The Josh Innes Show - Ja Morant's Dumb Celebration

Episode Date: April 11, 2025

Ja Morant was fined for his gun celebration so he decided to change things up. Now, when he hits a three pointer, he pretends to throw a grenade. I'm not offended, I just think it looks stupid. This leads to a rant about how young kids mimic the celebrations of pro athletes and end up looking like little tool bags. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, you know that I watch the Memphis Grizzlies. I've probably watched the NBA a little bit more than most people listening to this podcast, and that's fine. Watch whatever the fuck you want to watch. It's your life. I'm not one to tell you what to do, what not to do. Listen to and watch what you dig. If you dig it, do it.

If you really dig it, do it twice, man. I'm not going to judge you. But my wife and I do watch the Grizzlies. She loves the Memphis Grizzlies. I had to watch them lose again last night, and they're in danger of falling into the play-in game in the playoffs and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So that's what's going on.

But Ja Morant is the star player of the Grizzlies. I could argue in name he's a star player in the NBA, but I don't believe he's a guy that you build a team around. I think he's really good, and I think when he's on, he's on. But I think he's got a lot of issues. I think he's immature. I think he's got issues on that regard. I just don't think he's got people that are like, hey, don't do that a lot of the time. And I think that impacts him in a negative way. I think he hears social media a lot. And I think that impacts him. But if you haven't been following

his story the last couple weeks he's gotten punished for doing like this gun shooting like me you know a celebration after hitting a shot or whatever which by the way a lot of dudes do shit like that around the NBA a lot of dudes do a lot of weird celebrations but because jaw has been suspended for gun shit before he becomes more of a target for it, even though other people around the league do it. So he gets warned for it. I guess last week this was that he got warned about it. He and Buddy Heald of the Warriors got warned about doing it because they did it to each other or whatever. People are these fucking morons.

Hey, how about you just hit a fucking shot? Like, I'm not trying to sound like old stodgy white guy. I have no problem with, like, hey, you do, like, the three-finger type deal, and go, like, I'm not trying to sound like old stodgy white guy. I have no problem with like, Hey, you do like the three finger type deal, like the okay sign, but three of your whatever, like coming up with fucking hacky fucking celebrations. Every time you make a damn basket is stupid. Like what, who was it? Was it, um, Darius miles that when he would dunk would do the thing where he like put his two hands up by his head or there was a stroll.

Miles Swift would make like a bird when he would like chill the fuck out like like you know what you're doing and this is really gonna sound stodgy old white guy here and like i'm not offended by it but i'm annoyed by it when you look at little league baseball kids now and the douchebaggery that oozes like these kids have no chance to not be douchebags the way you're letting them play baseball as young kids like i'm seeing videos on on instagram of kids wearing like seven chains and they're mimicking the uh like the juan soto shuffle in the box and shit and i'm like like and like bat flipping i'm like you know what like i know that like there's only two camps there's no middle ground like like within il and everything else there's either you're a piece of shit or you agree with this, right? Like, those are the two camps.

There's no middle ground. Like, I don't care if kids are out there doing wacky shit on the baseball field. But you're turning your kids into fucking douchebags. And, like, when I was a kid, like, we thought it was cool to get to wear Oakleys, right? Like, I never could because I had, you know, regular glasses, like a total putz. So I couldn't. But, like, it was kind of the cool thing to do to wear Oakleys, right? Like I never could because I had, you know, regular glasses, like a total putz. So I couldn't, but like, it was kind of the cool thing to do to wear Oakleys. And like, maybe you'd have the Oakleys on the top of your head. Maybe you would have whatever, you know, like that's kind of what you had. Hold on. My phone was ringing, but you would get like

this reaction that was so cool because people be like, holy shit, you have Oakleys or oh shit, you got Jordans, man. Like it was always cool. Or we be like, holy shit, you have Oakleys. Or, oh shit, you got Jordans, man. Like, it was always cool. Or we, like, when I played high school basketball, they would have a, like, we could wear headbands on the team. But everybody on the team had to wear headbands. So I looked like a dipshit wearing a headband. Or if one person wore high socks, everybody had to wear high socks. That's kind of what the rule was for our team, right? But like, we never like took it to the extent of being total douchebags. Like we're turning

these kids into now. Like, I don't remember having like a $700 baseball bat. I never had a baseball bat of my own. You would just use the bat that was in the fucking dugout. Now I never played at a high travel ball level like these kids do, But these kids are turning into little fucking assholes. And you know how I feel about baseball playing kids anyway. They're the douchiest of the bunch and they're the most entitled of the bunch, more than football kids, more than basketball kids. The entitled little shits are the baseball players.

