The Bill Simmons Podcast - RIP John Havlicek, NFL Draft Highlights, and an Overdue Hang With Desus and Mero | The Bill Simmons Podcast

Episode Date: April 26, 2019

HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by his dad after Round 1 of the NFL draft to discuss the Giants' curious sixth overall pick, the Redskins' picking up Dwayne Haskins Jr., and other draft moves before they pay homage to the late John Havlicek (2:30). Then Bill sits down with Showtime's Desus and Mero to talk New York sports, NBA playoffs, fans vs. players, Coachella, making a TV show, Twitter beef, and more (37:00). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tonight's episode of the Bill Simmons Podcast on the Ringer Podcast Network brought to you by DAZN. The old way of watching sports is over. You can stream over 100 fight nights a year without the pain of pay-per-view. Their next big fight, Canelo Alvarez, Daniel Jacobs, champion versus champion. What a story. Daniel Jacobs fought his way back from cancer. Canelo Alvarez, boxing prodigy. Three world titles on the line.

Who's going to take it all? It is coming up first weekend in May. Subscribe now. Get the zone. Sign up. That's how you got to watch this. Check it out. You know I'll be watching.

I love the big fights. We're also brought to you by State Farm. During the playoffs, a clutch teammate makes all the difference with the State Farm agent on your team. You have someone who comes in clutch when you need it most. I don't know if they'll be as great as Damon Lillard was in round one. I mean, even if it's 99% as great, it would be the best State Farm agent ever. Man, was he clutch.

Draft a State Farm agent to your team. Save when you combine your home and auto insurance. State Farm, here to help life go right. We're also brought to you by TheRinger.com, the world's greatest website, where we are in our full glory this week with the NBA playoffs, with the Game of Thrones,

with our Game of Thrones show, Talk the Thrones on Twitter. Sunday nights with the Avengers, which is just absolutely mammoth with about two thirds of our staff. Um, NFL draft. We've been all over it. You name it. We have it. Check all of it out. The ringer.com the ringer podcast network. Um, coming up, we're going to call my dad cause John Havlicek passed away. One of the best NBA players ever. Definitely a top 15, 16.

And, uh, and one of my first favorite Celtics, but somebody that we had a unique connection to. So we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the Patriots draft as well. And then old friends, Deezus and Mero were in town and, uh, as usual, a rollicking conversation with them. Rollicking, a rollicking conversation with them. Rollicking, a rollicking conversation with them. So we'll get that in a second.

But first, our friends from Pearl Jam. All right, we're taping this part of the podcast. It is midnight East Coast time. And my dad, incredibly, still awake, age 72? No, 71. 71. That's a great job by you. We're going to talk about John Havlicek in a second, who meant a lot to both of us, but I wanted to mention we just watched the end of the first round, the NFL draft.

The Patriots are up. We finally pick an exciting guy for the first time in a while. Well, it was kind of funny because the two teams before us, both of them made trades. Yeah. And weren't you sitting there thinking, we're the next team to make a trade? Yeah.

I was. I never thought we were going to make the pick. Just expecting them to either make a trade down or take like a left guard or something. Right. No, they actually take this wide receiver from Arizona state is pretty exciting.

And in the globe, he was, he was picked to go in the first round to green Bay. And they talked about how he'd be a great fit with Aaron Rogers. And he go, he fights for the ball, goes up for the ball, makes great over the shoulder catches,

uh, can run well after the route, after the catch. I'm very, I'm pleased with the pick. I don't think I could have standed trading it or picking an offensive guard or another safety or cornerback.

So his name is Nikhil Harry. Old friend Mike Lombardi was big on him this week saying how a legitimate receiver guy can play anywhere in the field when the ball's in his hand. He's a beast. He's a freaking beast. Raving about him. And then another thing, in the ringer NFL slack, where everybody hates the Patriots, a lot of F-bombs and general dismay that we got this guy.

So that was a good sign too. Mallory Rubin, Ravens fan, Patriots hater. Upset. And apparently might be a punt returner. He's got some size. Now the funny thing is we finally make an exciting pick and ESPN just immediately ends the telecast, which I thought was hilarious.

Like don't ever change ESPN. They went back to it. You didn't stay on. Oh, they went back to it? Yeah, they went back to it. And that's what I thought you were going to comment on. They showed about a three or four minute montage of him with a cell phone video when he went to visit Granada, I think, where his family was from.

And then they showed highlights of him on the field. And they showed him going up for a catch. It was like a jump ball catch. Wow. And then he cut across the field. Six or seven guys tried to tackle him. He outran them. Oh, this is exciting.

He's a big guy, too. He's almost like a tight end. Yeah. All right. Yeah, ran them. Oh, this is exciting. He's a big guy, too. He's almost... He's 6'2". He's got like a tight end. Yeah. All right, so that was fun. Yeah. Patriots finally making a fun pick,

and somebody who might play this year and catch the balls. Who knows? Well, fun pick and a big need. And now they have two second-rounders and three third-rounders. They have other needs. I mean, we have to get an offensive lineman, we have to get a defensive tackle, and a tight end,

and maybe a quarterback of the future, although I'm not sure in this draft. But I like the pick. Usually I'm not so happy about the pick, but it made sense to this team at this time. Then they had to, the other thing other than cutting away and ending the telecast right after we picked, was they had to show the Tom Grady turns 42 in August graphic.

It was just classic. It was all the way through. Don't ever change ESPN. Yeah. The most fun thing of the whole draft was the Giants taking the guy from Duke, number six, which we had been joking about in the ringer offices, on the ringer slack. It had been a running joke that the Giants were going to do this. Danny Kelly, who covers the NFL for us, he did a top 100 that he had worked on and slaved over.

He did an incredible job with it. Did not even want to put this guy in the top 100. And his editors made him put him 100th, this Daniel Jones. I just saw that. Because they figured he was going to get taken in the first round by some dumb ass team. He ends up going six to the Giants. The Giants fans are as angry at their team as anything I can remember in the NFL. They are so angry and frustrated. It's unbelievable.

Did you see Colbert interview him after he got picked? No. Oh, well, a couple of impressions. First of all, he looks like the classic second or third round quarterback on a team. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't sound like a good thing. He had a deer in the headlight look.

He looked like he was terrified. He just got picked. He didn't want to get picked that early. He wanted to get picked later. The expectations. You know, he talked about how he knows the Mannings and his coach coached the Mannings and his coach, coach of the Mannings, and he can learn from Eli.

Yeah. He can learn from Eli. Eli's my age. I mean, I just loved it. And the guy on the telecast, I thought it was pretty good. I can't remember his name. Who loved the kid from Ohio State. Yeah. Was just kind of dumbfounded, wasn't he?

Yeah. I had to drive Ben to baseball practice, and it was right during the fourth, fifth, sixth picks, and I was driving back, and it was between the fifth and sixth pick, and I was racing back because I wanted to get here in time in case the Giants took that guy. And I was at a stoplight, and they took him, and I was just dying laughing.

I was thinking if there was anybody in the lane next to me just looking over at me, they would have thought I was at like a stoplight and they took them and I was just dying laughing. I was thinking like, if there's anybody in the lane next to me, just looking over at me, they would have thought I was mentally ill. I was doubled over. Oh my God, they did it. And then everybody was making jokes about how the New York team tanked to get the Duke guy, but nobody thought it was going to be the Giants. That's who they ended up with. I have to say that one of my fears because there were rumors that the Patriots liked them. I don't know where those started. I was afraid we were going to take them. Yeah, I didn't want them at 32 and the Giants took

them at 6. Congratulations to them. They took two of our Super Bowls. I just wish them eternal failure and damnation. That could be another part of why I'm laughing but they did steal two of our Super Bowls. I guess...

Hey, it was a good night. We filled the need. Guy, I wish you had seen the tapes after they came back from commercial. He just looks like a nice guy, too. I mean, again, to repeat myself, he's huge. You know, 6'3", pretty heavy. Runs a pretty good 40.

You're really excited about this guy. What about how funny was the Raiders going off the menu at number four? Shocking. The drafting. I love that, too. It looked like a classic mistake, didn't it? Yeah. I mean, they kept saying it was an overreach,

but it looked like there were a couple of guys sitting there that looked terrifying. If you're an offensive player and the guys, the linebacker, and I can't remember who took them. Well, Tampa got the guy at number five, but then Josh Allen goes seven of the Jaguars. Josh Allen, boy, he looks terrifying. Yeah, that made me mad. Yeah. You know, it's funny when the Pats took a wide receiver, Kyle just wanted somebody fun.

He's just so tired of left guards, even though we've won six Super Bowls, it's hard to complain about anything. Maybe he just wanted like a fun toy for Brady. Well, I was worried. I was worried. I looked at my draft board, which of course is simply the globe thing.

And there was in the top 20, they had a, a guard tackle. It was Kobe Ford. Yeah. And he looked like our classic 30, number 32 pick to me. We took that. He'd be the swing tack. We still need a tackle by the way, but I didn't want, I'm fine. We took the wide receiver and Kyle goes, yes, fucking finally.

He's standing up, popping his fist. Well, the irony is we took a running back at 32 last year. Yeah, they were taking skill guys. I have mixed feelings about him, but I guess he did pretty well as a rookie. And now we take a wide receiver at 32. Not typically Bill Belichick picks. More importantly, we're in the same division with the Jets,

Bills and Dolphins. So that's great. Yeah. It's another win for us. Yeah. It's, it'll be, it's going to be fun to see what happens.

Really. Other than that, I guess the Redskins getting Haskins seemed pretty lucky. The Steelers trading up to get a linebacker who everybody really liked. That was smart. Pretty good trade to jump up 10 spots and get what everybody. Everybody liked that one. Everybody liked that linebacker, yeah.

And they always have good linebackers and good wide receivers. Well, fun night. Always love the draft. This is such a fun time of the year with the basketball playoffs, the NHL. I think I probably like tomorrow night even as much. Oh, the second round. It's two rounds. Yeah.

And we have five picks right now in those two rounds, of course. Who knows? I hope tomorrow Belichick doesn't trade down and try to get fourth and fifth rounders, which I hate. Yeah. You know, use the five picks. We have holes. Belichick doesn't trade down and try to get fourth and fifth rounders, which I hate. Yeah. You know, use the five picks. We have holes. It's a big draft, as you have said in your podcast.

Well, I know Belichick, who's won six Super Bowls, appreciate when we weigh in with our advice. I know he appreciates that. Yeah, I know he listens to your podcast. I know he's on the fence with some decisions tomorrow. So thank God we've weighed in. Yeah, and then we had the Bruins, the Game 7. You were excited about that. You're the only person I know who watches regular season hockey.

I do like regular season hockey. I like this Bruins team. They have great team chemistry, camaraderie. They've had each other's back all year. But it was very, it looked bad there. You know, we could have been up 5-0. I don't know if you watched it because you were doing the, I was channel surfing.

No, I watched the game seven. They could have been up 4-0 in the first period. I wasn't worried. We owned Toronto. They totally dominated that first period. And then you start to worry when you only get one goal. And then Coyle has the giveaway. Yeah, that was great.

And you know something bad's going to happen and it does and then they get the lucky bouncing off the guy's body on the second goal. And then Coyle comes back and... Dad, this is way too much hockey talk. This is already way too much hockey talk for our audience. Okay, but we did win in overtime and that was really exciting. So let's talk about how you were in Cuba quickly. You

went to Cuba with your wife. You screwed up the scheduling. You thought the Masters was the weekend before. Your number one sports wish in life, because all your Boston teams have won titles now since you've been retired. Your number one wish in life

was for Tiger Woods to win the Masters. And when it happened, you were in a foreign country with no Wi-Fi and no cable television. I don't want to talk about this. I read about it. As soon as I got back in the room, I did have Wi-Fi in the room.

So now what's your number one sports wish for him to win the U.S. Open when you're actually watching? Where do you go from here? Well, why couldn't he have won last year when I had my birthday present? I was at the Masters. I mean, bad luck. I really, I was so happy and so sad at the same moment. What are you going to do? So now what's your new number one sports wish?

I'd like to see Tiger win three more majors. Oh, you want to see him beat Jack? That's your new number one sports wish? No, that would be that tie Jack. Oh, you want them to tie. I like that. So you don't have to pick. I like them to tie. You're two favorite golfers. That's good. Oh, you want them to tie. I like that. So you don't have to pick. I like them to tie.

You're two favorite golfers. That's good. Well, from two different eras. So I'd be very satisfied if he retired at 18 majors. And certainly then he would beat Snead's total victory record. I can't believe you were in Cuba when Tiger won the Masters. I can't believe those two in Cuba when Tiger won the Masters. I can't believe those two things happened at the same time.

I mean, Cuba was great, but it was the wrong weekend, the wrong week to be in Cuba. How about this? Look at a calendar. Seems like a decent idea. Maybe pick the weekend that's not the Masters.

That could have happened. It was the Art and Music Festival. You know how much I'm into art and music. Two of your favorites. Celtics, do you, Celtics Bucks, optimistic, semi-optimistic, kind of optimistic, or pessimistic? Cautiously optimistic. Oh, wow. Cautiously optimistic.

You're back on Kyrie, forgiven him for his behavior this season? I'm not really thinking about Kyrie. I like the way the team is playing. Oh, that's a good answer. I like the way Tatum has shown up. Yeah. He's going to the basket. I like the way Haywood seems to not hesitate, and he's going going to the basket. I like the way Hayward

seems to not hesitate and he's going quickly to the basket. It's a new Hayward. I like how Horford's playing. They're going to miss Smart, but hopefully that gets kind of balanced out by Brogdon not coming back too early.

Let's talk about Hondo. Okay. We knew this day was coming. He wasn't doing well the last couple months. Back too early? All right. We'll see what happens. Let's talk about Honda. Okay. We knew this day was coming. He wasn't doing well the last couple months. And the Celtics and the family kept it quiet. But it definitely wasn't looking good. You knew this?

Yeah. It seemed like it was headed this way for a for a couple weeks unfortunately but uh age 79 um you tweeted about the first year you bought season tickets it was one season ticket 1973-74 season celtics win the title your first year's season ticket oh that's when you were bringing me in hondo was the guy on that team hondo in that finals played 289 of 291 minutes. Unbelievable, huh? Yeah. That team had no depth.

I mean, as you said, it was our first season ticket. I bought one ticket. You wrote about it in the prologue of your basketball book. I carried you into almost every game. That team had Hondo, Silas, Cowens, and JoJo, and Westphal was in that team, wasn't he? Yeah, he was a sub. Okay.

But they didn't really have much beyond that, and they certainly were not expected to beat Jabbar's, Kareem's Milwaukee Bucks in that finals, I don't think. They had Oscar, didn't they have Oscar in that? They had tail end of his career, Oscar Roberts. Okay. Jabbar was, you know, at the peak of his powers that year. And he was being guarded by Cowens. I suspect you don't remember much about going to those games.

