The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Jenkins and Jonez - Matt Sullivan Details His Steph Curry Profile

Episode Date: September 14, 2022

The guys discuss Robert Sarver’s suspension, a Raggedy Old Rock, and Tom Brady vs. Gisele before being joined by Matt Sullivan to detail his Steph Curry profile. Then they talk about cheating in chess and give their House of Dragon recap. #Volume #HerdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The volume. It's Jenkins and Jones, presented by Fanduel. Football season is here, and there's no better place to get in on the action than Fandul. The app is safe, secure, and easy to use, and Fanduel always has exclusive offers. When you win, you'll get paid fast, and Fandul has lots of ways to play the spread, like play the spread, money line, over unders, team totals, player props, and so much more. Jump into the action at any time during the game with live betting. Combine multiple bets from the same game in a same game parlay and try out,

game parlay plus. Use promo code J&J, that's J-A-N-D-J, and download the Fand-UL app today to make every moment more this football season. Disclaimer must be 21 and over and select states. Call 1-800 Gambler or visit Fandul.com slash R-G. Welcome to Jenkins and Jones on the Volume Podcast Network. It is Thursday, September 15th, and we got a bunch of stuff to talk about today. We're talking about Robert Sarver.

We're talking about old raggedy-ass Plymouth Rock. and we'll be talking to Matt Sullivan. One of our favorite guests is always Matt, a writer. He's got a new profile up on Steph Curry at Rolling Stone. Really great story. We always, Jankis and Jones hosted by my good friends in real life and on the internet. Legerthro Jenkins, aka John. What's that, Bubbus?

Dragonfly Jones, aka Tyler. Hey, everybody. And I'm Gartie B. A.k.a. Mike. And you're up for fall. Mike, as you gear up for fall, you need the right people on your team to help your small business fire on all cylinders. LinkedIn Jobs is here to make it easier to find the people you want to talk to faster and

for free. Yes, as someone who works in talent acquisition, I can tell you firsthand, it's what I lean on to do a lot of my networking, a lot of my reaching out. So nothing but the highest praises for LinkedIn Jobs is what I lean on heavily as a recruiter. And I have a lot of friends who have found to be very useful. for in their career too. Create a free job post in minutes on LinkedIn jobs to reach your network and beyond

to the world's largest professional network of over 810 million people. Then add your job and the purple hashtag hiring frame to your LinkedIn profile to spread the word that you're hiring so your network can help you find the right people to hire. Simple tools like screening questions make it easy to focus on candidates

with just the right skills and experience so you can quickly prioritize who you'd like to interview and hire. It's why small businesses rate LinkedIn jobs number one in delivering quality hires versus leading competitors. LinkedIn Jobs helps you find the candidate you want to talk to faster. Did you know every week nearly 40 million job seekers, visit LinkedIn? Post your job for free at LinkedIn.com slash J&J.

That's LinkedIn.com slash J-A-N-D-J to post your job for free. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, let's talk about the news of the week. the National Basketball Association, which is dedicated to stamping out racism and all of its forms, has released a report that tells us two things. One of the owners of an NBA franchise,

Robert Sarver, the owner of the sons, confirmed to have used the N-word several times while at work owning an NBA team, also confirmed sexist comments to a pregnant female employee. And the second thing we learned is that the NBA, which is dedicated to stamping out racism in all of its forms, is suspending this man for a year and finding him 0.1% of his personal net worth. I thought we were kicking, I thought we were kicking these billionaires out of the league

for running around saying the NWR, what the fuck? Get your shit and get out. But my biggest takeaway from this is that it feels like the owners are adjusting. It feels like there was a lesson learned from Donald Sterling because like if they were to strip Sarva of his team, you know, this shit would not hold up in court. You know what I'm saying? Because for one, it's like Sarva got like all the fucking workarounds where you can't prove that he willfully and intentionally created a hostile work environment, right? Like the times he said the N-word, he was repeating when black people said it. right the um the the the the the the misogynistic jokes you they're just lyrics the rob yeah right exactly

the the the the misogynistic shit he was saying he said he claimed he was joking so it's like and and then he leaned back on the whole you know my workforce is 55% black and he pointed to all his social justice initiatives like i said it feels like the owners are kind of adjusting and adapting to still being racist shitheads but now they've got the work around here like that's what I said from it. I will say this. If you say the N word around me, I will still punch you in your shit.

Either you're going to have to whip my ass, or I'm going to have to whip your ass. You feel what I'm saying? But the misogyny to me was the worst part. I'm sorry that quote he gave us. It felt like it came from a place of understanding. Yes, he said, not the misogynistic quote.

Not the misogyny. Not the misogyny. When he said, these niggas need nickers, he said it, and it was necessary to be said, a nigger should have said it, but he did it. A nigger did say it, so he said it, okay? It came from a place of understanding, dog. We can't deny it. The ancestors gave him to what?

But they also was like, he right, you feel me? So I'm not as mad at Robert Sarfer. It don't feel the same as Sterling. You know what I mean? Sterling was being an asshole and evil. You know what I mean? And I'm not giving nobody no passes because that shit ain't sweet.

You feel me? I'm a country nigger. We stand on that shit. But I'm telling you, my dude. The shit he's saying to the pregnant employee, the stuff he's saying and doing the women. The guy should have owned a fucking area. That is the shit.

He shouldn't. He shouldn't. He shouldn't. But it goes back to what you said. about Sterling, you could have easily proved malicious intent in court with the shit the Stirling did. You would be fighting an uphill battle with this, with Sarver

because like I said, he was quoting black people. He said he was joking with the bullshit. He said it would be an uphill battle that they'd be fighting in court. I think the other aspect of that is the NBA owners all hated Donald Sterling. Right? I think they see more of themselves in Robert Sarver.

And so if, oh, did I ever say that word around people? Whomst amongst us doesn't say nigga. Right, no, but don't you think? I mean like, oh, maybe I have said some things in jest that I wouldn't want to deprive me of this billion dollar asset that I own. You know what I mean?

