The Bill Simmons Podcast - Charles Barkley’s NBA-NFL Summer Takes, Plus the Jewish Pop Culture Pantheon With Juliet Litman and Mallory Rubin

Episode Date: August 25, 2023

The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Charles Barkley to discuss Nikola Jokic, USA falling behind in basketball player development, international basketball, a look at the West next season, Charles's favorite NFL story lines, and more (1:37). Then Bill talks with Mallory Rubin and Juliet Litman about the new Netflix film, 'You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah' (1:15:08), before hearing Juliet's list of major Jewish pop culture moments (1:34:21). Host: Bill Simmons Guests: Charles Barkley, Mallory Rubin, and Juliet Litman Producer: Kyle Crichton The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming, please checkout theringer.com/RG to find out more or listen to the end of the episode for additional details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit rg-help.com. We're also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network where we have a new election podcast called Somebody's Gotta Win. It is hosted by Tara Paul Mary. We did it with Puck. She has a new episode about the debates on Wednesday night that you should check out. I also put up a new episode of the Rewatchables on Monday night. We did Cruel Intentions. If you're looking for fantasy football stuff, I talked to Matthew Barry on last Tuesday. The fantasy guys are coming on this podcast next week.

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going to talk about the bat mitzvah bar mitzvah scene and great Jewish pop culture moments in history. Juliet made a list. We reacted to it. This was really fun. What a podcast. I can't believe this is free. You're so lucky.

Let's bring in Pearl Jam. All right, we're taping this on a Thursday afternoon. Our friend Charles Barkley is here. You don't get enough credit for how much you love football. Football's two weeks away. You love it. This is your time right now. No, no, no. It's not two weeks away because they start shouting with the college.

Right. So I'm already been looking at this Notre Dame point spread. I think so. I'm excited, man. I tell you what, you know, I think most people know me football and boxing are my two favorite sports. And I cannot so. I'm excited, man. I tell you what, you know, I think most people know me. Football and boxing are my two favorite sports. And I cannot wait.

Because like I said, once it hits this weekend, I got it for the next six, seven months and I'm good to go. And then we got the hoops. The Team USA is happening. What did you think of the Crawford fight? I was surprised that he won so easily. I'm glad they finally fought because, you know, these guys been not just these two, but we missed probably 10 great fights the last 10, 15 years where guys should have been fighting their prime. But for some reason, everybody want to be undefeated.

Yeah. Which is the stupidest thing in the world can you imagine if muhammad ali and joe frazier hadn't fought three of the greatest fights ever you know you look at uh ali he fought norton he fought foreman he fought norton three times i know but these guys today for some reason they want to keep the zero. I guess that's the way the young kids say it. So it was a heck of a fight. Crawford was a stud. You know, I felt bad for Errol. Yeah, I felt bad

for him because he's such a great fighter. Listen, Crawford was better that night and I hope they fight again. I do. I hope they fight again. I think that's one of the reasons the UFC has been able to gain on boxing in so many different ways. Because their guys actually fight. You know, boxing was able to duck it.

And you would just take these kind of safer fights and avoid the fight. That was the big fight. Because if you lost it, you're never going to be in the same marketability standpoint. And, you know, first of all, you're 100% correct. But it's just so stupid because can you imagine like if the AFC and NFC didn't play a Super Bowl? Like, yo, yo, yo, we're good. We're good. We don't have to play the other conference.

We're good. And it's just silly. So I'm hoping this is the beginning of us having some great fights for the next. Because there are a lot of great fights out there right now if they just make them. Yeah, I wonder, like, sometimes I wonder if the boxers learned from the previous generations because, like, Ali was, like, my first sports hero,

but he fought everybody, and he would fight Ernie Shavers, you know, and Ernie Shavers was the type of guy he should have been ducking. But he fought everybody and put a lot of miles on himself. And then, you know, I think there was some real damage later. And I think people are way more careful with it. Yeah, but listen, there are times you have to override your agent or your promoter and say, no, no, no, no, no. I want to test myself against the best.

But that's really the only way you can build your legacy like I want to fight the best and if I lose two or three times because what made Ali and those guys great if you lose and come back that's when you're a true

champion just being undefeated fighting guys who are pretty good you know they can't beat you. That's not what makes you great. Losing, number one, fighting other great fighters, but also you can never know until a guy loses what he's made out of. That's the true test of a champion. Well, that was Sugar Ray Leonard, right? He fought 15 rounds against Benitez.

He fights Duran in Montreal, loses, comes back, beats him. He fights Hearns right away. He fought everybody in his division within three years. And that's why he's one of the greatest to ever do it. Yeah, no question. Yeah, so I hope they learn, but they haven't did it so far. Yeah. Going backwards, I haven't did it so far. Yeah. Going backwards, I haven't talked to you since the finals.

You and I were, I think, diehard, diehard Jokic supporters. And it was really weird, the narrative about him, what people kind of didn't see. And then all of a sudden these four playoff rounds happen and then everybody's like, Jokic, he's amazing. What a great player. And the evidence was there for years and you were you were one of the first ones with the platform to be like what are you guys watching are you guys idiots so what took so long well because you know first of all I love ESPN I'm not ever going to badmouth them. But the negative of them,

they turn a two-hour basketball game into dunks, passes, things like that. Not the overall skill. Like I say, and I understand, they're going to show you who dunked great and a couple of people to play in the game. But what his excellence is just so beautiful to watch. And the thing I like about it the most, you know, Bill,

we get so enamored with guys who can really, really run and really, really jump. And listen, if you see the crap that I get paid to watch all the time, we got some really bad basketball going on by guys who can really, really run and who can really, really jump, but don't have zero idea how to play basketball. So I was just happy that you're like, guys, you don't have to be the fastest guy.

You don't have to jump the highest. You can be great because let's be realistic. There's very few players who are great at basketball just because of their athletic ability. You have to have a basketball skill to be successful. Right. Well, he combined qualities

of a couple guys that you went against in the 80s. There was some bird in there, and also the footwork was very McHale-ish. Yeah, you know, that's a great point. But, you know, he like, those guys, well, Bird could shoot threes. Yeah, he just didn't shoot them as much back then. But also, he's the best passing big man ever. Ever.

Ever. I mean, and, you know, Bill Walton had a great run brad darty was a great passer i'm trying to think i don't want to leave anybody out but as far as this guy well you played older sabonis but he was his body was pretty broken down at that point yes uh uh yes great point but that's actually if you want to compare him to somebody, Sabonis in his prime. Young Sabonis. Young Sabonis is probably the closest I've seen to a guy who can shoot threes,

pass the ball and take you in the post. Yeah. I mean, Sabonis is the reason we started sending guys like me to the Olympics. Cause that's, that's like me to the Olympics. Because that's exactly like, yeah, we should not be sending college players to see Sabonis because that man, he was a great, great player. And the thing that's scary about Sabonis, he gained like 60, 70, 80 pounds, blew out both Achilles, had knee surgery, and still came to the NBA

and made the all-star team. I mean, that's how great a player he was. Yeah, and he was carrying extra weight, all that stuff, it didn't matter. Yeah, the thing that I really appreciated about it was his ability to elevate other players, which I think is the piece of basketball

that I love the most that isn't assessed properly. And especially as we get more stats heavy and who gets the winning shot at the end of games and stuff like that, but just somebody's ability to lift teammates up, which I think like even somebody like Steph, who's not your typical, like he's not a magic Johnson type point guard, but the stuff he does during a game opens things up for teammates in all these different ways versus like your conventional, you throw the guy the ball on the right side,

he beats somebody off the dribble and scores, but everyone else is standing around watching him. I don't like the heliocentric basketball. I saw some stats, Luka, 85% of his shots last year were unassisted. I just don't like that kind of basketball.

Well, he's going to have to make that adjustment in this game and stop playing just one-on-one basketball because it's not fun to play with. The thing I like about Joker is I played with one guy who reminds me of playing with Joker. His name was Seth Sabalos. This dude never stopped moving and it took so much pressure off of me because if guys are standing still to pick it

back on your point, it's easy to guard those guys. Especially in a playoff series when you're playing it for two weeks, you just get used to it. If I'm one of Joker's teammates, I'm like, all I gotta do is move. He gonna find me. And it's a nightmare for the defense. It's a nightmare because that thing where you're like, all I got to do is move. He going to find me. You know, and it's a nightmare for the defense.

It's a nightmare because, you know, that thing where you like keep an eye on the ball and an eye on your man. No, no, no. You can't do that with Joker because if you turn your head for a split second. So that's what makes his game just so beautiful. He's always going to make the proper basketball play. It would be fun. It'd be fun to play with a guy like that. Yeah. I mean, the thing I love about him and I think puts

him in this rare territory with only a handful of guys in the history is like you can kind of put him on any team. And unfortunately, like the All-Star game doesn't matter. So we don't get to, he doesn't care about it. We don't get to see it, but you just kind of put them around and guys would figure out how to play off him. I think essentially LeBron has that quality, but there's been other situations where guys haven't fit with him. Yeah.

And I think it's more to do with just that LeBron has the ball a lot, right? Joker never has the ball that much. He doesn't care. But Bird and Magic were like that too, where they just didn't have the ball. Even though they had the ball a lot. It doesn't care. But Bird and Magic were like that too, where they just didn't have the ball, even though they had the ball out there, they really didn't. Well, what makes Joker so special is when you have a player,

you know, Bill, a lot of guys, and I learned a lot of this from Paul Silas, one of my favorite coaches. He says, Red Auerbach got him aside one day. He says, Paulul why do you do that he says what do you mean why do you shoot the ball he says you're not a good shooter he says well why are you shooting it he says what do you mean he says what what do you think you agree that he says

defense and rebounding he says well why don't you just do that and stop all the other bullshit, and we're going to start winning championships. Right. So he should always talk to me about, like, he said, that guy's not a great player. I said, what do you mean? He says, well, he's going to get me 30 points one night. He's going to get me 10 points the next night. And it's going to look really good on the stat sheet.

He got average in 20. But we cannot be successful with that fluctuation. But the point I want to make about Joker, I don't know this, but I think he's content if he has a score of 30 or 20. Yeah. Get 17 rebounds or get 12 rebounds or get 12 assists or 15 assists. I think he's such a great player. He's like, I don't care.

If I have to score, I can. But I'm content to get 12 rebounds, 13, 15 rebounds, or 12 assists or 15 assists. And if you don't appreciate that, you just don't know anything about basketball, that's brilliance right there. Like, whatever we need tonight, I'm going to give it to you.

It seemed like he barely cared about winning the Western Finals or even winning the title. Yeah, he cared a little more for the title. The Western Finals, he's just like, I got to go, guys. I'll see you later. You guys can all celebrate. And to me, that was the beauty.

That's the beauty of him. Like, yeah, I play basketball. It's not who I am. It's not the most important thing to me. And he reminds me of Tim Duncan as far as like, I thought Tim Duncan was the most no drama, great player I ever watched in my career. Like there's a lot of great players, but they all bought some type of drama to the table.

