The Mismatch - The NBA Schedule Has Arrived, and Russell Westbrook Calls It a Career

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

The NBA has finally released the schedule for the 2026-27 season, and Verno and Jacoby react by discussing the Christmas Day games, which team has a surprising amount of national TV games, debate who���ll get booed when returning to their former team, and more. Also, the guys share some of their fond memories of Russell Westbrook after he announced his retirement. (00:00) Welcome to The Mismatch! (00:23) NBA releases the full 2026-27 schedule (3:41) Opening Day schedule (10:51) Christmas Day schedule (17:06) Nationally televised games (32:13) Homecoming games (39:02) Trying to make sense of the Lakers getting flipped by Mark Walter (44:21) Can't-miss games of the season (55:40) Happy retirement, Russell Westbrook Leave us a message on our Mismatch Voicemail line! [phone] Hosts: Chris Vernon and David Jacoby Producers: Jessie Lopez, Stefan Anderson, and Jeff Shearin Social: Keith Fujimoto Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the mismatch. I'm Chris Vernon and join me as he does every week from the rigger.com. It's Dave Jacoby. Jacoby. Happy schedule holiday to all of those who celebrates. Before we get in to all the big announcements the NBA has made about the 26-27 season, I need to give a blanket apology to not only you, but all of Nick's Nation. after we posted that video last week, I was tagged on that, and my Instagram feed was flooded

with New Yorkers saying, no, no, no, Knicks in 5 is how everything is said now. It's true, dude. You don't get it. You don't get it. Hashtag nixin 5, Nixon 5.

I don't say hello. I say Nixon 5. I don't say goodbye. I say Nixon 5. My wife says I need to go to the grocery store. I say Nixon five. It's like, okay, all right, I get it. So we used to say this is a very New York thing, not just New York.

I've been in other cities and people say this to each other. Instead of goodbye, it's like get home safe. Is that happened? That's like it got to be a Memphis thing too, right? Get home safe. Now it's just Nixon five. It's all right, man. Good to see you with great hands.

Nixon five. It feels like that has just become an overwhelming portion of the vocabulary. in that section of the country. And so I need to apologize. I didn't understand when you were framing that as literally nothing else matters, this is now how everybody speaks to each other. And it's now August and that happened in June. I obviously was unaware,

but the internet has allowed me to know that Nixon 5 is a salutation that is very, very common. And frankly, nothing else has mattered. and I was told over and over again, this has been the greatest summer of all time. Oh, my God. With the World Cup and the Knicks winning, all the explosive diarrhea and all of the Salmanilla

and all the Legioneers disease cannot dampen this party that is Nixon 5. This has been the best summer I can remember in New York history. Well, so now they have announced. So the NBA did their rollout. If they leaked a little on Tuesday, a little on Wednesday, and then by today, which is Thursday when we're recording this, every team got their schedule for the upcoming NBA season.

The first things of greatest consequence are, okay, when are the big national television games that everybody's going to round up and watch and we will have these communal experiences? So for us and our audience, we know they're going to be watching, we'll be watching, we're the sickos. We're going to be watching League Pass. If you're listening to the mismatch in August, like, right, you care.

You don't need to be sold on the NBA matchups. Right. But we do understand that the tent gets huge once these games are on opening day. That's when everybody's tuned in for the first time. When it's Christmas, everybody's tuned in. Obviously, Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, some of the other ones that they made a big deal. For opening day, which is now,

opening day. What happened here, Verno? I mean, it's, is this Europe's game now? Is that what we're doing? Because it's the three o'clock. On the text thread, I was like, I thought it was a mistake. I literally Googled the date. I was like, is this a holiday that I don't understand?

And the only thing that came up is it's a waxing gibbous moon. So we will get 68% of the moon on that, on that day. Oh, I didn't know that. That's the only thing that made any sense of why we would have a 3 p.m. First game of the year game in the NBA. Well, no, they say it's nighttime in Europe. So I'm glad.

I guess. Hey, truly a global game now. I guess they're trying to get the, you had mentioned, you know, they're trying to get this NBA Europe thing going on. And I don't know. What it reminds me of is I used to hate this. Baseball would like, they didn't have like one game in Japan. and then it would be like a week later.

They'd have an opening day. Yeah, yeah, two game series in Japan. You're like, what? Okay. So anyways, Celtics Pistons is going to be in the middle of the day. Then Philly and the Knicks, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio. That is to kick off the season. Honestly, I was like, this is NBA schedule premature ejaculation.

That's what I thought. I was like, this is NBA schedule premature ejaculation. Those are the two best matchups that I can create. And they put them both right after training camp. Like, I was just, I was shocked they did this because they don't normally put like the marque, marky, marquey matchups both on opening night. I was shocked by this.

Didn't you, didn't you have the same response? I, I think Oklahoma City at San Antonio is the best thing we have going. And that's because they played what in between the regular season. the Cup and the playoffs, they played each other 12. 12 times.

Jesus. They played each other 12 times of the season. I know. They played each other 12 times last year. So we got real smoke between them. And by the way, Oklahoma City was up 3-2 and lost the Western Conference finals to them. And so with a chance to possibly go back to back

if they were going to get through, They probably would have gotten beat by the Knicks too. Maybe it's not Nixon. Five, maybe the salutation is different all summer. Mixing four. Maybe it's four. But anyways, that's a, I do think that's the best one. The Philly New York thing, this is new.

Because. Ring night. It's Ring Knight and LeBron James is going to be making his debut for the Philadelphia 76. Wait, he's on the Sixers? Yeah, that happened. Yeah. LeBron James on the Philadelphia 76ers?

Yeah. So it's going to be. Philly, New York at Oklahoma City and San Antonio. And oh, yeah. 3 p.m. Eastern, 2 p.m. Central. I might not even watch. Noon on the West Coast. Just we're really tapping into the jobless market.