I don't. I don't remember anything until the 75 season. I remember a little bit. I remember. But then 76 was the first. But you were there. Yeah, I was there. I was there in body. I was there in body.

You were there in body. I remember 76 though, because I remember the Triple OT game. And that was when he's playing on one foot, basically. That's right. But wins that one too. He was 8-0 in the finals, which I thought was an incredible mark. But just the durability and the flexibility. That was when I was studying him when I was writing my book. There just was nobody like him because he was the first guy who could

play guard or forward. So no matter who you had on your team, he could just kind of be malleable with the crew you had. And it's like, oh, you need me to play forward? I'll do that. You need me to guard this guy? I'll do that. And he was, you know, a prototype for some of the guys that we're seeing now where these guys that can guard three, four positions. I vaguely recalled. And then I looked it up that you had written a magazine article about him. Yeah. And, uh, it was in, so I pulled it up.

It was actually 12 years ago, 2007. And he wrote about that, his last game. And we were there. You said you were sitting in my lap still. I thought we had a second seat by then, but maybe not. Maybe it was the next year. And how the game couldn't start because there was an eight minute standing ovation i think as long as probably for larry bird if i remember don't you think i think it was longer because and the reason i wrote that piece was i was flipping channels and they showed that game

and they showed the whole the whole ceremony and you know eight and a half minutes is a long time that's like that's as long as like stairway to heaven or hotel california or any like long rock song it's as long as some short short videos that are on tv but the crowd just loved them he was certainly one of the four or five most popular b athletes of my lifetime. And when I was growing up, you know, we were living in Brookline, um, it was him and Bobby or were the two guys who were just, you know, I think they were one and two. Yeah. As was, I think three, I don't, I don't think he was, I think, or was one, how would check was two and yes, it was probably three, but, um, but they were,

they were all very similar in that they were these old school, didn't say a lot, just kind of lead by examples, tough, played through pain, did all of it. All three of them were kind of wired the same way. And Havlicek, once he retired, that was it. He was really gone. He was not somebody that stayed in the limelight at all.

Well, he wasn't from Boston. No, he wasn't. But you know, the other part was, if you think about it, he played 60s and retired in 78. Yeah. There was no internet. So we didn't get to know players in the same way. I mean, we didn't know much about their private lives, you know a kind of a funny little story you had a mad crush on his wife i mean we used to sit near the player wasn't his wife it was his daughter he had a daughter that was the same age and they used to sit in the section right next to

me maybe it could have been both of them i maybe maybe i did like both i did like older women what the mother-daughter combo. They were both adorable. They were both. His wife, Beth, had blonde hair. The daughter had blonde hair. Had good taste. Yeah.

And they sat right near us, and it just seemed like a perfect family, nice people. But you didn't know anything about them. You didn't read much about them except in the Boston Globe. And again, no internet, so you didn't know anything about them. You didn't read much about them except in the Boston Globe. And again, no internet, so you didn't have stories like that. And we knew him as a great Celtic. For me, the Cowans and Havlicek, that combo was unbelievable. And that team had no reason to win in 74 and 76 except they played so hard

and Silas was terrific too but sad to see him go and it was fun to re-read your column so I had when I did my book I did the five levels and the final level was the Pantheon and he was the toughest call trying five levels and the final level is the Pantheon. And he was the toughest call trying to figure out if he was in the Pantheon or not. And I think I ended up making him the best guy in level four, one below, because he never won the MVP.

But other than that, one of the great athletes in the history of the league. Playing 16 years in the 60s and seventies was kind of unheard of. It was really him and Kareem in the first, I would say 45 years of the league. Those were the only two guys who had that kind of durability. And especially when you add the playoff minutes and all the playoff games that he played during the Russell era, like that was crazy.

Seven second-team All-NBAs. He made second-team All-NBA 13 years apart. Four straight first-team All-NBAs. He made five All-Defense teams, but they really didn't have those in the 60s. When he retired, he was in the top five in every category, the relevant category, except assistance, uh, assistant rebounds. Bill Russell said in 1974 is the best all around player I ever saw.

Um, he was just great. And that was one of the reasons I wrote that column is sometimes these guys just disappear and you don't think about them again, you know, and he's never, I think you wrote the column. I think if you read it,

it's, it's in your archives from your ESPN days it's in the back page of the magazine from the June yeah 11th 2007

you're the only one who kept the magazine well you had the iconic steal in 65 right 66 finals he played all 48 minutes

in the final game in the 68 finals, 26-9-8 in the 19 playoff games. But this was crazy. He was Russell's lead assistant. Remember Russell was the player coach. He made Havlicek his lead assistant. So Havlicek was actually the assistant coach at two finals teams. In the 1969 finals, he averaged a 25, 10, and six

on the last Russell championship team. In the 69 playoffs, 850 minutes in 18 games. He played 47.2 minutes per game in the 1969 playoffs. Now, granted, they didn't do the running they did now. But no- He did. He did. He was the only playoffs. Now, granted, they didn't do the running they did now. No, he did. He did. He was the only one.

I compared him to a marathon runner in the stuff I've written about him where his game was a lot like how J.J. Redick plays. He was just constantly moving and trying to wear out the other team. In 73, which you always said was the best Cowan-Savacek team, they won which you, you, I said was the best Cowan Savicek team. They won 68 games, but he separated a shooting shoulder in the Knicks series in the Eastern finals and played left-handed in the last three games. And they almost won. They literally almost won. And he had no right hand. Can you imagine if somebody did that now?

But you know, that game is what motivated me to want to have Celtics season tickets. Yeah. And that led me to go to the office and get that single ticket. I was so impressed by that team and that effort by Havlicek. And I mean, it was kind of like when you got the, uh, King's tickets, it was the right place at the right time. Right. Two championships in three, the first three years. You, the tickets were $4 a game. $4 for a single ticket. And we had one, we had a single ticket. And my mom was

not happy about it. Very unhappy. You're celebrating your 50th anniversary uh in two months but unfortunately have not been together for the last 41 of them true so 74 that was they beat the bucks and he made another clutch shot in that game in the double overtime game that kareem ended with the great skyhook. And then in 76, he had plantar fasciitis, which we didn't even know what that was called back then. And played through it the whole playoffs and was on a minute limit and was supposed to only play 25 minutes a game. He played 58 minutes in game five in the triple overtime game. And one of the all-time warrior, durable, clutch, great guys who, if you're doing any all-time team, he's on it for the first 40, 45, 50 years of the league. They did the 35th anniversary team, and he was one of the 11 guys they picked, which I think matters in the big scheme of things.

He was really great. And, you know, a good example of sometimes even superstars fall through the cracks. I felt like that when I was reading about the Sixers were retiring Moses Malone's number. I read that a couple months ago and I was like, holy shit, they don't even retire his number? The guy was like the best guy in the league for four years. You know, it just kind of comes and goes. Well, how about your photo? Oh yeah. Let's talk about that. Well, tell them, nobody believes me on this. Tell,

tell the audience how I was able to just stand under the basket and rebound. It is unbelievable, but again, it was a different era. It was obviously before nine 11 security was pretty lax, pretty lax. I just walk on the court. Well, the games didn't sell out either. But unbelievably, it didn't sell out, even though this team kept winning and winning. And they used to let you, before the games,

go down and get the balls when the players were warming up before the game. And then you'd stand next to the Celtic players on the bench. They'd be standing there and you'd be standing there. And one day I got a picture in the mail from a photographer who said, I vented this picture in a photo contest. And it's also, and we won the contest and here's a picture for you and your son, and it also appeared on the back page of the Boston Herald. No, that was a different photo. There was two different photos.

Oh, two different photos? Yeah, one won the photo contest, but the other one was just randomly, I'm standing next to John Havlicek, who's on crutches. Yeah, it was during the Buffalo Celtics series in 75 and I'm just standing next to him and it was in both papers and that was like the most excited I'd ever seen you as a kid.

You went out and bought like 20 of the papers. I might have bought it. I still have. You have it too, don't you? I have it somewhere, yeah. Yeah. And you're standing next to him. He has the crutch.

He's not playing, obviously. He's in a sport coat and it looks like you're standing next to him. He has the crutch. He's not playing, obviously. He's in a sport coat. And it looks like you're his son. And you're just standing there with him. I used to rebound for them. I mean, this sounds crazy. I swear to God on my kids' lives, I'm not making this up. I used to stand under the basket and hope that two balls would hit

or somebody would shoot an air ball and I could rebound and throw it back. And then I would go and walk over to the Celtics bench and I would talk to Tommy Heinsohn and John Killalay and then whoever the injured player was. And nobody would do anything. You just kind of walk around, walk around the court. And sometimes somebody would be like, Hey, you got to move. But for the most part, nobody really cared because this was 1975. I really think they thought you were one of their sons.

Oh, like I was like Hondo's son? Yeah. I mean, you looked like you belonged. You never thought twice about it. I really didn't. I acted like I belonged, which is an important lesson for all you six-year-olds out there. You got to act like you belong out there. Yeah, I might have bought 20 copies of that because it was the back page.

It was a huge picture. It was you and Hondo and Hondo's, you're both kind of looking at each other and you've got the crutch. I think I'm chewing my nails, which my mom yelled at me about. You might have been. I think I'm chewing my nails, which my mom yelled at me about. And then his last year in Boston, after everything kind of went south, and they didn't make the playoffs, and it all led to the farewell game. But that whole year, he had the farewell tour, which was the first time I ever really remember that. It was interesting because back then, basketball wasn't on all the time.

There was no cable yet. So the teams that were in, there was no cable yet. Right. So the teams that were in the playoffs were on a lot. So Havlicek was one of the only guys that was just on all the time, you know? It was almost like with the Yankees in the 50s and 60s where Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, all those guys, they were just on every year. And America felt like they knew them.

How did we watch them? Were they on like Channel 56 or one of those? I thought it was Channel 4. I don't remember. Yeah, it was one of the local channels. I think they were Channel 4 and the Bruins were 38. 38, yeah. But yeah, I mean, and we would see back then,

you know, George Gervin came once or twice a year and that was it. You never saw him. We never got to see him on TV. David Thompson, all these guys that I loved, I just knew them from the basketball cards and basketball digest. And they went into a sports center back then. So Havlicek was one of the few guys who cut through that back then because he had actually been on TV because they would actually show the playoffs. So people felt like

they knew him, they knew Kareem, they knew Rick Barry. There's a couple of guys. And he was, I think, probably the most liked player of the 70s, wouldn't you say? Just in general? Because Kareem was the best player in the 70s, but I think people were pretty split on Kareem. Right. He wasn't exactly a warm

guy back then. Yeah, I think you're probably right. Again, he retired in 78, so he played almost the whole decade. And he segued to a couple of terrible years, the Sidney Wicks, Curtis Roy. You know what? Dr. J was more liked than him.

I'll give him the number two. I think he's the second most liked. Yeah. Well, yeah. There's others, I'm sure. I mean, we're missing others, but I mean, we got to see Havlicek 41 times a year. But you know, it's weird to say this or even think it,

but he was just such an unbelievable specimen. Even when I heard that he wasn't feeling well, you'd just be like, oh man, it's John Havlicek. Well, don't you think it's like a lot of these athletes, if you, from that era, if you don't see them again, your visual memory of them is as the player they were. Yeah, true. And my visual memory of him is similar to yours.

The guy never stopped running. He looked like he was in the best shape of any basketball player out there. Yeah. You know, he was a great shooter, a defender, a rebounder. He did everything. Great old school game. And he was a great shooter, a defender, a rebounder. He did everything. Great old school game. And he was a winner. Yeah. He was certainly one of the best players I've ever seen.

But you don't think of him getting old. No. And he might have come back for some of the retirements. I just can't remember. Well, you know, there was always... People have written about this a little bit, but when they got Bird, he would still come and he would play with those guys. And he would like scrimmage and come to practices and just kind of run around.

It was like kind of a running joke. Could they get him to come back? And there was this, I think one training camp when he was playing with them for a couple of days at least. But it was also the training camp when Cowens was there and Maravich was there. And Cowens and Maravich both retired in the same training camp when he was playing with them for a couple of days at least but it was also the training camp when cowens was there and maravich was there and cowens and maravich both retired in the same training camp but it was the year they won the it was the uh the 81 the 80 81 team that ended up winning the title but in the training camp three of the guys that ended up two retired and then one was already retired but it was maravich havlicek

dave cowens but then larry bird kevin mckale robert parish tiny archibald it's like seven hall of famers i remember vividly that maravich was in camp and carowinds was in camp yeah and i was hoping they'd both hang in there because it looked like we're gonna have a really good team yeah i don't remember how havlicek being there though. I think he scrimmaged with them for like three years after. He was one of the all-time greats. I still think he's...

A couple guys have moved into the... For you and me, he was our first five-year introduction to the Boston Celtics. Him and Cowens. Him and Cowens, yep. Yeah, yeah, wow.

Oh, well, all right, Pete John Havacek, we loved you. Best of luck to the fam, and that's it. Well, Celtics-Bucks, there hasn't been a home game for two and a half weeks until game three. The schedule's out. You must have noticed that. I know. Game six Friday, I'll be there. Game six Friday out. You must have noticed that. I know. Game six Friday.

I'll be there. Game six Friday. That worked out well for you. I'm coming back. We got to make it to a game six, but if we do, I'm coming back. Well, that is true. I'll be in the house. All right, Dad.

Go to sleep. I'll talk to you. All right. Take care. All right. Bye. All right. We're going to get to Deezus and Mero in one second.

Hey, if you don't know SiriusXM, listen up. They bring you the deepest variety of commercial-free music for every genre and every mood. Hear the biggest names in talk, entertainment, and comedy. Get news from every source. A lot of people think you need a car to enjoy SiriusXM. You actually don't. You can listen outside the car right now.

Get your first three months of SiriusXM outside the car for just a dollar. Go to SiriusXM.com slash BS to see offer details and to subscribe. Listen on your phone, at home, online, anywhere you are at time of day. Hear your favorite songs, discover new ones. They also have some great stations, including the Yacht Rock station that you know I love. They only have it during the summer in the actual Sirius they have in your car, but it's year round if you listen to it on the app.

The other one they have, they have a 2000s alternative music channel that I don't know why they haven't promoted that one to the actual cars, but I highly recommend that channel as well. I can't remember what it's called, but God, it's really good. It's like the Strokes and the Killers, like that whole era of music represented. They have the 1990s, they have

the lithium channel for the 1990s, the grunge, all that stuff on the actual SiriusXM. But for this one, it's just on the app for now. I would promote that. I think it's ready for promotion. Anyway, I've been a longtime consumer. S-I-R-I-U-S, XM,.com, slash BS. You get your first three months outside the car for $1. See offer details. Offer available to new SiriusXM streaming subscribers. SiriusXM, no car required. I highly recommend. All right, we're taping this late Wednesday morning.