Yeah. Tim, Tim Duncan, who's the, in my opinion, it's the greatest power for whatever, you know, the best player I ever played against is Kevin McHale,

but the best part for what I ever saw was Tim Duncan. And I was like, and the thing I loved about tim duncan when he got past his prime he didn't give a shit he's like oh it's genoble and parker and then became kawaii leonard and that's part of i guess the jokers probably got a lot of more great years where he's going to be arguably the best player in the world, but I guarantee you when he starts slowing down, he'll be like, I don't care as long as we're winning, I'm going to be happy.

And that epitomizes Tim Duncan to me. Yeah, Duncan was good with 19 and 10 for about nine years there. And winning championships. Well, he could still summon it in games six and seven in 2013, the finals. That was the Tim Duncan A-plus game

because he's like, all right, I'm going 30, 15 tonight. Well, I think you can have flashback games when you get older. Not only negative about that is you're tired for like the next week. Right. Yeah.

Like once I got paid in my mid-30s, like every now and then I could have a really, really great game. But I was tired for like a week. I was useless. I was useless for the next X amount of games. I had no,

it took me a week, a week to recover. So yeah, you can have flashback games when you get older, but you can't sustain them. Yeah. That's a great point because like true greatness is the ability to over and over again be at a certain level, which I think Joker was at. And Joker's in his late 20s.

That's because he's young, though. Yeah, he's in his late 20s. He can just repeat it. You can do it easily when you're young, Bill. But you can see with LeBron in this. I mean, LeBron's been in the league so much longer than I think anyone expected at a high level. But you could see in the playoff, though, like when he would have a monster game, he'd have a monster game and he was tired like the next game. Right.

And that's what happened, though. And I think one thing that really helped LeBron was Dylan Brooks messing with him because that energy he was giving LeBron, even though he couldn't sustain it from game to game, it did give him a juice to get them through that series. And then when they got to play the Nuggets, the tank was on empty. They got swept quickly. And yet, if you go back and you watch those games,

they weren't that far away. Yeah, but that's not away. That's not true. That's not true. But I mean, each one of those games in the fourth quarter was an either or game and then they had Jokic. Let me tell you something. Emmanuel Stewart was one of the great boxing trainers of all

time. And I talked to him a few times and I was at these big matches and I said, I think this guy is going to be great one day. He says, he said, he's really close. He says, why do you say that? I says, well, he's really close to beating a couple of guys. He says, well, maybe he's just not good enough. And I said, I said, what? He says, sometimes in sports, when games are close, you're like, man, man we're close the Lakers aren't close now it's going to be interesting all the stuff they did but as I said last season it's all going

to come down to Anthony Davis if Anthony Davis is uh as much as I love LeBron I said if Anthony Davis is not I said this last season and two seasons before that, I said, if Anthony Davis is not an MVP candidate, the Lakers are not going to go anywhere. I mean, I said, they got very lucky. They had a great draw in the playoffs. But if Anthony Davis is not an MVP candidate, the Lakers are not going to be close to winning the championship.

I liked what they did last summer. And I think they're hanging around, right? And I need a little luck, but I just think... They don't need luck. They just need Anthony Davis to play. You know, Bill, I said, when Anthony Davis was in New Orleans, I said, man, this dude's going to be the best basketball player in the world. Right. He thought he'd release least be Tim Duncan, right? Yes.

For his generation. But we don't even say that anymore. I've given up on that. I think he's an excellent player, but I just don't see the consistency of being able to do it three nights a week instead of one and a half. And you just got to say

right now, until he shows us, we're not going to have faith in him. Yeah. I mean, yeah. And it's unfortunate because, like I say, I thought he was going to be the best player in the world. But now we don't even mention that. We don't even talk about that anymore. We just talk, can Anthony Davis stay healthy?

That's the number one question. We don't talk about, can he be the best player in the world? Can he be an all-star? Like, yo, can this dude stay healthy? That's the question we question. We don't talk about can he be the best player in the world? Can he be an all-star? Like, yo, can this dude stay healthy? That's the question we ask now more than anything. Well, you know who didn't ask the question? The Lakers, because they just gave him a giant extension. I was surprised.

They doubled down. I was surprised. I was surprised at that. But more power to him. Hey, whatever they want to pay you, that's what you're worth. Let's take a break and I got more stuff on this. Get ready for the NFL season with incredible offers from FanDuel, America's number one sports book. Right now,

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Commercial use excluded. You know, I was thinking, Jokic is the best player in the world. Luka's heading that way. Like these aren't American players. And just the selflessness that Jokic has versus like the culture that

we've created in this country with what we value with basketball players. You mean how we have how we just screwed up basketball with AAU and things like that? I think it starts with AAU with like, all right, I don't like the team I'm on. I'm just going to jump to this other team. I'm playing multiple games a day.

And it's just the grind of basketball versus the concept of being on a team, making other guys better. And just is this kind of where we are? Now, there's some good benefits. I like where the Anthony Edwards arc is going, right? But he also wasn't in that whole world. He played football, basically his whole childhood and got into basketball late.

So he kind of missed it. So I'm not, I'm not saying it's hopeless, but it does scare me a little. Where do you stand on it? Well, I'm going to go with hopeless. I hate AAU. I think it's a, it's a negative impact on players. I think they play

way too many games. Way too many games. To have these young kids playing three basketball, basketball is a very demanding sport. To have these kids playing three games in one day, it can't be better. First of all, it's no

benefit whatsoever to you as a player. It's only just physically draining and putting your body in harm's way. There's nobody in the world telling you to play three basketball games in a day when you're a teenager that is good for you. There's no way physically that could be good for you. Well, how many did you play growing up? So, you know, Bill, I you play growing up so you know bill i wasn't that good you know when i grew from 5 10 to 6 5 i never got played in the au or anything like that you know but that was like the why i was such a late bloomer when i grew from 5 10 to 6 5 that's why i wasn't heavily recruited and things like that but you know we play we didn't play

anything organized i mean obviously i'm from a small town of a few thousand people. Yeah. But we play a little bit on the weekend, but that was it. We had not, we didn't have anything that was organized or anything like that. So I never got caught up in it at AAU crap. Thank goodness. It felt like it started with like the Jalen C-Web generation like early 90s was when this whole

infrastructure came into place when you're a kid, 6th grade, 7th grade people started to know who the best like 13 year olds are and that's when it took off Yeah well I think we know when they started selling players basically you know they got handlers and they push you towards

certain schools. I mean, it's just, I just hate it. I just don't think it's good for the sport. I don't know how you put the toothpaste back in the tube, to be honest with you, because it's such big business now. And it's unfortunate. Well, it seems like college sports, I don't know what's happening with that, but that's basically AAU for colleges.

You could just swap teams every year. Scoot Henderson's trajectory, like we did this documentary about the G League and he was one of the people in it. And he spent two years in the G League, right? And at least like learning how to be a pro. And then it just goes right to the NBA. And it's like, maybe the NBA becomes a bigger factor with some of these younger kids,

getting them in like a little more of a structure versus whatever college is now. Well, you know, this whole college thing right now, man, we have just totally, totally fucked it up.

Yeah. I mean, between realignment, between N nil the transfer portal i i don't understand uh i i just don't understand how in the world that we screwed up this situation i mean because you got done because I always look at this, there's only a couple of these guys going to go pro. So the other 99.9% get to go to cars and get a free education, which I think is a really, really big deal.

And between the three things I mentioned, conference realignment, NIL, and the transport portal. I don't know how this thing is going to turn out. And it's really sad and unfortunate. It really is because you know all these programs are going to start cutting sports at some point. Yeah. You know, having kids fly across the country and miss multiple days of school. I mean, that's not a good thing.

I mean, it's happened in high school, too. Like there's some high school teams that are flying around. But Bill, let me tell you something. Nothing shocks me when it comes to money. Yeah. Nothing shocks me when it comes to money yeah nothing shocks me like if money's involved people gonna find a way to make it or steal it uh plain and simple people gonna find a way to make it or steal it especially when it comes to sports and it's really a sad state of affairs uh and i don't know how you're going to fix it.

Well, you could, if you wanted, you could become Auburn's biggest booster. I'm already... You could just buy a basketball team for a year and be like, hey, let's try to win the NCAA title. Number one, I've been Auburn's biggest booster for a

long time. But what's in it for me? I don't know. Season tickets? Okay. I think it's a lot cheaper. You get to hug the coach? It's a lot cheaper for me to buy season tickets than pay all these players.

For me, I have been giving tons of money to Auburn for years and years and years, and I'm going to continue to do it, but I'm not going to give them unlimited access to my day on money. Yeah. Because, because no disrespect my life and my livelihood is not dictated by how good my college team is.

That, that like, I want Auburn to be great in football and basketball and all the sports, but the one thing I don't want to be is black and poor. Black and poor does not work. Even in Alabama, Georgia,

Tennessee, Florida, being black and broke is never a solution for success. As much as I want Auburn to be successful, I'm not going to give them unlimited access to my damn bank account. Right. Well, there seems like in the NBA, at least,

there's this younger generation of guys, and some of them are on this Team USA. And they did a good job of picking the team, I think. Some of the guys they picked, and they complement each other in different ways. But it does seem like we have at least a younger generation of, all right, that guy, we have Halliburton, you know, we have Edwards seems like he might be something I like Mikhail Bridges, Austin Reeves, he's there. So it's not like bleak.

On the other hand, I do wonder. It's never, it's never bleak. See, I'm, I don't think we should send, like, I like them sending those young guys. Me too. I don't think – and I'm not just saying this to you now. LeBron, KD, guys like that, they don't need to play in the Olympics anymore. Because I don't even think – like, they act like if we don't win the gold medal it's going to be like the worst thing ever happened to civilization. I actually

disagree with that. I think it'd be great because I think it would really help popularity in one of these little third world countries if they won the gold medal. Can you imagine if France won the gold medal, how popular was basketball become in France? My favorite part about this is you just called France a third world

country, which I love it. But Germany, if Germany won the Olympic gold medal, can you imagine how popular basketball would become? Because if you actually go back and look at history, all these young guys who, well, they're old now, they're retired, they're stars. They all said to me many, many times, their first recollection of basketball was the dream team. Right. And that's a great compliment. And I think that's what David Stern really meant to do when he started sending us to the Olympics.

But like if some other country won the gold medal, that'd be great for that country. I think the talent on these countries, Canada, France, Germany, like these, these are like real basketball teams now. Even like Germany, we played them on Sunday. They had both Wagner brothers and Schroeder and Tice. And I'm like, this is a real basketball team. It is. But also, like I say, I just think it'd be great for basketball.

We made it a worldwide game. People act like if the United States don't win, the gold melt. It's like, oh, it's World War III, it's Armageddon. I'm like, no, it's like oh it's world war three it's armageddon i'm like no it's not it's gonna popular popularize basketball in one of those countries even more that summer was the greatest summer that ever happened for you because you got traded and you ended up on the dream team and you were like the big winner on the dream team everyone knew jordan was the best

player in the world but you were like the quote- on the dream team. Everyone knew Jordan was the best player in the world, but you were like the quote unquote surprise, except for the people that actually fucking watch basketball. Like, yeah, Barkley was like 28, 12 and five every night. What are you guys surprised about? You like ran through that tournament roughshod. Yeah, it was really cool because Phil Jeff had worn me down. Yeah. Because it's hard to play when your team sucks.