So I, yeah, I think that's the other component of it too. But I think Tyler, to John's point about the quote, I think Tyler retweeted someone who said, what's this I'm hearing about noted philosopher and sociologist? Robert Sartre. Bro. Dog. I hate that that quote came from him, bro.

I hate it, but it did come from him. So, yes, when it comes to the sexual harassment, she give him the fuck out of there off the strength of that. You know what I'm saying? It's hard to prove him court like you're saying, Tyler. But get him out of there off the strength of that, you know what I mean? But like when it comes to, you know, this ain't, this ain't Sterling, bro.

It ain't the same situation to me. He now, before he begins his one-year suspension, has to help select his replacement on the NBA Board of Governors for a year. John, do you have any advice? He's probably going to be a knicker because he knows what these niggas need. I ain't got to say it, Robert. I already knows, okay? Bro, like you said, Tyler, I hate it came from him.

That's a bar, though. But, but, bro, it came. from him. One of you said when that story came out, it was the right message from the wrong messenger. I heard it and I was like, it

gave me pause. I had to, you know. You gave me Paul. Okay, you got a point there. Continue. Oh, fuck. Shout out to the anti, shout out to the anti-Rober

fucking Mike Tomlin for, I want a live cam on Mike Tomlin in the locker room, bro. Bro, and it was bankroll too, which to me speaks to my country-ass spirit. You know what I mean? Like, I loved bankroll, you know what I mean? So the fact that he was, you know, he was dancing to that. It's like on top of the words, too. New the word.

You know what I'm saying? Walking your trap and take over your trap. Bankroll baby. Come on, baby. You know what I'm saying? Like, yeah, that's what they need. You feel? love to see it

all right let's talk about let's talk a little history let's let's uh let's let's set let's do Tyler's heart some good because I know he's always happy when we can get into history

and boy do we got a doozy I had always thought Plymouth Rock was metaphorical it was a like wherever they landed it would yeah like we caught I assumed it had the word Plymouth perhaps meant something

religious that because I didn't grow up in a religious household. I didn't know, you know. Come to find out, Plymouth Rock is a regular rock that is sitting in a mud pit somewhere on the East Coast. We've all retweeted this picture,

but this is the least remarkable rock in America. What the fuck? That rock weak as fuck, bro. Bro, we can go to some open-air malls out here and I can show you 30 more impressive rocks by some fountains and shit. Really?

Than that little weak-ass rock. That motherfucker is in a goddamn enclave with 1620 carved on it, looking regular as fuck. Fuck that damn rock, man. It's the mat of rocks, okay? I'm seeing that motherfucker 17,332 times, dog. I'm like, what? Bro, it's wild, bro.

So unremarkable. People are traveling, spending money to see that. I would be fucking pissed, nigger. You feel? me? Plymouth Rock. Oh, it's a real rock. Let me go peep.

Look and see that fucking mud pit. Bro, are you kidding me? It's the worst shit I've, literal, literally, the worst shit I've ever seen. I have never seen anything that is supposed to be special. That is worse than that. It's horrible. It's an abysmal attraction in air quotes. Get the fuck out here.

Fuck Plymouth Rock for multiple reasons. Tyler, what did you say you were? you said you're going to throw on it. I would, hey, I was, I was, I was asking, I was asking people on Twitter who dared me to throw a bowl of Wendy's Chili on that motherfucker because I'll do it. Y'all fund my trip, fund my trip to Plymouth, and I would throw a bowl of day old Wendy's chili on that motherfucker. Don't like that bitch ass rock.

Oh, man. Hell, though. It's, it's a lot of underwhelming-ass, like, American monuments. Like, like, we talk about how trash went out. Right? Like, bro, it's still rubble under that motherfucking. That bitch's been up for like a hundred years.

Like, go clean that bullshit up, dog. Right. But, bro. Fuck Mount Rushmore. Fuck Plymouth Rock. Rock that they have carved out space to make sure that, you know what I'm saying? To protect.

Bro, it's, there's nothing remarkable about it. Absolutely zero. It's horrible. I need like National Treasure 17 to be them stealing the Plymouth Rock and just replacing it with literally any of the rock. And nobody cared. Nobody cared. I legit, I legit Googled if we could steal that motherfucker.

They said that shit weighs 20 tons. Like, God damn. 20 times? Like how, that's what it said. 4,000 pounds, yeah. So that's like 20 tons, 20 times each. A ton is 2,000 pounds, isn't it? Yeah, 40,000 pounds.

40,000. That's crazy. I think they said 4,000. 40,000. Yeah, that's, how was that? That rock didn't look to be 40,000 pounds. Is it like the fucking iceberg that took down the Titanic? It looked like a two-man job.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah, it's like a two-man job. Like, it's like most of it is under the mud pit. You don't see the, that's why it's not as remarkable as we think. Because most of it's covered, you know what I mean? It must be a very, a very dense rock. They packed a lot of bullshit in that mother-up. Maybe the imagery.

Is it on Getty images? Maybe we can see a more, you know. I'm looking up, I'm looking up maybe there's a different, I mean, it just looks like, there has to, it just looks like such a regular fucking rock. And they're like, mood. it from the beach to that mud pit or something? In 1774, the rock broke in half during an attempt to haul it

to Town Square. Jesus Christ. Two years before the Declaration of Independence, they accidentally broke Plymouth Rock in half trying to drag it to the fucking town square. That's perfect. What a musty-ass country, dog. America ain't shit.

The more you learn about this motherfucker, the least impressive it is, bro. God damn. It's even unimpressive on Gettie. It was rejoined with the other portion of the rock. They melded the motherfuckers together. Some motherfuckers broke out the goddamn. The heat torches and shit.