There's anybody that doesn't have a job, you're going to get, the season's going to kick off with, I mean, I just think. about this to the print. Can you imagine if like the NFL just said, hey, you know what? 9 a.m. East Coast game. On a Tuesday. Yeah. Yeah. What? I don't understand. I honestly Googled the date. I was like, is this a holiday that I'm missing? And the only thing I got was the Waxon Givis moon. That's all I got. Middle of the day. So we've got, then we've got the Christmas schedule, which is the big one that they release. Before we move on from this, I do want to ask you

because I value your opinion and your expertise and your many, many years covering this league. What are they doing with this 3 p.m. Tuesday game? What is this? No, it really is. I think it really is. It's a Europe thing? Yeah, that it's prime time in other places.

Okay, I'm just trying to think. No, Pistons, Celtics, there's no big international players. You've got the Spurs in that spot. And it's like a peacock thing. I don't know. I don't know either. Somebody's going to tune in and be like, where's General Hospital? Okay.

Here's what I'm going to tell you, though. It's where I'm going to disagree with you a little bit on the whole premature. We're firing off some big games right off the bat, okay? It's too much for night one. It's too much for night one. No, no, no. This is where we're going to disagree. It's maybe the only time we see.

all four of those 76ers on the court at the same time. Like, you got to get these ones. It's a good point. It's a good point. And here's the deal. If you get these in, if you make sure we see them, as long as everybody can make it through training camp in the preseason, then we get to see these teams as they will be constituted,

even if it's at the very beginning of the season, because how many times did we get to the, the playoffs this past year. And you and I are running through it. And we're saying, what can we take away from the games? Even the Knicks and the spurs. Nothing. Well, and then we were going through.

Well, and in that one, Wembe didn't play. And that one. Tyler Cohen played 30 minutes in one of those games. I'm just like, what? And in that one, you know, Oklahoma City had three starters sit down. Mitch had 11 offensive rebounds in the cup final. Like, what? Yeah, so like that's what we did all throughout the playoffs when we were just going back

and all we were looking at was either two or four game samples of these teams playing each other to try to draw. And we never found a game where both teams were like full strength and like, okay, this is a good barometer of what these teams match up. Because OKC was missing J-dub and everything. So my devil's advocate would be like, all right. right, at least we know we're going to get, like, how many games? Are you confident Joel Abed is going to be healthy through training camp and preseasoned? I think so.

I mean, I have to. I have to. Did you hear about the phone call where Joe and B. told LeBron that he's 100% healthy? And then someone was like, I saw a report. It's like, this is the first offseason he's been healthy in like six years. I was like, what? I mean, if there's one guy that would be beneficial.

to be around for longevity and health. It is LeBron James. So maybe he could have an impact on that as well. Christmas. Philly Lakers. So they did, they did LeBron a solid because they're getting them back to the. No, no, no, no, no.

If you're talking Christmas, you got to start at noon. Oh, you want to do Nick Spurs? Nick Spurs at noon. Like, if you're on the West Coast, like kids are still opening presence. Like, you haven't had breakfast and you're doing a finals rematch? 11 a.m. In my time. For you, for you 11 a.m.

But kids are, kids are playing with toys. Like, you're cleaning up wrapping paper. You're starting to think about lunch. Also, Roger Goodell, not screwing around this year. Oh, God. Like, last year he screwed around and the NFL's so big, but the games were rat games. like teams weren't playing for things. Like the games just turned out to be terrible.

So it was fine, right? What's the NFL slate? Oh my God. It's like Packers, Bears. I mean, it's, dude, it's loaded. It's Packers Bears is the first one. Which is like an all-time rivalry with two. Yeah, I know.

Yeah, I want to watch both of those quarterback. No, there's three really good ones. Three really good ones for the NFL on. Christmas Eve, you got Eagles, Texas. Packers Bears at one. So that's half time of the Knicks game. Yep. Bill's Denver, good game.

And then Super Bowl rematch Rams Seahawks. And I know that it was not the Super Bowl rematch, but it was really a Super Bowl rematch. No, he loaded up. Rams Seahawks at 815 going up against the Thunder Timberwolves. Right. Yeah.

So, I mean, I actually, you know what, it's probably better that the Nixon Spurs are the first one of the day, honestly. I'm thinking. You're right? I just wonder, like, I wonder what percentage of the audience will switch at one o'clock. A lot. A lot. Yeah, a lot. I mean, that game's in the balance.

I mean, it is a finals rematch. And look, the NBA finals ratings were great and people want to see that. Like, you just got to hope that everybody's healthy for that. And, again, we don't know. by the time we get to December 25th, who's going to be available for those teams and whatnot. But obviously they're doing Nick Spurs. They're doing Philly and the Lakers,

so that's LeBron's return to Los Angeles. Heat Celtics. Heat Celtics. Nuggets Warriors and OKC and Minnesota. So Lamello Ball Christmas Day game. First time we're going to get to see him on Christmas Day, playing with Minnesota. So, I mean, the matchups are not, like, unbelievable.

And like I said, NFL wasn't screwing around this year with their schedule. So anyways, it's a good slate. It's not, like, overwhelming. Nick Spurs is obviously dwarfs the rest of it. It'll be cool to see LeBron go back to Los Angeles, I guess. I mean, I don't know. I don't, I'm not optimistic. about the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's just a little underwhelmed with those. I'm a little underwhelmed with them, but maybe they'll end up being great games. Now that you say it, it really just matters if they're close, right? Yeah. But like Janus versus Tatum

doesn't exactly get me going. It's not must see, is what I'm saying. No, noon is must see. Like it's usually like, but I'm saying, Christmas Day is usually like, ooh, that's one of the two

or four times that D.C. are going to play each other. And the Laker, it's the Laker side that we just don't know if it has any choose. I guess, I mean, it'll be obviously, you know, there's going to be a race war going on in that game. On Christmas. The Christmas Day Race War.

They need to rebrand it. You can start a marketing agency. Oh, my God. I really should. Rays War. Finals rematch, Yonis first Tatum, and then the race war. to race for.

Battling for. Everyone has always wondered what would happen. Philly beats him by 50. Nick Wright, your all-star game. Yeah, you're right. It's finally come to fruition. They should do this because, I mean, my God, do they promote the courteous things?