You know, I will never forgive the 76ers for fucking up the Brad Daugherty situation. Yeah. Because that's when my career started going downhill in Philadelphia. When we traded Brad Daugherty for a good player. But also, people forget the second part of that trade. They traded Moses Malone to Washington D.C. for Jeff

Ruhlen, who never played with me because his knees were so bad. I remember we went out and got drunk that night before the draft. I'm like, man, this is going to change the whole... Because I was actually, I think I was

my second or third All-Star team. I was beginning to start my prime. And I was like, man, I'm going to have Brad Doherty for the X amount of years. I can't wait. And we had went out and celebrated. And I remember Phil Jasner calling

me like five o'clock in the morning, a great sports reporter from Phyllis's. And I said, Phil, why are you calling me at five o'clock in the morning? I just got home and I'm hammered. He's like, well, we need to talk about the trade. And I said, what trade? He said, the Sixers just traded. I said, where you been?

First of all, the Sixers aren't that stupid to trade the number one pick in the draft. He says, yep. I said, Phil, let me take a shower and call you back. So I took the quickest shower in the history of civilization. And he says, you guys just traded the number one pick in the draft for Roy Henson. I said, no way. He says, well, it gets worse. I said, what can be worse than trading the number one pick? I said,

Brad Darn is going to be an all-star for the next five to ten years. He said, well, they traded Moses for Jeff Rulon. I said, Jeff Rulon hasn't played basketball in two years. And from that point on, everything started going downhill in Philly.

And man, I played like my last three or four years. I made the all-star team every year. I was putting up 28, 14 a night, four or five assists, but it was obviously to no avail. And then from that point on, man, it was brutal in Philly.

So when people talk, when they look at like Dame Lord now with the trade requests that we've been talking about all summer, to me, there's like two different versions of that. One is like the situation you were in where it's like, I've been great every year.

You guys have actually done me a disservice. Maybe it's time for me to go. And then there's a situation like Dame where he's a little bit older. He spent his whole career there and he's just decided for whatever reason yeah i'm i'd like to go to miami and they can't accommodate it and i don't even know like whose side should i be on and something like that well listen i i think dane's request was unfair only going to miami because miami don't have any assets yeah like when i i didn't tell the 76ers what's really what's really the 76ers what's really...

The 76ers trade was an all-time bad trade though. But I will tell you what's really funny about that story, and I haven't told many people this. I had gotten arrested in Milwaukee for fighting that

season. I'm in Milwaukee all week on a trial. I get acquitted because I didn't do anything. Me and my agent, my attorney had been working on a letter all week to send to the 76ers telling them, hey, you know, philadelphia's been great to me it's a great city i don't want to alienate the fans but i'm never coming back to philadelphia again ever i'm never going to play on that court again because y'all y'all don't ruin my career blah blah blah so i fly back home friday night i'm buying i think i flew. I'm buying everybody on the plane drinks. I'm, I'm,

I'm, I'm excited. I got acquitted. Yeah. I get back home Friday night. Me and my friends grow out. I said, yo,

I'm mailing that letter Monday freaking morning to the Sixers. Yeah. My agent calls me Sunday and says, Hey, you get traded to Phoenix. I said, what? And I said, man, this is the greatest thing ever. And I got traded to Phoenix.

But to piggyback on you. And you were like, so it was Kevin Johnson. And who else is in the trade? No, no, they're actually keeping Kevin Johnson. You're like, I don't care. This is the double greatest day of my life. Yes. And so the only problem I have with Dame, he says, hey, trade me.

Try to put me in the best situation. But they can't screw up their organization taking pennies on the dollar. Yeah. I don't think that's cool at all. You and I are aligned on that. Well, you almost... There were some other possible trades with you

because there was... I didn't care. But there was a Portland trade and I think Portland blinked. It was like Kevin Duckworth and Jerome Percy and they didn't do it. Portland screwed me, Bill. Let me tell you what happened.

Because that was before Phoenix, right? It seemed like it was going to be Portland and you could play with Drexel. So I actually flew to portland on my own dime i didn't tell anybody i called the trailblazers general manager say hey can i come to portland and sit down with you he says why i says i'll explain when i get there so i fly to portland i said hey you guys are not gonna win the championship these players y'all got they just lost in the finals to jordan and yes it didn't go great i said you guys the only thing y'all missing is a low post presence

y'all got the probably the deepest roster by far in the nba But when y'all get in the half court, you can't score. Yeah. I said, yeah, because they were too deep at every position. They had probably the most talented team, just talent wise, I've ever seen in the NBA, to be honest with you. They were too deep in every position. You know what's sad is my beloved Celtics the last two years reminded me of those Portland teams. Like super talented and just kept blowing playoff games. Just kept turning it over.

And half the offense a disaster. Yeah, disaster. And I said, hey, trade these three or four guys, we'll win a championship. He says, let me think about it. He called me like two or three days later. We're going to figure what we got. I said, well, I appreciate you taking my meeting. Yeah.

We just bumped into each other later. I said, I told you you weren't going to win. You got to some point the game going to slow down. You just can't go run and gun. I said, they had the best record in NBA like three years because they just wore teams out. But in the half court, they

really struggled. It's a good what if. And then Phoenix just swoops in. I think Miami feels like they're going to end up with their version of Hornacek, Perry, and Lang for Dame. That's not fair to the Treblings. I just don't think Portland's going to do it. They should do it. Listen, Dame, one of my

favorite players, and they have treated Dame great. Yeah. But for them to take pennies on the dollar, I just think you can't run your organization like, hey, Dane, we want to do right by you, but we want to do right by our organization too. And they need to leverage the fact that he loves basketball. I'm sure in December

he'll get traded, but I don't see it before the year. What did you think of Boston's Porzingis gamble? I haven't heard you talk about that. I think it's worth the gamble. think of Boston's Porzingis gamble? I haven't heard you talk about that. I think it's worth the gamble. So you're pro Porzingis? I am. I think he's a... Because I think when people talk about

trades, he doesn't have to be your best player. He don't have to be your second best player. But not many guys going to bring players off the bench as good as Porzingis. Yeah. So I thought it was worth the trade.

And the Celtics are going to be one of the favorites in the Eastern Conference again. They're right now the title favorites. They're unfan-due. They're plus 470. Well, and also I got to give Coach Mazzulla a lot of credit for upgrading his coaching staff because I thought his inexperience showed at different times. He was a little salty. I'm like, yo, man, hey, relax.

You can get criticized. You can make mistakes. I mean, I asked Mike Brown. I thought Mike Brown made some mistakes in the playoffs. I thought that he should have went to the big land kid. Because there was no way Sabonis as much as I love Sabonis man

what's his name? What's the big center name? Looney? He was just too big, too strong. He couldn't keep him off the board. The guy was getting like 10 offensive rebounds a game. And also I thought he made a mistake not playing Davion Mitchell because Mitchell was playing great but for some reason he went to that other backup point guard and game and also i thought he made a mistake not playing debion mitchell because mitchell was

playing great but for some reason he went to that other backup point guard and steph just owned him i mean so i thought as much as i like mike brown i thought he made two mistakes in that series against the warriors he should have went to land and he should have kept mitchell right there and so but for some reason coach mizzou I think he's too good to get criticized. It was rough. I mean, I had some sympathy because he got thrown into a pretty weird situation. They had also lost Will Hardy to the Jazz. Then they lose him.

So now he is basically, you know, the B-list assistance. And then, you know, I think that he had some history with some guys on the team. Like he was friends with Grant Williams. Now he's got to coach him. He, Marcus, who felt like he was Mr. Celtic. And I think that got a little rocky where, you know, the Marcus is, I just don't think that went well. And I wasn't surprised that those were the two guys that left at the end of the season

because I think he had problems with them. Well, I think any time when you're going to sit because I think he had problems with them. I think any time when you're in the season, I think the biggest mistake he made, he didn't have any strong assistants. He should have jumped in and grabbed somebody. Got somebody. Even during the season.

Even during the season because the best he had was Damian Stoudemire and he left mid-season. Because you need, this is just my personal opinion, you need strong personalities on the bench, Bill, because, hey, all these guys

got egos. All these guys got egos. And if you're a nice guy and I think it's hard to be a coach when you're a nice guy. got to have an assistant coach who's an asshole and there's times as a head coach you got to be an asshole and for Westfall who was like his assistant that was like Paul Silas oh yeah oh you had a lot of Oh my God. Hey, let me tell you something. So I was struggling one game

and I was really struggling and Dan Marley kicked my ass. Three guys always could kick my ass and pick me up. Derek Smith, Rick Mahon, Dan Marley, three of my favorite teammates all time. But one game I was struggling. I don't know if I was mentally tired, physically tired.

It was what it was. And Paul knew how to push my buzz. He starts yelling at me, telling me, yo, superstar, why are you out there shitting up the joint, playing awful, blah, blah, blah. And I was in a bad mood because I knew I was playing bad. Yeah. And I said, hey, if you keep yelling at me, I'm going to come over there and punch you in your fucking head.

He says to me with a straight face, you got a head too. And we laughed about it later. But there's times a coach has to say, like, if you don't play better. And because I said, I said, yo, man, if you keep yelling me in front of these guys, I'm going to kick you. I'm going to come over there

and punch you in your head. And he says with a straight face, you got a head too. And from that point on, I picked it up. But you need to have a coach over there. Because let me tell you something.

No disrespect. If Coach Mazzulli yelled at you, you're not intimidated at all. But you need a coach over there who can yell at you, you're not intimidated at all. But you need a coach over there who can yell at you and you're like, yeah, he probably will kick my ass if I don't pick it up a little bit. I mean, Paul Silas, most

revered player of the 70s with the other players. Like an all-time legend. Everybody loved him. I love that guy, man. Cowans quit playing basketball when they traded him for like he went and drove a cab for a couple weeks and he was upset. I love Sil guy, man. Cowens quit playing basketball and they traded him for like, he went and drove a cab for a couple of weeks and he was upset. I love Silas, man.

He was the best. Let's take one more break. Come back. This episode is brought to you by my old friend, Miller Lite. I've been a big fan of Miller Lite, man, since college days when I was allowed to have beer. I think nephew Kyle is a fan too. Miller Lite keeps it simple for us. Undebatable

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your team. I mean, you have seven teams. I would say it's one of your top two teams. One of your top two, seven teams that you have. Bill, I got two teams. I got the Sixers and the Suns. And there's a couple more in there. A couple of players that you love. But your team, Ishbia buys the team.

Yeah. And he just says, you know what? Everyone's afraid of this luxury tax. Everyone's afraid of trading all that. I'm zagging. I'm going against it. I'm just putting together this team. I don't care what we look like four years from now. I don't care how much this costs.

I'm throwing all these dudes together. And they make some moves that I did not believe in until they got the Eric Gordon piece. And that was when they got Eric Gordon, I was like, all right, that's a five at the end of games that actually makes sense. If they, if Vogel can get DeAndre Ayton going, it was that I went from thinking, this is stupid. It's going to be a classic new owner buys a team that thinks he's the smartest guy in the room and then doesn't realize and

spends all this money. They're now thinking like, all right, the West is kind of open. If Denver won injury, who knows? And Booker as the focal point of everything. And then if they get Aiton going again, there's at least a case to be made that they could win the West, right? Oh, hell yeah.