Oh, man. Fuck that's really fucking funny. If you want to buy a print of it, they're selling it on Gettie for $500. Bitch. Hey, hey. We got to follow. We got to see who's fucking buying Plymouth Rock Pritz. So that is sitting.

Yeah, they need to go on a list. Right. The fact that that's even for sale is odd. You know what I mean? Yeah. Speaking of raggedy old shit, Tom Brady, a moment that all of us's husbands would fear cover story in Elle magazine on his wife, Giselle Bunchin.

And like, I know that this is actually just a profile about her that the interviews were done four months ago. but what it feels like is that she called a press release to say, quote, I would like him to be more present. I have definitely had those conversations with him over and over again. Oh. In the marriage?

Or is he talking about the kids? What was the, did they specify? Specifically. And she's saying like she had a bigger career than him. You know what I mean? She has a more profitable career. Her net worth is higher than his.

Like she's one of the top models ever. She's from Brazil, bro. So like what's hard in his? Yeah. And she, so they were like, you know, she put all that aside in order basically to just move. And she said, she said, I've done my part, which is to be there for him. I moved to Boston and I, which you could just feel from a Brazilian model. Oh, my God.

Oh, yeah. I moved to Boston. And I focused on creating a food and a loving environment for my children to grow up in and be there supporting him and his dreams. You know, blah, blah, blah. At this point, I feel like I've done a good job at that. I have a huge list of things that I have to do that I want to do. Oh, she's tired, nigga. Oh, she's tired.

Bro, bro, it goes all the way back to my theory that this motherfucker unretired out of spite because Chefda broke the news before him. This shit checks out if you ask me because I feels like Jacelle is pushing back on, bro, you were supposed to have been retired. Now you're unretire and I can't do this shit no more. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Right, right, right.

That man unretired out of spite, bro. I'm telling you. She could have stopped at Boston and I would understand all of it. You know what I mean? Like that itself like being from Brazil, like that's crazy. You're the net worth she has and she's living in fucking Boston, she should never see a fucking snowflake with all that fucking money. You know what I'm saying?

You know what I mean? Literally changing the weather on some Jay Z shit. You feel me? And she's doing that and yeah, that's, that's wild. But yeah, that would. Her net worth apart from him is $400 million. What's wild? The most successful model in Brazil history.

What Tyler said... We've been working professionally since she was 13. What Tyler said in the group chat talking about, like, this is the quote. This is her talking publicly. So this is probably a fourth, maybe even a tenth of the vitriol that good old time is dealing with at the crib. You feel me? I get it. Like he might have shook though.

She probably on that man head. She wants some get back. You feel me? She's like, dog. You know what I'm saying? You make it up for these years. He's like, fuck it. I'm going back with hit football.

We're going to figure this out later. All right. Stick around for our interview with Matt Sullivan. We'll be back right after that for our House of Dragons recap. Stick around. Start the NFL week off right with a no-sweet same-game parlay every Thursday from Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. It doesn't matter if you're new to Fandul or already have an account.

Every Thursday night, you'll get free bets back if your NFL same-game parlay doesn't hit. Same game parlays are the perfect way to combine your bets for a chance. chance at a bigger payday. Tonight's game, Chiefs, Chargers. A lot of fake Charger fans in Southern California. I still think, you know, that's the San Diego franchise to me. But I am a bandwagon Chiefs fan for the year because Juju Smith-Schuster from Long Beach, California is on the Chiefs.

So I'm going to take the Chiefs and I'm going to build that same game parlay out by taking Juju's over on Yardage and all of the overs on the player props for Pat Mahomes for sure. You can build your own or choose from one of the popular same game parley's pre-built for you in Fandul's top rated sportsbook app. However, you want to play. You can bet the NFL every Thursday night with a no sweat

same game parlay. Just sign up with promo code J&J if you don't already have an account. That's promo code J&J, that's JANDJ, to get free bets back if your S-GP doesn't hit. Make every moment more with Fandul an official sports betting partner of the NFL. Disclaimer. Disclaimer,

Must be 21 and over in select states three plus legs minimum $1. Bet required. Refund issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire seven days after receipt. Max free bet $5. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook. Fandul.com. Gambling problem, call 1-800 gambler or visit fanduel.com slash RG.

All right, we're excited to welcome on recurring Jenkins. You might be the most recurring Jenkins and Joan. Yes. Matt Sullivan, writer at Rolling Stone. You can find him at at SoulDuggery on Twitter. Matt just dropped, first of all, Matt, thanks for hopping on the show with us. Appreciate it.

Of course, always. Matt just dropped a huge Steph Curry profile for Rolling Stone that was very, very interesting, Matt, and we always love talking about when you have these big, juicy stories. We always love talking about them with you. So first of all, how much of a pain in the ass is it to berth one of those stories, you know, especially for like a legacy publication you're like it's step curry i'm sure you interviewed him 10 times

for the story i'm sure there was like 17 drafts how much of a relief is it when you actually get to like push it out in the world and just kind of set it free well it was weird because it was slow and then it was fast like we reached out to step's people i think literally the day after the dubs won the finals and they were pretty quick with the response that he was in that he would you know, have some real talk, but that his schedule was like down to the minute, right? He's like private jetting, but to a new state every day, new country every day. So we made this kind of deal where I would talk to everyone in his orbit, right? His mom, dad, sister, brother.

And actually, I got this nugget from Seth Curry very early on in my reporting that they'd talked about this potential KD reunion with the Warriors trade. And he was like, yeah, the fact that Steph is even entertaining this idea says a lot about him, right, in terms of his competitive spirit and willingness to, you know, blow it up just to run it back for real. And I was kind of sitting on this, my, all right, great, I'm going to ask Steph about this when the moment's right. I had to wait like a month before we first hung out, kind of warming him up, first two or three interviews. And then we're finally sitting down for like this big, real talk interview. and the publicist is like over my shoulder, like, got to wrap it up.