Did you see that rivalry week? After you, we crapped on that so bad last year. And then they, how did nobody in the, office, how did nobody in the office say, guys, we got to re, like, yeah, let's just, yeah, let's just not, yeah, this has got to be rethought. Because all of our fans that are actually fans, look at this, roll their eyes and go, oh, yeah, I can't wait for that. Hold on, I'll just pull a random one. I can't wait for that huge Pistons Cavs rivalry.

Huge rival. Can't you remember the playoff series? Legendary. Oh, wait, didn't happen. Well, I mean, they did play. Of course, but like. Cavs, Raptors? So much history.

So much history. I mean, back, you remember when DeRosen just couldn't get over the LeBron Hump? Tons of history there. I mean, Hawksnicks. Think about all those Hawks' Knicks memories you have. Hawks Knicks? Trey Young doesn't play there anymore.

That's part of rivalry week. Yeah, I would honestly rather see Wizards Knicks there. Seriously, if we're going to do it, let's just do it. Wizards Knicks would make more sense. Is C.J. McCollum, is that what we're supposed to be fired up about? I don't, I don't know. I don't know. Anyway, the whole rivalry week is just bizarre.

Let's get to National Television Games. So obviously there are a bunch of different outlets now. You got to buy everything to be able to watch teams on national television. I've learned this early on in my career. Never sort of like ask trivia questions. Don't put your co-host on the spot. But I'm going to do it. I haven't written down.

Do you know what games are in what night of the week? I don't. Like on what channel? Yes. What are the national games on what night? Yeah. No idea. It used to be so it was like literally T&T Tuesday and Thursday, T&T.

And it was NBA Monday. And then you had ESPN on Wednesday and Friday in the weekend. It was that simple. Yes. I'm not, I haven't written down. I'm not going to look. I think it's NBC Monday and Tuesday. No, Amazon Tuesday.

Tuesday, Wednesday, ESPN, Amazon Thursday, Friday, ESPN, and then the weekends are all mixed up. I've got guessed. Let me look at it. Yeah, kind of. All right. No, it's NBC Monday and Tuesday. All right. So it's NBC, Peacock, ESPN, ABC, and Prime.

So those are the possible outlets that you could have a game on. The maximum amount of games you could get on national television is 34. 34 of your games on national TV. There are four teams that apply to that. The Lakers, the Knicks, the Sixers, and the Spurs all have the maximum amount. Are you surprised by any of those? Now, I will say on the Lakers front, A, is a huge brand, and they've got Luca. But I think more importantly, you're filling in late-night slots.

And as we talked about, the West Coast teams, they've got to be either Lakers or Warriors games because the Warriors have a bunch of national TV games, despite the fact that they are not expected to be good. The Spurs and the Timberwolves play in a different time zone. So you're going to need someone to eat those Pacific time zone innings, and the purple and gold will always bring eyeballs. It's them and the Warriors.

Yeah, you're right, because as you said, even Denver's, I got the Mountain Time thing. Yeah. Yeah, so I think, you know, obviously they still have curry, but despite the fact that they're not expected to be that good, the Warriors are on national TV a ton a curry. But I think also just like the Lakers, more importantly, you're filling in that late time slot that is going on.

And you can't do it. The Clippers aren't going to be. The Clippers filled a void there, right? Because the Clippers took their share of those national television games. But now they're not going to get those. Obviously, the Kings aren't going to be getting those. And so you really don't have anybody on that West Coast time zone that would take any of the other ones up.

So it'll just be Lakers or Warriors, generally, if we're staying up late watching a game. I want to answer your original question. Of those four teams, they get 34 national games, all of them make sense. But I am biased. So this is why I like doing the show with you, because you don't have the same sort of, like,

hate in your heart that I do. Am I wrong in saying that the Spurs are not a national draw the same way those other three teams are? You're absolutely wrong. That's why I like doing the show with you.

I like doing the show. The Wembeeniyama thing is gone bonkers. Fonkers. I would, I predict next year, because I, obviously, I live in a small market, so I always judge it by like, I will tell you like people will drive i saw it last year hit so fast where you would go and people are walking

through and this guy drove from nashville this guy drove from little rock this guy drove from atlanta this guy drove and like it it you got to be a for the spurs games what you're saying for the spurs home game are you got to be a different level of start i'm saying people drove a long way to see Wemby. Because obviously, if you're in the South and you're a NBA fan, like this is the market you're driving. You're booking a hotel in Memphis.

The famous beautiful hotels of Memphis. You must stay at my house. So, I wasn't invited. I wasn't about to stay at your house when I went there. You told me which hotel was nice. I stayed there with the ducks. I 100% invited you,

but you're like, no, because I got to get up and I got to find a yoga studio and I got to do this and I like me about myself. And it's my one, it's my one chance to be away from kids. So don't say I didn't invite you because I did.

I don't remember being invited. I don't remember being invited. You don't want to be around them. So anyway, I really don't. Back to the original point. Yes, you're wrong about Wemby. That's fair.

Wee, we, I am the biggest draw in the NBA. No, the Knicks are the biggest draw in the NBA. But I will say, this is, I've told this story before in the pod, so I'll make a brief. I was watching with my brother and my sister-in-law, I believe it was game five, Thunder Spurs when he hit that like 40-foot bull up three and they had never seen him play before.

Like, these are civilians, just like non-basketball fans. They were just like, what the hell is going on on my television right now? I think it was game five in that series when he's pulled up. Yes. I might be wrong. Yeah, I think it was. That was, they were like, what am I watching? These guys eight feet tall and he's just like pulling up, walk up three.

from 40 feet. Like, he's a draw. He's a drop. I'll ask some of my buddies that are like six season ticket holders and stuff because what you find is a lot of people, and this happens in every market. They sell those ones. No, no, no, no. They split the tickets.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they do the draft. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll bet you Wemby goes one. I bet that's the first. I bet it does. It always used to be LeBron and Curry. You know, I'm trying to think.