They're probably the co-favorite with the Nuggets. I think I would have them too. The Gordon piece, that's what the 2011 Heat, they didn't have the Eric Gordon. That was where they fell apart. They didn't have that role back. But it's still, to me,

going to come down to the Aiden piece. Because, to me, he's the most important piece. What I mean by that is he's going to have to do all the dirty work. But first of all, they're going to have a really small team. And I'm not sure how great they're going to be defensively. Oh, I'm just assuming they're not going to be good defensively. Because you're going to be asking Durant to guard guys like Jason Tatum. But you're going to have to get some defense and rebound.

And that's all going to come down to Aiden. Because he's the only guy that's going to have size. He's going to have to. And listen. Would you see him in the USA, the Bahamas, that Olympic qualifying thing? Aiden's like, whoa, Aiden's got to hop in a step. Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. Because what's going to happen

when the season starts he's not going to get any shots so I'm pretty hey so that's when you realize guys who want to do the dirty work like a Paul Silas I played with a guy like Mark West a guy like Robert Paris

was a great guy for the Celtics back in the day you know like a Byron Scott a guy like Robert Paris was a great guy for the Celtics back in the day. You know, like a Byron Scott, Micah Cooper guys like that who were hell of a players. If you come to work and don't get any shots and you still going to help your team win, that's what he's going to have to do. Because KD, Booker, Bill, they're going to be option one, two, three, one, two, three.

And he's going to have to go out there. He's going to have to be a rebounding machine. He's going to have to be a shot blocker to a certain degree. So to me, it's all going to come down to Aiden. They're going to be able to score on anybody. But are they going to get big rebounds? Are they going to at least try to have him out there to clog up the post

a little bit? Are they getting stops? That was one thing. Denver was able to get stops against the Lakers and then the next round against Miami. That's because you got Aaron Gordon, but they did lose Bryce Brown, who I'm a big fan of his. So, you know, Denver, you know,

but they said they're happy with their young guys. Well, they think Christian Brown can come in. Oh, I love him. Yeah, so they need him to basically take those Bruce Brown minutes. They'll make one trade too. They'll get somebody in February. Don't you feel like Joker has reached a point

a little like where Tom Brady got to with the Pats and some other guys over the years in different sports where guys just want to play with them. So when we get to January, February, they might be like one buyout guy every year just because people will be like, oh, that'll be fun.

I get to play with the Joker for four months. Yeah. Maybe win a title. I agree with that. But like I say, the thing is, you know, it's interesting. The Lakers, I like what they did this summer. Me too.

You know, the Suns are going to be good. We know that. We know the Nuggets are going to be good. The wild card is the Pelicans. I have that as a wild, wild card. It's a wild, wild card. Because it all comes down to Zion's health and his weight because they got a really good

team if everybody's healthy. And if he's healthy, it's a big what if. And I'm trying to think. You wouldn't put Golden State on the wild card team? They're going to be solid. They're going to be solid. So you're not sold on Chris Paul

being a role player on that team? I'm not. I'm not. And don't forget now, let's don't sleep on the Sacramento Kings. They might be the third or fourth best team in the Western Conference. Now they got confidence. So man, I'm telling you

the West is going to be very interesting. I would take Sacramento over Golden State. I like that they got a taste of it last year and got kicked in the teeth a little bit, learned some lessons. Murray's going to have to get better. I thought Sabonis was hurt last year. I thought the first half of the year he was better than after he hurt his hand.

I never felt like it was quite the same. He did get hurt. I saw they signed his MVP from overseas. Right. I can't remember his name. It begins with a V. But yeah, they think he can play. Well, you know, but on the other side with the East,

and I did a podcast the other day and was talking about advice for James Harden. And it was like, hey, James, you have your best chance to just stay in Philly to be a one seed. Everyone in the East got worse. I think it's time for the Sixers to move on. My personal opinion to move on from James Harden, make the best trade possible and go on.

But nobody wants him. Who wants him? Well, that's a good point. Even the Clippers were like, all right, we'll give you some expirings and throw in a couple of Jenga stacks. Nobody's offering anything. Yeah. But I think it's just time for them to move on from him. That's just my personal opinion.

Hey, just make the best trade because if he come there, he's going to be miserable. Right. I think he holds Maxie back. I think that's uney back. I think that's unquestioned. I just think, hey man, give us a couple good players. Let's turn the team up. I don't even think you're getting that. I think you're getting expirings.

Well, he's expiring too. But that's the thing. I think if you're Philly, you're like you have the 10% chance he actually comes back and plays well and kind of gets reinvested versus like the 0% chance with any trade?

He's not. He's done in Philly. What is history? How does history remember James Harden in your opinion? He was a hell of a player. He was a hell of a player.

But he's passed his prime and he wants like, yeah, man. Nobody's going to give you a long-term deal. You can pass your prime. First of all, you're making $36 million this year. Don't act like that's chump change.

He's made like $300 million over the year. I mean, the last 10 years, he probably made $300 million. Easily $300 million. I think it's closer to $500 million. I think I saw that stat the other day, but you know, he's past his prime. He's going to make $36 million and then

he's going to have to take less money if he wants to continue to play. Plain and simple. I just feel like, to me, it's like a Carl Malone situation where I'm not going to be able to separate, in his case, the playoff stuff.

Carl had the same thing. It's really hard for me to think about Carl's career without the playoff stuff and just feeling like he kept coming up short in the wrong spots over and over again. Carl, at least, was playing year after year, stayed in shape, stayed with the same team. James should quit on three teams, which we've never seen in the history of the league.

And he'd wonder why they won't give him a long-term deal. You can't. He should be a year-to-year guy. But so should Kyrie, and Kyrie got three years. Maybe he sees that, and he's like, well, Kyrie, how did he get a three-year deal? Why can't I get one? Well, I think, I don't know. I was surprised that Mavericks did that, to be honest with you.

Me too. I personally, just my personal opinion as an amateur GM, I would have did a sign and trade to try to rebuild my team. Because I don't think the Luka Kyrie thing works together. Everybody's like, it was a small window. I said, you see that window. They don't think the Luca Kyrie thing works together. Everybody's like, it was a small window. I said, you see that window. They don't complement each other. I actually thought

that the Mavs are going to do a sign and trade. I thought that would have been the best way for their team to get better. Now they're married to each other, and I just don't see that thing working in Dallas. But I actually thought they're like, okay, Kyrie, you and Luka

don't fit together. Let's try to do a sign and trade, get Luka some help, and get you to a situation where you can be on a good team. But that's another example of, because I always hear stuff like that. I'm like, all right, go through the teams. Tell me the team.

I'll send you the trade machine. Go look at all 30 teams. Tell me which one is like, cool. I get to get play with Kyrie. That's why I feel like it's going to be the Lakers in like February if it gets traded. Cause they, they did that D'Lo Russell contract. Yeah. Like very specifically where it's like a big fat number. He waived an option. So they basically overpaid him to be a trade asset and they can put him with Rui or whatever and I just feel like if Kyrie gets traded that's where it goes yeah I was surprised like I say I was surprised they gave him that much

money but like I say I don't think the Luka Kyrie thing is going to work me neither I'm not a fan last basketball thing Jimmy Butler who you talked about a lot in April, May, June

was there a guy from your era like this like almost like this late bloomer guy who wasn't a superstar but yet could levitate with the superstars over and over again you know we see this in other sports but not really in basketball

the guy who's like I know I'm not like 12 months a year over and over again. We see this in other sports, but not really in basketball. The guy who's like, I know I'm not 12 months a year as good as these guys, but in a series, I am. That's a really good call. Because I was thinking, one guy from your era who I know you love, but to me, Andrew Toney was like that for a couple years, where it's like, I know he's not one of the best basketball players, but he's the single most terrifying player in each series, so maybe we should regard him that way, but nobody did.

Yeah, but I think what happened with Andrew was he was great, but the Sixers were not going to just give him the ball and let him go isolation. So nobody knew how great, great he was until the playoffs against the Celtics. And they had to go out and get Dennis Johnson to stop him. Yeah. Yeah. But because the Sixers didn't play like that.

So there's basically nobody like Jimmy Butler that you could think of. Because it's a really interesting career now. In fairness to your question, man, I've been retired for 23 years. If you said some names to me, I could probably say the man that got me for help.

Yeah, but like I say, dude, it's hard for me to imagine. I've been retired for 23 years. Can you believe that shit? I can't believe that. 23 years. I was telling somebody, I wonder what percentage of players in the NBA weren't even born since I retired. Oh, my God.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. There's probably like 125 guys who weren't born when you retired yes that's crazy yeah but you're in my top five i get mad when people don't realize how good you were when you played like magic magic was in the news again this week where somebody on tv was like steph curry's better than magic johnson and it turned into like a 24-hour thing and it was just like magic's one of the best five-pointers of all time. Can we just put that in cement?

Nobody is passing him. But as the years pass and the memories fade, it just starts to happen. Well, it's kind of like, listen, I love LeBron. I love LeBron. But most of these people who are defending him as the greatest ever probably have never actually seen Michael Jordan actually play. The closest they've come

is that documentary that came out last day, but they've actually never seen Michael Jordan play. And also, I always feel bad that Kareem gets left out of the conversation as the greatest player ever. That's why I say,

I think it's lazy when guys throw that out there. Because I said, yo, man, let's do generations. Let's don't, like, you never seen Michael Jordan play. You never saw Kareem play. I says, what about Kobe Bryant? I says, Kobe's the closest I've ever seen to Michael. Yeah. And I love LeBron. He's unbelievable.

But when these guys be having these conversations, I said, you saw the last dance. Because let me tell you something. I played against Michael every year in his prime, and it was beautiful to watch. But going back and watch that last dance, seeing what the Pistons did to him, trying to physically whoop the hell out of him, and him not complaining, just getting bigger and stronger, I'm like, damn, this guy was the greatest,

in my opinion. I says, look at the beating this guy's taking. And listen, you got to, anybody, even today, you have to admit it's a lot easier to play basketball nowadays because you can't hit anybody. As much as I love Steph Curry, and I love Steph Curry, can you imagine if the bad boys would beat the hell out of him? Bill, can you imagine that?

As much as I love Steph Curry, if you think that he could take those blows, that John Sally, Dennis Rodman, Bill Lambert, those body checks that they were putting on Michael and Scotty and myself and guys like that, you really think Steph Curry wouldn't break? Well, think about, I think one thing that your era doesn't get credit for

when they start comparing everything and there's like, well, LeBron played 20 years. That's such a better career than Jordan. There's all this stuff that can allow people to play that long. If Steph had come in in the 80s, his ankles would have ruined his career in six years. And conversely, Bird's back if you transport him 30 years ahead and they have all the stuff they have now.

Bird probably could have played six, seven more years. Easily. And that's what I think when they compare stuff. Jordan playing from 84 through 98 and then coming back for the next two years with the punishment that he took but not having all the shit they have now. He has to have hyperbaric chambers and chefs.