He's got to go to the next thing. And so I like weighed off the publicist and I just like hit him with the KD question. And he just gives me this like amazing news that I knew would go, you know, set NBA Twitter on fire and drive Stephen A. Smith up a wall. But I had to sit on that for like another month because my later encounters with him like I went to the photo shoot. And then we had another kind of hangout period, which was real, real, real tight up against our deadline to ship this thing to the printer. So it was like slow and then fast and then like cramming the story and you know got to get all the edits, you know, while I'm on vacation before Labor Day. And then like we finished it last week and it just we put it online right away because I guess, you know, Rolling Stone kind of gets the balance between Dead Tree Print and giving the people what they want. Good for them.

Good for them. There's a lot of legacy publications who do not understand that. Cut to Elle magazine dropping their Giselle Bunchin interview from June. today. Sheesh. Say, hey, there's been some breaking developments in the Giselle Bunchin's story

over the last three months, guys. Right. So, Matt, you know, going back to when you asked Steph that question, you mentioned you were in Long Beach, and Steph was at the Boys Club with Snoop, and you dropped it, and you know him and Snoop had a conversation about it.

So inquiring minds want to know, did you hit the blunt with Snoop or not? You don't have to incriminate Steph here. But did you probably? taking the sticky yiki. I think I got in a little trouble for sharing a little too much from my Nets book reporting about KD and the sticky yicky around his crib. I don't, let's just say that Snoop did not smell of anything.

It was quite early in the morning and we were at the boys and girls clubs of America and it may have been appropriate for any of us to be too far blazed. I did ask Steph, I don't think this made it into the story if he smoked. And he was like, I think he said something like, I have, but not frequently, which is a classic kind of stuff, like political answer. It depends what your meeting of is.

Right. I have a question. If Snoop offered it to you would you have at the Boys and Girls Club in the morning? Okay. Smoke with Snoop is bucket list of shit for like, Damn to everybody. I was ready for it. I'd flown in the night before and didn't have time to stop at the local cannabis shop to be ready to provide, which is apparently tried and true magazine writer trick is to just have it ready for you in case their subject is really ready to let loose a little.

I believe at Rolling Stone in particular, that has been a useful tip as well. And harder things than that for sure. Yeah, but on a serious note, an interesting angle to. to this article was how I think it posed the question of, you know, can you be an activist without necessarily being a revolutionary, right? It seems that that's something that Steph is kind of to try to figure out because, you know,

Steph is setting around about way, I'm no revolutionary. I'm trying to figure out how to use my platform to his best ability. I'm not trying to get in the way of co-opting movements, but I want my platform and my voice to matter. There was a part where, you know, he mentioned that he wished they did more during that Clipper series with the Donald Stern fiasco.

Like he mentions he, wish that they really boycotted that playoff game. So, you know, I'm just curious, you know, from the conversations that you've had with Steph, like, like, what way do you see him leaning, you know, in regards to moving forward with his activism? He definitely leans in the middle on everything. He's like a classic centrist politician, you know? I think we first met up like a week after Bill Russell died.

And as kind of my entree to him, I gave him my copy of Bill Russell's memoir, which is amazing if you haven't read it. It's out of print. And I handed him like this little newspaper clipping. I think it was from 64. Russell had, had after the murder of Medgar Evers, the civil rights activists, had helped to open like the first integrated basketball camp in Jackson, Mississippi. And when he got back to Boston, a reporter asked Bill Russell in the way that step is often asked political questions and kind of caught on his heels. And the guy had asked If the reporter had asked Bill Russell if he'd feared for his life upon his return. And Russell said, I'm a man.

If I have to be a boy to be popular, then I don't want it. If popularity depends on a thing like this, then I don't give a damn. And I asked Steph, you know, do you care about not being as popular if it means you have to be not as safe? And he claims, you know, I don't care about being popular. It's not about that. And that was at first, but, you know, he remains immensely popular. And as we spent the next kind of three weeks together kind of confronting his past like the Sterling's, stuff, like this bathroom bill stuff, like the Kaepernick stuff, it became pretty clear to me

that he at once kind of, you know, cared deeply and meticulously about maintaining that popularity, but that he's starting to, you know, will himself, to stretch himself, at least in conversations with me, and perhaps in real life with these kind of activists and community organizers, he's come to know. So we'll see. He can be wishy-washy, admittedly. He tries protect themselves to appeal to all people and then do the work behind the scenes. Yeah, I thought it was really interesting. First of all, Tyler, that was also the first thing I had down to ask about as well was I thought it was an interesting thing to key on.

And then obviously, especially with the Robert Sarver stuff, that it was like that the Donald Sterling moment, that was a moment of enough clarity, that that was the thing that he seizes on that he's like, no one could say, I mean, because I'm sort of thinking of his brain processing that popularity side of that equation in that answer, right? No one retrospectively could be angry at us boycotting Donald Sterling, right? He's not in the club anymore. He's sort of universally reviled or whatever. But I also thought it was interesting, and I'm sure this was an intentional choice on your part, that he's sort of so linked with Barack Obama, right? Because I think that's like politically, you sort of feel the same thing about Obama and kind of maybe understandably from

Steph's perspective that for Obama, you know, he wrote in his memoir, which I greatly enjoyed the first half of that's been published. Like, everyone wants him to do this, everyone wants him to do so many things. And he's like, I'm the only person in the world who understands what it's like to wear the burden that I'm wearing. So people can want whatever they want from me, but they have no idea, you know, what the expectations, et cetera, like. And it sort of feels like maybe there's a linkage there with Steph that it's just and that a lot of these athletes have it's like this is not bill russell this is not the 1960s if you are a step curry or a lebron james you're a fortune 500 CEO but i think it's different for lebron and step and we got into this a little he

really doesn't like the comparisons on the court between himself and lebron but you know it's interesting at that boys and girls club there's a gigantic i don't think anyone would like that comparison there was this gigantic sign on on at the boys and girls club big sign said lebron james family foundation i was like okay lebron's already been here he's already helped to rebuild this entire joint it was kind of a microcosm to me you know the lebron james family foundation is very kind of press release he does a lot tries to do everything uh steff's family foundation was actually registered for like 501c3 tax purposes as the stephen and Aisha Curry Family Foundation.

