put our resources in this person or that person or this show or that show. But I know other people who did stay who do have agents who did have to, you know, take a cut to, to stay around. It was just a directive from Disney saying we need to make more money. So we need to cut here and there and everywhere to, I don't know what, I don't know the particulars of, was it a percentage thing or was it a total dollar thing or whatever it was.

But I was, when I said that, I said it kind of to be funny, but also the truth. I'm a salary cap casualty, which is kind of true. We got back, and I was one of the cuts. Just curious, and I know this is somewhat inside TV baseball, if you will, but did you ever have an agent? If so, why don't you have one now? People have asked me that, including agents.

I don't know. I think i've yes i have had different agents in the past and i don't want to like you know knock all of them at once like they just didn't work for me i think it's because and it's probably my fault more than anything because i'm so hands on i'd be like so what'd you do today who'd you call today what happened you know i'd want to download the to be downloaded on what did you do on my behalf today? If I was going to give you 10 or 15% of whatever happened, I kind of deserve to know what you did. Like if you take your car in to get fixed, don't you usually ask, okay, what'd you do today? Why am I paying you $800? You know, right. You get a little rundown. And I just think I was never satisfied with the job that was being done. So I think I advocate for myself better than anybody.

I wonder sometimes am I viewed differently when I go to talk to people? Oh, he doesn't have an agent. He'll be a pushover. You know, some people probably take that approach and then sometimes they find otherwise that I'm, no, I'm going to pass on that because I don't like the terms of what you're offering that I'm not as easy as they think I might be just because I don't have an agent. And I also have zero pride. Like, I'll just pick up the phone and shoot for the moon.

And if I don't succeed on something, I'll try the next guy or girl. So I don't know. It's too late now. I'm happy if some agent listening wants to bring me a deal and take a percentage on that one-off thing. Sure, let's do it. But I don't know that I need at this point, somebody to advocate for me. I think,

I think I'm going to take my shot on my own. Have you watched sports center since you left ESPN? Yeah. It's weird. I was just telling Gretchen, my wife, it's weird watching. What was I watching?

Oh, NBA all-stars, uh, the celebrity night. And I think we watched the show afterward and it's weird. Cause I was I watching? Oh, NBA all-stars, the celebrity night. And I think we watched the show afterward. And it's weird because I know most of the people I'm friends with many of the people still. And it's weird. I know that I'm not in their club anymore. You know what I mean?

Like I'm over here. I used to do it, but I don't anymore. So there is a little oddity in watching something you used to do so much or this building, you know, that produces all this stuff. But it's not like with great lament, I'm not like sad, like, oh, poor me. I'm not with them. And, you know, it's more just, it's, it's unusual. It's, it's like, I haven't like gone out of my way. Like I'm not going to watch ESPN, nothing like that. If there's something on ESPN worth watching, I'll watch. I don't kill myself to watch anything every night, but I never did even when I worked there. So I'm just curious, eight months removed, do you have any resentment towards the way things went down the way it ended?

Sometimes it ends in a way where it's like, hey, we're not going to decrease your salary by 61%, your time by 14%. Like, you know, that is a blow to the ego. Do you have any resentment now that the dust has settled? I don't. I really don't. Like, I got into something else that perfectly replaced what I was doing as far as getting by. It's totally different what I'm doing. You know, there's a different pace to it, certainly. And it's taken a while to adjust it, certainly. And, and it's, it's taken

a while to adjust to not doing as much, I guess. But that's, it's funny, because most people like, wait a minute, you're getting paid the same and you do less. That's what everybody wants. Yes and no, because I think I'm, I always want to be creating stuff. And it feels weird to not have something particular to point to like i always knew if i was doing sports center all right i got four shows this week they're all on 11 two of them or after basketball games like you kind of have a handle on what it feels like and what the anticipation expectation is going to be with what i'm doing now it's for caesars um you know it's a little bit of this then a lot of nothing a little bit of. And so it's kind of a yo-yo as far as your creativity being up and down. I'm always kind of thinking

of stuff, but, and I also have the opportunity to pitch other people as long as it doesn't conflict with Caesars. And I've done a few things for NBC and got a couple of other projects that we're pitching. As long as I'm not advocating for some other gaming site, then I'm free to do other things as well. But yeah, it's definitely a different pace, I guess, is the biggest change. So you are working for Cesar Sportsbook. As you mentioned, Peacock, you did some Summer Olympic shows for them every night with Carrie Champion, another former ESPN-er. You've done some commercials, Olipop. You've done some play- Oli pop. You've,

uh, done, uh, some play by play of some kids, mini golf. I'm curious if you are, if you're looking for like, would you be open to another sort of daily gig?

Are you looking for something like that? Or at this point in your life, do you want, you know, the project here, the project there, and less of a rigid schedule? Yeah.

I think the, the latter, the project here, project there, because now i don't see because because also where else what else am i going to do where i am right i don't want to necessarily move somewhere to show up five days a week and be in a studio doesn't i did that like and that's not putting down anybody's doing it or putting down that job if it were offered it's just we're in a situation where it feels like i've signed up for i guess i have when i when i say it feels like i just say what i am doing it's like i have an endorsement thing that's a good deal like i i do i just was at the super bowl doing little comedy bits with allison becker my friend, the actor.

She was in Parks and Rec. She was on Main Street back at ESPN. Larry David show, dark hair, funny. You know what I'm talking about? We did like a fake football show, a fake Super Bowl preview show, and shot them all in a couple hours. Actually, at her house. It was kind of funny the way it all worked out.

And I've been in one of their commercials. I've gone to Vegas a couple of times. I think i'm doing some stuff for march madness coming up but it is just like when i worked at espn and there'd be a commercial opportunity it'd be one or two days hey you're flying to la or you're in a movie part very briefly and it's just this special one-off thing now I'm just doing a series of special one-off things, right? So it takes a little adjustment from sort of the work that I used. I know I'm kind of all over the place. I'm letting out my feelings about the change in my life.