Hey Bill, I'm so old. I flew commercial like my first three years. Hey, I'm so old. I flew like commercial like my first three years in the NBA. And you're hanging out with the writers so they're getting information from you. Not only that, my first couple years in the nba and you're hanging out the writers so they're getting information from you not only that my first couple years because i played with so many bears i had to ride and coach you know we get we'd get to the game i said yo man my shoulder is killing me and they'd be like what's wrong i said that's his old ass lady sleeping on me and coach

i was like you know i didn't i mean you i'm like i couldn't wake this old lady up she's leaning on my shoulder i'm back in 17 d and i'm tired too because we played the night before and i was like you get to the game i said yo man you gotta do something about my shoulder and she's like and i'm telling you man some old lady fell asleep on my damn arm and I didn't want to wake her up. I mean, that's how damn old I am. And your trainer was also the assistant coach. He was doing two jobs. But that's like when people, I always get an Isaiah Thomas, Chris Paul arguments, because I think Isaiah is still like the best little guy I've ever seen.

Right. A hundred percent. And it's like, well, Chris Paul had a longer career. I will say this though in fairness I have moved Steph Curry into the same aisle with Isaiah Thomas but Steph's 6'3 Isaiah was

he's the little guy champ to me Isaiah retired when he was like 31 he had injuries and you know you guys were in wars back then and a 13 year career for a point guard was like a lot. A lot. And also you have the fact then, you know, these guys get to skip college now, you know, like all those guys like LeBron and Kobe.

Yeah. They're some of the greatest ever, but, you know know Michael Jordan stayed in college for three years well that's the Kareem case right like he comes into the league if you did it the way you would now do it now he would just come in right away he'd be 18 in the NBA and he still has all the records I'm glad you have enough common sense

to factor that stuff in I wish more people did because you just football is the same way. Quarterbacks are going to play. I'm sure Patrick Mahomes will play until he's 45. He's one of the greats ever, but he's also in an awesome era to be a quarterback.

It's a great time. Nobody dives at your knees. Nobody's allowed to hit you basically. It's crazy, but you said something very interesting. The medical advancements that these guys, number one, have at their disposal. I'm like, damn, these guys like there's times you see an injury. Guys are back in three months, a year. That is because I remember when Bernard King, no guy had ever came back from like an ACL injury.

Right. He was out for two years. Yeah. That's when they were opening your knee up and everything. And I says, yo, man, the medical stuff is awesome. Now we have stuff like Brees Hall and the Jets. Tears his ACL halfway through the season. They're like, is he going to be ready for week one?

It's like he just tore his ACL a week ago. All this stuff's amazing. Is Turner going to keep basketball? I know you're in the headlines about this, but you just don't know. I don't think anybody knows. Not just Turner, ESPN. Because we already know that Amazon and Apple are going to bid on it. And

I don't know what the breaking point is for ESPN or Turner. I don't think anybody knows. I mean, because listen, I think the last thing anybody want to do is get in a bid war with Apple and Amazon because that's a lose-lose proposition. But the good thing about it, the next two years is going to be very interesting, Bill. I don't think anybody knows what's going to happen, but Amazon and Apple have said, we're coming for the NBA.

We don't know if we're going to lose some of it, all of it. Same thing with ESPN. Yeah, so you did that giant contract, but if Turner doesn't have basketball, you're not going to work for Turner. You'll just go to where the basketball is. You're not retiring. You love money too much. Dude, I got plenty of money.

You can never have enough money. Yeah, yes you can. You know what's so funny? I think I got to start burning my shit. I'm not going to lie. So, you know, I was working on my daughter's prenup. I have one kid. My daughter, she's the greatest thing ever. But when I was sitting around this room with my accountants and my financial advisors, and they were just telling me how much money the government going to fuck me out of when I die. And I was like, wait a minute.

I've already paid money on this. They're like, yeah, you have. But when you die, they're going to come back with their hands out. I was like, wait a minute. That's not fair. And I'm sitting there arguing with people who get paid to make this. Chuck, our government are just crooks. You pay taxes on this money, but when you die,

they're going to come back and get another couple handfuls. And I'm like, damn. That's why you got to have a good will. Well, I got a great will. Yeah. But I'm still, like, and they only let you put a certain amount in a trust, because you can only hide so much. And I was explaining

this to my daughter. I says, it's a shame. Your dad leaving you some of this money, but don't forget you got to pay your taxes. Right. All right. Football. This is the big part of the podcast. Who do you got? What's your Super Bowl pick? What's your favorite

storyline? Let's go favorite storyline first. What are you most excited about for the football season? NFL. The Detroit Lions. Oh, you're buying the Lions hype? I love Dan Campbell. Okay. I love Dan season nfl the detroit lions oh you're buying the lion type i i love dan campbell okay i love dan campbell that guy makes me like you know i played football for one day and i realized i was a wuss i quit football after one day when i'm watching dan campbell i'm like i want to do over. I want to play for that dude. So number one thing I'm looking for is I want the Lions to do well because I love me some Dan Campbell.

All right, so you're rooting for the Lions, but you don't necessarily think they're going. Are you going to be betting on the Lions? The Lions were great for me the last eight weeks of the season last year. Them and Pittsburgh. They were coming through every week. Yes, but I will tell you this my second storyline is my philadelphia eagles i haven't got over the super bowl loss yet yeah that was so painful that was tough that was so painful you know patrick and travis are great and chris jones if he ever comes in andy reese a great

person that was an unbelievable Andy Reid clinic in the second half. I mean, that was like really one of the best. But you guys better stop treating my guy Belichick bad. Who's you guys? What do you mean? I love Belichick. I love Belichick. He's one of my, I consider him a good

friend. I'm so disgusted with some of these punk ass guys on television talk about Bill being on the hot seat and things like that. He's not on the hot seat. That's not happening. And shouldn't even be close to the hot seat. No, they're going to

be good. I'm picking them to make the playoffs. Pats are going to be good this year. I agree with you, but what's crazy? Is that the craziest division ever, though? Well, you know, AFC North might be just as good. Both of those divisions are absolutely loaded. What, AFC North? What do you mean?

AFC North, Baltimore, Cincy, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. Those teams are all going to be tough and going to be tough to play. And then AFC East has the same thing. Yeah, but I think the AFC East is because I think the ceiling on those teams are higher. Or lower. If two is one injury, Rodgers, the offensive line can't block. Who knows with the Pats?

That's true. But the Pats might be overrated. We have no idea. No team with Josh Allen is overrated. Let's get that out of the way. Yeah, that is true. He's like a basketball player who's just like a guaranteed 48 wins every year. I want to watch josh allen play football

every sunday well are you following this kid on the eagles the kid they drafted who fell to number nine carter the defensive lineman yes yes and he he would have been the first or second pick in the draft but now there's stuff coming out darius slay had this interview the other day yeah i saw that he was just like like not just raving about him. He was like, this guy is he called him Baby Rhino. This guy is an absolute beast. And it's like, wow, did the Eagles who made the Super Bowl also get

the best guy in the draft? It's possible. It is possible, but you saw all the stuff coming out at Georgia. That's why they got him nice. So you have to put all that stuff into play. That's why coaches and general mans get hired and fired.

I'm glad my Eagles, where it looks like a great deal right now, but it has to play out. He has to keep his nose clean. I mean, because you never know, man. You see all the time with football players, basketball players, they got tremendous talent, but they can't

keep their shit together off time. Well, John Morant's the number one example of this now, right? Perfect example. You got Antonio Brown, who's another perfect example. Like, the talent gets you to the sport. It gets you to the pros. But you have to, because, man, especially once you start making that money,

and that's the reason, because football is the worst because they got a hard salary cap pretty much. But once you start signing guys to all that money, man, I really hope Ja Morant gets his crap together. I really do because he's such a talented kid. And listen, the money they're paying these guys,

bless them. But man, you got to keep your crap together. And listen, I want my Eagles to get revenge because, man, when you get to the Super Bowl and don't win, like the year we played the Bulls for the championship, I catch myself even today like, what the hell could I have done different 25, 27 years later, because it's so hard to get to the Super Bowl because it's easy to get to the finals, basically, in my opinion, because you have the best player four out of seven games. But football to me is by far and away the hardest sport to win. Well, you get some luck. You just never know. But every game is a game seven in the playoffs.

I mean, you have to be good and you have to get some luck. That's why I think what bill has done in new England, him and Tom accomplished is incredible to go to 10 Superbowls. Uh, it's crazy. Yeah. That's the thing. You could go through each of them and they could have won like two and they

could have won like nine. That's exactly right. Because I ended up with six together yeah because if you go back and look those three super bowls that they lost um but arguably three of the greatest performances by the other team the two giants and the eagles one Nick both. Those are three of the greatest Super Bowl performances of all time that they lost. Right. But to get there that many times, man, you got to take your head off the bill and his coaching staff and Tom.

I think they're going to be good this year. And I thought they were going to be bad last year, and I was right. And they actually think they're going to be good this year. I don't know what the hell they were thinking last year with that I don't even know how you how would you what word would you use to

describe that coaching institute I would call it arrogant because they were like offensive coordinator we'll just get this guy to do it and you know what pretty important job You need a playbook. You need to talk to the quarterback. The quarterback went sideways.

Mack Jones is rallied back this year. I know he's an Alabama guy, so you're not rooting for him. Hey, listen. I want to see Bill do great. I got a lot of love and admiration for Coach Belichick. Well, he's 30 behind Shula. So I don't think he goes. Well, he's 30 behind Shula. So I don't think he goes, I think it's 30. I don't know. He doesn't go anywhere until he breaks that record.

He's going to keep going and going and going. Well, he deserves, he deserves to record. He wants the record. He, the cool thing, one of the things I like about him that I don't think people appreciate is

he really does love the history of the game. Yes. And the, and the greats and records and all, like he really does care about that. He would never the game. Yes. And the, and the greats and records and all that. Like he really does care about that. He would never say it, but he's a real student. I hope he gets to write.

He deserves the record. All right. Um, so you're coming back mid October with the NBA. Yes. Um, I'm looking forward to it. Um,

cause this, I have to stare at me again. No, because out of all the BSs that goes on in the nba what the nuggets and the joker accomplished just made me feel good man me too no no super teams no no no no no drama no drama i mean you know with kairi there's drama he a hell of a player No drama. No drama. I mean, you know, with Kyrie, there's drama. He's a hell of a player, but there's drama.

You know, that's the thing. Him and Giannis, Joker and Giannis, they make me feel good about my sport. You know who I would throw in with that? I think Tatum's been awesome to root for. He's been an awesome Celtic. That dude cares himself a great way. He says all the right things. He really gives a shit. Puts the time in.

I agree. I'd throw him in. Yeah, because I like, you know, they started the super team stuff, which I've always hate and always will hate. But when you got guys who just like, hey, I just want to be great at basketball. I got no drama. Like I say, Joker and Giannis go to the front of the line.

Tatum is in that same situation. I throw Jalen Brown in there. I love the way he carries. I think he was hurt last year. At least I've talked myself into thinking that. Well, you know what? He had a giant gash on his hand. Yeah.

Well, I don't know what he was doing in a garden i saw that garden thing like jay hey jaylen you're rich now pay somebody the garden for you like i don't work in my damn yard i don't work in my damn yard come on man you're you got 300 million reeds now just hire somebody for like 1212 an hour. Get a staff. Get a staff. Somebody, trust me, they'll cut your grass, do all the stuff around the yard. Trust me. Charles Barkley, great to see you as always. I'll see you during the season.