But like the furthest, like I'd say the most wacky shit you might do when you were a kid is like, maybe you'd like wad up like some big league chew and make it look like you had a chawlin or you'd find a player's batting stance that you wanted to mimic and like you would kind of ride with that you know like I used to want to be Mark McGuire so I would do the thing that like how he had that little wiggle of his bat like he had a crouch down stance and he'd kind of wiggle like you know like at the wrist like his wrist would like he just had active wrists right or I would try to be like Jim Edmonds

because I was a left-handed swinger or Ken Griffey Jr. because I was a left-handed batter or like you you would try to be cool but like these kids are little fucking assholes they're sociopath little monsters who are going to grow up to become big pieces of shit. Look, I'm not a psychiatrist, but I can tell you with my eyes that when I see some of these kids, they have no choice but to grow up and be little fucking assholes. Dude, I'm sitting in a park the other day. Let me play a couple of commercials here and I'll continue. All right. If you're ready to win some real cash during the basketball playoffs, you got to check out pick six from draft kings when it comes to basketball payouts draft kings pick six posterizes the competition including

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in illinois columbia illinois that's where we go to bet most of the time when we do sports betting and we're at a park and like there's some kids playing you know pickleball or some shit or basketball and they're all obnoxious. I'm watching some kids that are like eight, nine years old. I'm hearing them say the fucking N word and they're little white kids. And I'm like, what the fuck are these kids doing? These kids are just little fucking sociopathic assholes. Not to say that when I was a kid, I didn't say inappropriate shit.

And maybe I'm just an old dude that's hearing it. And I'm like, what the fuck? But like, even like in 2025, with all that's going on in the world out there, being a little white kid in the park, just flippantly throwing out the N word shit. I'm like, what are these fucking kids doing? Go home, like get, get some fucking parenting. What are we doing here? All that to say that kids are douchebags. Now that that said, back to John Morant. So I find it to be completely asinine that everybody has to have special, unique celebrations for when they just make a basket.

Like when Steph Curry does the put him to sleep thing, at least you're like, okay, he's signifying that the game is over and that he thinks that shot won the game for his team and whatever. Like to do a celebration, like it would be like, who was that close? Fernando Rodney. Remember when Fernando Rodney would get a save and he would, like, shoot an arrow, like an imaginary arrow?

Can you imagine if he did that after every strike he threw? Or after every, even every strikeout. Imagine every strikeout that Fernando Rodney ever got, he shoots a fucking bow and arrow. You'd be like, this guy's a fucking tool. But like basketball players, every time they make a shot, a layup, a three-pointer, they have to do something. So like Jaws celebration had become like this like gun thing. It looked like he was shooting a gun, whatever. And of course, the league is like, bro, what the fuck?

You've had gun charge, you know, you've had suspensions due to gun shit. What are you doing? Let's maybe not do that. And, um, he got warned. Then the next day he hits a three and does it again. So they find him. So now he's changed his celebration and a celebration has gone from doing a gun thing to throwing a grenade and let me tell you there is nothing lamer we watched the game last night that celebration looks pretty fucking neat whenever you're winning right so the grizzlies were winning uh you know for the basically the whole first half they were winning the game you hit a three and you like here's what he does he acts like he's biting the pin out of the grenade throws the grenade and then covers both ears with his hands and then like waits for the explosion and i'm like okay i can live with this when you're winning they were down by like 20 and he hits a

three and does that and i'm like dude you look like a fucking imbecile you look stupid like i don't care i'm not offended by your celebration just like i'm not offended by a throat slash celebration just like like it's odd what people find what the league finds to be too much or too offensive right because like you got guys in the league that have done some pretty fucked up things and like we're overly concerned about you know a guy doing a gun motion as if whatever like i don't think kids are gonna go out and plug people in the streets like i don't think anybody takes it literal like i don't think like when you would see a throat slash like i think like the university of miami in the 80s like they banned the throat

slash basically because of the university of miami i believe like i don't think anybody sees that and goes i'm gonna go slash some throats now. I'm going to take it to the streets and be a, I'm going to shoot someone because John Morant, you know, pantomime shooting a gun after making a three. And oh, by the way, the terminology that we're allowed to use in sports, they're pretty heavy. Like when a guy hits a homer, boy, it's a two run bomb.