This is good. This is good. I like that. It's very healthy. It took a while. I don't think I'm all the way there. It's taken a while to like, oh, this is what I do now. Because I did something for 27 years.

That's a long time to do something, even though I did a whole bunch of different jobs at ESPN. It's really weird to like, oh, you don't do that anymore. Now you're in this other thing. You've got to kind of get used to the pace of that. But the great thing about it is, as I was talking about earlier, I have a couple other projects. One of them I'm pitching with John Skipper's group,

my old boss at ESPN, who's down there with Metal Ark and Dan Levitar and all them. Don't know if it'll sell or it won't sell, but we'll find out. We're pitching it right now. And there's another longer shot project that I probably shouldn't even say what it is,

but other stuff might just come up too. Somebody could just call and go. In fact, I am. I got asked to be in a movie, very, very small part, like a one day. I'm probably on screen for nine seconds, but that's fun, right? Like a different thing that I wouldn't necessarily have fallen into otherwise. Those commercials were legendary, the SportsCenter commercials. How many were you in total?

Do you know? Well, when we say commercials we most of us favored the kind for companies where you got money even more than the this is sports center where you used to sign a contract for one dollar i think i think they did it for legal reasons and they finally like nobody's getting paid the dollar anyway no those were a blast to be in they were good fun to be in good for you Good promotion, your own self-promotion. You never got paid an extra cent for them? No.

Wow, okay. It was voluntary, and in fact, not just voluntary, but a bit of a dogfight to, not to use that term wrongly, to get in them. To get the spot, yeah. Who didn't want to be in them? I mean, they always turned out well. It was kind of cool.

Like, oh, I was in that one. I was one i was with so and so this or that athlete my favorite one was with stewart scott it was called the big buddy program that's my favorite too dan with jason williams yeah and he says something like you know we like to give back to the community and everybody just you know finds time to help the kids or you know however he set it up yeah stewart and i go to this gym in Bristol. In fact, the funny part is we were doing a show that night at a sports center at 11 or 12. So we had to go shoot it, hustle back, prepare for a show. Like it was a little bit of a scramble. There was no script.

It was just do whatever you want, be a jerk. You know, those were your notes. And Stuart checks some kid and, you know, he's doing this to him and I'm screaming at the kid for the ball and yelling at the kid on the ground. Like your parents signed the permission slip. It was such a fun and silly, like laughing the whole time. We had to keep starting over. I love the Charlie Steiner. Follow me to freedom on Y2K. I had a very brief part in that. There was one with Dikembe Mutombo where we're lying on the grass,

staring at cloud shapes, talking about that one. And he has that great voice, you know? Yes. There's another one. I can't remember who it was. It was a boxer, and I cannot remember his name, where we are putting Pop-Tarts in a toaster, but he has boxing gloves on. It was just the vicinity of city of of that happening you know

did you ever pitch any yourself like did you ever and and it made it to television um well more often they'd have what they wanted and then we'd kind of do what we want so that was okay they i can't remember did they ever literally take here's a whole concept? There was a little bit of, I don't know what the best way to phrase it. There was some ownership issues there. They wanted to be in charge. And that's fine. It was their product. Will we ever get to the point where those are a thing again?

In other words, it feels to me, and correct me if you feel otherwise, SportsCenter is a brand. Obviously, we know that. We also know that the highlight show will never be the same because of the internet and phones and whatnot. But it does feel to me like they have decided, at least for now, and things change all the time, that it's about the brand less so than the personalities.

And I think what made SportsCenter so great back in the day were the personalities. You and Rich Eisen and Stuart Scott, Olbermann, Patrickmann patrick etc and so do you feel like those days are are long gone and now they've just decided we're going to stick with the brand we'll put with all due respect you know interchangeable parts and younger talent cheaper talent but it's not so much going to be about you guys the stars the personalities we're tuning in to watch sports center rather than you because we would tune in to watch you right like you guys were the stars in my opinion i want to see what you would say how you would say how funny you were do you feel like those days are over now i don't know

i think to say that because i've heard that positive before where that kind of that's kind of a put down of many of the people who are there who are really talented who are really funny who are clever so i'm you'd have to pull the viewers, right? Who do they like these days? Do they like watching this person or that person? But as far as answering the question about the Vista Sports Center, I'm not sure why they ever did go away from it. It was working, you know, just do another batch every quarter. Let's come up with five more or whatever the number was.

You'd have to ask others as to what their plans are for how they market the the product but i don't know that i agree the the reason why the old days were the old days and so good is partly what you started to allude to is like when we came on the air you had no earthly idea who won the magic jazz game none unless you knew somebody in utah or florida right or unless you had you know access to the radio call you know your shortwave radio at home or something and there was the mystery and in fact a lot of people don't know this too the anchors often don't know until they get the highlight the moment it's airing wow there was in the old days this this um sort of protocol where they bring up the tapes and you get a chance to review a couple of your highlights or

more if if they were done early but more and more of the shows i was doing in the last several years i had never i saw the games that i watched a couple games that i had on my monitors and before i went to put my tie on but other than that you're reliant on the kid running in the door, handing you a piece of paper, hoping that his or her remarks, notes, we call it a shot sheet, are going to match what's about to happen on the tape that's about to play, which isn't even a tape anymore. It's digits. I don't know what the hell it is.