And Aisha was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. And I don't know if this was because it sounded too much like LeBron's, but it was very inward focused. And they wanted to change it to eat, learn play, to be outward focused. And Steph said, you know, he admires, again, I don't think any of this made it into the story, but he admires what LeBron has done in doing it his own way. He said, it's not for everybody.

And I think Steph realizes that he is more palatable than anyone in sports, really, and he needs to protect that. And LeBron has, Oak the Bear, has gotten his back against Trump, and he's the one calling him you bum, even though Trump is kind of treating Steph as a weapon of mass distraction.

And I think he realizes he needs to study the course in order to keep that clout, and then eventually, however he chooses and will choose to weaponize that himself. I thought it was interesting that Steph loved. that Braun put him in front of those Donald Trump bullets with that tweet because

I always thought it was hilarious. I thought it might have been kind of passive aggressive on Brown's part to break some heat on Steph. But Steph loving it like that was a big reveal for me there. Yeah, he was cracking up about it and we got pretty deep into this kind of episode that I've always been fascinated by

where in the wake of that, you know, the whole NFL was like kneeling, Jerry Jones was kneeling and all of Kaepernick's protests had lost its cloud even though in the same week again, that Trump went after the Warriors. He went after Kaepernick said, get that son of a bitch off the field.

And I always thought that the Warriors, you know, they had like the first preseason game that year, would take a knee and bring it back and talk about it and be this kind of team of our time. And then I was like, did they chicken out? And I've always tried for my book and for this story, try to get inside that room. And it just seems like these guys,

Iggy told me in a quote that wasn't in the story, he was like, I think I have here. you know, we were part of a reality show. We just became a part of the shit show, and I think you have to be wary of that. And I think that's when sometimes you say, all right, let's not waste our bullets on a shit show. You're just making yourself more of the circus,

and we're trying not to do that. So I think the intentionality of these decisions of these guys to not necessarily be obvious activists, but to be celebrity activists where, you know, Kim Kardashian can get to the White House and fight her good fight. Trump does it for the photo, but she's still, I don't know, And that is different.

That is different, right? I mean, I always, I sort of feel for the guys when you have the Bill Russell comparison because no one's ever going to compare to Bill Russell. But also the 2020 is in your position as an athlete in America is so different than it was for a black basketball player in the early 1960s as it was for Bill Russell, right? And like you said, like wielding that PR is not necessarily wishy-washy to Tyler's point about can you make. progress and be an activist without being a revolutionary.

Like the bigger the audience you command, to some extent, the more you can do now, right? But he is persistently wishy-washy throughout your story. Exactly. Press for some specifics on things. I will say I did press on the hypothetical Curry-Ker ticket for the White House that I know NBA Twitter frequently nominates them or pop. And Steve told me that Steph would be president. I'd be vice.

That's how that ticket would look. His name would be on the top. I did ask Steve, you know, if he'd ever been formally approached about running for office. And he said no, and he doesn't plan to. And neither does Steph. You know, Steph said, it's not on my radar right now after saying like, you know, like, he's like negative. No, I'm no Herschel Walker out here.

And then the next time I just follow up and tell him what Steve said, he's like, it's not on my radar right now. But with the level of influence, I know I have. I feel like I'm just getting started. He popped the top. You asked him about it again. He was like, let me pop the top on this. And Andy.

Exactly. Going back to, you know, the relationship that Steph and Obama have, I thought it was hilarious that, you know, y'all discuss how when Steph said, what they're going to say now after he got ring number four, Obama hit him up and said, bro, curse when you talk your shit. Say what the fuck are they going to say that, right?

Like, I thought that was hilarious. I really had to get that out of step. You know, he was being the nice Christian mama's boy, didn't want to break out, break out that F-bomb. And I was supposed to, I was trying to talk to Obama for the story and talk to, like, the people he's influenced and influenced back. And I almost had, like, fact-checked that with Obama. But I just thought it's like, of all the questions to ask Barack Obama,

like, did you say, fuck is not really appropriate. So Steph eventually, when I pressed enough, I think I asked them like three separate, on three separate occasions, whether Obama said fuck. And I think what we printed is the furthest

he was willing to go. But yeah, that was a cool detail. But I also love this kind of mentor-mente relationship. They almost did this like corny ad for Obama's my brother's keeper initiative. But then when Steph said on a podcast a couple years back that the moon landing might be fake,

I love that he got this scolding email that night from Obama being like, do better, you know, do something about this, which is kind of a dope relationship up in that kind of stratosphere, but also, again, you know, instructive about Steph's religious stuff, right? He said that that was in some senior year in high school at his Christian high school's, you know, apologetics class where he was shown. conspiracy theory video and told to be able to argue the other side just for that hell of it or the heaven of it. And that was surprising that he was that honest about that because I thought I was

maybe walking into another Kyrie moment there, but this man, as I well know, is not Kyrie. Yeah, yeah, I feel like that was a recurring thing with Steph is that he mentioned that a lot of his beliefs are rooted in his faith, which is, you know, run in the mill for everyone. But for, you know, it seems like, I don't want to say he used that as a scapegoat, but like, you know, you press them on some hard issues, like in regards to pro-choice, pro-life, and he just kind of, you know, you know, kind of dancing around it a bit saying,

you know, I'm a man of faith, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know what I mean? He didn't really cloud answer. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I really pressed him on the bathroom bill from North Carolina when the NBA basically boycotted the All-Star game in Steph's hometown. And he's like, well, I was surprised to hear it and to be asked about public policy at practice.