I think he'll be the one. If I was If I was a Memphis I've never seen Wendy playing person So he would probably Number one for me I'm getting you here

I'll do it Hey It's a Knicks Spurs back to back Oh my God Yeah I can't do that to you though No I can't

I can't I will act foolish I went to game one in San Antonio And I was like No but when I'm saying is I was like, be kind, be empathetic, you're a guest here, you're from out of town, be normal,

don't lose your mind, and by the time the Knicks came back in one, I was just two middle fingers up, just staring at everybody, like, who wants what? Like, I couldn't control myself. Everybody's nice here. They're not worried about that. Yeah, yeah. We're on national TV twice.

We didn't hit... That's not true. Bro, the Memphis Grizzlies are on T. That's not true. Hey, how about this? Not even TV. We're streamed twice. What? Yeah, true story.

The... Do they know about Cedric Howard? The Martin Luther King Day... Jaylon Wells? The Martin Luther King. The Martin Luther King Day. Camboosers on the team. You have to have Memphis on Martin Luther King Day.

They do on Peacock. After the next, what is it 2 o'clock? 1 o'clock for you. And then, no, it's the prime. time game, but it's on Picon. And then the John Morant return is on Amazon Prime. That's it.

So there's not even a three-letter network. There's not a three-letter network showing a single Grizzlies game. We are truly now the mismatch. Your team is on the maximum amount of times on national TV and minus on the minimum amount of games on national television. Do you know what that means for you, Verno? Last days off. You guys off. I do that studio show.

I will say this, though. We'll say this. I was a little surprised, and I do wonder, you know, years ago, they kind of got burned on the Zion Morant thing at the very beginning of their careers. But it seemed like when that was going on, they put, I mean, when Zion came into the league, they put the Pelicans on national TV. And there were not many outlets, not like there are now. But they got a bunch of games because it was like, this is.

is going to be a thing. These rookies? Brother, you better have league pass. I was shocked. How about this? Yeah, you would think like a DeBanza Boozer thing. How about this? Peterson six times.

DeBonsta six times. Boozer twice, Caleb Wilson three times. Wow. That's how many times those guys are going to be featured on national television. Like we talked to how much about the rookie class and then obviously when I went out to Summer League. I was like, bro, these guys are price of admission.

Like, they are exactly as advertised. But the NBA clearly like did not get behind, like, promoting they're not putting these rookies on national television in the same way that some guys in the past have been put on national television. Interestingly enough, Cooper Flagg going to be on a ton, a ton in year two.

I think the maps are, what they have, 20, 21. That's a lot. That's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. If they're healthy, they're a very interesting team. They're a very watchable team if everyone's healthy. And lively, if lively's back,

Kyrie's back and Kui's back and Kuii is worth the price of admission when he's right. Yeah, but I mean, of the teams that are at the very bottom. So the Wizards of the Jazz both have six national television games. And those are the number one and number two picks in the draft, Peterson and DeBonsta. So like I'm saying, one of the lessons of the schedule coming out today and us seeing what everybody's national television schedule is, is that you understand in order to watch the rookies, the best rookies this year, you're going to have to be on league pass. Because they're not going to be featured on these big national television games throughout the season. Yeah, of the teams that got like virtually no games, the Bulls, and that's Caleb Wilson, they're on three times.

Brooklyn's on twice, the Grizzlies on twice, the Bucks are on twice, the Pelicans are on twice, and the Kings are on twice. The Pelicans are on twice? Twice. No Zion love. I mean, Zion used to be a draw. Do you remember his first NBA game? He hit like his first three-threes. It was like, what?

I still love watching him. Yeah. When he's right, it's amazing. Tion's still fun to watch. And obviously the Bucks losing Janus, the Grizzlies losing Morant. And then, you know, so some of these teams, but they've dropped off in terms of the magic, who was a team that it felt like they got behind a little bit last year, there's dropped down.

They're on eight times this year after that fizzle out at the, at the end of the year. So they're only on eight times, which is the same amount as the clippers. The thing is for us, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter for us, but it's really like post-NFL season,

those Saturday and Sunday games. Those are the big games. Because when I was working at ESPN, they would switch over to ABC, and that was when it was like, all right, like, that's what Magic Johnson does count down. You know what I mean?

It's like, all right, those big games, those 1 o'clock Sundays, those late night Sundays, like those are the big, big ones. And you can tell they've loaded up there. Yeah. I mean, the one that stood out to me, obviously when I was just looking at who they're going to be featuring, you knew that those West Coast teams, as I mentioned. So I, you know, you could be surprised that the Lakers and the Warriors are on that much. But then it's very understandable given they've got to fill that late time slot.

Yeah, yeah. What I think, and I wasn't surprised that Miami got a huge bump because Janice is obviously going to be on national TV a great deal because former MVP, one of the best five guys when he's playing, all that. The Mavericks were the first one where I was like, oh, wow. I mean, 21 national television games for the Maverick. I get it. If you're the NBA, you're like, we have to plan for 2032. You know what I mean? let's start sewing those seeds now.

Let's get people involved in Cooper Flag. I guess so because, you know, oddly, they're not getting involved with the rookies in the same way. You know what I mean? But they are with flag. It's like, all right, it's almost like you approve it for a year, right? Well, no, it's also like this is like, what we talk about the draft, all leading up to the draft,

we were like, you could pick any one of these four guys as the number one pick, and you could pick any one of these four guys as the number four pick. So it is sort of a prove it year. Like which one of you guys is going to pop off the screen, build a fan base, be the must-see TV guy. In Cooper's draft and in Wemby's draft, there's one guy, right? So I think that it might have been like there's too much quality in this draft that the NBA is like, let's just see this year's the audition year.

And then next year, if it's Caleb Williams or DeBanster or Peterson, whoever, they'll get the big national. Wilson, but Caleb Wilson will be on. Caleb Williams will also be on television on Christmas. Caleb Wilson will not. Yes. He will not be on Christmas. Other one.

I actually, I never connected those two. Wilson and Williams? Oh, yeah, the two Caleb's in Chicago. In Chicago. Starting the team. Well, at least they're in Chicago for another year. Then they might be the Indiana Bears, they say, right? I can't believe that.

That would be the worst thing. That's never happening. They can't. I'm moving to Galapagos if that happens. I'm moving to Galapagos. Homecomings. Trey Young at the Hawks on November 6th. I don't care.