It's a thing like that in a computer. Yeah, I'm a little all over the place on this answer, but I don't know. I don't know the i don't i don't know i don't know why they market how they market i always wondered why they market monday night football so much when everybody knows it's on monday night and it's doesn't is the audience not gonna watch because you did or did you know like maybe some of that money could have been diverted elsewhere but and to be clear i don't want to say or i don't want it to come off as i don't think the people who are doing it are

talented it just seems like now it kind of actually reminds me of the ufc in that they promote the ufc brand more so than the personalities that's what i was um referring to by the way speaking of the ufc i always wanted to ask you about this one day back in 2016 there was a huge story going on in the ufc a guy by the name of conor mcgregor suddenly quote-unquote retired and he showed up on uh i believe it was the body issue and he was doing a shoot in la and you got the exclusive interview with him and i have to say like as a guy who does it day to day i didn't hate i was like damn how did kenny may get this interview this is unbelievable i'm sure you remember it the sit down right in that like sort of warehouse how did you score that interview with connor for those that don't remember he had

retired it was in the midst of the nate diaz uh rematch situation it was right after ufc 196 i believe top my head it was like april may he was at odds with the ufc i think he even used the term civil war to describe what was going on. How did you score that interview? My favorite part of it is we played scissors and paper rock or rock paper scissors. And when we played, when I was younger, whoever lost, the winner got to strike you with two fingers on your wrist, like I'm doing like this. So I wanted Connor and I to play that game at the end and he didn't hit me hard enough because i wanted to hit me so hard like it would leave a welt just like

yeah i got struck by connor um i don't know i i didn't i didn't arrange it it was arranged for me i was doing stuff let me think if i i was doing some stuff for the magazine at the time on and off and i think it just happened the conduit of the he was going to be in the magazine on the naked issue and i was in la and oh he'd be good for this interview and it just kind of happened so it was nothing that i did to be really honest i knew so little about you'll see i had to like who the fuck is you know like you know you had no idea like how big of a deal this interview was like we all watched it live and we're live tweeting it it was a math it would be akin to like aaron rogers saying you know he's

done with the packers and we're talking you know something like that yeah no i understood the the what was at stake i'm just saying i was not an end, as you know. When you were doing the original introduction, we became closer because I was always reliant on you. Dude, give me the background. Give me two sentences on who the hell I'm interviewing today if I had a weird UFC interview that I didn't know much about, and you were always there to be my backstop.

Probably could have used it on this one, although I don't think my interview sucked. I think I knew enough about his situation, who he was, his background. It wasn't that hard to have a conversation and see where he's coming from. And, you know, I think it came off all right. Like, you're right though.

The scene was kind of crazy. It was like this urban warehouse in Los Angeles, kind of beat up. It looked like a movie scene. Yeah. They chose it. They wanted something kind of gritty. It looked like a movie scene. They chose it. They wanted something kind of gritty for this magazine shoot. It was very dramatic.

Yeah, I got it because I guess because I was there. I don't know if there was somebody higher up that said, oh, Kenny would be good for this. I don't know. It was great. Can you be available to do this Connor thing? I said, yeah, of course. Very memorable.

You also had a very memorable UFC interview with interview with jorge masvidal on sports center in the midst of his issues with the ufc now going back to something we talked about earlier um you know your your political leanings are very well documented his as well but as of late and i'm wondering how you feel about jorge it seemed like you guys had a great relationship i'm wondering if politics have strained that relationship because it's very clear that he is not on the same you know political spectrum as you how do you feel about him now well i remember when they had the fight stage the Madison Square Garden and Trump showed up. Yeah. Jorge said something like, no matter what you think,

you got to admit he's a bad motherfucker. And I wrote him on the side and I said, you could have just called him a motherfucker. We had a little back and forth. I thought it was friendly enough, like civil. Like that's the thing. I would hope, still waiting for this to happen. The people on polar opposites even can still find a civil way to argue about where they stand, why you feel this way, why he feels that way. And I thought

we did do that, but we just sort of, there wasn't much talk about it. Like I came pretty hard with where I was coming from he answered how he answered he wrote me a very sweet note when i when i left espn which i appreciate i wrote him back a thank you but yeah i'd say our differences were such and he was proclaiming it publicly and i was completely on the opposite side right i don't know somebody else asked me that like how how do you maintain relationships with somebody? I just think it's so clear. I mean, somebody from the other side is going to say the opposite thing. I'm crazy, maybe, but it's hard to continue relationships with people who continue to support that man and that ideology. I think it's a line in the sand. It's not quite the same, and this will likely come out after we find out about his future,

so I don't want to ask you specifically about that, but your relationship with Aaron Rodgers, he was your last interview. He was like your last, I mean, there was a scene right after, but that was like your last segment on your final sports center. It seemed like you guys were very close.

It wasn't the last. It was earlier in the show for some reason people remember that as being the last thing oh really okay i don't know why that is that everybody says his last interview but we taped five i wanted to do the show live my pitch was this hey if i can get these people or or most of them can we the show is supposed to be two hours that night, but it got cut down to about 90 because the baseball game in front of it ran long. So we were shortened. And the funny thing was, as the game went into extra innings, I was like, what if they played 28 innings? I don't even do a show. Like my last show is I don't do a show. That would have been kind of funny by itself.

But they said, no, I wanted to say, hey, we're talking with Aaron Rodgers about his future, blah, blah, blah. Hey, Aaron, hold on a second. Got the Marlins Braves for you here. And then do the highlight. Have him join in. Come back to him. Talk about Little League Baseball, whatever, right? Would have been more entertaining.

Instead, they had me tape all these interviews at 8 o'clock, 8.30, whatever time it was, and then put them into the show. Right. And I think they also as being in charge of the show, wanted to make sure is he going to say something really crazy on his last night? I don't think I did except for the ending to that interview, but that was when I did that, that was literally for the room. I didn't think there was any way that was going to be on TV. It was just to make the room laugh, right?

Like you do it all the time when you're shooting different bits, you'll say something really stupid just to get the laugh in the room. It's going to get edited. They clean it up. But instead they're like, this is too good. We've got to leave it in. We'll just beep out the F word.