And I was like, okay, well, like followed up again later. Like, do you feel like you're letting down your LGBT fans, community, liberals? And, you know, he said basically no because he knows that everybody gives these, including LeBron, we kind of made eye contact about like the I'm not educated enough excuse that LeBron pulls out a lot. And he's like, I'm not saying that, but at the moment, I was legitimately like unaware of what the policy was. And then I'm pushing him on like, well, what do you say to people who says the pastor at your Pentecostal church, you know, is anti-gay and like, you know, is up in abortion issues? And he's like, well, I'm a man of faith. And if that doesn't work for everybody, I'm okay with that. And I like that that he's not totally pandering to liberals, but he also clearly doesn't want to alienate, you know, the base of religious people who buy his sneakers. Yeah, I think it's sort of an interesting thing. And we've talked about this on the show about Michael Jordan, I think, when the last dance was coming out, that it's like in some way, the way that these athletes are being so cautious about the different, like you said, like they're sort of different demos, right, the people who buy the sneakers.

It sort of does turn them into a national level politician, whether that's what they're trying to be or not. You said it's like, how do I appeal to my LGBTQ base while not alienating my religious followers? It's like, well, that's exactly the problem that only presidents or large corporations are supposed to do it. But it's working, right? Like we actually, I had this research for a morning consult conduct like a legit poll. And it turns out Americans like Steph more than both Trump and Biden. They love him as much as LeBron. And the remaining 8% who either like or dislike or hate him are basically old white dudes who like football and Trump.

And, you know, so he's alienated like a little corner of the bar right, but, but he's got the big portion of the pie that he doesn't want to offend. And I think that's goodhearted. Like he wants to do right with the extreme cloud he has. Yeah. And I'm definitely not trying to cast aspersions. I think like your story did a great job of grappling with genuinely what it is like to be the singular person that he is in the singular position that he is in 2022. Like it's, you know, and, his answers about his church, I thought spoke to that. Like, no, like, honestly, who I am is conflicted and ambivalent about a lot of this stuff, you know, like, I did not. But I was giving him this platform to like go there, right? And instead, he wanted to talk about what it means to go there, right? Like, he would not say the word Trump back at me. And I told him, I'm not trying to bait you into a quote here. Right. Like, what do you think about him? And, and I think, another interview that that was cut for space was with Jordan Speeth, the superstar golfer.

I know we have some golfers hosting this podcast. Who, you know. John's about to knock us off to Zoom right now. And Speeth was saying, you're seeing that athletes is again in the last decade of their career, you start to see him wanting to continue to push. I think he,

speaking of Steph, I think he doesn't give a fuck. It's just that him not giving a fuck isn't the same as Trump not giving a fuck. It's going to come out differently. He understands, appreciates, and embraces the idea of influence. You know, you can have socially without it being what's sexy, which is brash headlines. Steph knows that every word he's going to say is a headline, but is he willing to actually

not give a fuck rather than just say he doesn't anymore. So I think that remains to be seen. There's definitely sequels to this story to be had. Well, and I think that's what's, like, fascinating to me again about this modern moment. And there really are only a handful of people that inhabit the level of influence is a good word for it that you're talking about. But if you look at that conversation between Obama and Steph when Steph made the crack about the moon landing, it shows you like again, there's only a couple dozen people who have this many people listening to them. But on the one side, you have this guy who said, no, no, no, there's an inherent responsibility that comes with this influence to not say vaccines are fake or the earth is flat or whatever. And then you have, you know, on the other side, athletes who are sort of not taking that responsibility.

But you also have politicians, right? Like Obama and Trump are sort of diametrically opposed as well. And Trump similarly has this outsized influence and obviously takes the exact opposite approach to Obama of like, whatever I say, I'll just say whatever, you know. Not to flex too hard, but I talked to Fauci about this very thing. Which cool. I try to talk to him about a lot of vaccines. reporting I did for and he's the biggest step

ever, right? Like they did some kind of, you know, believe COVID is real IG lives back when celebrities were doing that and we were all cooped up at home. And Fauci was very much like, you know, it's good that he has this special effect of his magic on the court and his

likeability off the court because people, you know, don't like Fauci. And he was like, are there some people who trust stuff more than me? You know, thank goodness. But he also, you know, we got to talking a bit of, well, let's just say I brought up Andrew Wiggins and Kyrie. And without mentioning them specifically, he said, you know, you always got to be careful that you don't inappropriately use influence. So I think you're right on there. I did, for the record, ask Fauci if he would vote for a hypothetical ticket of Kerr and Curry over Kyrie and Joe Sy.

What was the answer there, Matt? Yeah. Dr. Fauci said to that matchup, I have to admit, I am a really strong fan of Steph Curry. He's sort of like an amazing guy, just a good human being, really fine man. I'd have to go with Steph on any ticket. And he acknowledged that that was despite his bias as a Brooklyn native. That's great. I know John wants to hear more about the golf component of the story, which I thought was interesting.

that, you know, that seems to be, and I think this also is very much what you hear from Barack Obama. He's not trying to come out and make a statement that golf needs more black people and minority. Like, he's not trying to be the face of a message. What he's trying to do is start something with the academy and with the team that he's got, right, that will actually give people more opportunities. And I thought that was an interesting representation of kind of that, like, larger philosophical approach. Yeah, I think it's a dope flex that he is going into a completely other sport where he knows that there's a gazillion hoopers before and after him who are trying to help the next generation of hoopers, right? And I was talking to this kid.

This isn't a story. It was a junior at Howard named Otis Ferguson. And he had gone up to Steph after a screening of this movie that Steph produced about the Charleston church shooting. And he was like, hey, Steph, let's get around the golf before you leave. And he told Steph how he'd given up a scholarship to play golf elsewhere to go to Howard. He tried to start the club team that couldn't afford a D1 squad. And Steph was like, great, here's my email. This is cool.