This is quite a day for me. This is Amaro here. I'm right after that. I'm playing in the LPGA Pro-Am at Wilshire. Really? Yeah. You're doing your thing, man. Get him.

It's the Venn diagram of two demos that really overlap in so many different ways. Perfect synergy. I haven't seen you guys in a while. I think I've won two titles since the last time I was here. Wow. Shout out to Bill. Instead of using a calendar, he used championships. Wow. Very classy. I guess two more.

I mean, if you count hockey. Well, we're still going in hockey. Red Sox win. Pats win. The Boston team. The Pats won the most boring Super Bowl ever. I'll give you that. I thought it was It was

It was a defensive It was a defensive standoff It was a throwback Smash Mouth Football Yeah Old school football I want to people I want to see

end zone dances That's what I want to see in the NFL I want to see way more of those I love how I love how mad it made people too That was like the second

best part of them winning. People were just pissed. The Patriots, now they're ruining the Super Bowl. Don't forget, you also had the boycott of the NFL going on. So everyone was like, I'm not watching the Super Bowl. I stand with Kaepernick. It was like, nah, I know who's going to win. And also, everyone watched the Super Bowl.

Yeah. The boycott. So now we're done? The boycott's done? No, it's not done. You know what it is? It depends on the person. Because a lot of people who were never watching the NFL were boycotting. So now we're done? The boycott's done? No, it's not done. You know what it is? It depends on the person because some people,

a lot of people who were never watching the NFL were boycotting. And then you have some people who were just like, yo, my team sucks. We were done in week three, so now I'm joining the boycott. Listen, I live in Jersey. Gambling is legal.

So I guess I won't watch, but I'll watch the lines. Van Lathan is, we had him on last week. Chop the van. That's a homie. And he actually legitimately is done with the NFL. Yeah Lathan is, we had him on last week. Chop the van, that's a homie. And he actually legitimately is done

with the NFL. Yeah. He's had it. And he was like a real team and he's like a Saints fan the whole thing and he's just like, I'm out.

If you actually talk to Kaepernick, like you feel terrible afterwards. You're like, no. Also, when you talk to other football players and they start talking about CTE, like Arian Foster and things like that.

Yeah, yeah. You're just like, I really can't support this. But then, are you ready for some football? Sunday, you got the hot wings and things like that. You're just like, I really can't support this. But then... Are you ready for some football? Sunday, you got the Hot Wings and the French Files. We have a draft today. We have a draft.

You know what I'm saying? Who are the Giants taking with the six-week? So there's a possibility. We'll put this up before the draft. Also, can I preface that question with David Gettleman is absolutely out of his mind. He's the James Dolan of football. But continue. Or,

I mean, think about that for a second. The James Dolan of football? What does that even mean? Wow. You just make

horrible decisions. You just leave train crashes. Yeah. Just cars. You got to go easy on that James Dolan slander.

You ever want to go back to a Knick game? We fly high on the radar. Like, two more strikes. I'm on his radar now. Oh, yeah? But you're not banned from the Garden yet.

Maybe I am. I don't know. I haven't been in the Garden since. I think it's getting to the point James Dolan is getting really fed up and he doesn't care. Because remember that guy that was like, sell the team. He was like, oh, yeah, you want to be banned for life? Like James Dolan. I mean, I get it.

Like if I owned the Knicks and people were like, sell the team, I'd be like, hey, you know what? You can't watch these games anymore. Fuck you. Go watch it at home. But luckily for me, I have a very generic name so like it'll be no they use facial recognition technology when you're banned from the garden I am dead ass when you walk in the garden look above the metal detectors Just can't like if you were banned from the garden you will get to the seat and security will come over and be like you

Can't be here. Wow One of those owners in a sports movie where they just go over the top of how evil the guy is. Like an evil Disney movie. Remember, did you see Eddie with Whoopi Goldberg? Yeah. Like Frank Langella in that movie. He's got the big cowboy hat on. He's just off his rocker. That's like what it's like in real life.

But what happens if KD comes? What happens if the Knicks start winning? Does everyone all of a sudden give the dick flute solo to James Dolan? Does he become the greatest owner ever? No. Knick fans are, what?

Knick fans are fickle as hell. Knick fans will do a thank you Dolan chant by the end of the season. I got you. If they get KD, they will. They're just beating down.

They're just beating down. That's all it is. It's like, do you guys watch Game of Thrones? I watched one episode for the first time like a week ago. I had no idea

the characters' names. I haven't watched it this season because I always wait until like there's four episodes loaded up. So you, but you know the show. And then I binge them. Yeah, I've watched every season. The Knicks fans are theon. Like they just had all their genitals cut off and they've been tortured for years. And they're just so beaten down and they just don't know what to do anymore.

They're like, yeah, I don't know. I mean, like, should I kill myself? Like, I don't know. Yeah, being a Knicks fan is like, you just, like, we go to Knicks games, we have no desire. Like, we know we're probably not going to win,

so it's just like, yo, let's just get some drinks. Like, I've gone to Knicks games with my friends and, like, left after the first inning. Not the first inning, the first quarter

and gone to, like, Foley's on 33rd Street and, like, let's watch something else. Well, there's a Knicks KD scenario that nobody has really talked about that I actually think is a legit scenario. What is it? He comes to New York but not to play for the Knicks KD scenario that nobody has really talked about that I actually think is a legit scenario.

What is it? He comes to New York, but not to play for the Knicks. To the Nets? Are you kidding me? Wow. Did you watch the Sixers Nets series? It can't be ruled out. That's true.

It puts him in New York. It puts him in Brooklyn. It gives him ownership over this New York-based franchise that has had no real identity. Right. And they have good young players and a good organization, and they kind of know what they're doing. But New York is never going to embrace the New Jersey Nets. I would technically agree with that.

But if KD is there and the Knicks end up with Cam Reddish in the fourth pick and no free agents. Remember in that stretch in the early aughts where the Nets were actually good and they were making finals or whatever? Nobody gave a shit.

Nobody in New York was like, yeah, go Nets. But they were playing in East Rutherford at that point. Yeah. But see, that's kind of the thing.

Barclays Center and Madison Square Garden do not compare at all. Barclays Center, in theory, is a better building, but MSG just has this ballroom.

You went there for the NXT last month. The NXT, whatever, takeover. It was electric. Listen. Ricochet's last match. I was there with my son. Oh, my God.

You can feel the intensity. Where do they have the Westminster dog show? We're done here. That's true. That's true. It's way more vaunted than, I think there's another garden. Like there's a fake garden. Like it's named after a bank somewhere

in the is this a Boston insult? I I think it feels like a Boston insult can you imagine if KD went to the Nets though

how mad the Knicks fans would be livid we would burn that stadium all time all time how dare you move that's ever happened when KD goes to the Nets

I personally am taking an axe and chopping the Brooklyn Bridge down you guys are going to be disconnected from the other five boroughs but that's happening anyway when the L trade gets shut down no it's

well remember they will be disconnected they rejiggered it now before they were supposed to shut it down for a long time now they're just going to shut it down

for a little bit of time they were like yeah yeah we'll fix everything we'll fix everything yeah we're going to just semi shut it down so it's only like

you only have like a 75% chance of dying that'll be good while we work on it you know what I mean I wouldn't have human beings on tracks you know what I'm saying it's not bad if you were in baseball only have like a 75% chance of dying. Oh, that'd be good. While we work on it. You know what I mean? One in four. One in four are good odds to live. You know what I'm saying?

It's not bad. Jesus. If you were in baseball, you'd be doing all right. So you would be, if Durant goes to the Nets. Yeah. What's your move on Thursday's show

on Showtime with that? Anger, betrayal. Not betrayal. You know what? It's all we've been through this. Or standoffish. Like we didn't want him anyway. Yeah, real cocky like that.

It's like... A little bit like with LeBron. We lived through this with LeBron. When LeBron spurned us, we were like, oh, who cares? Yeah, Nick's Twitter was lying. It was like, yo.

Which time would he spurn you? Wow. 10, 14. 18. What year are we talking about? I remember there was that tweet. Junior high prom and then high school prom

when he deaded us. I remember there was a tweet and somebody was like, yo, I just saw Amari Stoudemire and LeBron having dinner downtown. And everybody was like, let's go! But then, no. And I remember there was a tweet and somebody was like yo I just saw Omari Stoudemire and LeBron having dinner downtown and everybody was like let's go but then no

and I remember the first game LeBron did when he came back and the crowd was like heckling him and booing him

and I was like two weeks ago we were buying LeBron jerseys we were making we were turning like our David Lee jerseys into LeBron jerseys

but you know LeBron had dinner with Omari and he's like how's your knees and Omari's like I got like 50 games left in me Omari was like oh you see half of a lig and he's like how's your knees and Amari's like I got like 50 games left in me

Amari was like oh you see half of a ligament he was like how's your knees and he was like taste that calamari same thing

he pulled out a pouch he's like here are my knees I don't know you want to check them out the pouch of ligaments yeah I don't know some of these are Kobe's

I don't know it's just like a mixed bag it's a ligament lost and found oh my god is this fruit by the foot we didn't finish the Giants NFL draft thing. Oh, yeah.

So that's tonight. We're taping this Wednesday, but they have the sixth pick. And everybody's really worried that this guy who traded Odell that nobody trusts, that he's going to take the Duke quarterback. He is. He absolutely is. Our draft expert did not have him in his top hundred. And we made him put him hundredth just so we could have the profile of this guy

because we knew he was going to win the top three rounds. But he's like, this guy's a disaster. He should not be in the first round. And that could be the Giants pick, Daniel Jones. That's exactly what they're going to do. They're going to pick a pass rusher guy with the sixth pick, and then they're going to pick the Duke guy. That's what you're talking about, right?

What's his name? Daniel Jones. They're going to pick Daniel Jones with the fucking 17th pick, and I'm going to pick the Duke guy. That's what you're talking about, right? What's his name? Daniel Jones. They're going to pick Daniel Jones with the fucking 17th pick and I'm going to be livid and I'm going to do one of those stupid viral videos. What if they took him with the 6th pick?

Oh my. You know those stupid videos where people like kick their TV over after like a bad play? Like I would do that in real life. See, that's why you got a boycott. You know what I'm saying?

That's really been the Jets fans the best thing they've had going since the name of Super Bowl is the draft reaction videos. Oh, yeah. They've taken those to seven other levels. Really great. I don't know how they do it.

I mean, as long as we're, like, on par with the Jets, I'll be okay. Well, Jets fans are talking kind of spice. That's wild to say. Because, you know, there's the Giants, Knicks, Yankees fan. We've talked about this. And then there's the Jets, Mets. Mets, Islanders. But now it's like a little more even than I think.

It's been a while, right? And that's how we know we're getting older. Jets have a real franchise quarterback. Mets just made the playoffs. The Mets. Yeah. Yeah, it's not great. The Mets have five issues because

the season just started. They're the home run hitter, though, people like. Judge got hurt again. Like 90% of the Yankees are hurt. Just stop taking steroids. That's what I keep telling him. I just keep telling him. There's a day you can't take steroids. Your muscles can't handle it.

Well, you know what? I'm kidding. It hurts my heart to say this, but I can say the same for Big Papi. You know what? I can say the same for Manny. That's way worse than what I just did. Because that's your guy. As a Dominican hero.

It hurts my heart to say it. That's a Dominican hero. You just blasphemed. Also, Big Papi. You know what? We referenced? The man can hear it. You just blast feed. Also, Big Pop, you know what? We referenced Big Pop. That was kind of a long time ago now. That's kind of becoming a data source reference.

As far as I'm concerned, no proof. Just ended up on one list. No. Look at his rookie pitcher. His rookie trading partner. Look at his last year. People fill out. No.

People fill out. How do you fill out? Keanu Reeves is bigger. He filled out with just his head filled out. I've never seen anything like that. He looks like the Airheads commercial where the kids are floating around but it's good though because I can forget

about those old guys because they got the new guys coming up they got Tatis Jr Vlad Jr all that crap have you seen Vlad Jr he's around like 40 pounds

yeah you know what I'm saying he's like huge now yeah and he can hit anything so much like his father in all seriousness with the judge thing he is a big

big big dude and it's almost like he's almost like a skyscraper where just a lot of things could go wrong. Yeah. He pulled an oblique. I didn't really totally know what an oblique muscle is. And I was like looking it up. He pulled a muscle that was like, I don't even think we have.

There's six different oblique muscles. He pulled the outer one. Because he's too muscular. He's like fucking, he's super ripped. He's just like one of the biggest guys. It's almost like how Zion is just, he's so big. The only reason not to take him would be like

is that guy's body gonna hold up for 15 years when we played in CeCe Sabathia's celebrity softball game Aaron Judge we're playing in it

again in a couple weeks but Aaron Judge was there and it's just like to be to see him in person he's huge but then you're just like

it's kind of that weird thing like he's used to being that big but I'm like if I was that big I'd be so awkward. Like every step would just be a passable fracture.

Six, seven. Yeah. Yeah. The Gronkowski is like that too. It's funny. Like the stages of how at like Steph Curry's. A regular size three.

Yeah. He's six, three. Like if he walked in, you'd be like, Oh, he's taller than I thought, you know,

but it's not like, like what the, but on the court, it seemed tall. I mean, cause everybody else is seven, 12. Yeah like, what the fuck? But on the court, it was Zimta. No, I mean, because everybody else is 7'12". You know what I mean?

Like, Dame Lord, if he walked in, he wouldn't seem short. Yeah. How tall is he? NBA seems short. He's like six feet. Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

Same thing, like, shout out to the homie Iman Shumpert. Like, same thing. Like, he walks in and it's like, oh, you're 6'6". You know what I mean?

Like, you look smaller on TV because you're running around with a bunch of dudes who are seven foot Durant's a good one for this Durant is like a legit seven feet yeah and you just don't you can tell you can think about it until he's like ducking under doorways and stuff

when he sits in a chair he's like you know what I'm saying like his elbows are like in his knees and shit come to New York we'll fix your posture I got an old back brace from when I was young and shit like I got you bro we're tap Knicks. I got an old back brace from when I was young and shit. Like, I got you, bro. We're taping this the day after

an incredible Lillard performance last night. Yes. Incredible. All of this, the entire Lillard-Westbrook series was about as in your wheelhouse

as it really combined a lot of things that you guys love. Yo, Westbrook plays with such pure anger. That's why I love him so much because it's like, yo, he's just like,

the moment he gets on the score, he's like scowling. He plays basketball like he hates basketball. Like some alien gave him the ability to play basketball and he's like, this is my curse forever.