It was great. You were talking to him about his advice that he allegedly gave you about Bitcoin and whatnot. And you told him F you because it was down 40%. I'm just curious. his advice that he allegedly gave you about Bitcoin and whatnot. And you told him F you because it was down 40%. I'm just curious. The joke was born in reality though, because last time I interviewed him, he had,

I forget if that made the last interview or if we were just talking afterward. And I knew very little about crypto. I still don't. It's still like, so wait a minute, I'm going to take real money, buy some pretend money and hope that other people to take real money, buy some pretend money,

and hope that other people take their real money and buy more pretend money that my pretend money will be worth more real money because I can get it. That's what it is. He says, yeah, it's taken off. You got to do it. I text him on the side like, I don't even know how to do it. Who do you buy it through? He tells me which place to go through. It's true that when I bought it to the time I interviewed him next for

this final show on May 24th, it had gone down 40%. And in my, in my pocket, in my head, I was like, I got a good joke there. It seemed like,

Hey, thanks a lot for the crypto advice. It's down 40%. I also lost my job. Gretchen just wants a new comforter. Fuck you. And Rogers, you know,

it was pretty well set up. Joe is good. Yeah, it was great. And I almost forgot to do it because I didn't do any of those interviews with notes. I was just Marshawn's next Sue birds next Jamal's not, you know,

like we had all these people, Jamal Crawford, Sue bird, Marshawn Lynch, Aaron was amazing. And at the very end, the final interview was Fred McGriff, the crime dog,

because for 27 years and a month, every time there was a baseball play where somebody made a great catch or a great throw, I would always say it's endorsed by Fred McGriff, which harkened back to the Tom Amansky defensive drills video. You might not be old enough. Of course I remember those.

Those were great. Some people aren't old enough to know. It was one of the main sponsors on ESPN over and over. And it was like a three minute ad. It was just God forsaken. I don't know. Somebody bought the time and somebody paid the money or maybe they let him make goods., he starts making fun of the – he's like, who the hell is throwing baseballs into garbage cans? What a ridiculous thing. But, yeah, so all that stuff happened preceding the show. The Aaron thing went the way it went. The rest of it was a pretty fun interview.

But to answer a question that you haven't asked, I sent him a note when I heard he tested, and I didn't know the truth of the story. I just heard that it was being rumored that happened and more would come out. I'd said, get, get, get well, get rest, get vaxxed. And I put, unless maybe you already have, cause I didn't know. And then I didn't know he was going to go the way he went blaming the woke mob and all that so um yeah we haven't we haven't really talked since not that i wouldn't talk to him but since that text you have not had any interaction with him does that bum you out it's not like i drew i'm never talking it wasn't like that he i wrote the last text so right does that bum you out yeah the whole thing was sad because

um it's it's just funny when you you know it wasn't like we were like best buddies growing up we just had a really good relationship for the times I was around him which was a couple times a year send some funny notes to each other. He texts me during shows sometimes, Hey, say this word in the next, next highlight. You know, it was, it was fun. He was an engaging, smart, funny guy. Right. And over that, cause I'm, I'm not wearing a mask right now, but I'm pro mask, pro vax. I know the scientists have made a lot of mistakes because it's an evolving thing. So some stuff they might have said in March of 20 might not hold a year later or even six weeks later. I think they were on the side of trying, like Fauci as an example, who gets demonized by a lot of people who are on the anti-vax side. So I'm going to put my faith in people who have dedicated their whole

life to fighting infectious diseases more than i am on my aunt's facebook page or one's aunt's facebook page right you know so i don't know i i just thought the way it was characterized was as weird as the decision itself, you know, like blaming cancel culture. Like there, there isn't, there's no such thing as cancel culture. There are people who behave certain ways and other people criticize it, but the people being criticized call it cancel culture. Like who got canceled? Like, it's just such a silly thing. They've also weaponized stealing from the black community

the word woke in the first place, how that was used, and now taken that and turned it into something that's just this broad criticism of anybody who's for this or against this. We're going to call them woke as though that's some big weapon. You know, it's like, I don't know. All of it is stupid. We got so caught up in just grabbing simple little labels and letting that, I can just use that. I'm going to say that word and that it, but even if we took opposing stands to actually, all right, your turn. Instead of just immediately just pounding people with labels and criticisms that kind of destroy the sense of any real dialogue. speaking of football you were a football player back in the day you played at unlv you were a backup quarterback unfortunately you suffered a uh rather gruesome um injury that changed your life

and i want to talk about run freely in a moment as well i'm curious and you did get a tryout with the seahawks who you're repping here i'm wearing the shirt right now yeah respect um sweatshirt is 40 years old really it yours was it was it this is what this is this is the only thing i got out of the deal come on that's the sweatshirt that you got 40 years old that is tremendous do you make the nfl if you don't get injured you think um usfl okay it's not bad yeah there were good players in the USFL. I don't know. I,

I look at it like I thought I was as good or better than the rookie that I was going against. He didn't make it either though. They kept the same three quarterbacks. It was Jim Zorn, Dave Craig and Sam Adkins. And then there were a few rookies like me trying to be the third guy. You know, if, if you could make the team.

I was hoping to last long enough to get noticed, to get picked up somewhere, go to Canada, USFL. Like I could throw. I can still throw. I was a better thrower than I was a quarterback probably. Okay. A little distinction there. But I think I was still getting better.

Like I was kind of a late bloomer. Ninth grade, I played fifth quarter. Do they even have fifth quarter where you're from? I don't think so. So fifth quarter was for, there's four quarters in football. Fifth quarter was for the guys who didn't get into the lawful fourth quarters. Okay. And they'd stay for another 20 minutes and the scrubs would have a little half-ass game going from the 20 or whatever it was. And I just was not, I was undersized. I was like five, eight, 135 pounds and kind of grew in to my height. I jumped up six, two, a couple of years later. So I thought each year I was getting better and better and filling out and

learning the game and broke my leg at Oregon. My junior year, 1980 1980 where I was a backup Larry Gentry was the starting quarterback that year the next year I come back and play Sam King was the starter he led the nation in passing yards well I was second guy named Alan Reynolds was third and a guy named Randall Cunningham wow freshman just coming in you knew he was going to be great he had way more talent than all of us, but he was brand new, and we all knew the offense better, and Sam was the starter. But yeah, the Seahawks had offered Sam a free agent deal,

and he turned it down. He was going to go to Canada. My coach, Tony Knapp, said, hey, if you like Sam, you should look at the guy who backed him up. He throws as well as Sam. So I went up there and threw. And the day that I went for my tryout, they just bring people out. It's not like some special one o'clock tryout thing. It's more like, all right, he's rolling in. Who's around the building? Hey, you come out and run some routes. Steve Largent happened to be

in there lifting or something. So I got to throw to Steve Largent for my tryout, which was beneficial to me for sure. And so it was just a tryout right you never played in a pre-season game or anything like no i signed a deal that day worked out in kirkland for like two weeks their their headquarters their first headquarters then the training camp was across the state near spokane a place called chene And day one, I failed the physical, got tossed out. They gave me $10 at the airport. I got a five, four ones and four quarters and this shirt. Wow.