They emailed a bit. Then Steph ghosts him for like the summer. And then this kid gets a DM from some guy on Steph's team one day saying like, dude, Steph, sorry for ghosting you. Steph is now funding the entire Howard golf team for like a million dollars. Which is just dope. And the coach at Howard was telling me that that impact is greater than Tiger Woods' impact on the minority golf community over all these years. And so this tour he's doing the underrated golf tour is legitimately like a big feeder program into big college program.

So it's not like it's just PR stunt. These are legit golfers. And I think he's really making a difference in it with school because he's not a golfer, although he's pretty good. All right. Well, Matt, thank you so much for hopping on with us, man. everyone go check the story out at rolling stone you can find it uh obviously at matt's twitter at soul duggery uh always love having you on always love uh getting some gossip in along with the news oh yeah spilling the tea much love guys keep up your work peace yes sir yes sir all right our thanks

to uh matt for hopping on as always uh always love talking to that dude um always love when we get a new matt sullivan profile coming out we can sink our fucking teet oh yeah You were fucking salivating. You love the fucking juice, Mike. I love it. Well, he, you know what? Matt is one of the, there's not a lot of people that I consider to be real writers who still have access to top level dudes for, you know, he was talking to us about, there's

so many negotiations that go into any kind of access at this point with people at that level of, of the world. And so when he says he's doing a Steph Curry piece, to be honest with you, if, if I had just heard there's a Steph Curry profile out, I'm not really that interested in that. Right, right. I know Matt writes it. I am interested in it for sure. For sure.

You guys want to talk about this chess master who is cheating with, with, am I reading this correctly? He was cheating with vibrating anal beads. I haven't heard about this. What are we talking about? Someone added us in it. B-Co just dropped right the fuck off.

Smart, smart, smart, smart, smart. I am a mother. You keep this podcast to wait for my sweet thing. But I am. All ears bubble. Continue. I have not read the story, but a bunch of people added us under it. Tyler, did you see this headline?

Yeah, it's a rumor. It's unfounded speculation, but I'm just shocked that that shit is so real in fucking the chess world that motherfuckers are making up unfounded anal bead cheating rumors. Like, God damn. Shit is that real on the chessboard, bro? What do you mean cheating? Like, how was he? They said he had vibrating anal beads that would vibrate on certain frequencies to kind of

tell him the move to make. Someone was like running stuff through a computer and was signaling him with by vibrating. Somebody else was telling him what move to make. He wasn't making his own move. That's what they're saying. But that's, I don't know. That is that. There is a lot of cheating in, there is a lot of cheating in chess.

They had like a big Adderall scandal like not long ago. It was like people were like passing out because they were so fucked up on like speed. Like whatever else it could take to just really focus. You know what I mean? That's not necessarily cheating. That's it's not like steroids where it makes you your brain strong. It's exactly like steroids.

Yeah, yeah. And it's stronger on Adderall, just more focused. Like, yeah, you need to be more focused during chess. It is, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't, I don't know. Like, it doesn't make better at chess. Like, yeah, it does. No, bro, if you can stay focused for longer while you're playing chess,

that, I think that's more of an advantage of steroids. Right, right. Hell yeah. Are you serious? Yeah, because, because, yes, yes, Addero will give you more focus to where you can, you know, map out some. some shit house shit will play out three, four, or five moves ahead. And you can be more locked in.

They're in there all day. They're all playing for like eight hours or whatever. It's making you more focused, but it's not making you better at chess. You still have to be really good at chest. That's the same thing about steroids. I'm not improving your reaction time. It's not teaching you how to swing a bad. It just helps you recovery from playing 160 games.

It doesn't change. It doesn't change you into an arcade level chess player like steroids to does to you as a baseball player. Come on, gee. It's not the same. It for sure can provide an advantage. Like I said, in a game where you got to, you know, remember how all the possibilities of, you know, how she can play out. And you can have that shit fresh in your mind with this.

I think it's for sure a PED. Also, Adderall, you can easily go the other direction. If your brain goes somewhere else, you get snatched over there and lose focus. Like, I just don't, I know somebody that wrote an entire paper about our relationship while on Adderall where they were supposed to be writing a paper about some other shit, you know what I mean? Like, this was in like 2014, but dog. You were with Giselle Bunchin? No, no.

It was a sweet letter. It was kind. But it wasn't, no, I wasn't, it wasn't the whole, I think you need to be, no, you know what I mean? But it was like, but so like, dog, it's not, Adderall can go the other way. I just don't, I don't believe that's the same. John, I think the part you're, I think the part you're underestimating is the people who played chess taking Adderall, right?

Like, if I took steroids, it wouldn't make me a professional baseball player. But if a professional baseball player who's already inclined to be good at athletics takes one, it makes them better at that where these chess people who are already geniuses to take out on focus. Is it a bad, is a band substance? Like, there's Adderall is. Yes, you're not allowed to take your, no, you cannot buy Adderall over the case. I know, no, I'm saying it's readily available. I didn't say you could just buy is readily available, my nigger.

No, no, no, I know that. I couldn't get cocaine right. I could get Adderall before I can get cocaine. You feel like? you know what I'm saying like I can get Adderall just like I can get weed probably right now gee so so okay so so so if if a chess player without Adderall

if he maxes out at okay I can figure out eight possibilities if I make this move that he'll react to but Adderall gives him advantage to where he can max it out and I don't think that does it or 11 possibilities I don't know if it makes you have more possibilities maybe it makes you be able to focus longer I can understand that I don't think it's going to have you figure out more possibilities or make you

you're not going to become like the fucking math mean where you know what I'm saying when you take Adderall I don't see it be I don't see it working in that way but I see it um not you to be more focused during a long period of longer period of time that makes sense but I but it's it's the other thing you're you have to factor in is that when they go to a chess tournament they're not playing one guy they are playing it's over it's over days of matches you know what it is and like I said the dudes were literally like burning their bodies out on you know and so I I read this feature about chess players that it was like the nutrition analytics have come to chess that it's just like lean white meat only like

only fish in the morning and then only you know carbs and greens in the evening like like to so they're sorry conserved their energy or their their focus and stuff that's yeah because they have to sit I mean if you really think about what's physically happening if you're sitting from like 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. in a chair leaned over intently focused that's going to fuck your body up if you're older than like 19, right? I wonder how much, how many calories they burn from using their brain in the way that they're using it. I wonder if that, I'm interested in that, you know what I'm saying?