Well, I don't know. That's kind of offensive to say bomb. I mean, bombs have blown up and killed people. Like, how are we selective? How do we choose which things are offensive and which things are totally okay to do? And like, I get that John Morant feels like he's under attack. A lot of it he brings on himself, right? He just does dumb shit and the the kind of idea you have a morant is he was a guy that grew up totally fine parents had money

seeming like a private school type kid and now he's trying to live out his like rap and roll fantasy and whatever like trying to be a you know hard ass try to be a thug trying to be a gangster whatever and you just look stupid And most people kind of see through it. They're like, this guy seems like a doofus doing this. Like he's trying too hard, but like, and I understand why you feel like people are coming down on you. I get that. And I understand that you're using that as fuel seemingly right now, because the last like two weeks, the dude's balling out of his mind. He's scoring 30 something points a game. He's, I mean, dude's killing's killing it so he's been better he's shooting threes better than i've ever seen the guy shoot threes so i get using that as fuel but i'm just more offended by how lame your celebration is whenever you're losing and losing

by a significant number of points at one point last night the grizzlies allowed a 26 to 2 run by minnesota like you watch guy like i don't know man like you're trying too hard but i think a lot of celebrations are try hard like there's nothing wrong with celebrating there's nothing wrong with like you know what but like i don't know man you just look like a doofus and i like you and i like the grizzlies and i'd like you to be successful. That's my squad. I like to watch you. I watch every one of your fucking games. But I just struggle with you. And he's getting criticized on Inside the NBA last night. And look, two things can be right.

We say that all the time on here. Maybe that'll be the name of the podcast. Hey, you know, two things can be right. And two things can be right. It could be that people are coming down too hard on this guy a lot of the time and he's kind of a target but on the other hand you do dumb shit and make yourself a target same thing like with an angel reese right like angel reese loves to play victim like people people come at me and like i get this yes but you play a villain like can you imagine rick flair

doing his whole shtick and then like being like why are people so mean to me why don't people like me no you want to be the bad guy you want want to be the villain. You want to be the one that gets all the attention. You want to be the one that says, I'm a bad bitch. Well, then sometimes people are not going to like you. That comes with being the villain. That comes with being the bad guy. yourself when you get the hate. Like, Ja wants to be a badass, but then Ja wants people to not dislike. It's a weird phenomenon. I like the guy. His dad's a wacko. I like his dad. Some think his dad's a big part of the problem. I've read stories about that where you got people that think his dad is just too enabling

and it's like his buddy instead of being his dad, and his dad's enjoying sitting courtside at NBA games getting blitzed at games like so it's his dad's name is T Morant he's got looks kind of like Usher but um yeah so what do we learn in this brief little episode here we learn that youth baseball players are more than likely going to grow up to be douchebags because their parents are allowing them to be douchebags. I couldn't have fathomed wearing the fucking uniforms these kids wear. Like again, I understand that I didn't play travel ball and all this kind of shit, but like you look at the uniforms, these kids have like eight uniforms. Like their parents are having to get hotels and random cities to go watch their kids play baseball. And guess what? Most of these little

douchebags aren't going to grow up to even be college players, but here their parents are blowing their money to go watch Colton play for his travel ball team. But like we had a t-shirt, you know, and you know how you determine what t-shirt you got. They went like number one to 15. The fat kid got number I was the fat kid it was a t-shirt with a sponsor on the front of it or a or maybe a logo of sorts on the front and a sponsor on the back with a number and that was it and you know what the fucking hat looked like it was a trucker hat and that's what we wore for the first 10 years of my baseball playing life then eventually my dad sponsored a team we got some kind of cool jerseys at one point

but like these dudes now with like all their shit and their bags I don't even think I ever had a bag for baseball you know what I did I brought my fucking mitt with me and I said all right I'm ready to play baseball maybe I just sucked at it maybe I was just you know the opposite of what everybody else was maybe I didn't take it as seriously you know what I would do when we would go to basketball I'd bring my sneakers and we'd play basketball you know you tried to look kind of cool like you would like I get being a young kid trying to emulate celebrities like I was as I said earlier like I get you look at batting stances or you know I bet you a shitload of kids like were inspired to wear their hats backwards by Ken Griffey Jr. So I get it. But these kids are just little assholes

and they do the whole trot around the bases. Like I just, I wish these kids would get beaned. I wish somebody would plunk them. I do. All right. More to come.