I just happened to put this on. We found this recently and went to a soccer game this morning for our youngest and just threw on a Seahawks shirt for the hell of it. While you were at UNLV, is it um while you were at unlv is it true that you were an usher at caesars you you worked at the uh the tyson i believe it was larry holmes fight in 1980 correct ali holmes ali holmes why did i say tyson my man uh ali holmes that's insane you so you were there for that dude it was an amazing time which is funny that i'm back with caesars not to plug them again but the first place i visited on my recruiting trip was caesars the couple coaches

took me out to show me the town first stop caesars palace the old moving beltway so this was legal not an ncaa violation right right weren't paid maybe we got tips but who knows sure sure um the football players and some of the other athletes got to be the ushers at these big prize fights and in the old days you could look up the old pictures they used to set up like a temporary grandstand behind caesar's palace uh-huh and and ollie holmes was one of the the i mean one of those you know to be there for ollie was pretty amazing holmes took it easy on him there was a sad fight because ollie was past his prime right probably should have been done by then um but i got to escort someone named nabila kashogi the daughter of adnan kashogi of saudi arabia i thought she was like a princess or

something like they said you make sure she gets down to the ring. And I lost her for a second. Cause it's just a sea of people. You know what I'm talking about? The big fights is this procession. There's 80 people in the entourage or whatever. And so I'm like fighting through people to get her back. I got her to her seat safely.

I got a hundred dollars. Wow. Well done. Which, you know, who knows what that is equating to today, but I did, I think Leonard Hearns, Leonard Benitez. Excuse me. There were some others.

They also had an indoor facility there. It doesn't even exist anymore. But it was a thrill. The funniest part was if you were a starter or close to it, like second string, you know, halfway notable, you got a sign down by the ring the cool seeds yeah next guys were a little more so that spring after my senior year and ending my senior year getting my last one credit to graduate holmes cooney is fighting i'm no longer really on the team. I'm just finishing up my scholarship.

I had the worst. I was in the rafters. Just like you're quickly demoted. Right, right. Somebody gave me a handy wipe for a tip. I'm like, this is hot out there, kid. Not bad, though. You get to watch all those.

I mean, such a thrill. You're 19, 20, 21 years old. You're at Caesars Palace, biggest sporting event happening. Just the electricity of it. You know how it is. Of course. If there's any major fight, there's just this something in the air. In fact, I took a knee next to Jack Nicholson to watch the fight.

He was like, here are the wall. That is amazing. So you're at UNL unlv then you say that you know the football career doesn't work out you get into the local sports scene in washington leave the local sports scene i'm just curious i i've heard you talk about essentially quitting um even though you don't get picked up by espn and you work as someone who builds garbage cans you work at mci you have a bunch of odd jobs as you're kind of freelancing what does that mean building garbage cans well like what does that entail and why did you choose that job of all the jobs well we jumped around that this is i've been at the local station

doing news and sports like i'd be the news reporter on the weekdays for two or three days sports on the weekends interviewed at espn after the 49ers beat the Bengals 1989 man I'm old Joe Montana John Taylor that one and I had a good shout it was like a good five minute local sports guest I sent it to ESPN they had me send another tape Al Jeffery said I want to see if that was a fluke give us another tape they. They bring me back for an interview, but I clearly wasn't sports nerdy enough for them at the time. Probably never was. Trying to lie my way through some of the quizzes, you know, and just faking it. So I did okay on the tryout.

I did a little, little three minute demo tape, you know, at ESPN, but they don't hire me. I go back to the channel 11 in Seattle Tacoma and I ended up quitting on short notice like six months later something like that long story I won't bore you with I basically just didn't like the way I was being handled didn't like the way the place was going and I probably had a little ego of hell ESPN likes me what the hell do I need these people for I'll just do some freelance work and you know get my way to ESPN didn't know it'd take four years but yeah so I quit and I used to

be a garbage man during college summers and one winter a couple different years in Seattle I was the swamper you know the guy that hangs on the back of the truck. Yeah. Back in the day when you had to jump off with your big silver can, go to the backyard of the guy's house, dump that in and carry it to the truck. Right. Right. The industry had passed me by. They're down to one man crews. Right. They had the big claw like most people see. Right. So the guy, Steve Caputo, he says, I don't have any garbage work for you, but I need some cans to be built. Like I can, you know, employ you for a couple months or whatever it'll be. So you had to put the lids on. You had like these fasteners, some kind of air rivet gun or something. I'm not very mechanical. I was learning, a guy named Clem taught me how to do it.

Had to put the wheels on. So, you know So when people move to a neighborhood, they call the garbage company and they drop off a couple cans. Somebody had to put the lid on and the wheels on. Mine probably weren't put on very well. What I remember most about that is the Ernest Biner Fumble, Cleveland Browns. I'm in the rain in Seattle. I think it was a Saturday playoff game, if I'm not mistaken,

making garbage cans. I was just on TV like a month ago now making these cans in the rain in Seattle. I think it was a Saturday playoff game. If I'm not mistaken, making garbage cans. I was just on TV like a month ago. Now I'm making these cans in the rain, listening to that game on the radio. But what happened was I was trying to, you know, whatever job I have, you always work hard and I work so hard. I work myself out of a job. There were no more cans to be made. So I looked in the paper. That was like a Thursday or Friday. And I wanted to be working somewhere on Monday.