He has to do it for the rest of his life. I love it. I have to be the best and I have to average a triple-double at all times. It is funny, like we hate,

we revered John McEnroe how he used to go at the tennis umps and stuff and just had the anger that he played with. It's like, oh man, he's a torture genius

and then with Westbrook people were like fuck that guy he's a diva why is he pushing that kid this would be what John McEnroe did if John McEnroe

was a basketball player basketball players would have been stalking around that's why he goes to basketball games I think he tries to give that energy

to basketball players so you're pro Russ cause Russ is taking a beating yeah I'm super pro Russ basically all month cause I'm like'm super pro-Russ. Because I'm like, yo, he doesn't, like, I respect any NBA player who's like, yo, I don't give a shit.

Like, I'm going to speak my mind and if you say some crazy shit from the stands, like, bro, just, like, if the plumber comes to your house, you're not going to call the plumber a, you know, a racial slur. You know what I mean? Because he fucking, he plunged you. Someone watched Green Book yesterday. You know what I'm saying?

So it's just like bro like if you're an athlete if you're a professional athlete that doesn't give like the fans the right to just say whatever the fuck they want to you you know what I mean

I mean like they can but there can be consequences I don't think there should be like there's like this weird like oh you know like you have to respect the game

and blah blah blah but if bro if you say some wild shit to me in the midst of a game, you know what I mean? In the midst of my job, not a game, it's my job. Like, I feel like I should have the right to say some shit back to you. Well, the onus is really on the NBA attendance and like, they got to call that out.

Because I know we've gone to Knick games, and if you're rowdy at a Knick game or you cause a scene, the next time you come back, there's a card in your seat that says, listen, you are like on a strike, settle down. Like come back, there's a card in your seat that says, listen, you are on a strike. Settle down. You will be ejected and whoever sees the tickets,

they're losing them. There has to be some sort of onus, a penalty to make sure these fans don't get rowdy. But then you have these fans paying exorbitant amount of money

for their seats and they're like, I'm going to do what I want because I paid for this. And I think that's the problem because they feel they're on the same level as the athletes because they're paying're on the same level as the athletes

because they're paying expensive it's usually it's not the fans up in like the 300s walling out it's the fans of row 2 row 4

the floor seats and there has to be some sort of vetting process like you can't have people doing racial slurs from the front row and that's what Russell

they should just check your twitter at the door there you go check your IG if your last 3 tweets were like yo Maga you guys like. They just put up one tweet like, yo.

Okay, all right. What is this guy? Why did you wear a thing on her face all the time? Get her out of here. You know what I mean? It's like, no, no, no. Sorry, Joe from Staten Island. You can't come to this game.

You know. Rangers play next week. They're always talking. A friend of mine has this company that's doing facial recognition for tickets and stuff called Rival. And it would be funny if they incorporated the social media. They just put it in a small package. Wow.

So it's like Minority Report? Shane Beezer, whatever his name was, the Utah fan. It's like, ah, MAGA guy, watch out. Get out of here. MAGA guy, row two. That's what I thought when I was watching the Utah series because I was just like, man. I was like, first of all, Donovan Mitchell is special. You know what I mean? But second of all, like, that game

where Harden went like 0 for 16 to start the game. Yeah, that was a weird game. That was so weird. I like that he also then made the biggest shot of the game. I like those guys. That was like a Kobe move where he's just being terrible, terrible, terrible. I'm going to shoot 2% until the last second. And then, but then it's like

he got into it with the Ingles guy and I'm like, ooh, you're in Utah. You're fighting the white guy on the team. Ooh. The fans are like, hey, man, come on. Yeah. Hey. You always have to fight and the fans have to pick one side.

Yeah. I was like, dude. I was like, you're getting carpet embalmed right now, bro. Like, it's serious. Well, it was interesting after the Westbrook thing, when the Utah players had the meeting and like four of the guys on the team were like, kind of when, what was it, Ekbe Udo? Yeah. Had some quotes about it and they were way more anti the fans behavior than I was prepared for. Yeah.

Because usually if it's your team's fans, you just kind of either don't say anything or well, you know. Yeah. Those fans don't represent everybody everybody but these guys were like, fuck this, this needs to change. They know the deal. That was weird. Because I mean like,

you can imagine it goes the other way too. Like if, if, if you're missing shots, if you're, you know, if you're blowing plays,

if you're missing layups, then you're probably getting the same equal opportunity onwards. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, yeah. It's funny though

that we care about how players are treated by the fans, and yet we don't care at all about the social media component of that. It's like, wow, it's social media. Yeah. Shouldn't we care about both? We should, but then it's just like social media. The thing is like that Tyler, the creator tweet,

he said cyberbullying isn't real, you could just log off. A lot of these people, sometimes, you know, you're not on you could just log off a lot of these people sometimes you know you're not on Twitter like that or you talk to these people they're like I'm not on social media every day I don't see every tweet or whatever

but there's a big difference between some tweeting some wild thing at you and someone actually saying it to your face yeah I've always said like if you say something in text

it takes a lot more balls to say it in person than to say it via text oh yeah you know what I'm saying so like a lot of these dudes probably just are saying this shit on Twitter, and they would never in a million years, even if they're in the 300s, say that shit out loud to Westbrook or to anybody.

There was, like, a troll earlier this week that was trolling someone about having dead kids or something. Some player. Oh, a reporter. Yeah, a reporter. And I was just like, you look and you're like, this person would never, never, never, never in a million years say this to this person's face. But you have that anonymity and it's like, there's that distance. They're just swollen.

I think the problem, I expect the worst. It's like when you get the force field. Yeah. I expect the worst with social media. Yeah. But I wonder if some of that carries over to the actual stance where people are in the mode of. I've seen that because. And it's like because there's almost like

no way to discern the difference between the two worlds you have people who say wild things on Twitter and they get a response and then you go to a game and like

because my boy was doing this I was like you have to chill and he was basically saying his like he was talking he was yelling like he was tweeting and he wasn't tweeting

he wasn't yelling to get a response from the players he was doing that absolute worst thing where you're kind of drunk and you just want laughs from the people sitting around you

and it's like disruptive to the game. You're not that funny. A little batting average. It's like a little hanging fruit. Get out of here. It is though. It's totally changed at basketball games. People are much nicer.

People are much more respectful. And the players can't fucking hear you because they're playing music all the time. I thought that was a great idea by whoever decided to do that. It just drowns out everything. I remember going to all the Patino games

with the Celtics in the late 90s when we just sucked. Yeah. And it was just, people just kind of mad and it was silent and they would just be like,

you know. You just hear the ball dribbling. Oh, man. And they're squeaking. A free throw, no noise. And so it'd be like, hey, Antoine,

you suck you know they're just like they're one of those hoots and their tie is undone and they just gotta work and there's like

there's no way Antoine didn't hear that right and now it's they can drown out pretty much everything but those

as you said the front couple rows that's where you might have man I remember going to like not even it's sports wide I think because I remember going to a baseball game

way back in the day and it was like I forgot there was some Atlanta Braves outfielder who had just gotten a DUI like the week before then the

they come in to play the Yankees and the entire bleacher section is like DUI DUI DUI

to the guy was that the O-Y Yankee Stadium? Yeah The old Yankee Stadium was wild Remember Jose Canseco He was dating Madonna And they threw the blue up door

On the field at him Yeah That was wild That was like the The Bills Mafia Like We started the Bills Mafia Used to be able to bring

Batteries into like Yeah Yankee Stadium was something It was But you have to remember The neighborhood around there At that time was wild Utah's upper deck Yeah Man If you went in there With an opposing team stadium was something in the 90s. It was. I went to a neighborhood around there.

Utah's upper deck. Man, if you went in there with an opposing team's hoodie, that shit would be full of peanut shells by the end of the third inning. I went, I think I told you guys this,

how I went with the Bruins jersey, the Red Sox shorts and the Celtics hat or something. I was just like, fuck these guys, I'm representing.

Yeah, and people were just throwing shit the whole game we thought it was hilarious so we had a good sense of humor about it but at the same time I look back I'm like

that was insane because especially the upper deck was just a straight fall the angle right yeah you get vertical shoving you

you fall all the way down you're going down oh my god I remember a lady came and she had like a leather jacket it was just and it had like

it was like what do you do about all the Boston championships and the whole time just peanuts at her peanuts at her she's in good spirits and then someone just takes the actual full bag of peanuts and hits her in the back of the head and security had to come and escort her out and they're just heckling her out well you feel that i remember in the 84 finals celtics lakers and it was all celtics fans but then jack was there and jack thought it was a good Jack

Nicholson he thought it was a good idea to like hang over the balcony and do the choke sign and stuff it didn't go very well and like after that he was just protected because I actually think like people are like fuck that guy we don't care who Jack Nicholson is he has to die for killing him I totally see that but now you see these games where you know because the secondary market there's fans from the other team

all over the place especially like at Knicks games like if the Knicks get good again you'll see it it's not gonna be all Knicks fans

there's gonna be fans of like whoever they're playing well Knicks games already are weird because like you'll go on like StubHub or something

and it's just like the Knicks are playing some terrible team on a Tuesday night and the price of the tickets you're like who's going to this and then you go there and it's like tourists people from other teams and it's just like the Knicks are playing some terrible team on a Tuesday night and the price of the tickets you're like who's going to this and then you go there

and it's like tourists people from other teams and that's I think the problem with tanking in New York quote unquote the game people are always

going to go to the games whether they're Knicks fans or not because it's not so much I want to see basketball it's like hey we're on 34th street

like let's do it's like going to a Broadway play well MSG is like Fenway Park or Wrigley or a couple of the other places where it's kind of... It is the best place to see a basketball game.

Yeah, for sure. Even I would admit that. You got to do it at least once in your life. It's wonderful. That's what all the players say. Like, every superstar that's ever come to the NBA has been like, man, to perform well in front of the... In the mecca of basketball, you know, da-da-da-da-da. Also, it's very ironic that MSG is the mecca of basketball but like all Rangers fans are MAGA

so yeah it's pretty funny I can say that I'll be at Rangers games you all probably come see me I'm gonna go like JB Smooth

well it is like when an actor always feels like they have to be in a Broadway play to kind of test their chops like when Zion's

in the league next year the MSG game will be the most important road game he has no matter what team he's on it's like Zion's coming to New York City

tonight this is a thing he'll be on the Knicks so you have like a 14% chance somehow they changed the lottery ads during the one year they needed to make the win

wow thank you for winning that you lost 11% I mean but listen Kyrie won't be with the Celtics next year so you know we'll both be sad

in a way if we don't get the first pick but Kyrie's definitely out of there it's a very complicated relationship with him with the Celtics next year. So, you know, we'll both be sad in a way if we don't get the first pick. But Kyrie is definitely out of there. It's a very complicated relationship with him and the Boston fans right now because there's a lot of love for him right now. As a Celtics fan,

who do you want? Do you want the young guys to get minutes and come up like a la Philly? Or do you want a guy like Kyrie to stay and potentially disrupt that whole dynamic with Tatum and Blatt and whatever? But that could resurface.

Right. You know what I mean? Like people to people. That could always resurface. Like if Tatum has a stretch of games where he's like blowing it for 10 games in a row, you think Kyrie's not going to get on his ass? Like I saw an interview where it was Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson have a podcast interview thing and they interviewed Kyrie and Tatum at the same time. Well, those guys are buddies though.

There's some sort of Duke thing even though Kyrie was there for 10 games. Kyrie did a tour. We both, all the travails we went through. The 48 minutes we played together. He played like 100 minutes at Duke.

It's weird. He's been on his best behavior really since the All-Star break. It was the end of February when everybody was like, what the fuck is wrong with this guy? Why does he keep giving his soliloquies about leadership? Why is he calling LeBron James? It really seemed like he was sabotaging the team in a lot of ways. Is that verified, though?

I read this stuff, and I'm like, how much of this is true and how much of this is bullshit? It was all 100% true. The worst thing that could be in the NBA is condescending. Because all of these guys think they're hot shit. No matter who they are, they have their five people in their life. Oh, yeah. So you take Jason Tatum, who's making $7 million a year. He dunked on LeBron in the conference finals.

Now it's all-star break. He'sed on LeBron in the conference finals. Now it's an all-star break. He's got his shoes that have no shoelaces. He's got people like, yeah, man, you're going to be the guy. Good man. And then Kyrie is like, these young guys don't know what it takes. You know. You know how it goes. But you saw what happened when they faced LeBron.

Like towards the end of the game, you could tell like, yo, everybody in this team is fucking 16 years old. Because they were all playing hero ball. Because they were. Yeah, they were like, yo, I'm going to pull up to, I'm from 40 and chuck this tree, chuck this three. There's 23 seconds left on the shot clock. What kind of shot selection is that? You know what I mean?

Like, how much of that is them and how much of that is the coach being like, yo, my man, like, I'm the coach. Like, I set a play. Right. If there's a busted play, kick it out to the vet. You know what I mean? Kick it back out to Kyrie. Let him set up or let him do his thing. Because Kyrie could dribble through anything.

Well, he is kind of like a genius, which I think it's hard for people. He has a very high basketball IQ. Yeah. He has a high basketball IQ, and he's also just, like, incredibly talented. Yeah. I've never watched a player day in, day out who makes the shots that he makes. Yeah. And he just like dances through defenses.

He's perfectly coordinated on left and right side, but he was condescending. He fell on the sword. He admitted he was a dick to the guys. And it's been better since, but it's like, like if you went to Showtime, who's the biggest star at Showtime?

Like the guy from Billions. Yeah. And if you met that guy and he was just like a fucking dick to you like well you know we'll see how it goes but when you get to the level

you know we've been in Billions we've been nominated for Emmys and stuff and we know how it's done here at Showtime and you'd be like what are you talking about like

why are you telling me this that's the only thing that bothers me because I like he'd do that whole speech and I'd be like what's that I was like,

was that Ray Donovan? It better be Ray Donovan getting the speech. Ray Donovan's just like, what the fuck's going on? I think that was Liam Neeson. I was like, yo,

are we in The Chi? What's going on? What is this? The Chi. What's going on? That'd be a good crossover episode. We've been working on it. We want to do some more on The Chi.

We're just going to start walking into Showtime shows just booing the plows. Just having like a dramatic moment on Billions. We want... Deezer murdering the Shire? No, we're just going to start walking into Showtime shows just booing the plot. Yeah, straight up. Just having like a dramatic moment on Billions. We just come through like... We're going to be in the season finale of Smilf.

But can we talk about how... So you guys think you're getting Kyrie? I mean, either or. This is my free agent wish list. KD's the top of the wish list. I would hope so. He's one of the best 15 players ever. And at guard, I would take either Kyrie or Kemba.

Kemba because he's a Bronx guy. He's a hometown guy. And he can fucking hoop. You know what I mean? Is Kemba, like, when you say he's a Bronx guy, because some people will do this liberally with Brooklyn and the Bronx specifically, where it's like, he's from Brooklyn, and then you find out, like, he lived there for two years and left.