Please come back on. Hey, man, anytime, man. You know, I got a lot of love and admiration and respect for you. You know, anytime you reach out. I appreciate it. Appreciate you, brother. All right. Say hi to everybody in Atlanta. Thank you. I will, anytime you reach out. I appreciate it. Appreciate you, brother. All right. Say hi to everybody in Atlanta.

Thank you. I will do that. Be safe. All right. This episode is brought to you by Movember. The mustache is back with a vengeance.

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Still waiting for the right offer from a couple sponsors. But in the meantime, we are going to talk about Jewish Stuff because there is a new Netflix movie starring Adam Sandler and his two kids and his wife is in it. It is called You're So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah. It's, I think, the first bat mitzvah movie ever. So we have the host of Jewish stuff, Juliet, here, as well as Mallory, who went to 65 bar mitzvahs and bat mitzvahs. This whole culture has never been really penetrated with a big market movie. So Juliette, you had, I think, the most at stake.

Mallory's probably in the top five, but you had the most at stake. What'd you think? I really liked it for a lot of reasons that I'm excited to discuss. And I'm glad Mallory's here because Mallory's bat mitzvah theme was jello. And we really needed someone to represent what it's like to have a theme

because I did not. So, you know, we have a wide range of bat mitzvah women here. So we've got a lot to dig into. So you went no theme. I don't know enough about this. That's a specific choice? Are you saying I'm taking this so seriously

I don't need a theme? What's the rationale? It was not on the table in my household. I think this movie does a really good job of capturing both the parent and the kid perspective of what a bar bat mitzvah is. And for my parents, it was not an event that should have a theme. And so it did

not. But for many other parents, that is not the feeling. What was your family's strategy, Mel? Okay, here's the thing. My parents never sent me to Hebrew school. I was not going to have a bat mitzvah. And then growing up in Reisterstown, Maryland, receiving invitation after invitation to the social event of the weekend, I felt really left out, had the FOMO. And I saw that all of my friends were getting their bar bat mitzvah money. They had their fun themes. Also, they were making the journey into adulthood and having a meaningful cultural and social experience and a familial experience as well. And I thought, and religious, PS, don't leave that one out. I'm sharing my personal journey. For many others, that's obviously a part

of it. And I thought, you know what? I can do this. Am I already in the middle of middle school? Yes. Can I just mainline some tutoring in one year? Why not try it? And so I joined Hebrew School late. I did a very aggressive round of tutoring to get ready for my haftarah portion. And I had a bat mitzvah. I did it. I joined the collective experience, the communal experience that was happening all around me. And it was great. And as Juliette noted, my theme was jello. When you walked in, there was a sign that said jello and good evening. Every table was a different flavor of jello. My giveaway was a pair of boxer shorts that had a jello mold illustration on the ass. And it said, I wiggled and jiggled my way through Mallory's bat mitzvah. It was great. It's absolutely astounding. Yeah, that's great stuff. I mean, the fact that you would have unhealthy food involved in one of the great days of your life, not a surprise.

Refreshing and delicious. You know, had the Virgin Shirley Temple Bar. Virgin Mojitos were a big plot point in this film for me and my pals. It was all about the Virgin Shirley Temple back in the day. So I'm not sure you two know this, but I also have an extensive bar mitzvah history. Yeah. I'm in no way surprised since you are living in Los Angeles

and from Boston. No, but this is growing up in Boston, in Brookline, which is very Jewish. And my family, not Jewish at all, no idea what's going on. Then all of a sudden, started getting invited to stuff.

What is it? Like late sixth grade, early seventh grade, somewhere usually like seventh grade, right? Yeah. And all of a sudden getting invites to these things, not knowing what it was. What is this? What's a bar mitzvah? And then going to the first one and like, oh, so it's a huge party for this. And there's some religion to it. And then it was like basically my whole, I think seventh grade of just going to these. I probably went to like, I don't know, 15, 16. Did you give gifts in increments of high?

Well, I think I probably brought the same gift to each one. I don't even know what, I don't remember what I brought. Fill that with $54, three times high. But you could see there was some real stuff you would learn, right? Like who really put thought into this? Who really made it a splashy, almost like a wedding type of situation? Who just said, you know what? Come and my kid's going to do their thing.

But it was a really fascinating thing. And I remember being like profoundly jealous that I just turned 13 and nothing happened. Like that was it. Oh, it's your 13th birthday. Congrats. I was like, but all these other people are having parties. So anyway, I was very envious. There's a Wonder Years episode that's just like that. And the Wonder Years, Kevin and Paul have like

the same birthday week. And for what? So when Paul's turning 13 and Kevin finds out he has a bar mitzvah, he's like really jealous and he wants to get the money and it's a it's a classic episode i will say though when i in the early 80s the bat mitzvah was a little more unorthodox like the bar mitzvah was like everyone has it the bat mitzvah felt like it was still a little newish is that is that recollection correct yes so girls used to have confirmations also usually when they

were older and it's it's related to like the progression of judaism and like modern judaism essentially but like yes it started out as a thing for boys and then uh but it also depended on like what kind of jewish you were like reform conservative reconstructionist orthodox whatever so it really varied and i think in some jewish communities still it's only boys good scene in the movie about this right yeah where we're hanging out with all of the older members of the community who are reflecting on their past experience and how things have changed and to juliet's point from earlier earlier and all of my jokes aside about really craving the the gift money to go get my uh creamsicle colored orange and white

ibook which was the real goal of the moment for me at the time it i do think the movie captured the multi-faceted varied nature of this experience both inside of a person's life and in a family unit and in a community where there is like the social aspect and that thing you're identifying bill of like okay everybody is aware that this is happening and it's a different weekend for each person and their portions vary etc their themes vary but it's this like shared experience across a swath of time but also it's a right of passage a right of passage into this new phase of your life and this, depending on what each individual person's relationship is to

the actual religion of Judaism, in addition to the culture of Judaism. I thought the movie handled all of that pretty well in a tight and very entertaining hour 43 minute package. Great length. Just an excellent length for a movie. But

the reason I think they also do that really well is the movie is set at a Jewish day school. They don't actually say that, but I was trying to figure it out for a while. And then I realized when they're all in school together that they're not going to Hebrew school like I did after school, but like they go to Jewish day school, like they go to like Solomon Schechter or whatever.

So it is like a shared experience, but like all the time. And that's why they're all doing it. But the other thing that was really well done about it was, it wasn't only white, which I think is also a good reflection of Judaism at the moment in America. I think it didn't really hit how actually in real life, how awkward this age range is that my memory of these,

of going to all of these was the girls were all taller than the boys. For the most part, the boys are terrified of the girls, all taller than the boys for the most part. The boys are terrified of the girls, right? The girls are more developed. They're just like, everything's going on. And it was just a lot of the guys on one side of the room and the girl, you can't do that in a Netflix movie. You have to have the super cool 13 year old boy who everybody loves. And in real life, it's, I think just way, way way more awkward but that wouldn't be fun in a movie but there were those elements too right like mateo is clearly the more well-adjusted youth

and the like actual responsible young kid and the one you'd want your child to be spending time with but yeah he's like shorter he's not drawing the attention and the adoration of like the throng of young yeah of youngsters the way that uh andy goldfarb is and then you've got like aaron i loved aaron was quietly my mvp of the movie but he's just like can you play some journey right and then no one wants to hang out with aaron i just loved that i love dj schmooly loved love loved so much and my bat mitzvah i there was like dancers i didn't show any dancers. I wish there had been dancers, pajama pants

and socks, which are like, you know, the three hallmarks of a bar mitzvah. How about they're like dedicating a candle to each person. The candle lighting? Yeah. Needed the candle lighting. I just want to say I didn't do that either because my parents didn't want anyone to feel excluded. Oh my God. I did it. My mom

still has printed, framed, and hung on a wall the candle lighting speech I wrote for her, which is like littered with typos. And as a professional editor, just like fills me with shame every time I see it when I go back home. So what was, you must like all these years later, there must have been one phenomenal bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah that you went to that stands out.

The Michael Jordan of the ones that you went to. So which was it and what made it stand out? For me, it was my camp friend, Samantha. She lived outside of Worcester and it was at a country club. And I don't think I'd ever been to a country club before. And I remember that we were able to like go outside and like walk around the grounds of the country club at night with boys. And I was like, this is awesome. And also being able to see camp friends when you, you know, in the middle of the school year was like the best, but the country club piece of it like blew me away. Cause that was not something that I was

at all familiar with. This is great. This this is why you're you you texted us before the pod saying you hadn't found a way to incorporate camp and yet you did it on the fly you did it on the fly i never gave up hope i never doubted i always believed what about you mel oh boy i think my favorite was marcy kaiser's one of my best friends in the world, for a couple reasons, all of which were like merch centric. It was just very on brand. She gave away medical scrubs as her gift. Great gift. am like five years into adulthood like through college in my first few years in manhattan working living a real life still wearing those to bed every few nights incredibly comfortable those really stuck with me also marcy had juliet did you you must have made some of these the memory jars where you would take a glass and fill it with water and then fill it with a bunch of

stuff from the evening that reminded you of that time but also your friends and then you would take a glass and fill it with water and then fill it with a bunch of stuff from the evening that reminded you of that time, but also your friends. And then you would melt either candles or like crayons on top of it to seal it. And then you would keep it as a memory jar. And it was this really nice idea, though over time they would like rot and fester and like corrupt your room, but nobody would want to throw them away,

except of course for the parents who were like, this has some sort of like waterborne disease in it. But Marcy had one of those at her bat mitzvah and it was great. I went to a couple of great ones here in LA. I think that obviously as the decades pass, people get better and better at throwing these, which is part of the theme of the movie. But

a couple of my wife and my son and daughter's friends had some good ones where all the parents, it was almost like a wedding. It was like a wedding for a 13 year old, the same kind of vibe and people just having a real fun time, but also like some emotions, some speeches. I don't know. Thumbs up.

Thumbs up on the culture. Certainly, I didn't get to dabble into it in my own life. So one other thing with this Sandler movie, he cast both of his daughters as the two daughters. And the younger daughter is basically in every scene. And so this is... Star of the movie. It's a bat mitzvah movie,

but it's also like kind of, I don't want to call it a rom-com, but it has a lot of the DNA of like a typical Netflix movie, but like a really well done version of it. I thought it was, I genuinely liked it. I watched it with my daughter and then, and I knew my daughter liked it.

Cause the next day she then watched it again with my, with my wife. Wow. I was like, if you went to back to back double header, the same movie, that's, that's pretty high praise. Um,

but as I was just thinking about like him putting his kids in, I get nervous doing anything with my kids together, like going to dinner, going to a game. I can't imagine being on a movie set with them for six weeks, hoping they remembered their lines and doing all that stuff. It was pretty funny, but interesting. It's the most restrained Sandler we've seen in a while.

I think he was probably so nervous to be in a movie with his own kids. So it's basically like he's barely in it. He's certainly not the most supportive person in the movie. But he has more of a supporting figure. Totally. But he and his daughter have that incredible shouting match that you don't see, you only hear.