Like, I'm taking a job. I'm not going to not be working. I need the money for one. I need to pay my Honda bill and insurance and whatever. And there was an ad in the paper, marketing company, looking for aggressive, energetic people, something like that. Television or radio experience is a plus. And I was like, they're talking to me.

So I go to the place. Turns out it was not just marketing company, but a telemarketing company. Big warehouse in Redmond, Washington. And they were selling, every little division was selling a different product. I ended up getting put in the prepaid legal insurance sales division. So I would call people up and try to sell them on paying $9 a month to have this insurance in the event, God forbid, you ever need an attorney. I had a pretty good sales pitch going on. That lasted a couple months. Then I got a job at MCI selling long distance back when people actually did that. I guess they still do, right?

To a degree, yeah. All of us with these phones, we don't think about it. We just call people. Right. So I was like corporate sales, having business meetings with companies, trying to get them to join MCI. All the while, I was freelancing for ESPN. The Goodwill Games of 1990 was in Seattle. They had me do that. Tanya Harding, a couple of years

later, I was down in Portland covering that after the scandal. I did a Sean Kemp story, a Gary Payton story, a Ken Griffey story. I was like their Seattle bureau, but I wasn't official. I was just when they needed me, right? And this went on and on, like three or four years of it. And in your style, it really stood out, especially to a young viewer who's watching you and trying to dream what it's like to have your own style on television. The dry wit, the comedy, I mean, just kind're you're unflappable you weren't you know

shouting catchphrases like a stewart scott everyone was very different your specific style was it patterned after anyone did you take elements from anyone even someone not in sports television or was that 100 uniquely you i mean i think we're all product of you know however we got raised up, right? Like my dad was a clever, funny guy. His friend Al Drake was funny as hell. I grew up watching Johnny Carson, Bugs Bunny, Bullwinkle, Get Smart, other friends, Mark Sancer, my good friend. You know, I was just kind of surrounded by like lively, engaging, funny people, you know, and, and it was really devoted to the news,

like the regular news, watching this Walter Cronkite and Huntley Brinkley way back when, you know? So like, I was kind of like, had a little comedy on one side, had the seriousness on the other side and ended up being whatever it was. I'd say in those early ESPN years, the freelance years, I wasn't doing quite what you're describing like I would do on SportsCenter because there was no platform to do it anyway. And many of the times it was more like a serious feature story about a player. Not serious, but like a straight ahead, he's good story.

I think once I got finally to ESPN, it was ESPN2. They had started this channel channel i think the fall of 93 and it's they had uh keith oberman in the leather jacket and suzy cobra they were the lead anchors and it was supposed to be like the hipper sports center right the the cooler x gamesy sounding sports center and stewart scott bill ped, Deb Kaufman were, were the secondary people that did the, what they called the smash. So like at two minutes before the hour or five minutes before the hour, you do these updates. Keith goes back to, to one, to be with Dan Patrick again, Stuart moves up to be the main anchor with Susie and they need one more person. So they bring me back for

like my third interview in four years, every two years I'm coming back to, you know, while they string me along. And Vince Doria, God love him. He was the boss of this ESPN two show. And I just, sometimes I think in sales, some people say don't bring up negatives. I'm kind of like, why don't we just face the music, you know, bring up the negative and defeat it right there. And I said, Vince, I still don't know who the fifth pitcher on the Cubs is.

And I really don't care. But if you tell me to do a story on the son of a bitch, it'll be a good story. And he's like, that's a pretty good answer. Of a question that wasn't asked when I get hired. It's funny. They called me. I got hired on April 1st. Wow. So I, is this like the most cruel practical joke what you know al jaffe made the call but i was back there may of 94 and they said don't have aspirations you're not going to sports center you're doing this espn2 show

and so i was like the update guy and i did some of the some of the field stories where, you know, then we got to start having more fun. They killed our show, though. Like, I forget how long it lasted. Another year, maybe, something like that. And then we got all these people on contract. We got to put people somewhere. They ended up putting me on the car racing show, brand-new car racing show called RPM, RPM Today, RPM Tonight.

And I didn't know a damn thing about car racing. I knew probably less about car racing than I did UFC before the Connor interview, but I learned, you know, I bothered Benny Parsons and Jerry punch and Ryan McGee and all these good people that knew the sport. And they kind of learned me up and ended up really enjoying it. Got to go to Daytona 500 and Indy 500, all these cool events and and grew to really to to care about it you know i'm not like a every sunday i have to watch the four-hour race but

appreciated the sport and got to know a lot of people and then kind of merged over to starting to do sports centers and off we went in fact i believe on the last episode of rpm tonight you played a a voicemail a message from david letter, who was telling you that you can't cancel the show, right? We did a thing called the morning wake-up call is what we called it. And the premise, they never understood it fully. They finally agreed to experiment with it a few times. I said, no, I want it to be really low tech, like a still picture of a guy holding a phone and then me holding the phone.

And it's just like a nice little talk. David Letterman actually also gave us earlier than that, like a two hour interview. He loved car racing, you know, he was Rahal's team and Letterman, Rahal, right? And that was a fun night. It was supposed to be like a 20 minute interview and we changed tapes three times back when you use tapes yeah and then leaving his studio there in

new york it was after one of his shows um he just happened to come to the street at the same time his car got brought up as we were loading our equipment he says hey ken you want to go out to dinner i'm like uh you know i'm kind of like now i'm worried about my team you know am i going to drive home separate? Am I ditching them? I took like half a step toward him. He said, I'm just fucking with you. And he gets in his car.