I don't care. Oh, you just ate Tray Young. Yeah. Okay. Could I interest you in Tyler Heroes return to Miami? Do not care. Oh, you have to care. Because of the BAM stuff.

You have to. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have to care. None of this is like, none of this is like, I'm just being honest. Like, there's been so, like, like, Lucas' first game in Dallas was like a huge marquee event. Tyler Hero. Okay. Could I interest you in Jalen Brown at the Celtics, January 21st?

Now you're speaking my leg. Now you're speaking of my language. I want him and Tate him to get in a fist fight. in pregame. Like, I just, I just can't wait for this. How about one week later, Yonis returns to Milwaukee? I just wish Milwaukee had something for Yonis. Like, who's covering Yonis?

Who's covering Yonis? Nate Ament. Yeah. Then February 6th, Jiamer Rant returns to Memphis. Then February 15th, Lamello Ball returns to Charlotte. I don't know. Hero might, and I guess he won't get a, no pun intended heroes.

I think they will cheer Tyler Hero actually. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, they'll cheer him. It's because the thing is, it's like he didn't like beg his way out and they got 70 cents of the dollar for him. They got Janus and Tentacupo. This is weird.

On the homecomings this year, there's usually somebody that's going to go back somewhere and get booed. I think all these guys are getting cheered. I'm trying to think. Paul George getting cheered in Philadelphia? No. I'm talking. These guys that I just mentioned,

they're all getting a tribute video and a standing ovation. Yeah. I think so. There's not much out there. Trey Young, Tyler Hero, LeBron James. People of Utah going to reject Walker Kessler in the purple and gold?

No, they're too nice to do. I don't think so either. I don't think they're so nice. Janice, John Morant, La Mello Ball. I think they will all get the tribute videos, emotional, you know, a little tear running down the face

standing ovations from those crowds. It's just a whole year of good feelings. There will be no contentious. Well, because guys don't leave like that anymore. Right? I'm trying to think. Because nobody in LA is going to be booing LeBron for leaving and going to the Sixers.

No. And everybody else is, and the other thing is, this is a, this is a Milwaukee, maybe. No. I'm trying to think, I'm reaching, I'm reaching. I'm immediately reaching. Again, they, they cut him.

Yeah. Like, you don't, you know, you only boot, And then this is the death of free agency. This is what this has brought. So the guy that now comes back, he's been traded because everything's in trade now. It's not a guy that leaves to go somewhere else because he left. Do you remember free agent classes? It was like the class of 28 free agents.

It's going to be crazy. Everyone's clearing out the cap space for the free agent class of 2028. It's over. No, it's dead. Yeah. Instead, nobody, nobody like, there is no Kevin Durant who now has to walk back into Oklahoma City or something. There is no LeBron who has to go back into Cleveland. Like there is, like, none of those.

These are all, these are all guys that for whatever reason their teams moved on from them, but we'll all get standing ovations and teary videos. That's just what we're at right now. everybody is like beloved by the team that got rid of them. You know what just crossed my mind? Go ahead. I just Googled it. James Harden doesn't have a deal.

Oh, because he was waiting on the LeBron thing. He will. Yeah. Bro, if you don't think there was a wink, wink when that took place. Oh, of course. He probably got to deal with that. But like, like, the second LeBron is just like, oh, yeah, cool. It's just weird.

Wait until you find out he's, hey, wait until you find how he's sponsored by a scoreboard company. I'm kidding. Dachronics is a jumbo-tron specialist. It's not a scoreboard. Whatever. Whatever. And I buy all of my jumbo-trons from Dactronics because I believe Kauai Leonard is a great sponsor.

He's a great brand ambassador. I told you, Bobo. Every Jumbo-Tron. Every Jumbo-Tron I've ever bought. I saw Boblo an hour ago. An hour ago. Where? I held him hostage because he was going to investigate

get Jalen Brunson's deal. So he's in my basement, actually. He's tied up. He's tied up in my storage locker in my basement. You really saw Pablo Torre at an hour ago? Yeah. Oh. I just figured he was always on the phone researching how to bring down.

Me and Kevin Wilde's, Pablo Tori, Andrew Quo, and Ben Dietrich have like a dinner date every three or four months. And tonight was ours. And I said, gentlemen, I can't make it because I am dedicated to the mismatch. You did. You win. You went. You went.

Tonight. No, I had a beer at a bar around the corner. I had one pint with the gentleman. Oh, is that right? Yeah, because I had to prep for the mismatch. I had to look over the NBA schedule for this program. I'm sure he did. All right.

So the Kauai Leonard, did you ask Pablo? He'd be like, hey, what more you got? I didn't say a single thing. Oh, he's still sitting on stuff. You know he is? He's just sitting on it. He's like, oh, yeah, and another thing. Oh, this is what you're, oh, you know.

You're almost done with your investigation? No, you're not. Ooh, the law firm is in cahoots with Pablo to extend the investigation money kickbacks. Let's investigate Pablo. Look, I can't believe he had time to go out to dinner tonight with this Laker sale going on. How? How could he possibly have time? Listen, I've spent 50 minutes today trying to figure out what exactly Mark Walter is being investigated for.

And I'm not smart enough to understand it. Well, he owns insurance companies that take premiums from their clients in shady ways and then reinvest it in his own companies. But he reported $2 billion, but it's $17 billion. And I'm just like, sometimes white-collar crime gets... confusing that I don't understand it. Okay. Here's what I would tell you. You don't have to understand it. I don't have to understand it either.

My experience has been such. If the feds and the SEC are included in a headline with your name, it is not good.

Unless you're running back and the SEC is in the headlines. It's possible. A player of the SEC player of the year. And so, look, sometimes I know that people are kicking around. They're like, not reporting this.

Don't know. But it's like, if you imagine you were being investigated for some white collar crime and you're going to have to pay a fortune in fines for

whatever they find. Because typically they don't even tell you until they've already got you. And then they give you a chance to say, did you do this? And then, like, I mean, we've seen this happen with professional athletes before, right? Or with anybody. You know, if, if the feds get you and then they say, did you do this? And then you say, no, I didn't do that. And I'm lawyering up to prove I to do. They're like, okay, like, bro, we have all your phone records. We have all the time. By the time we're asking you if you did it. We know you did it. So your best chance is to just say, I did it and I'm sorry and how can I make this right?