And that is pure Sandler. I loved it so much. Also, it was the only Holocaust reference of the movie which I also appreciated that it came out in a fight and I thought both of his daughters were phenomenal the younger one Sonny is the one who like carries it and the older one Sadie

they were both so good and I was the whole time it's kind of shocking when I saw the trailer I was the whole time I was wondering. It's kind of shocking. They were tremendous. When I saw the trailer, I was like, oh, man. Boy, if this doesn't go well, this could be really rough. Like, what if one of them's not a good actor?

Like, it's just, it's a pretty big risk. It's certainly more risky than like me bringing my daughter on to talk about the OC at the tail end of my podcast. This is a freaking Netflix movie that's going to be on the cover. But I thought they were really good. It makes sense, of course, when you're watching it that Stacey Friedman is the actual protagonist and central figure of the story.

Because while it is about bat mitzvahs and Jewish culture and is very specific in that respect, ultimately I think to your point, Bill, it's like a fairly universal coming of age story. Totally. And it's going to appeal to a lot of people. Yeah, women being friends, but also kind of...

Yeah, well, young friendship. There's that little, a guy can always ruin this type of element that's always in a million rom-coms, right? Absolutely. But whether it's a crush or not, it's like the idea of friendship that evolves as you grow is just something that people are always drawn to because it reminds you inevitably of like someone or something in your own life right and so like

if you are adapting and changing as the person who's been this like central presence in your life able to accept and adapt and change with you are you able to do that for them i i mean mostly the movie is like just very charming and very sweet and very amusing. At the end, I thought that it was actually moving. I was genuinely touched by the journey that we had taken with these young friends. 930 elements of pop culture movies or TV. Yeah. So the movie's got to check that box. And it did.

Yeah. No, it was good. I agree. I thought it got a little emotional at the end. Juliet, you've, I don't know if anyone's consumed more content than you

of the relationship between two women as they grow up or they age or they age together. I don't know where this ranks for you, but what's, what's like number one on that list?

Oh, man. Of the characters aging together and the rollercoaster ride of whatever their friendship was. Because that's, That's a staple. I'm a little embarrassed to say this, but there is a clear, like most important text in this film, in this genre. And it's beaches. I'm sorry, but I think that's fair.

With the great bad middler, obviously. And Mayim Bialik playing the same character. I mean, that is a foundational movie i think that's really really important um bill i do love friendship and i love stories about friendship a lot so i i really enjoyed this and i think one thing it does really well is it also um it nods to some of the like important like uh predecessors like mean girls and dear god are you there it's me margaret and it it has like just the right amount of those things while also being original that it's like much like a bat mitzvah you know it knows where

it's coming from but it's kind of carving its own path and i thought that that was really really well done um i also thought that uh something that like really resonated was the fighting with your mom over what you get to wear and then commiserating with your friend the second you're out of your mom's view. And that part of the relationship between the two girls I thought was really sweet. And the way they brought each other's shoes was just so touching and so real. And also the so real fighting with your mom about what you get to wear to your bar mitzvah. I mean, I had to negotiate. I had to trade dress for shoes, basically. Mine was

the opposite of what's in the film. I was like, can I wear umbros? Can I wear soccer shorts? My mom's like, here's a ball gown. So does this become like Shawshank for Jewish girls? What happens to this movie? Who doesn't watch this movie? If you're a Jewish girl, is there any way you don't watch this movie?

I really hope people do because I was thinking a lot about this in preparation for the pod. There actually are very, very few earnest and authentic representations of the Bar and Bot Mitzvah experience in pop culture. Very few. And I actually think that Adam Sandler is a huge part of

many of the big ones. I'm an unabashed Adam Sandler super fan. Maybe that's just how I feel. But actually, there's not a lot of competition. This is unique in that way. Mal, could you think of anything else in your lifetime that you thought captured this?

I mean, if you couldn't come up with something, there's... But think how crazy that is, though. Everybody goes through it how many wedding movies have we had over the years we've had like a million so many

and this is like the only bat mitzvah movie we can think of maybe this will be new IP this will spawn an expanded universe

like a superhero franchise and Rabbi Rebecca and Cantor Jerry will be the stars of a spinoff Cantor Jerry just the singing was also a spinoff. Cantor Jerry just... The singing was also so real. That is a very specific kind of cantor

that takes any moment and just sends it to a song. Alright, so I asked Juliet to make a list of her most important Jewish pop culture touchstone moments and we're going to go into them right after this break.

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Find their products through banks, credit unions, and associations Or visit SecurianCanada.ca Securian Canada, insurance designed for life Alright Juliet I don't think you've ever responded to a text more happily and eagerly and faster than me asking you to do this assignment, which was, you know,

we're not going to do like a Hall of Fame or a Mount Rushmore or any of that, but there's very distinct Jewish pop culture moments in TV shows and movies and songs that just kind of levitate above all of them.

Everything else. So, you're going to read your list. Mallory and I don't know what it is and we're just going to react off the list. Okay. So, I just want to say,

I mentioned the Holocaust before. I don't know if you guys have heard about it, but that's an entire genre of film that is just not included for me in this way for the most part. I think that's the right idea.

Different thing. Okay. Yeah. All right, great. That's a different podcast segment. Fair. I'm sorry, Steven Spielberg very much maligned and not perfect and certainly aged interestingly

but very important in this moment, Edward Norton's Keeping the Faith. An incredibly important Jewish movie. Oh, tell us why. First of all, do you guys recall this film? Because it stars Edward Norton. I don't know if I ever saw it. Oh my god.

Well, I've never seen this movie. Oh my god, you guys are crazy. What a start. Edward Norton. I don't know if I ever saw it. Oh my God. Well, I've never seen this movie. Oh my God. You guys are crazy. What a start. Edward Norton's directorial debut. Wow. Okay. It stars Ben Stiller,

Edward Norton, and Jenna Elfman in her Dharma and Greg Prime. It's an Upper West Side classic in which Edward Norton is a priest. Ben Stiller is a rabbi. They're childhood best friends. Their third is a young girl who moved away.

And then she comes back and she's like hot. And she's Jenna Elfman. They both fall for her. One is a priest. So that's really a problem. And then Ben Stiller is a rabbi who like everyone in the congregation is trying to set him up. I think you're making this up.

This is a real movie who like everyone in the congregation is trying to set him up. I think you're making this up. This is a real movie. I swear to God. And the through line of the film is that Ben Stiller is the cool rabbi who helps kids prepare for their bar mitzvahs. And there's one kid who's like his voice is changing. And so he's having a really hard time figuring out how he's going to chant his Haftorah. And Ben Stiller comes up with this chant for him, him which is I love that I suck. I love that I suck. I love it. And they just say it over and over again. I can't believe you guys haven't seen this movie.

Your Jewish listeners are outraged and Mallory. This is why we need Jewish stuff as a podcast. You could have done a rewatch of us on keeping the faith. All right. What's next? Okay. Next. The Drake video. Hell yeah. Fucking right. Where he stages a bar mitzvah.

Essential. Iconic pic from you here. Now I have heard of this. Yeah. Great work. I think Drake. So Drake, he's half Jewish? His mother is Jewish.

So in the eyes of the Jewish God, he is Jewish. It's a matrilineal situation. Drake is one of the most outspoken Jews we have. In fact, I was watching a lot of his Saturday Night Live material and it basically is all about being black and Jewish. So, Drake, we thank you. Welcome aboard, Drake.

Next. First Wives Club. Great bar mitzvah scene. Oh, wow. Okay. I know this one. Very important bar mitzvah scene in which Dan Hedaya this one very important bar mitzvah scene which dan hidea walks in with his second wife played by sarah jessica parker who is a total moron uh and his first wife is bet middler second bet middler reference on this podcast for anyone counting and it's it's really good also just an absolutely incredible movie we got diane keaton

to represent the entire diane keaton oeuvre from the Woody Allen movies, which, you know, it sort of makes its way in here. It's a first wives club is excellent. It's not currently

streaming, which is a crime. Good one. Next. Thank you. Um, prime. So happy right now. I'm really enjoying

myself. I don't even really know if we need to talk. She's basking in Juliet's glow. I feel like I'm watching Steph Curry just shoot threes. This is great.

I'm just going to say it's going to get more. We're just rebounding for Steph. It's going to get more weird and then it's going to get less weird. So just bear with me. Okay. Prime starring Brian Greenberg, Meryl Streep, and Uma Thurman. I like this movie. Yeah. This movie is great. And Brian Greenberg is one of the hottest living actors.

Thanks for being Jewish. It's a great one. And he was also in How to Make it in America. He's been in a bunch of stuff. So is he like the kind of the Jewish Ryan Reynolds, basically? Definitely. I think that like... Also, you know who he's married to, Bill?

Who? Real World San Diego's very own Jamie Chung. Jamie Chung, yeah. Oh, what a couple. Wow. I think that like, also, you know who he's married to, Bill? Who? Real World San Diego's very own Jamie Chung. Jamie Chung, yeah. Oh, what a couple. Wow. I know. It's really... That's fantastic.

Good job by them. Right in our collective sweet spot. I think Prime's a good movie. I actually think... I do too. Prime is a classic, just should have been a TV show. Definitely.

It actually shouldn't have been a movie that could have dove in and they could have built it up toward like episode six. She finds out that her patient is actually dating Uma Thurman. Uma Thurman's great in that movie too. I'm pro that movie. Very quick Uma Thurman note.

For some reason, she started doing voice work and accents and everything. And I just want her to go back to being Uma Thurman. I don't know if you guys have watched Red, White, Royal Blue, but it's weird. I have not. Okay, next. This is probably the weirdest pick. When are we getting a curb i don't like are you saving it what's going on i told you it's gonna get more weird and then less weird okay crossing delancey starring amy irving it's a really really good movie that a lot of people's grandmothers and mothers made them watch so it's really really

good what's the plot of Crossing Delancey? Her grandmother is trying... She's like an unmarried disaster. Her grandmother is trying to set her up with the pickle guy on the other side of Delancey Street. It's like both about Lower East Side culture. I think Amy Irving was still married to Steven Spielberg at that point. So it's like from that sort of axis, whatever.

Alright. Now, Bill. On to HBO. Ari Gold's Daughters Bought Mitzvah, the Entourage episode. Oh, legendary episode. Thank you. Season two finale with, or no, not finale,

with episode 10. It's, first of all, a crucial time in Entourage. I love the Mandy Moore era. I love when Melinda Clark is on the show and drama

and Turtle being really high and starving at the bar mitzvah is just incredible. Great episode. Love this pick. Nice pick. Really good. Curb, very hard to choose just one, but almost impossible.

I think we have to have at least like three for Curb. So I went back and I rewatched the season two finale, season five, six finale of that, which is when Jeff's daughter, Sammy, has her bar mitzvah. I was cackling so hard. It was when there was the rumor that Larry likes to put a gerbil up his butt was circulating.

So he used the bar mitzvah to set the score. And Vivica A. Fox as Loretta is his date. It is so fucking funny. I actually think it's not given enough credit. It is so funny. I love that season. So I would have that one. The baptism episode, I think from season two.