So what's funny about that, about a year later, two years later, maybe, Dale Earnhardt won the 500. The next year, he was sort of like our host, co-host for two or three shows. There was a little tradition they had. The last year's winter would help with the shows the following year in the middle of a break. He asked me if I want to go to dinner and in my head, I'm like, he's doing the same thing. Letterman like that's the first thing,

but it wasn't, he really invited me to dinner on his boat and could have been a sweeter guy. I mean, he, I had a cold, he was trying to find the right cold medicine. You know, try this, try try this and at the end i'm looking at old family photo albums with dale and theresa his wife and dale looks as well oh shoot i gotta go he had to be at some nine o'clock you know hospitality thing he says i so i get up like oh it's time for me to go too he said no no stay and look at the pictures he gets to the door and he turns back and goes, but don't stay too long. That is amazing.

I can't imagine, like those stories, you probably write a book of all these. Would you ever write a book? You know what? Maybe you just inspire me to. I mean, you've got so many great stories, so many interactions. Can I ask you, and I'll let you go. Can I tell one that I'm fond of? Please, go ahead.

It might preempt a question because people always ask, what was your favorite? Can I ask you, and I'll let you go. Can I tell one that I'm fond of? Please, go ahead. It might preempt a question because people always ask, what was your favorite? If you had to pick one thing, you know, by far. So way back when, when I was first a TV reporter in Seattle, Stevie Wonder was in town to kick off the In Square Circle concert tour that was named after his album. And I talked them into going let's get stevie wonder come on stevie wonder and i had to like beg them to let me go to this thing they want me to go to

some city council meeting on you know utility rates or something so instead we go to the coliseum now the now the climate pledge arena and they tell us no interviews you can shoot five or ten minutes of b-, get out. You know, all of a sudden we look up and there's a reporter up on stage interviewing him. I was like, what the hell? So we go sprinting from the back of the gym. I'm like the last guy in my mic.

I'm like literally shaking. I'm so nervous to be in Stevie wonder's presence. I ended up setting my mic on his keyboard. And so he's answering something about world peace or whatever. And it's like oh you know you hear like oh no yeah and he just coolly turns the knob to zero and keeps talking he didn't get and then i realized oh i'm an idiot i pulled the mic back so all these years later i used to play in the celebrity legend softball game at the all-star break yeah and tim scanlon was the head

of baseball the espn and i said hey stevie wonder is from detroit saginaw the all-star break. And Tim Scanlon was the head of baseball at ESPN. And I said, Hey, Stevie Wonder is from Detroit, Saginaw. The all-star game is going to be in Detroit in like two or three weeks. He's in a concert in Philadelphia. It was the live eight concert. They called it to relieve African debt. That was the premise of the event and talking about the G8 nations. Right. And Stevie's the headliner. I said, can I go try to get him to do something that we'll use in three weeks, right? And tie the two together. He's like, well, do you have anything set up? No. Do you have a camera? No. Do you have a press pass? No. He said, all right, go for it. I think you'll pull it off. Like that's the kind of face Tim Scanlon had. So I fly down,

get a crew and I'm like trying to figure out how do we even get to the person who might get me close to even ask the question of hoping he'll say yes. Right. I got the flimsiest press pass ever. We're like six blocks away from the concert and some stupid tent watching on monitors. I'm like, well, I'm never going to get them from out here. So I just said, screw it. I just start trying. Right. It's going to be a mission to get stevie wonder i get out by his trailer they have this compound closer to the to the stage and they got all these vip trailers and people are getting waved in like natalie portman gets waved in will smith gets waved in they're all going to greet stevie and then the guy at the front looks right at me i think and he's like

big smile and he's he's come on come on i i how the hell do they know who i am like all right so i took like half a step don sheil walks by wow oh man but i didn't give up i ended up getting a lanyard from a teamster who had an extra one he recognized me asked what i'm doing i tell him my request now i'm backstage so now i'm in the action i got a shot i find his guy he says after the event you stand right here he'll either say yes or no it's your problem to pitch him you know i'm not going to pitch him for you i told him what i wanted and stevie's line was i can't be at the baseball all-star game i have a high ankle sprain wow and he crushed it in one take then i told him the story about how we call i said i feel like we've collaborated because i i pressed your button

he's like oh man let's make the album and then he started to walk away and i said when's your album coming out because you have another album right about that time and he just said soon and he walked wow what a lesson yeah i'd say of all the things i've ever done like i've been on some emmys with you know sports center or nfl countdown never individually but as a team yeah highest achievement was his band members knew who i was wow age at a different concert so oh what a life more of that we need more of that we need the kenny main book um and i think there's a great lesson there for young reporters who maybe don't want to shoot for the moon shoot for the stars give up too early here you are kenny main in your prime sports center superstar and you're still trying to scrap your way into that that's a

tremendous story um two last quick things that's the biggest thing i always say is do not accept your no yeah right like of course you just got you got to take the beating and and try again like what do you have to lose like a little bit of pride is about the only thing you're gonna lose uh in the early days of the pandemic the last dance it was very nostalgic it was it was beautiful to watch i love the state farm commercials because we got to see you know young kenny um on the old sports center set i was curious how those were shot like did they come to you to you know no one was doing anything back then like how did you you know get involved in that and i mean that was replayed over and over again as millions of people are watching and did you get paid for that as well or was that on the house yes got paid okay good and we won an emmy i think we were the

there was some great some title i don't know what it was most innovative promotion campaign something so you're describing the beginning of the pandemic where you could not go into the building unless you were doing a show and we were going to one sports center a night when there's usually like four or five right so i shot the first part of it on a night where i was already there to do sports center okay but there were a lot of pickups and a lot of changes and it was like high-tech stuff right it was like a little bit of the stuff we should be scared of now with the deep fakes you know like changing what people say and making it look like something happened that didn't

so without my daughter Riley who's working for the Lincoln Project by the way right now oh wow she just graduated in Boulder and she pretty much made the thing happen. She should have got paid because we shot the rest of it on an iPhone at my house where I'm right now. We shot one right behind me. The one in that room over there, we had to keep trying because we'd send it to them and they're like, Oh, you know, there was an echo or there was this, or there was that. So at this point they just wanted my face to take just the, my nose and my lips and make that be

in the original shot and then take that and make it be in the 1996 shot of me back on sports center right so it's very high tech very convoluted we probably shot it four more times from home on an iphone and then she had to figure out how to send it on the computer, which I would have never done. I would have tried to text it or something. And they're like, no, no, you got to go through.