No, he's pure. He's like a legitimate, he was pure Nebraska. Legitimate pure Soundview projects. He went to high school at Rice, which is Harlem. My mother used to work at the He went to high school

at Rice, which is Harlem. But it was because his friend who he lived with in Soundview houses was going to Rice. So that makes more sense. So he was like, that was either that

or I was going to go to St. Raymond's. My mother was the head librarian at Soundview Library and like she knew Kemba Walker because as soon as he got the NBA contract, he moved, which is brilliant. You got to do that in the Bronx.

So you guys, how do you handle the Dennis Smith Jr. part of this thing? I like him. I love him. I know, but you get Kemba, you're like, okay, Dennis, thanks. No, look, I'm running lineups where it's just like, all right, who's the pass first guy? Seven guards.

And KD. That's what the NBA is now. You know what I mean? Like small guys that can shoot. Like if you got five guys on the floor and two of them can't shoot, you're fucked. You know what I'm saying? That's why I think the Bucs are going to destroy the Celtics.

You know what I'm saying? I'm leaning that way as well. You know what I'm saying? And I think that they're going to make it to the finals. You know what I mean? And I think they can really give Golden State trouble. I have Rockets bucks, and I had that before the playoffs, and I still have it. I feel like it's a Rockets-y kind of year.

Yeah. They might turn it on against the Warriors. So the Kemba thing, if he's actually real New York, he gets it then. Yeah. So that, if I were him. When we were at the NBA Awards like two years ago, he got like the award for like citizenship award or something like that. Like, you know, good. I'm a good guy award.

I helped the community award. That's what they call it. The I'm a good guy award. Yeah, I'm a good guy. He won the I'm a good guy-y. So he goes up to make his acceptance speech or whatever. And I was just like super drunk. And I was just like, BX all day.

And you could like actually hear it on the telecast. And he turns around. He's like, yes, sir. Like he's really from the Bronx take but to come to the Bronx we don't have to take a pay cut to come to the Knicks no the Knicks got two super max slots

well Charlotte can give him more especially if he makes like 13 more NBA this year you could add to it but it's really an extra year he's really Barry Sanders-ing it

if he stays in Charlotte though let's keep it real oh I think he's one of the few NBA players that if he stays in Charlotte though let's keep it real oh I think he's one of the few NBA players that if he actually walked into a restaurant

I'm not sure a lot of people would know who he was right like Kemba Walker Dame Lillard I think people would be like oh that's Dame Lillard

I'm not positive people would recognize Kemba like that we know Kemba Walker if Kemba Walker walked in here and whispered to him like take out this cable

and walked out we wouldn't be like that was Kemba Walker like that guy looked like somebody I was like and walked out we wouldn't be like that was Kemba Walker like that guy looked like somebody I was like your intern looks familiar

yeah he looks like but no you have like not even a name dropping Chris Paul is staying at our hotel and so I'm walking through the lobby he's like yo

I love your show oh my god and I was like he looks like Chris Paul but I'm like all I've ever seen this guy is like in a jersey

and he's like in a suit and everything he's a little shorter than you think to Ended up being Cliff Paul, but But no that out cuz then I was like oh wow this LA like there's a you see someone you're like There's a possibility or basketball player or rapper or just say you guys move here Yeah, I'm thinking about you need. I'm thinking about it. We need you. You need to think about it. You do like split screen. Like Wilbon and Kornheiser. Oh yeah, we're just going to Skype in. Yeah, some of that show time is like, the hell you are.

Let's take a break to talk about State Farm. Players and fans prepare all year for the playoffs. They need to be ready for anything. With a State Farm agent on your team, you can be ready for anything too. They can help you prepare for whatever life throws your way. Who's the most prepared player in the playoffs right now? Got to give it to Dame Lillard. He assassinated the Thunder.

It may have put a dagger in the whole Westbrook, Georgia. I don't know, three first round playoff exits in a row, but they talked trash to him after game three. He stayed focused. He quoted the art of war on his Instagram after he knocked him out. Unbelievable performance. Dame Lillard, winner of round one. We're gonna talk about him with Ryan Rissell

on Sunday Night's Podcast. We'll do a whole Dame section. Talk to a State Farm agent today about combining your home and auto insurance. Get a teammate who can help you prepare for the unexpected. A teammate as good as Dame Lillard. State Farm, here to help life go right. Also, since we're here, let's talk about Luminary. Revolutionized the way we listen to podcasts. It's an amazing free app that launched this week, actually. Features like a simple user interface,

personalized content recommendations. The Luminary app is a better way to listen to the shows you already know and love. You can get the majority of the biggest podcasts on there right now. And they also have a groundbreaking new service, Luminary Premium, caters to podcast fans by delivering an incredible network of 40 ad-free podcasts available only on Luminary.

However you choose to Luminary, you'll appreciate what they're doing for podcasting. We have a podcast right now on Luminary. It is a little spinoff series from The Rewatchables called The Rewatchables 1999. The first one we did was American Pie. The next one we're doing next week is Cruel Intentions. And we're going to do, I think, a season of 10

and then take a little break because we have something else special coming on Luminary. But you can check all those out. We've not stopped doing the rewatchables either because we got Mean Girls coming next week. But if you sign up for Luminary Premium with luminary.link slash Bill Simmons, you'll save a dollar off your subscription

every month for the rest of your first year. You'll save a dollar off your subscription. Every month for the rest of your first year, you'll be entered for a chance to win exclusive experience with one of their creators, like two tickets to see Trevor Noah perform standup followed by a meet and greet with a man himself. Once again, luminary.link slash Bill Simmons, no purchase necessary. Must be 18 years or older

and a resident of the continental US. Void where prohibited. See official rules and details at luminary.link. Back to the Bodega Boys. What NBA players recognizing you guys, the show, the whole thing, is that happening a lot?

Yeah. What happens is if someone did the show, they tell everyone in the locker room and then they tell everyone else. All those NBA players, they've been rocking with us since like the podcast so they love the Vice show and they love the Showtime show

and like they like when you meet them it's very sincere it's not like yo I know about you they're like yo I love every show

this was my favorite episode oh that's good and you're like wow you know not to name drop again but like literally like after a show like CeCe will be like yo I didn't really like that interview

but this thing was really hilarious da da da da or like you'll have an athlete and they're like yo we watch it every night and the wife is like yeah sadly and you're like

well you know I'm gonna go with the breadwinner here it's only a half hour it's not like she's sitting through 60 game of thrones episode you know what I mean

if you're really into it and like you're like yo these guys are funny and you're just like they're just like they're too loud they talk too fast they curse too much.

Who's been the best NBA player you've had? Best NBA player. Or just like the best performance from a guest. And his cancer. And his cancer. Because he came on after he got into the trouble with the Turkish government.

The whole Turkish government. And he came right off the plane to do the interview. Even though he made that comment today thanking the Knicks for waving him. I love that guy. He's great. He's just happy wherever he goes.

It's funny. He saw us at the NBA awards. Such a good teammate. He saw us at the NBA awards that guy he's great he's just happy wherever he goes it's funny he's such a good teammate he was at the NBA awards and he's like my guys and I'm like yo this 7 foot Turkish guy loves us

this is great he was available because it was clear the Knicks were gonna buy him out I wanted the Celtics to get him because it's not like

we're like totally set with post up guys and you can't just have Al Horford I know Dominicans are very powerful and tenacious and good teammates

and good at everything that they do. You need backup. And he's a good teammate and all that stuff. He ended up on Portland. Now he's playing crunch time and it's amazing. Because who did they have before him? Before they picked him up

who was their well Nurkic got hurt so he's kinda saved the day for them on the Showtime show you've had some some powerful guests it's almost like

you have somebody good booking the show Best Booker Best Booker of Hollywood I know what it is Tommy God you know what I'm saying he had AOC though

yeah that was that was actually a lot easier to get there. You guys are getting in with her earlier before she becomes president in like... Oh, yeah, for sure. She's definitely going to be the president.

I'm going to be director of vibes. Yo. 12 years. Yeah. Secretary of defense. Cabinet position. Cabinet position. Secretary of defense right here.

Secretary of defense. I'm going to go just... What do you guys want to do? You want to blow up the ocean? Let's do it. Fuck it. No cares. Get rid of the plastic.

What do we do? How's that? What kind of charisma does she have? She's cool. She's super charismatic. She's super cool. So then when you, you know,

the thing is, it's like, she's actually a Bronx person. Like we know, like we've been, we've hung with her in the Bronx. We know her. And there's a difference

in when she talks to us than when she's on TV. And like, we know the real, like, you know, you have to code switch. And that's why it's so, it's kind of funny watching people attack her for stuff that she's like TV and like we know the real like you know you have to code switch and that's why

it's so it's kind of funny watching people attack her for stuff that they're like you didn't really grow up in the Bronx and it's like

no she really did like we're talking she's naming spots in the projects and like addiction and stuff and she named that spot by Parkchester

like stuff you'd only know if you lived there she's bartending like 18 months ago yeah I don't know what people are expecting here she just started

this part of her life in a really significant way. And you would think the way she gets media coverage, she was the most, she was the most important politician ever. Like, anytime,

they're always like, what does AOC think? And she's like, fam, I'm just trying to run this little area over here. It's funny though, when you get in the headlines like that,

it just, like, that even happened to Jemele at ESPN. Once the Trump thing started, you would have thought Jemele was like, by far the biggest person at ESPN. But she was getting started, you would have thought Jamel was by far the biggest person at ESPN.

But she was getting headlines every time. When they tweeted out that AOC was going to be on our show, we got attacked on Twitter by so many Russian bots. It was actually amazing because it was just like, go back to bartending and terrible memes. And you're looking and you're like, this is not an organic human tweet. And you go back and you look on the tweet and it's just like, it's an account that just started

it's like Tom 18967896789 and it's all the tweet responses like within 12 seconds to anything AOC has tweeted it's just nonsense it's just random

they're tweeting at you guys like the Yankees stink very badly yes they're like Nick's terrible I'm like okay first of all

everyone knows that we'll always be bad team I prefer Brooklyn Nets yeah I was like oh I'm sure you do I'm sure you do

alright Putin like you still wanna keep these burner accounts I see what you did here so when you're doing the Showtime show what was the balance between

keeping the DNA of the old show but also trying to just doing half and half like just giving people what they want up top. Yeah.

Yeah. Which is like us riffing on the major things. Riffing on current stuff. And then kind of like adding show times money and the production skills to like take the little jokes

and sketches we've done on the podcast and blowing up. And people, you know, like just like, oh, we make these funny sketches,

these little off one jokes. And on the podcast, we have to just do them verbatim like like improv style. And just taking those really funny ones and just going out. So you're rehearsing the riffs or spelling them out? Nah. And then when you're on the show?

It's very curb, your enthusiasm, where it's like. Just beats. Yeah. So the script is like, yo, y'all are here. So we got a sketch where there's a character that's from the podcast. I'm not going to, no spoilers, no spoilers. But there's a character that originated in the podcast and we did a whole sketch

based around that character doing his job badly and it's all beats it's like hey arrive here

this you know this activity is supposed to happen go alright we're gonna end here now the next activity is supposed to happen

alright go like the next scene is me and my wife and like we're just riffing we're going to end here. Now the next activity is supposed to happen. All right, go. Like the next scene is me and my wife and like we're just riffing. We're just making up stuff. Like it comes out because that's what people want to see. If we're scripted,

it's like very stiff and you know that. And also there's certain things that will come. It doesn't seem scripted. So I didn't know how you were doing it, but it's felt the same. We want to keep the fluidity of the old show

and just like keep the improv and off the cuff style. Because like if, like it was at one point we were doing like pickups and it was just like, you improv and off the cuff style because like if like it was like at one point we were doing like pickups and it was just like you could tell like if a joke is like

say a joke is super funny but like you kind of just fumble it at the end we were just like yo just leave it like that because it's never gonna have the same energy if we have to repeat it

and the crowd's not gonna react the same and you know and you have a writer's room now yeah shout out to the writers how many writers do you have? uh six you got six probably

I heard it was just all white guys I thought that was fucking weird no no it's all white guys it's all white guys we have no need

for diversity yeah who cares no we have it's four guys this is how we do it this is how they do it no we have a very diverse writers room

we have Z-Way we have Hebin we have Josh, Mike, Robert Claire and I think that's the best part of it the diverse thing because claire for example claire freeman shout out to her she grew up on the upper east side her father's a huge yankees fan so she gets that so amazingly like we'll do yankee jokes and

she's like this is my wheelhouse and like you wouldn't expect you know like she's like this white girl from the upper east side you wouldn't expect her to like know these references and stuff and then so each person kind of has like the wheelhouse and they know where to go with each show can they work together and it's like that was my favorite thing about doing my show which did not last very long but i absolutely loved the writer's room that having like that whole group and just the shooting the shit because that's what i when i worked for jimmy it was the same thing yeah and that show didn't do well the first year either but we had like the room yeah the room was always the most fun part cause they come up

with such wild stuff I love it yeah you could cross any line it was okay it was like all in the name of how do I make this person laugh yeah

and they'll come up with stuff and like every now and then they'll do a sketch and you're like this ain't it bro but then sometimes they'll do something and you're like

come on this is hilarious let's start shooting this right now well it's it's like a batting average you're not gonna bat a thousand yeah and that's that's what it was like three for ten it's great going from not having any writers at all to having writers we're used to just being like okay everything we do is good that sounds very arrogant but it's just like it's true it's it's it's true it's true you know i'm saying so like we would go out in front of the camera late night exactly

who is mike is woke now, by the way. I will get to that later. I have a lot. I can't wait. I don't, I don't want to jump the gun. I just want to say Nick and Mike are on the same level right now.

Yeah. A lot of thoughts. I'm okay. Rosa Parks, Michael fucking Francesa. Yo, but now wait till we read.

We're going to remake green book. When my princess is driving us to the south. My princess. My princess. My princess. Wait till we're gonna remake Green Book when Mike Francis and John Augustine Mike Francis and James You guys eat chicken? Mike Francis and Jason Willock Oh my god Oh my god

I'm dying They're just reading Kate Smith lyrics Was this racist oh shout out to that did you see the clip though why don't I see the clip I forwarded it to like 30 people

I'm like you just have to watch this what's funny about the Kate Smith thing I was like he's not gonna actually say the words Mike's not gonna say the words

he's gonna do the Mike thing he's gonna be like well that's what he started doing he's just reading it out of the air he's like silence people are driving like did he die did he have a stroke nobody does dead air I'm going to do the Mike thing. He's going to be like. Well, that's what he started doing. He's just reading it out of the air. He's like, whoa.

Silence. People are driving like, did he die? Did he have a stroke? Nobody does dead air like Mike. Oh, my God. We covered the Kate Smith stuff on episode 122 of our podcast. The episode was literally called Pickin' Any Heaven. Yeah, we played it.