And so you feel like... And the answer is, is sell the Lakers to my son-in-law's brother. Well, the idea, no, the idea is you need the liquidity because of the fines. Sure. Right? Like, you're going to need, like, I can sell this for $2.5 billion more than, or it's not really those numbers, but that's the value. of franchise.

He's got what, like 77% or something? I mean, there is part of me that if I was like, if I was the buses, I'd have been like, damn, man, should have just waited a year.

Now towards 12 and a half. The other thing is it does make you think about what are these, the price of the brick goes up because the expansion teams. I mean, what are they going for now? Right? Like every time one of these sales is taking place, it just keeps going up and up and up.

And it's like, okay, like you're going to be able to, if you're Adam Silver, you're just going to be able to name your price. Like, hey, man, we will expand, but we don't have to. So, you know,

because these were two of the guys that were heavily, you know, thought of to be the Vegas guys. Vegas, yeah. Yeah. But anyways, just a weird deal. Everybody that's, like, for there to be no leak about that, for no one

to have any inference about that, and then for that story to break. And then the most important thing was, like, and the Ramona Shelbert story, it said, came together in the last few days. 72 hours. It's for sure not something. What is the Luca trade? I can, I like, it takes me like a week to buy a $20,000 vehicle.

You know what I mean? Like a $12 billion deal coming together in 72 hours, it's not fishy. It's the entire ocean. Yeah. Bizar. Quick little news notes. we did have one player signed today. Did you see this?

Brad Beale going to the Clippers. And I actually thought about Brad Beal today. And I'll tell you why. He got a pay raise, right? He did. Mark Bartlestein like gets unbelievable deals for his clients. It's crazy. It's unbelievable.

Based on the performance last year, we believe that you deserve more money. Like, what? Look, and I know some people that have worked for Mark, but so I say this, like, I say this with reverendant. almost every time that you see a deal, not every time, but I would say over 50% of the time where I see a deal that I go, what the hell?

It says reported by with his agent Mark Bartlestein. I'm like, unbelievable. Like this all started using. He listens to the podcast and he's, he feels so disrespected right now. Oh, that's fair. He feels he's like, Ferno. Pablo. Pablo again, drinking pites with Dave Jacoby instead of reporting on Gary Trent.

He's being investigated, Bruno. The NBA is investigating. Oh, I know. Well, look, they got a lot investigators. Yeah, so by 2035, we might get a ruling on that. All right. Are there any games that you circled for the upcoming season that hell or high water, you would not miss? Okay. First of all, we had a text exchange earlier today, and I was told to pick three games. so you know that I've followed instructions because I take this show very seriously and I've picked three games as I was instructed to

I didn't I didn't go like Nick Sixers you know what I mean because we all know those ones so I went like a little hipster with mine because I wanted to just sort of like you know because we all know like oh Spurs okay C is going to be good like I get it you know what I mean

so well let's go back and forth you always start so this is new for me But I'm going to start. This one's a little weird. November 25th. Thanksgiving Eve, which is also known as the night you go to your hometown and go to your hometown bars and see your friends from high school who are all little fatter and balder than it used to be. And you bump into people whose names you forgot, but you're happy to see. Right.

Okay. Thanksgiving Eve. Yonis in Miami in Philly against the 70s. sixers. And I find this interesting because Miami is a team LeBron James played for and a team that many people thought he would play for once again. And I think that early in the season, it will be a test of like, is this quote unquote super team what it's supposed to be? And the heat, who I personally at this moment in time don't consider contenders, they're just kind of like a huh team? Like, how's it going to work? Like Bam and Janus?

is this something or nothing game for them? So you have the LeBron history. It's in Philly. And it's sort of like one of those like, is this heat team something that we should be considering in the Eastern Conference? One that I circled. And then it was like regardless of when it is was the number one versus number two game. Like I went to it at Summer League and I was like,

Oh, this is going to be awesome. And so you know that one of them went to the West, one of them went to the East, so they're not playing except for twice throughout the year. The damn thing's not until February 27. I have that. This is on my list, too. This is on my list too.

Yeah, it's February 27th at 3 p.m. on Prime. Ah. That's what's on my list, too. It takes forever. All right, then let's just run through them then. Because, look, every Oklahoma City's first game is on mine. I mean, that's ridiculous, though. It's like, of course.

Because it's the only actual thing we've got going. What? Like real key. What? Maybe, maybe like nuggets. What? Pacers, Knicks. What?

Pacers six. Nick Sixers? The Pacers won six games last year. We lost the heat. Yeah, you just don't have the emotional scars that I do. You guys won the title. Those, those scars are not. You don't mean?

Oh, I want to beat the page just by 53 points. I want the starters to play 45 minutes in that game, no matter what the score is. Did you see him talking about being disrespected? Who, Halliburton? He was like, bro. He's like, look, just hear me out, guys. He was talking with his friends on a podcast. He's like, just hear me out.

I'm paraphrasing. It's basically like, imagine, like, do you think there's anybody else, like, on my level, like accomplishments and what we said? I'm sorry. What? No, no, no, no. Diary Salafurton said, is there anyone else on my level? You're not letting me finish.

I think you said something ridiculous. That if, no, you're not letting me finish. I'll lay out. That if they were coming back, they got, a guy got hurt in the finals. They got hurt in the finals. And it's coming back from after over a year from returning from Achilles. and the first game would not be on national TV and not only not be on national TV,

would not be in Indiana, and would be on the road at New Orleans. He was like, really? And I agree with Tyrese Allberton. That is crazy. That is crazy. There is no one else on his level that that would happen to. That's madness.

bro, to put him not even in a home game, not even, forget National TV, at least put him at home. I'm trying to disagree with you, but it does feel like that should be a home game. It should be, the return of Tyrese Halliburton should be a home game in the city of Indianapolis,

which loves basketball so much. They were also, last time he played, was game seven of the NBA finals. He has a point here. That is super bullshit, and I agree with him. At New Orleans, they won't even have a camera.