What is it? We transfer, you know, we're using all these things that I'm not very aware of and not very good at. It's good to have young children who can help you at least ones in, in college, not so young anymore,

but who are well-versed in these things. Why should people check out runfreely.org? Thanks for asking. If I had time, I'd run and grab the device. If you'd like to, I'd be happy to. I mean, I feel bad I've taken up too much of your time. No, I'm enjoying this. Okay.

Go grab it. I have a lunch in 21 minutes. I'm going to show it to you. Don't go anywhere. Okay, I'm going to stay here, and I'm going to wait for Kenny. I don't know how long this is going to take. This is the beauty of doing these types of interviews. This has been great.

Here you have a wonderful shot of Kenny's living room, basement, window. See this? Yeah. Looks like a fake leg, kind of. Goes up past your knee. So, in short, go to run freely r-u-n-f-r-e-e-l-y run freely.org run freely.org so after i ruined my leg in college i played one more year because when you're young you're like whatever but every year every decade bone spur surgeries metal in metal out you know when i got to like 50 ish

i'd say early 50s it was really bad like bad bad like every i was flying around the country doing not sports centers but all these worldwide trips and football stories magazine stories and a lot of wear and tear and so sometimes just getting off the plane you're like you know like you just had to like make the joint work again because it would lock up. And I was to the point I went one week to three different doctors. I went to the fusion guy, which they lock it in place to run. I said, could I play flag football and softball? No, no, no. You can't run with it. I said, well, why would I get the surgery to not run when I can already not run? That's what a stupid exercise. And the last guys were the amputation guys. And I was actually considering it. Like I was in pain every day. They were great because they were like, you're too young for this. Go find a better therapist who I just coincidentally ran into the right guy who led me to a chiropractor in Seattle, Nino Pribic in

Kirkland, Washington, if you needed some chiropractic. And he just kind of brought it back to life. I got this one device that was like the station wagon compared to the Ferrari that this is. And then a few years later, running to this guy in gig Harbor, Washington named Ryan Blanc. And he's making these devices for veterans who come back with similarly bad ankles for various reasons. And I literally ran on day one,

stuck that thing on that, you know, they have to make it just for you, right? Like special. But I got on the treadmill day one, no fear, just 15 miles an hour. I'm sprinting. And couldn't even believe the gift that I had.

And I was like crying for two hours, called Gretchen told her what this miracle was. And we started the foundation right afterward, which I said, run freely. And we've just raised money to buy one at a time, basically. It's not like a building. There's no staff. It's me and my Twitter and a girl named Mara in South Carolina who helps out and my wife and friends,

and we just try to keep raising one at a time. Right now we've got a list of, I think, three guys waiting on hold, just like, hey, when we get the money, you're next, you're next, you're next. It's worked out, though, because had it been a bigger enterprise i'd be worried that we'd have 200 people waiting and maybe there are 200 people out there but it's worked the way it's worked you know i'm saying we're okay we got a couple in line oh somebody just sent in five grand cool now we're up to eight you know we just we just kind of very small time very mom ma and pa foundation but nothing has kept all the money every dollar you know goes to buy these things we write a check send it to the guy in gig harbor tell someone so hey contact the guy you're

up next and and it's worked out pretty well so i think we've in three years we're close to like one a month not exactly but right in that neighborhood. That's not bad. Beautiful thing. Runfreely.org. I see you promoting it. I love when there's something big happening in your life. You always find a way to attach that to it so that more people can see it.

Very smart. You're a beautiful man, Kenny Mayne. Thank you for everything. Thank you for being so kind to me when you didn't have to be. I know that you know you say i was helping you with the stuff but like there was a point early on i was like i can't believe kenny main is texting me right now this is insane surreal for someone who always kind of felt like on the outside looking in it really meant a lot and i wish you nothing but the best it's great to see you pop up doing these other things independent kenny is a force to be reckoned

with there i say so congrats on a great, but I'm looking forward to this next chapter and I'm looking forward to that book as well. You have some stories to share and I think it would be great to read them. So thank you for the time. Really, this was a real treat and I really appreciate it. Thank you. All right, so there you have it.

Kenny Main, what a guest, what a character, what a legend, 27 years and one month at one place, one network, that's an incredible run. And they'll be talking about Kenny Mayne and trying to emulate him, trying to recreate his persona, his magic for years to come. Just an amazing talent. And he's still young. He's still in his early 60s. He can do this for another 10, 15 years if he wants to. Very versatile, very entertaining, very funny. I just love his stories. I think you should write a book, if I'm being honest. That's what I said to him on the program. So I hope you enjoyed

the conversation. If you want to watch it or any of our old interviews, go check them out right now, youtube.com slash Ariel Hawani. Last week, we had a great conversation with Dan O'Toole, another great broadcaster. We spoke to Brooke Burke recently, Dan Lebitard, Michelle Beadle, Pat McAfee, AJ Hawk, Daniel Ricardo. The list goes on and on. Mario Lopez, Kelly Slater. What a collection of conversations we are building up. I love doing this each and every week, and I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am

doing it right now. I love everything about it, and I love the support as well. Thank you for that. Thank you for continuing to rate, download, subscribe, review, download, unfollow, follow, undownload, download again, do all those things, comment, do all those things. It helps. It actually helps, believe it or not. So thank you very much for your support. Thank you very much to Kenny Main for his time. Thank you very much to the lovely Feathers for their music. And go check out runfreely.org as well.

It's a great cause. He's doing great things over there as well. And thanks to all of you. Thanks to the production team. Have a great weekend. I will talk to you next week. Take care. Thank you.