Or maybe it's all the speed they're doing. I don't know. The anerole. All right, let's talk about House of Dragons. Tyler has proclaimed this the horniest game of Thrones episode ever. Easily. Everybody was fucking. God damn.

Listen, bro. Renera and Damon almost got their fuck on. went back to the crib got her fuck on. Got damn Vassaris was getting this fuck on. They went to the house where everybody was fucking. Motherfuckers were fucking in the alley. It's the horniest episode of Game of Thrones ever. Like I said, they should have named that shit.

The title of that episode should have been, I know it smelled crazy in it in. Because motherfuckers was getting it in, dog. They was fucking, bro. I've never seen no shit like that. And Game of Thrones is rapidly horny. But that was the horniest episode ever. I know it smelled crazy in there as wild.

You know what I'm saying? You know it did, particularly because of the time period. God damn. I think even now, as many bodies that were naked in that, the set had to be wild. You know what I mean? There were a few in there that were just... They were burning any candles. Yeah, you know what I mean?

Come on, gee. You know what I mean? Woo. I didn't like Renieris putting my guy, Chris Maltesanti, in the tough position that she put him in. Like, that dude is going to, for sure, get his head chopped off. Yeah, that's over for him. You already know what time it is. He's sullied the princess.

Y'all nasty, too. I saw Tyler saying that he was rooting for the shit to go down. I'm like, no, no, no, no, no. I was, no, I was not rooting for. My whole shit was, I absolutely was rooting for John and Danny to fuck. I ain't going to lie to you. I was. Nephew, I didn't give a fuck.

Look, it's a show with dragons and zombies and motherfuckers who could time travel. We can suspend reality here. I would absolutely not root for incest in real life. I'm going to lie to you. Yeah. I wanted that family to fuck. Yeah, I wanted that family to fuck. Incest, please.

Oh, god damn. Run me that. They also didn't know each other. They also didn't know each other. That's what's different about this. But the whole thing, she was a little girl. Yeah, yeah.

But the whole thing, Danny wouldn't have given a fuck. Danny would not have given a fuck. Johnny would not have given a fuck. She'd have been like, okay, because Danny was supposed to fucking marry her brother before that motherfucker got killed. Danny wouldn't have given a fuck about fucking her nephew. But yeah, but like I said,

I absolutely do not like the fucking romantic tension between Renair and Damon. That shit is uncomfortable as fuck. That shit was gross. Yeah, it's gross. I can not get into that. I didn't feel that prior. I didn't feel that prior to that moment.

Like, I was, you didn't? I was kidding. Oh, you were sleeping. When he put the necklace on in the first episode, I thought of Char and was like, this fucking show. No, no. Like the motherfucking dragon egg exchange? Bro, they wanted to make out right there, dog.

Like, the tension's been building for episodes. I don't know. Like, to me it was like her flesh. I didn't see it like as a, you know, yeah, I want to, I want to deep pants you in front of everybody right now in front of these two fucking dragons in front of the red worm or whatever the fuck that dragon's name is. In front of that long neck bitch, I want to fucking depant you right now. I want to fuck you right here in front of Gary and everybody. I want to fuck you right here. In front of Gary on this fucking old ass bridge, nigger.

Let Gary the dragon watch. I don't care. Let everybody see your love. Bro, I did not feel that at all, gee. That, this episode was, I was like, damn, it took a, it was a while left for me, but maybe I'm just not as perceptive as you guys when it comes to incestual relationships.

Because you were on that damn phone while you were watching the show. Yeah, exactly. You'll be on that damn phone. Yeah, come on, man. I might have been. Maybe doing that part, you know what I'm saying? I got the gist of everything, though.

But, geez. The other thing I really, really liked about this episode and this is like perfectly what they do on Game of Thrones is everyone who like from the time that Otto like got the report about Renaris having been in the in the brothel. Everyone's lying about what happened. But the truth is also bad. You know what I mean? It's like everyone's telling the truth but they're not telling the whole truth. So like when Renaris is telling her home girl the queen whose name I don't remember. But she was like no I didn't do anything with him. Allison. Allison. She's like, I didn't do anything with him. And then that's true. But you did take all of your pants down.

And you try. She was nibbling at him. He was like, bro, back up. The moment is past. I cannot do this. Wow. David. Damon a wild boy, though.

The king was ready to kill that motherfucker. And he was like, I would love to marry your daughter, please. Night to his motherfucker neck. He was like, let me marry a daughter. daughter. She's already been sellied by me anyway. I'm like, God damn. This motherfucker's crazy. I don't know. What is his, I don't know what his goal is it. I thought he was solid. You know what I'm saying? I don't feel that now after that

little joint. And then what is his goal? I guess we will know that more. But it just seems like he's just reckless as fuck. Just chaos, period, bro. Like, and he's, and he lies in ways that don't benefit him. You know what I'm saying? Like, this is the second time he's lies. you know about something in a way that didn't benefit him you know or done something that I even think when he when he said this shit about the son I think he said that it felt like he said that because you know he was trying to you know help out his niece you feel me but uh yeah I just I don't know what the fuck I don't know man this dude that dude crazy's hell I've always selling her it's like bro he's daring his brother that fucking slit his throat I would have

did it I'm sorry man I would have had to have him bro I needed that head. That one's mine. Fuck you mean. Run me. All right. That's all the time we got for this week. We'll be back on Monday.

I hope everyone has a good rest of your week. Enjoy your weekend. And we'll see you all in a couple of days. Bye.