It was like at the Lakers, and it was a national game on a three-letter network. You got to see the clip. It's hilarious. He's like, look, no disrespect to Trey Murphy. It's great. He said that. He said, no disrespect to Trey Murphy.

Yeah. Because it's hilarious. That is bizarre. That should be a home game. That is bizarre. They should introduce the starting five, and he should be the last guy introduced, and the crowd should go fucking bonkers, and it should just be like a moment that we all turn in for.

Or how about Pacers, Knicks? With Halliburton's first game back. That would have been awesome. It would have been awesome. It's like, bro, they are just forgotten. They're only on national TV 11 times this year. The Pacer. I'm going to ask you this probably a few times,

but I also need you to help me work through my own feelings. Why do I not respect the Pacers as even a quasi-contender in the Eastern Conference? Why don't I? I mean, because you have a short memory and they weren't relevant last year. I guess that's true. So does the NBA, for that matter. Yeah. They were in game seven of the NBA finals,

and he had like nine quick points. Yeah, he was 343. The one three he missed, he got back and hit. Oh, uh. My last one that I had on the list was, look, and this is obviously a Homer, but the Morant return.

Come on, bro. That's going to be. That's not as, that's not as barquee as you think it is. No, no, no, no. No, I said personally. Okay. we never had a star that big.

We never had a star that big. And now he's gone and it's going to be frigging weird that he's in a Portland uniform. But he will like, I mean, people love him here, bro. They love him. It all ended terribly. But bro,

when they play that highlight package, I've been there for him before. It's going to be like, oh my God. It's so emotional. And also his highlights are highlights. And he was always like pop into Jersey and like, you know, you've got 12 and all that stuff.

And everybody's just going to be friggin' sad. And then hopefully, like, you know, then everybody gets on with it. But it's going to be, that'll be a thing. I bet it'll be like that with Lamello and Charlotte, too. Like, you know, the Charlott fans. Really? I disagree. No, he didn't win.

You cannot compare what Jarmoran means to Memphis to what Lamello Ball means to Charlotte. I agree. That's just, you're just wrong. Yeah. No, I am wrong about that. You're right. Maybe Trey.

Maybe Trey. Those Atlanta fans will feel some kind of way when they play the old highlights, bro. They will. They will. I'm trying to think. Yes. Come on, bro. They went to the East Finals.

He's bowing in Madison Square Garden. He's got real highlights. The dice roll thing in the cup to go to the, to Vegas. Yeah, he's got a lot of moments there too. Yeah. And the Jalen Brown one will be insane. Oh, my God. I can't.

Like, it's, that may be a, that may be a 10-minute ovation. You should have seen what they, you should have seen, he didn't even play in the game and you should have seen the way they acted towards Marcus Smart. I mean, it was like. What the Memphis reunion when he went back to Memphis? Oh, my God. Yeah, no, when he showed up in Boston.

I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Hell no, no, he didn't get. that he that did not no there was there wasn't a highlight there was no video

tribute on the bench in his different outfits we didn't have enough footage yeah you remember that

one time he made a play I don't I actually don't me neither the last one I got yeah so you know what

I do have a short memory and I think that as fans we do sort of like the last

season beyond last season like nothing matters which is kind of like why i don't take the pacer seriously and again i'm not saying i'm right about that it's just sort of like it's my own deficiency and i admit it but there's something about lucca going back to denvert i mean to dallas that still does it for me oh yeah like they traded this dude at the peak of his powers after going to the finals in the middle of the night you know what i mean like that is one of the most fascinating transactions I can remember in the history of the NBA. Seriously. When it, because I mean, no, it's very Jalen Brownie in the sense that he didn't want to.

It also feels like there's got to be something that we don't know. Like I didn't want this. I'm like, there's got to be something that we don't know. I think they, we'll end up find it out. Look, there'll be a big story about. There's going to be something. We're like, oh, one day he took a shit on Nico Harrison's desk and just left it there. It's like, oh, no, no, no, no.

I was it. I think we're past the Luca. I think we're past the Luca ones and whatever happened there. Oh, did you think the Jaylon Brown stuff? The Jaylon Brown stuff, yes. For sure. I don't think it's as simple as like Brad Stevens looked at the analytics and decided the off numbers were this and that like, no, dude.

No, no, no. Someone will open the vault and give all the reason. They're like, have you spoken to Jason Tatum since you've been traded? He was just like, no. I was like, hmm, that's interesting. You haven't texted once? No. Of course he said, we won a championship together.

We're always going to love each other. We're brothers. We spent 10 years together. He said all the right things. He was like, have you spoken? He's like, nope. Huh, it's interesting. Before we get out of here, we have to mention the retirement of one of the most fun guys

to talk about over the course of the last decade plus in the NBA. And that is Russell Westbrook. You and I are both on the same page in that we. we have never been Russell Westbrook haters I covered him obviously early in his career like real wars in playoff series

with that team against a gritting grind Memphis team and I also have these vivid memories of in 2008 I went to the final four man I'm old 2008 went to the final four

Derek Rose and Memphis played against UCLA, which was Westbrook, Kevin Love, Aaron Flalo, Darren Colleen. I mean, they were loaded. Yeah, yeah. And Memphis beat him to death. I mean, just destroyed them. That year for the NBA draft when they came out,

all the NBA guys told me that every time they talked to a Memphis kid about that UCLA team, every one of them said Westbrook's the one. He's the one that was, he's the one. Evan Love was so highly touted at that point. Don't sleep on that. They said he's the one that wasn't scared of us. He's the one that kept coming back at us.

They all walked away, even though they beat the brakes off them, totally respected him. And then Chris Wallace was the general manager of Memphis at the time, and he used to be on my show on every Wednesday. And he said that he and all these talent evaluators were there before the draft. Because Westbrook got taken way higher than anybody expected to. That draft was loaded. It was Rose, it was Beasley, it was Westbrook, it was OJ Mayo.