That's a good one. Which is basically his, Cheryl's sister converted a Catholic who's converting to her side to get married. And somehow Larry fucks it up. And it ends with all the jewish guests on one side and all the catholic guests on the other side like almost like west side story that part i have palestinian chicken i think is the other one where the chicken's so good that they even though

it's run by a bunch of palestinians they're like sneaking in and then it turns out one of his friends is actually cheating on you know his wife by going to the chicken place. Cause it's the only place he's not going to be seen. That episode's excellent. Wait, so do you two not consider the survivor eligible based on the previously stated rule? No,

the survivors in there too. I mean, that's the most iconic episode to me. Yeah. That's the whole episode. And then the sheet with Gina Gershon is also just unreal. Well, and also Super Dave's character on Curb is like a Jewish Mount Rushmore character. Like Funk Houser.

Every moment with him is great. He's Funk Houser's the best. All right. I think Curb's leaned into it the most consistently the best. I agree. He's probably the MVP for just all Jewish stuff. Volume. Yeah, like the Hanukkah song and all the other stuff he's done. Eight Crazy Nights.

I want to mention The Wedding Singer, which really captures the seventh grade boy awkwardness so well when the kid dances with Drew Barrymore. It's so sweet. I love that. The two episodes from Seinfeld

where Jerry can't get time away from his parents so they go see Schindler's List and make out during it raincoat one and two unbelievable that's my favorite thing about Schindler's List is those episodes of Seinfeld alright guys I got a few more

Marvelous Mrs. Maisel i think mazel will go down as maybe like the most jewish show of all time with the least number of jewish people um it's like pretty it's pretty amazing but also i would say actually doesn't really bother me personally but i think that it captures a really specific part of Jewish culture that like everything else we have mentioned is kind of born from and also the comedy piece of it is like so important like the Borscht Belt is really like tied to like Mel

Brooks, Barry Levinson, Albert Brooks like Woody Allen like they all kind of come out of that tradition Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld so like I just think it's like a pretty important show and also a great show. And a lot of like, just like people and characters to love. I can't wait to see if Woody,

I can't wait to see if Woody makes this list or not. I mean, it's your list. We'll see. I'm on pins and needles. Mallory just, Mallory and I have a fundamental disagreement about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, which is that I really like Joel uh mallory just um mallory and i have a fundamental disagreement about the marvelous mrs mazel which is that i really like joel and rooted for him the entire time of the show played by kevin zeggers and mallory despises him okay i have rarely rooted for a character's death

as fervently as i rooted for Joel's great show okay thanks you asked about Woody Allen I do have Annie Hall on this list I think it's pretty important first of all it's kind of like the first rom-com of the modern rom-com era so there's that the

Diane Keaton and Woody Allen relationship that is you know replayed through other films and other relationships is so fundamental, again, to the entire genre. And then he has that really famous scene where he imagines himself as a Hasidic Jew. So, I mean, it also introduces the concept of neuroses, I think,

to a mass audience. In fact, one of our colleagues watched Fleischman is in Trouble, which is also, I think, on this list. I was just going to mention Fleischman. Yeah. Eerie. And asked me about like Jewish neuroses. And I was like,

well, have you watched any Woody Allen movies? Like start with any, any hall. So I think to like understand a lot of like Judaism culture, you can't not watch any hall. It's very important. Also,

it leads to when Harry met Sally, which is basically, you know, it doesn't rip off any hall, but it, it definitely it's an homage in some ways, I would say. What's next?

Alright, guys, I got two more that I think are important. I have a couple, and I'm not even Jewish, but I can't wait to give you mine. Wet Hot American Summer. Not explicitly Jewish, but it's camp. I mean, you know, DM me if you want to talk about camp, everybody. Then, I think camp yeah I mean you know DM me if you want to talk about camp everybody um then

I think behind Adam Sandler the Stiller family is number two what they've done for Judaism pop culture and I'm gonna go with meet the parents I think that Ben Stiller in that movie also him and Owen Wilson talking about Jesus as a carpenter and the Jew is one of my favorite scenes

and it's incredible. Some great choices, Mel. Absolutely fantastic. I probably watched Meet the Parents like 47 times the year it came out. It's really funny. It's really, really funny. I also just want to add

there's a lot of like cartoon comedy episodes about Bar Mitzvahs, like in Big Mouth and Rugrats. It's a big thing in cartoons, obviously, because it's for kids. And so it's something they're going towards or it's about kids or whatever.

But much like my guy, Chris Ryan, I don't really do animation. So that's not on my list. I have two ads. One was the White Shadow in the late two ads. One was the white shadow in the late 70s. One of the characters was named Goldstein

and they had a whole Jewish episode with him but it also led to they had a country club episode where some of the team was eating the country club and the waiter said we have roast beef au jus

and somebody said is that how Goldstein eats it? Great joke. Really killed on the white shadow. Everybody laughed. That's one. The other, and I can't believe you didn't mention this, and I'm actually a little hurt

because I always feel like you're on my 90210 love level. But the college episode in season five, sophomore, Brandon's sophomore year when Brandon's the student president and there's the the the black coalition had some speaker who had said offensive things about Jewish people at some point and it turns into this big war on campus and then it turns into a whole thing about David Silver Andrea gives this David Silver a big speech brings her grandmother in it from the

Holocaust David are you are you Jewish or not? And then he goes to protest at the end and it's a pretty emotional 90210. I just messed up his name and I left it off. I'm really sorry, Bill. I've let you down. You're right. Well, David Green is another one we could add because that was School Ties, which we did on the Rewatchables. I feel like that's got to be

in there too. I thought for sure School Ties would be on the list. A lot of classic films missing here. School Ties has to be on there. No one mentioned Fiddler on the Roof. Well, that's a classic. You're right. You could go either poll with the recency or the primacy. You could throw out Fiddler.

What about No Love on Sean Fantasy's behalf for the Fablements? Is a modern entry here? Yeah. Jillian didn't love the Fablements. It was her list. I'm sorry. She didn't have Yentl on there either. I mean, Yentl was... I know.

I was thinking about Barbra Streisand. What about the Seth Rogen Barbra Streisand movie? That's out? That just didn't make it? No. I will say,

I regret not mentioning Dirty Dancing, which is not explicitly Jewish, but it's a Jewish movie. Oh, I like that one. Yeah. I mean, they are a Jewish family. Oh, I like that one. Yeah. I mean, they are a Jewish family. Also, it gets back to families going to the Catskills.

And also, they don't really say it, but I think you're supposed to assume Patrick Swayze's character, Johnny Castle, is not Jewish. And that's part of why the father is so against him. That is definitely a Jewish movie and also a great movie. Porky's a movie that I think has been canceled seven times over at this point. But also one of the big plots

was about one of the kids was Jewish and they were like bullying them and it turns into a whole thing. And then at the end, they all become friends. But that was probably for like a mainstream comedy about as far as I've seen it go with something like that. Not enough Coen Brothers talk. Let me just throw that out there.

We have to get a serious man on the list. We have to. I've said this to Bill probably a thousand times over the last year. I'm just looking to feel good and a lot of these movies are not feel good movies. It's one of my favorite Juliet corners.

I respect it. She doesn't want to do another... We were kind of aligned on The Last of Us as good as that show was. It's like, I just didn't feel good about myself after every episode of that. My favorite show of the year. The worst I want to feel...

We get it. Yeah, I know it's good. But the worst I want to feel is wondering about it. Yeah, I know it's good, but like the worst I want to feel is like wondering about what happened in the final scene of White Lotus, you know, like I'm good. I'll just like,

let's be a little bit more frivolous. It's a tough world out there. Yeah, I'm with you. Any last thoughts, Mal? This was a, this was an incredible experience. I'm privileged to have earned the invitation

despite not carrying Juliet's passion or expertise for the subject matter. It was great to earn the invite. Yeah. This is how I felt when I got a Burr Bobits invitation back in the day. I'm putting this Zoom invite in a little album. I'm going to keep it for years.

Did we make a mistake not mentioning Sean Green, the baseball player? Sandy Koufax? Who had a run there as one of the best outfielders in the world, and then Sandy Koufax. It's 2023. If you're going to mention Jewish baseball players, and I'm on the pod, we're going to talk about Dean Kramer, starting pitcher for Team Israel.

Oh, that's a good one. Centerpiece of a Baltimore Orioles starting rotation that he's been pitching better lately. He had a great start this week. But Sean Green was one of the best outfielders in the league. Didn't he have a Jewish name? What about the guy who got suspended for using PEDs on the Brewers?

Ryan Braun. Yes, he was Jewish. Ryan Braun. Well, just had to mention Dean Kramer love the So's team looking for any opportunity I get

to talk about these Baltimore Orioles if you want to talk Jewish athletes I mean we could talk about the time I was in Israel and I tried really

hard to buy an Omri Caspi jersey and couldn't find one Omri Caspi is another one probably one of the only people

the Kofax 60s run, I think, is the Jewish sports apex, right? You're not beating that. Baseball mattered the most in the 60s and the whole thing. All right. I'm glad we did this. I'll get over the 90210 thing. I really thought that episode meant more to you, Juliet.

I don't understand. I wish I also had mentioned Josh from 90210. A great character. Josh Richmond. All right. You can check out that Netflix movie. It's good. I think we all genuinely liked it.

It's fun. It's great. It ties in a lot of these themes. Mallory, we can hear you on your own feed. House of R. We've spun you off. Yeah. Get another Ringer spinoff.

So you can hear Mallory in that. You can hear Juliet on Ringer Food. Bachelor Party. How are we feeling about the Bachelor franchise? We're feeling good. Gary. We're good. We're back.

His name is Jerry. I have to always remind myself. Golden Bachelor. I'm really excited. And Bachelor in Paradise is always fun. I think it's going to be a good fall. Thursdays from 8 to 11. It's a really long commitment, but I'll be there.

What? 8 to 11? Yeah. They're doing them back to back on the same night. Wow. Can you believe my mom wasn't on Golden Bachelor? Would there have been a better character? She would have had nine glasses of wine and started berating somebody.

It would have been unbelievable. And she would have looked great. The first person I inquired about to have on the pod to recap it was, in fact, your mom. So I also was like, I'm going to take this opportunity to see how we can make content with her. I was excited.

My mom listened to Tara Palmieri's entire first episode of Somebody's Gotta Win and said she liked it and she was spunky and then told me the glass of wine she drank as she listened to it. What was it? Which, I forget what it was, but it goes back to my theory that this should just be a podcast of my mom recapping what she watched or listened to the night before and then what glass of wine she had. Mallory, good luck with the Orioles. Juliet, great to see you as always. Look forward to see you all in person. Thanks for being on.

All right. That's it for the podcast. Thanks to our guy, Charles Barkley. Thanks to Julia Lipman and Mallory Rubin as well. Thanks to Kyle Creighton and Steve Cerruti. Don't forget new rewatchables, cruel intentions. Don't forget to check out destination NBA,

a G league odyssey, our documentary that we did on Amazon's Prime video. There's a lot of discussion this week about what's going on with sports stocks. We made a really good sports stock. Go find it. If you're mad that the quality of sports stocks are going down for the most part,

and that's true, they are, go check out Destination NBA. It's good. I'm proud of it. I've done a lot of these. I have a pretty good track record. I'm telling you, it's a good film. I am going to be back on Sunday.

We're going to be diving into football really hard next week. So be ready. I'll see you then. I don't have on the wayside on the wayside I don't have Must be 21 plus and present in select states. FanDuel is offering online sports wagering in Kansas under an agreement with Kansas Star Casino, LLC.

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