And afterwards, everyone was like, what the fuck? And you know what? My beef with it was not that it was racist. I hate the version of Kate Smith, God Bless America, the Yankees play. It sounds like they downloaded it off Napster. Like it's 128K. It's so crispy. Kate Smith overrated with God Bless America.

She's not that good. Kate Smith got no slappers. Not a bring the house down kind of performance. No, not at all. Not at all. It's just very like Boardwalk Empire. When was the last time you were in a club, they put on some Kate Smith, you were like, yeah. Yeah, this shit bangs.

Never. It's like the Marvin Gaye 1983 NBA All-Star Game. Underrated. Underrated. Even though, or maybe properly rated, but that was like amazing. The Kate Smith was, I don't know. It's just like, you hear it and you're like, all right, I'm going to the bathroom. Big old lady.

Like, I just hear it being played on one of those like old record players with like the big ass horn on it. And it reminds you of like the time, the yankee stadium when that song was popular like i just want to say maybe i could have watched the games like you know it was a different culture so why do you want to respond for that we're going to go back to 1931 though if we're really going to legislate 90 years ago and what was okay we're going to be in a of trouble we are and by the way guess who didn't have black people hmm on their team

every MLB team yes all the teams no we're quite aware cause every time I look at the black and white photos I'm like wow

how do you have a black and white photo with no black and they're just like but that back then they're eating like mine pies and like

I don't run we just did a rewatchables podcast on field of dreams yeah and the biggest flawed field of dreams which is even you know that movie right yeah I don't run we just did a rewatchables podcast on Field of Dreams yeah and the biggest flaw in Field of Dreams which is even you know that movie right

yeah Kevin Costner right yeah they will come James Earl Jones is the writer yeah Terrence Mann

like the really the 60s 70s like social activist writer and they have this field and it's just all white guys coming back to the field it's like couldn't have thrown

like three negro leaguers in there like Satchel Paige was available Josh Gibson couldn't have made the trip it's hilarious but it's like

the hugest glitch in that but the point is like if you're gonna go like pre-1950 it's gonna be ugly across the board oh yeah

but then it's just like there's no wins there's no wins so don't even I don't know what to do I would've gotten rid of it because it was a bad suck that's what they should've ran with like they should this whole thing about oh we just came across There's no wins. There's no wins. So don't even, don't even approach the topic. I would have gotten rid of it because it was a bad suck.

That's what they should have ran with. Yeah. Like they should, this whole thing about, oh, we just came across her racially tinged. No, all darkies go to heaven. That's the reason darkies were born.

Yeah, that's not racially tinged. That is a splash of racial adobo. What about the whole thing where it's like, actually she was parroting. That's the thing. She's parroting.

Yeah. In 1930. the whole thing where it's like actually she was parroting that's the thing she's parroting when it was like satire in 1930 1930 they didn't have a polio vaccine or satire let's stop with that yeah Barstool Sports

was not around in 1930 if you talk about Portnoy came off the Mayflower like what's up guys what's up guys bought this pizza from England.

Let's see how the king likes it. You guys, Toronto Maple Leafs, you guys suck. Your team sucks. The Bruins are way better. You didn't get the pucks deep. Yeah. Some hot hockey Boston accent talk. But can we talk about the decision?

I don't know how many producers Mike has. At some point, Mike's like, let's get into this Kate Smith thing. At some point, somebody in the room

has got to be like, actually, Mike, don't. No. Mike, please don't. Please don't. This could go very wrong. To be fair, I watched that clip

and I thought the ending was going to be totally different. He actually pulled it off in a weird way except for maybe talking about some of the words. Yeah. Might not have done that.

But you know what? For online, everyone was like, they were really surprised the way he handled it. Because that was a normal Francesa. Mike is a boomer. Mike is an Italian New York guy. Mike is friends with Trump? Yeah, exactly.

So then you would expect him to be like, who cares? You know what I mean? Like the caller was. Yeah. So he was just like total opposite. So that was just like, exactly. So then you would expect him to be like, who cares, you know what I mean? Like the caller was. Yeah, so he was just like total opposite. So that was just like, wow, oh shit. Well, you have kids. Watching that clip and not knowing anything about it, it was that same sensation you have when your kid's like walking towards some bookcase

or crawling towards some bookcase and it's about to pull down. And you're like, ah! No, I didn't do I didn't do the wall anchor thing well maybe your version was the clip was two minutes

because usually a Mike Francesco clip is like 30 seconds boom bang when it's two minutes you're like there's a lot of stuff from terrible

fallback stuff to develop there's a lot of turns that he can make in this road that could not be good for him when he came he came on your last show yeah the Pope

that was a big get that was the one we put on and everyone was like, whoa. Shout out to you. That was big. I am worried because this whole new thing where people call it a crank column and derail his show. I don't like it.

I don't like it either. I used to listen to the show. Respect the institution. Let people have actual questions. Mike might not answer them correctly, but at least we're going to talk about sports. If you're just calling up there and you're just like, hey, you think the Yankees should get Giambi for first base? Come on, we do that every day. The guy that called in and was just like, hey, Mike, you think with all the injuries going on with the Yankees,

how about calling up some guy you know like old timer like Don Mattingly or something like that and he's just like alright okay this guy waited three hours to ask me that question

you know when you when you get back from Mars try again yeah you can see his energy changes he becomes more hostile and then you get that ass kissing call

afterwards like hey Mike I hate when guys do that you know you're the best you're the Pope just hang up and listen yeah

Mike what do you think about Noah Syndergaard is the best. You're the Pope. Just hang up and listen. Yeah. Mike, what do you think about Noah Syndergaard? Is there too many vowels in his name? I'll hang up and listen. Too many vowels. I do think like that whole version of how to do radio just feels like it's from another era now. Because I think podcasts, the conversations, and the level of intelligence, and the comedy,

whatever you're getting for it, and they're so specialized now. Yeah. Or the bigger ones are just good. Like this one, this is a good conversation, I would like to say. But to just be like, all right, let's take some calls. Vinny from Yonkers, you're up. Vinny from Yonkers.

Hey, Mike. And then it's like, what are the odds that's going to go well? Yeah. Like one in four? Yes. I mean, the fact that it's just like- And that's your content for an hour. They're like, here's one guy

and just give him the mic for five hours every day. It's like, there's no way. Like I used to watch that- I would go nuts. I used to watch that on the Yes Network and it was just like, bruh, he's run out of things. Like he's like, all right,

we're going to get into golf now. And I was like, do you even watch golf? Like you know as much about it as I do. I went on his show last month and was just berating him about Zion. I was like, do you even watch golf? Do you know as much about it as I do? I went on his show last month and was just berating him about Zion. I was like, you're on the wrong side of history on this one. You have to change your opinion on this. Zion's going to be like a transcendent NBA player. Oh, yeah, he had the wild, hot take on it.

Just back off. It's okay. You were wrong. He's like, here's your get out of jail free card. I never said that, Bill. He's not. He's too big. He's too big.

He's going to grow. What is he going to be, 300 pounds? Mike, I never said that. I never said that, Bill. He's not. He's too big. He's too big. He's going to grow. What is he going to be? 300 pounds? Mike, I never said that. When he's all rookie, like rookie of the year, oh, first NBA team. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, I never said that.

Like when he said UVA was never winning the title. That's the thing, though. You say dumb shit. I have so many dumb things. Yeah, if you're on the radio for five fucking hours every day, it's like you're going to say a lot of dumb shit. You get too comfortable. We if you're on the radio for five fucking hours every day it's like you're gonna say a lot of dumb shit and you get too comfortable you get too comfortable

you think and like we do that sometimes on the podcast every now and then you know we'll say something and it's like yeah that has to be edited out I used to write

these draft diaries I have one from 2012 where the Portland takes Damien Lillard over Austin Rivers and I'm just crushing them for a paragraph it's like

take the 22 year old Damien Lillard or a 19 year old higher ceiling Austin Rivers, and I'm just crushing them for a paragraph. Take the 22-year-old Dave Millard or a 19-year-old higher ceiling Austin Rivers. Great pick, guys. I mean, hey, can we get some straight up from the archives? Yeah, I've had some bad ones. Yeah, I've had some bad takes. Can we hear about Bronx Chella?

Bronx Chella. Woo! Shout out to the click. First of all, we had the wild Airbnb that was just like five bedrooms. Coachella was weird. It was like, I don't know how many Ariana Grande songs you know, but apparently I know every one of them because I was just standing there in the desert in like

a drug rug just singing along. I found out what a drug rug is. It's that hemp poncho that you always see like college students who don't go to class and they're in a quad playing hacky sack. Yeah. Why is it called a drug rug? Because you smoke drugs while you wear it. It's basically a rug.

Oh. I thought it was like to sell drugs. No, no. It's like to be comfortable smoking doobies. And then Justin Bieber came out and for some reason

I became like a 14. I was like, the Biebs! Everyone's like, yeah, calm down, calm down. Biebs has a couple good socks. They were killing it. I know this from my

13-year-old daughter. Yeah. A couple good socks. The thing about Coachella and Autta Flex, if you have an artist pass, the experience is way different than just regular admission. Regular admission, you're just there with like 5 million people.

Artist pass, you're just on the other side of the gate looking at the 5 million people. Like, look at you, poors. Also, I bought a $60 pizza. Boom, boom. What'd you think of Palm Springs? Interesting drive, right? It's long out there.

It's just a long highway for 90 minutes. All of a sudden, there's like a casino. Yeah, and the people actually live out there. There's some cactuses and then there's some houses. Mad mountains and stuff. Wind farms. That's where they have that tennis club. That's where they have a tennis tournament.

That's the one where Serena, there was like some stuff. Yeah, I could see that. She wouldn't go back. But yeah, it's a lot of old people. It's a weird vibe out there. I could see that. She wouldn't go back. Oh, shit. But, yeah, it's a lot of old people. It's a weird vibe out there. I kind of like it. It definitely feels like

the California I heard about growing up versus, because this is, I was like, oh, California, cactus and stuff. I was like, no, this is like a major city. But out there,

it's like, yo, we in the desert for real. Like, I always thought people in Coachella Oh, it's a dust storm. I thought people in Coachella were being cool with the mask over their face.

No, you definitely need it because the wind will blow and all of a sudden you got gravel in your eyes and stuff. It's where you want to be when you're old. Because there's casinos and restaurants. Yeah. Oh, okay. For like old, old.

If you're like, yeah, you're like 80. Okay. There's golf courses. I thought middle age. Not that expensive. Yeah. Like that's where like Super Dave lived. That's wild.

He lived in like Palm Desert. And then what do they do? They just leave? They just fly him in for curb. Yeah. They leave for Coachella though? like that's where like Super Dave lived that's wild he lived in like Palm Desert and then what do they do they just they just fly him in for curb yeah they leave for Coachella

though and then they come back yeah they rent their houses out for like 20 grand if you you can have a house out there

and if you rent it out for Coachella and what's the other festival the Stagecoach you pay your you pay your mortgage for the

you just have to clean up the vomit and the drug rug the drug rug that's well actual drugs there was a binder there was a binder there were up the vomit and the drug rug. The drug rug that's crammed in here. Actual drugs. The near washer dryer.

There was a binder. There were all the rules and everything. Yeah. You can't, if you go, if you get an Airbnb and you trash it, you're like, you're done. You're probably never getting another Airbnb. We left, I think we might've left that Airbnb cleaner than we got there. All right. We're going to take a break to talk about Voodoo.

Voodoo, the leading streaming app, a library of over 150,000 titles available to rent or buy from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to your favorite indie films. They recently launched an ad-supported on-demand service with over 8,000 titles you can watch for free, including classic movies and TV shows.

Movies like Paddington, Legally Blonde, Stargate, whatever you're looking for, completely free. They're also the presenting sponsor of the Rewatchables podcast. Wow, they're back. I think we're doing Mean Girls next week. So yeah, that's happening too.

Watch it for free on Vudu before you tune into the next episode. Vudu is available wherever you watch TV. They make it easy to access all your favorite entertainment with the click of a button. Enjoy Voodoo on your smart TV, Roku, Chromecast, iPhone, or Android online. No subscriptions, no contracts, just free entertainment.

I gotta say, this is another one of my favorite products. They had, I did the Fast Furious bundle. I got all eight. They'll do these special discounts on bundles and you can just clean up on like the Godfather collection, Die Hard collection. What'd you get, Kyle?

Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings. The Lord of the Rundown forever. Yeah, they'll have deals. You got to watch on Vudu. They also have all the vacation movies right now. You can check those out. Vudu.com slash rewatchables.

V-U-D-U.com slash rewatchables. Sign up, start watching today and catch up on Mean Girls before next week's rewatchable episode at VUDU.com slash rewatchables. Back to the Bodega Boys. So like what's your recognizability at this place? Are people just yelling at you at this point?

Taking pictures left and right. Is that still weird for you? No, I've come to terms with it, especially after this weekend. Like, it's like cool because like you meet no one. It wasn't one of those things where you got to watch out

because someone's going to punch you in the back of the head. It's like you're meeting people and they're shaking and they're like, I can't believe I'm meeting you. And you're like, oh, let's flick it up.

And like, don't you find that it varies from cities? Because like in New York, those guys must feel like when they meet you, it's like you've been in their life for a few years. They're just going to immediately.

New York people do. And then just mid-con're just going to immediately, New York people do. And then just mid-conversation. I know that happens to me. New York people do the point or the head nod. Like, they don't have the conversation. They're like, oh, they don't have the conversation. No, they're like, oh, I see you. Or they'll go, you're, and you just keep on moving. It'll, like, it's weird because, like, I didn't go to Coachella.

I would, like, you know, it was Easter, Passover. My kids had basketball and shit. Yeah, so I was just like, I stayed home. And, but no, like, I was going out a lot with them. And then it would just be, like, even at the basketball training camp, it was just like there was three or four dads there. They were like, yo, you know what I mean? But they do that thing where they're like,

and then they wait for you to be like, yeah, I'm Mero. Yeah, and they're like, yo, man, love the show. Like, two of the dads at the training camp were like, yo, I love the show, man. You going to be here next week? I was like, yeah, of course. I'm coming here every Monday they're like yo man love the show like two of the two of the dads at the training camp were like yo I love the show man you gonna be here next week I was like yeah of course I'm coming here every Monday to watch my kids hoop

but like it's like I never thought that like at a local community center right with like you know

10 kids there that three or four of the dads that were there were gonna be like yo I love your show bro and I was just like holy shit but then it made it kind of made sense because it's like we're in the same that were there were going to be like, yo, I love your show, bro. And I was just like, holy shit. But then it kind of made sense because it's like we're in the same age group.

There was a line for the pedicabs that take you through the parking lot at Coachella. It's $10 a head, like, unless you don't want to walk in. It has, like, all the prices for everything. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. So we're on line for the pedicab. It's a long line.

And all of a sudden, you just hear, you're. And I was like, all right, there's one person. And I go, you're. And you hear, oh, my God, it's him. And, like, it's, like, 20 people on this line. Like, you just hear, you're. And I was like, all right, there's one person. And I go, you're. And you hear, oh, my God, it's him. And it's like 20 people on this line. Like, you're Bodega Hive. And I was like, this is nuts. Also, shout out to Bodega Hive for having money for Coachella.

I'm very proud of you. We have come so far as an audience. We've gone from me and Meryl sharing a MetroCard to do our first podcast. To having our face on a MetroCard. And now, look, our fans have cars. What's their pose when they pose for pictures with you? It's always like, yo. It's like, fingers up.

It's like if you were boxers, there's always that. There's always that, yeah. You do the fist up, like when you meet, when you have the picture with Sugar Ray Leonard or somebody. Or we do the stereotypical club pose where like the fan is right here and you point at them. Like, yo, it's the man right here. So they can put it on Instagram like, yo, with the homies.

Yeah. You know what I mean? It's totally changed because I had my book tour in 2009 and there were really no cell phone cameras at all. So it was just like, sign the book. Now, 10 years later, I feel like it's like 2009.

Photos are so much better because signing autographs is weird because I don't have a professional autograph. So people ask me to sign autographs. I'm signing the same way I sign my personal checks and I was like there's got to be a better way than this. Right. Well now it's got to be all selfies. It's all selfies. Oh yeah.

That's how people. I love doing autographs though. If people come up and say I want an autograph. I'm like no just pull your phone out. No one has time for this because doing an autograph is like say we're coming out like 30 Rock or something. The car is right there. We have to get in the car and get out of there. You're doing an autograph then this next person I want an autograph is like, say we're coming out like 30 Rock or something. The car is right there. We have to get in the car and get out of there. You're doing an autograph then this next person, I want an autograph. I want

an autograph. Now you're doing six autographs. Then people are like, I don't know who you are. I want an autograph too. Whereas before, it's like, yo, y'all want pictures? Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Dap security up, get in your car, get out of there. The tough thing is when it's like, can I get a picture? Sure. And this has happened on, I've been on the side of it, but I've also had it when I'm taking a picture. I don't know

what the camera icon looks like. Wait hold on one second. Oh damn it. I locked it. Bob can you give me the passcode? Yeah, and you're just like, you have your arm around somebody. You're like, do I take my arm down? One of the worst ones I think was Yankee Stadium and some guy was like, yo my girl loves you. Like could it be huge? Like really loves you. Like can you FaceTime her? I'd like to watch. And I'm, wow. Wow. He stuck that one in there, Bill. Like, really loves you. Like, loves you. Like, can you FaceTime her? I'd like to watch. And I, wow. Wow. Snuck that one in there, Bill. Yeah.

Nice. He's like, yo, could you FaceTime my girl? The corruption of Bill. Yeah. So I'm like, sure. No problem. You know, call your girl or whatever. And he's not getting reception. I was like, alright, you gotta go on the Yankee Stadium Wi-Fi. So he's like, oh, how do you do that? I was like, alright. Open your browser. You have to go to Yankee.com. Put it in airplane mode. Now you have to register.

They're gonna text you. I was like, you know what know what you take care of this we meet back here the third inning we will do the facetime thing because listen i'm not doing genius tech support right now and like like stuff like that or people who just like they've never used the camera app before yeah and they're just like they take off their glasses with the shit yeah you know how to do this i've been doing graffiti since i was 11 Like autographs are way easier for me Just Mero Boom You know

BX Love you Peace Boom Here Go You know what I mean And I feel like that's something tangible

That they could be like Yo this is Wow he really took our time He wrote this thing for me I like the autographs more in person I've never liked autographs It just seems Because it's like

Yo look I met someone and they signed this Like okay So now you think the picture The picture is much A picture is much more of a flex. You throw it on Instagram and people are like, yo, I can't believe you met him. Go throw an autograph on a...

Go throw an autograph on your Instagram and no one over... No one under 50 is going to be... Oh, wow, you met Lenny Dykstra. Like, no, no one cares. They definitely wouldn't care now. So have you thought about going to more than once a week or no for the show?

You know, we'll see. We'll see what happens. I wish it was on more often. Yeah, I mean. Yeah. I just. I mean. You know what it is?

People got used to seeing us so often. And yeah, you know, maybe we'll ramp it up. We'll see. Like, there's definitely a demand for more. And we're trying to figure out how to do it. The only negative criticism that we have received is it's not enough. Not enough. Not enough? Yeah.

It's never been like, you know, like. You're going to get criticized for something. Right. That's probably the number one. The best thing. The number one you'd want. I want more of you. We want to do like, we need showtime.

Showtime. If you listen, give us the Mike Francesco deal. Give us five hours every day. Five hours in the chair just talking with no facts. Okay. So, Damian Lillard, you know, he's bad for the sport. He's pulling up for 40. Mons, is Damian Lillard black?

Can we confirm that? Well, you could get more of you on Showtime, but I like your idea of the crossovers. Oh, yeah. You're getting more of us. We're on Ray Donovan tonight. But then it would just ruin it because, like, we don't know the plot lines. I'm like, hey, Ray, what are you doing? Are you going to shoot?

He's like, no, we're not. Are you, Ray? Are you, Ray? Are we going to drink whiskey and shoot people? Let's go. Um, I'm trying to think, wait,

there was one other time. There's a music topic and I'm blanking. I don't want to hit with you guys. Oh, the Beyonce Netflix special. Yes. Oh yeah. Everybody went nuts about this.

Yeah. That was fine. Oh, Bill, Bill, Bill. Is it okay that I just thought it was fine? It was fine. Oh, Bill, Bill, Bill. Is it okay that I just thought it was fine? It was fine. You know what?

You're in a safe space. I don't think the beehive is going to come for you, but it was fine. This is the thing. You can't just say it was fine. Are you saying the performance was fine or are you just saying the Netflix thing was fine? I don't really love concert documentaries that much. It was fine.

You had to look at what went into it. The fact that she practiced for six months to perfect it. She had just had twins. Totally respected. She was like eating eggshells and stuff like, you know,

and then if you saw the actual, Bill, I'm trying to help you here. I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to, I don't want you to go, I don't want your timeline to just be like the bee emojis because it will.

You don't want to be on the wrong side of that, Bill. They threw a lemon at Ariana Grande that, Bill. They threw a lemon at Ariana Grande at Coachella. Someone carried a lemon all around Coachella all day just for this little girl to come on stage

and throw it at her. It might have been for Scurvy. You guys are afraid of the beehive. I've seen what they've done. I thought it was fine. I'm not going to say it changed my life. Do you remember that Macaulay Culkin movie, My Girl?

Yeah. Remember at the end when he dies from the bee stings? That's what could happen. Don't be that guy. I'm just trying to think of how many concert documentaries were changed by life. Like Springsteen on Broadway was on Netflix.

They don't really make concert documentaries anymore. It's less about it being about Beyonce and more, for me, it's less about it being about Beyonce and more about it being a concert documentary. That's what I mean. Because the last one I saw was the Michael Jackson one, This Is It. And I was like one I saw was the Michael Jackson one. This is it. And I was like, yo, this is Michael Jackson.

No, this is much different because this is about Beyonce showing that she, like everything on that stage was like she had it. She had the details in mind. Everything had to go through her. And it was like there's a respect for it because it wasn't like, yo, let this production company do this. She was like, yo, I want these people sitting here and I want this word cut in the back of his head

and I want the camera to swoop down, focus on that and then come to me. And it's just like, when you see that level of detail went into the actual Coachella performance, you have no choice but to respect it. It's like watching LeBron or somebody at the top of their game. I saw To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway.

It was the same thing. Like level of detail was awesome. Amazing, yeah. I really liked it, but I also really liked it because I was there for it. I think with concert documentaries... Well, did you watch the Coachella live? I'm like,

well, it was like four in the morning. Yeah. Well, if you had watched it live, you'd probably have a different respect for the documentary. In person? No, not in person. What do you mean?

We all stayed up super late last year to watch Beyonce perform Coachella and watch it live. So after doing that, it was just like, this documentary is a no-brainer. Because you're watching it, and you're like, how did she pull this off? I guess I don't know what I want from a concert documentary at this point in my life.

Yeah. Because I would just rather be at the concert. You know? You want to see the finished product. Sometimes you don't want to see how the sausage is made. And sometimes you do. Well, the other problem is YouTube has stepped on the concert footage to the point where I had already seen all the Beyonce stuff when it was on YouTube with people holding their phones.

So it was like, you know, back in the day, it was like, I have no idea what this all is. Bruce Springsteen, when I was a kid, it was just like these mythic stories of going to the Springsteen shows. There was no actual footage of it. The thing that I didn't, not that I didn't like about the documentary, but it was just like, it kind of like, there's this mystique

around Beyonce where it's just like, when she performs, everything is perfect. Like even in the Super Bowl thing where she fell and she just like, it was,

it was an accident, but she made it look like part of the routine and she like, she never flubs shit on stage when she performs. So do you think

she has the highest approval rating of any celebrity right now absolutely probably probably what's the top five top five approval ratings yeah I mean Beyonce Mike Francesco us yeah okay Smith is slipping in the rankings she's a little red arrow down what if Beyonce had covered Kate Smith at Coachella? Listen. She would have changed some of the lyrics. What does she know? It would sound different coming out of her mouth.

Then you're like, that's satire. But this is the thing, too. There's fan bases that are so rabid that they will dance in circles. That was a joke. But if she actually would have did that, the beehive would have found a way to justify that shit. Be like, oh, it was satire. She was just bringing attention to something that was a joke but like if she actually would have did that they would like the beehive would have found a way to justify

that shit but like oh it was satire she was just bringing attention to something that was very problematic or whatever whatever you know the beehive never had to explain

the Beyonce song it's just like the Beyonce song is there if you don't get it fuck you that's literally how the fan base works what are your Billie Eilish thoughts

she's fucking great loved her I immediately got back that's my daughter's favorite one right now I immediately got back to the house and downloaded the album I was like this shit is great yeah your kids listening fucking great. Loved her. I immediately got back to That's my daughter's favorite one right now. I immediately got back to the house and

downloaded the album. I was like this is great. Yeah. Your kids listening? I asked my oldest son and he was like I don't know who the fuck that is. We're actually going

It's a daughter thing. We're doing Life is Beautiful in Vegas and she's going to be there. What is Life is Beautiful? It's a huge It's like a festival

thing. The XX Vampire Weekend is going to be there. Oh it's like a music festival? When is that? I'm sure we're sending ringer people.

Oh, Tommy's already. Tommy's already got a shirt on. He's on it. You guys met shirtless Tommy at Coachella. Coachella Tommy is the, Coachella Jesus is the best Jesus. Coachella Tommy is the best Tommy. Best version of Tommy.

Best version. We're different people. Totally different people. I was like, I am not coming back to Ross. So if you had tried to do this, what would the reaction have been at home for you? What do you mean? No, like, my wife was like, go if you want to go. And I was just like, I don't want to go. I want to, because my kids are starting basketball.

And like... But was it a go if you want to go but kind of side-eyeing you at the same time? Or like a legitimate go if you want to go? No, just like a legitimate, like, who's all going? And I was like, oh, so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so and so-and-so. She's like, you should probably go. And then I was just like, nah, it's like Easter's because my mom is in town from the Dominican.

You know what I mean? Like, my sisters like, it was like a perfect storm of like my entire family being in town at the same time. My brother, my godson, like, you know what I mean? My kids were starting basketball. So it was just all shit that I really wanted to be there. What kind of sports parent are you?

I'm not that guy, but I'm the guy that, like, so at a certain point, like, my oldest son, Adrian, like, he was getting frustrated with the dribbling drills because they were like, you know, you know how they do, like, the one hand behind your back, dribble with your right one, put your right hand back, dribble with your left. He couldn't get the left down,

and he was getting really frustrated, and then he just was, like, he threw the ball down, and he was getting really frustrated. And then he just was like, he threw the ball down, and he just came up to me, and he was just like, basically like, fuck this. I don't want to do this. That's little kids now. Yeah, and I was just like. They're not good right away.

Yeah, exactly. He's like, this is embarrassing. I spent six minutes, and I'm not good at it yet. I'm not LeBron, so I want to quit. And I was like, nah. I was like, yo, listen. I was like, there's five positions on a basketball court. Like, you could be good.

Like, look at Kyle Korver. You know what I mean? Like, I don't think Kyle Korver could take anybody off the dribble. That's not, that's a legit NBA player. But he has a role that he plays. I was like, yo, you're a good shooter. You're a good passer. You know what I mean?

It doesn't matter that you can't fucking cross everybody up and do all this other crazy shit. Like, just relax. Like, and this is practice. This is not, they're not playing games. They're not scrimmaging yet. So it's just like pure. This sounds like good dadding. Running, you know, suicides.

That's decent. Lateral movement. You got to bring him as your proxy when you want to yell at the coach and the players. My daughter had a basketball game and LeBron's son had the game before at the gym. That kid is incredible. No, this was the younger one.

The other kid, I agree with you Ronnie is out of control Ronnie is really good oh my god and it was just weird to see LeBron in a gym just

yeah he was in the corner like he was protected he's six foot eight and a half he's one of the most famous people in the world you're gonna see him

and he stayed and then that game ended and my daughter's game was up and they're like in the warm ups but he's waiting for the kid to come out and now game ended, and my daughter's game was up, and they're in the warm-ups,

but he's waiting for the kid to come out. And now he's just watching my daughter's game. And they're doing the layup line, and they're like, LeBron James is just kind of like, why? Because he's like, hey, it's basketball. People love basketball. Like, oh, another basketball game. So he watched the first quarter.

I was convinced we were going to suck, but we actually did all right. But it is, when you're doing that at that low of a level but the second best person ever to do it is like 11 feet away it's weird

yeah a little disorienting second best? yeah second best maybe third best ooh Kareem Kareem's

Kareem had like six MVPs I would I would take Magic over Jordan straight full stop as your GM

as a better basketball player straight up like and then like LeBron is like Magic 2.0 I don't agree with that I mean like could LeBron do the stuff that Magic did?

Think about it. But, I mean, that's an unfair comparison because it's like two different leagues. He's a better scorer. Magic was a better teammate and passer. That's what I'm saying. Also, Magic is props for just, like, abandoning the Lakers. I respect that, the way he did it. Well, it's interesting because he was an awesome, he would pull teams together.

Even like that last team he was on that made the finals in 91. It wasn't like a great team, but he's like, all right, this is my team. Yeah. And LeBron last year was kind of the opposite. It seemed like the only guy that he really liked was Lonzo. Yeah. Lonzo got the shop invite. Because he played.

Oh. Because he played. He played well. And he wasn't a goof. You know what I mean? I feel like LeBron is just like, he comes in and he's just like. Also, being a Celtics fan, how ridiculous do you think it is to just say, fuck it? Because they're talking about Ty Lue coming back to coach the Lakers.

And it's like, oh, this is all GM LeBron back at work. You know what I mean? How ridiculous would it be to just have LeBron be the player coach? So it's illegal. Yeah. But here's the catch. It's illegal now? It's literally illegal.

Why? Because Bill Russell did it and won a thousand fucking championships? Yeah, Bill Russell won two. It also seems like- But there's a catch. You make Dwayne Wade the coach and he's just like drinking Cabernet and the sidelines, but LeBron's really running the show. Yeah.

He's wearing nice suits. I've watched that. I've watched that I got a listener sent that email last week I thought it was genius that's brilliant that is brilliant he's just like

he's on the video you should do it LeBron's just pouring wine he's just in the huddle like Gabrielle Union's like the trainer like just go the whole way put all your buddies

Maverick Carter make him like the assistant yeah just put all your dudes in that's what he does with everything else I don't think it's a bad idea that's not a bad idea

he'd probably play harder if he was around his people. Around people he wants to. It's all my guys. Yeah, because if you got a bunch of like, if you think about it, I talked to my wife about this shit the other day. I was like, listen, this is wild because I'm watching NBA games now

and through the course of my basketball fandom, it's been, oh, I'm a kid. These are grownups playing a grownup game. Then you're in your 20s and you're like, yo, these guys are my same age. Now you're in your, you know. Late 30s, whatever. Late, mid 30s. And it's just like, okay, me and Melo are the same age, essentially.

So Melo's your guy for this? Because mine was Ken Griffey Jr. who's been retired for like 10 years. Right. So it's just like. That was the same birthday. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just like. Melo's your guy. He's just sitting 10 years. Right. So it's just like, that was the same birthday. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just like,

Mel is your guy. He's just sitting courtside. Yeah. But it's, but the thing is, it's like, now you see these young dudes coming out and it's like,

oh shit, wait a minute. Like time moves on. You know what I'm saying? Like, like I, I want to still like rally behind Melo and Dwayne Wade and LeBron.

Yeah. The banana bus. Yeah. But it's just like, yo, these dudes are clearly in decline. You know what I mean? and LeBron and all these guys yeah but it's just like yo these dudes are clearly in decline you know what I mean like Chris Paul

like all these guys like it's like they're in the twilight we just met Chris Paul why you don't want him on the bus bro no but like it's true

he's at a different point of his career yeah listen he's a different Chris Paul no you gotta your career goes up if you have them on the show

you can't say anything bad about them no no no I'm not saying anything bad it's just like yo he's that's how, yo, he's... That's how Tommy books them. He's been, you know, in the league a long time.

Because Tommy can be like, yo, they love you. They rock with you. Chris Paul doesn't like me. He doesn't like you? Yeah, he side-eyed me. He side-eyed you? Damn. Why?

What did you say? Apparently, I did something, either a podcast or... How often does that happen? And how... When that happens, are you just like, I don't even remember what I said? Or do you remember exactly what you said? No, that one I wrote when the Clippers lost to the jazz that series i wrote a piece about the last days of the point guard we're basically like his career is about to go to a different level

this is with the case with nba history and it's like this is what happens to point guards i was i was 100 right right it's like point guards have a 10 11 year run and then they go to a different face do they ever call you or like text you after they read something or they heard you no no I do think we're entering a world now where if you write

a takedown piece of somebody and people don't write them the same way anymore they're a lot a lot softer but I do think a player would just go at them

on Twitter yeah cause we saw Michael Che did this recently with a writer that's actually done some stuff with us Steve Hyden

he wrote a piece about Michael Che's co-host on Weekend Update that was not flattering. Michael Che just started going at the guy. Oh, wow. And I do wonder if that's going to be next decade a lot. Oh, yeah, for sure. Like, if somebody wrote a piece ripping you guys, you would probably have some fun with it. Oh, yeah. I've got banned from Twitter several times for that.

Have you? Yeah. Banned from Twitter? Yeah. What happens? I got thrown in Twitter jail. Is there a Twitter Adam times for that. Have you yeah banned from Twitter? Yeah, I guess like you know, I got thrown into it a Twitter Adam Silver Report me for saying shit like and I'm just like I'm at the point. I'm about to get off Twitter There's no point of it. It's been on we've been honest. It's all eight like yeah It's no it's at this point being on Twitter is a bigger liability than it is a benefit

to you well the cost the what's that thing the cost benefit ratio yeah that ratio is way out of whack

cause now you the higher you get the more like a casual tweet that you could've got away with five years ago could destroy your career and it's just like

why would why would you even risk that you know like you're certain celebrities you like this weekend we were talking and there was like they were just like, fam, I do not fuck with social media at all. There's no, there's no upside to it.

There's no upside. Like, they'll tweet out, yo, my show is coming on, but they won't tweet actual opinions. It's become more promotional. It's become more promotional. And then you, we had a weird relationship because we grew up and Twitter was personal. It was like a diary. It was like, yo, I hate my job. Now you have a million followers or whatever.

You can't tweet the same way because you're just like, yo, the price of this, I can't believe milk is so... And they're like, you're rich. How dare you? We're actually poor. How dare you complain about the price of milk? Little things like that. Or the other day, I beefed about an Uber or something, and people were just like, you don't even take Ubers. You have a private car. And I was like, I have to take an Uber.

Where's this anger coming from? You're mad at me because I changed my life and I'm in a better place? Like, it's weird. And these are fans. So. Twitter's a rough place. Twitter's a rough place.

And then Twitter's not even worth it because Twitter is one of the lowest. The replies are not worth it. It's one of the lowest engagement platforms. It's like YouTube is higher. Facebook is higher. It's true. So, because you'll go to advertisers. It's like, yo, I got this many followers on Twitter.

They're like, who still uses Twitter? Or, yeah, you talk to young kids. They're like, I don't mess with Twitter whatsoever. But what's funny is Twitter has made a comeback. Like, their stock just went up like $10 this week because they actually had more users than they did last quarter. Well, I mean, that's easy.

They figured out wake money from it. That's easy to do when you're juking the system with bots. Bots. I made that deal with Russia. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Let's talk about that.

Let's talk about the Jack Stewart. They made a deal for the 2020 election. It's in place. We did a, we're doing a Game of Thrones post-game show. They're just laying on the Milwaukee Bucks to throw in Brogdon. And it's a done deal.

We're doing a Game of Thrones post-game show for them. And the, you know, after certain things happen, people go to Twitter. We saw it last night with Dame Lord. Oh, definitely. And we see it with Game of Thrones. I think its ability to still drive conversation you know after certain things happen people go to Twitter we saw last night with Dame Lord oh definitely and we see with Game of Thrones

I think it's ability to still drive conversation after something's happened is unparalleled Game of Thrones might be it's the day to day grind that I think is suffering Game of Thrones might be

the only non-sports television show that's still appointment watching that you have to watch it when it comes on or else it's ruined like no other show even our show

you could binge watch like four of our shows on Saturday morning if you don't watch game of thrones as soon as it comes out get off of social media because right spoilers and people will take a sporting event yeah yeah people are doing play-by-plays and it's it's if you don't watch game of thrones also it's just like why are you literally tweeting out what's happening on the screen like this makes no sense but i mean that's how we watch sports yeah it's wild but like to me like i'm like i'm one of those guys that doesn't really give a shit about spoilers.

Like I just want to see how this, like being in entertainment and seeing how things are shot and like whatever. Like I feel like I watch TV different now after doing TV. Well, spoiler alert, neither of our teams are winning the World Series this year. Oh, no, the Yankees will. They'll turn a corner and they will. Everybody will come back super healthy. Yankees got bad juju this back super healthy I mean everybody's hurt now but it's early

what happened to my dude Batances he was a horse he was on my fantasy team this entire decade he was going hard that's it his shoulder finally gave out

turns out you can't strike out two people in an inning for ten years yeah I texted him and I was like well soon bro

I'm rooting for you. You know what I'm saying? I mean, we've had players like that before. Remember, I mean, you have players and you're just like, yo, they have such a positive upside. And then afterwards, it's like, ah, the same.

Like, remember Jesus Montero? Yeah. How big the Yankees, the Yankees were like, this is an international superstar. And then there's another guy who is on my team this year. I'm in this AL only league,

but we have Manny Benuelos. Remember him? He had a cup of coffee as the Yankees phenom. He's like the next guy. That's the man. The next Guidry. Wow. The next Guidry.

He's very Guidry-esque. Now he's in the White Sox. But being a Yankee fan for so long, like you can't, I think the longer you're a Yankee fan, like you lower your expectations. Like you realize, like the Yankees have won since 2009.

So every now and then, you start hard. You're like, boom, I got this. I got this. And we'll have a player and we're like, yo, this player is the truth. After the way the Yankees handled Jabba Chamberlain, I'm just kind of just like, eh. Well, Torres, I bet on Judge to win MVP this year. I thought this was going to be his year. But you know what it is?

I'm going to air my grievances with umpires and Aaron Judge Aaron Judge is 6 foot what 8? like if the strike zone is unfair for him yeah man compared to Altuve

yeah exactly you know what I mean like if you got if you got a guy that's 5'4 5'5 like his strike zone is like

massive you know what I'm saying with Judge it's just like oh anything oh it's below the knees. Oh, that's a ball. When are we switching

to robo-umps? Should we do that? Should they do robots and lasers and shit like that? I mean, once they start doing the replays and they limit the mound visits and all that stuff, yeah.

We're basically there. Yeah. Because they're doing everything now. They're trying to rejigger baseball for like this new because everyone's like, oh, baseball,

the games are too long. Now, as a Red Sox Yankee fan, you know, like I'll take a four hour game. I don't give a shit. But, you know, I care more than I did about how fucking long they are. I mean, if it's like a night game, I'm like, forget it, bro. There was some clip that was on Twitter last week where it was a 78 Red Sox game, Red Sox Yankees game versus 2019. And it was just 30 seconds.

And it was like David Price just not pitching for 30 seconds and Mike Torres throwing three pitches in that 30 seconds. Stepping out the box and all,

you know. Torres was like, got the ball back, threw it again. Price is just like staring into the catcher for 12 minutes. Shitting his pants.

They could fix that. They could fix that. Yeah. I don't think either of our teams have it I mean you think the Rays are gonna win the ALAs

that's what I keep hanging my hat on is we just played them last weekend and we swept them they're not they're not a great all these dudes

like here comes Tommy Pham he's been hot lately yeah that's what it is it's just a bunch of guys that get hot yeah

but that's not sustainable that's what I keep telling people on Twitter bunch of guys that get hot yeah but that's not sustainable that's what I keep telling people on Twitter I was like that shit is not sustainable like you have to actually be a good consistent player

to win a division so who do you see winning at all Astros? Astros are really good Seattle had the has that feel this year of like

where'd these guys come from and like a lot of guys something to prove but it's way too early yeah pitchers get hurt and like all of a sudden somebody does that they're closer you get but it's way too early pitchers get hurt and like all of a sudden

somebody says that they're closer you get hot you get cold these pitchers just get hurt all the time now so I don't think you can know until August

with baseball I always laugh when people are like oh these guys it's like yeah wait until they're closer it's the oldest thing there's still a lot

of baseball left I mean there's 162 games like come on bro like a lot of baseball left I know people there's certain people that don't live 162 days. Alright, anything to plug other than the show? You got the show.

I got a book coming out soon. A random house. You know what I'm saying? We have a book. A title TBD. You know what I'm saying? We're going with Bridges to Madison County. It's a good night. We got that. We got The Life is Beautiful in September. What else we got? Got some shows coming up.

Just, you know, check the Instagrams and stuff for that. You know, we're just going to be doing our thing. You'll see us around. Bringing back Californication.

California. Californication. Wow. Not the OC. Woof. We're also going to bring back If These Walls Could Talk. It should be interesting.

Is that true? No. He said that so deadpan I was like wait a second he does shit like that all the time we did a lie detector test

for some magazine and at the end of it they were like even the truth you told was deceptive that's what I worked hard for in my life I don't want you to know

what I'm thinking I'm constantly they were like say your real name I said my real name and the guy was like he's lying and I was like

no that's my real name fellas always a pleasure always a pleasure great to have you on the west coast every time we come to the west like no that's my real name fellas always a pleasure always a pleasure great to have you on the west coast every time we come to the west coast

we gotta do a Bill show always a pleasure always a pleasure come on man I gotta come on your show soon yeah of course I haven't been invited yet I love how people are like

I haven't been invited yet like it's not a birthday party now you got like AOC you got an RSVP you can squeeze me in I mean I personally feel you're a bigger star

than Ben Stiller but that's just me can't can't I come on and read Kate Smith lyrics for five minutes let's make it happen let's make it happen

pretty awkwardly we just got like a choir behind you guys I found a song from 1937 Kanye comes in with the horns and stuff

turns to Sunday service alright thanks guys thanks so much Bill R. Kelly sings the hook wow wow alright thanks to Deezus Amaro thanks to my dad

don't forget on Sunday night Ryan Rossello we're doing it again big NBA breakdown episode 3 of Throne Game which is going to be a great 90 minute 90 minute episode for. I don't know

what time you're getting out of here on Sunday night, Kyle. It'll be Monday morning. Should we buy some caffeine drink for you? Sleeping bag. I'll bring a sleeping bag. Sleeping bag. Great. Thanks to DAZN. Don't forget to order DAZN before we have the big Canelo fight next week. Thanks to SiriusXM.

If you don't know SiriusXM, and I don't know why you wouldn't, listen up. Commercial free music plus sports.com and your news. They have it all. Right now, get your first three months of SiriusXM outside the car for just $1. Oh my god. Go to SiriusXM.com slash BS. See offer details.

Subscribe. Offer available to new SiriusXM streaming subscribers. SiriusXM no car required. And thanks to Vudu, leading streaming app with a library of over 150,000 titles available to rent or buy. Over 8,000 titles you can watch for free

on their ad-supported on-demand service. Enjoy everything from the latest Hollywood blockbusters to your favorite indie films without subscriptions or contracts. I am also a Voodoo subscriber. I highly recommend you check out their deals for the bundles. Fast and Furious, Godfather. They'll do like these Judd Apatow five packs.

I have that actually. I think I have the Judd Apatow movie five packs. It's a good one. Good job by Voodoo. I like their stuff. Voodoo.com slash rewatchable. Sign up. Start watching stuff. Voodoo.com slash rewatchable. Sign up. Start watching today.

Enjoy the weekend. RIP Hondo. And we will be back on Sunday night with Ryan Rosillo. Until then. I don't want to see them when we start down. Say I don't have feelings within. On the wayside, never once said I don't have feelings within.