Oh, God, Beasley was so good. It was Eric Gordon. It was on and on. And they said that Westbrook was next to Rose in the layup line and doing like all the same things. And all these talent evaluators were like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Like, because everybody knew Derek is like the top 0-0-0-0-0-1% athlete. But they're like, uh, so is.

the kid from UCLA. And then obviously he gets drafted. Hi. Interestingly enough, he gets drafted. They go off to Summer League that year. David Fisdale told me a story once. He was the longtime assistant for Eric Spolster in Miami. They're in Vegas after the draft.

So you go draft, then you go to Summer League. They go to Vegas. They draft Michael Beasley. And they go and they get over to the gym. and Michael Beasley's not there. They knock on his door. They go back to get him again. They have to send a coach to go get him, whatever.

They walk into the gym. The gym's been locked, whatever. They unlock the gym, whatever. Westbrook is there. He is drenched from head to toe in sweat. He has been working out since like 6 a.m. And their draft pick, no one can find him. They don't know where he is.

And it was like, you know, like the Bradley Cooper like, hey, we fucked up, you know, like that. They had the moment with Westbrook and Beasley because it was like, bro, immediately that's who that guy was. But the thing I always think about is like, bro, when you play sports, like you want somebody that cares about the outcome. And that seems like it would be common. but I'm telling you as someone who's been in NBA locker rooms for 25 years, it's not as common as you think. No, no, and also just the effort level. Every night they care.

They care if they won or lost every night and they are like they're that competitive. And that is who that guy is. That's what when I think about him, obviously the athleticism, the highlights, whatever. Ultimate compete guy. like every night he's going 110. A couple things I want to say. I'll start where you ended. You know, obviously I worked with Jalen Rose for a very long time.

He taught me so much about basketball and he knows so much about basketball just being in the life forever. And he's like, he plays every single game of the 82, like it's game seven of the finals. And that's just no one does that. He's just like, no one does that. No one gives his effort level 82 games in a record. season. It's just unheard of. People go out the night before. They're playing a bad team. They're a little banged up. And then also, I can't remember exactly who the player was. I think it was Brad Beale or Steph Curry that was like, who is sort of the toughest matchup?

And they're like, Russell Westbrook. It's just the effort that he puts into every possession. Just everything is a thousand miles an hour, a thousand percent effort, dedication to trying hard every possession of every game. It's just, I've just never seen anything like. Never seen anything like. No. I was, I was always willing to overlook shooting percentage mistakes and all the things that people, you know, busted him up over.

Giving shit and trying hard and putting forth 100% effort every night is unheard of. The other thing he did not get credit for that he deserved credit for is because people were like, yeah, but he's a ball. or he's a sad hoard or whatever else. Bro, go look. Durant won an MVP next to him. Paul George had his best season ever next to him. And damn near won the MVP that year.

That's interesting. Bradley Beale averaged 31 playing next to him. He was so good on the Wizards that year. He was so good on the wizard. Another thing I want to say about Russell Westbrook, I love these stories, not recruited out of high school. Literally with UCLA because of it. It was like in his hometown and he got free room and board.

And you know, he averaged his freshman year. MVP average a triple double in the league. His freshman year, he averaged 3.4 points. Unbelievable. Think about who just got drafted at the top four or the top 15 this year. These guys average 20. Three point four points. Oh, they average 25.

He didn't get that much playing time. He averaged 13 the next year, but still 13 points in college. It's like, you know, it's good. Yeah. But it's not MVP, average, triple, double, change the league good. No, he got every out. Every ounce of it. And I liked watching a play.

It was a fun. Fun to why. Nerds. Nerds hated Russell Westbro. Yes, he's an inefficient score. Yes. Turns the ball over sometimes. Takes bad shots.

Takes bad shots. He should never shoot a jump shot. Like, honestly. Yeah. It's inefficient. I got it. Sure. He's fun, though.

Oh, yeah. And he goes so hard. In transition? When he gets a beat on the basket transition, like, it's terrifying. I want him in my foxhole. I do. I'm not so sure. You know what I mean?

I'm not so sure. I do. I'm not sure that he is the best fish to have in the aquarium. You know what I mean? He might upset. He might have upset some environments. in over the course of his career. Oh, I got that.

I'm just saying if I got to go to battle, I want guys like him on my side. Oh, yes for sure. That's what I'm saying. Yes. Yes. Yes. So, hey, man, enjoy retirement.

Hey, real quick. You think he fades into obscures? He is, we don't really have superstars. I don't think he's coming out with a podcast and like going to be at the desk on Amazon. But we don't really. Do you don't see that for him, do you? But we don't really have like, I mean, you know, Duncan was always obscure, even when he was a player.

But like, we don't really have guys just fade into obscurity anymore. We really don't. I'm trying to think. I think we do, but they're in obscurity so they don't come to mind. No, they're all around. They're all around. You see Martinette, you see. What about Tony, Tony, you know, the rest of the spurs.

You don't see those guys. Manu's not out there. But they weren't. Tony Parker's not out there. But they weren't out there when they were playing. They weren't superstars. They were part of that Spurs machine. You don't see Charles Barkley out there.

Oh, wait. Dirk, Garnett, Paul Pierce. Michael Jordan did one interview last year. He's probably the closest thing. You know who's the only one that has like faded into it is Derek Rose. Derek Rose is just like, all right, I'm done. They tried to ask him about LeBron going to Philly. He's like, that's not my life.

He's like, yeah, literally he was just like, I don't have anything to offer. I don't have anything to offer. But like, no, guys just don't really fade into obscurity anymore. It's like a second career, whatever takes place. It's a difficult question to answer because if they did fade into obscurity, they don't come top of mind. I'm trying to think. Not superstars.

We have an awareness of where all of them all. And he was like a superstar. I could see, I could see Harden fading away too. like just kind of just like hey whatever happened to him what's he doing now but they we don't have fat we just don't for sure we don't have any like what are they doing now guys really we pretty much know what everybody's doing you know there used to be when we were kids there was like the big sports illustrated where are they now and you're like I'll be damn the guy has a freaking farm in neither like dark old millichick is like I think it's like growing

apples in Croatia or something. No, but it'll be like, what happened to Tom Seaver? And he'd be like, whoa, wow. He's got a goat farm in Wyoming. Oh, I saw, I saw, when I went to that, when I was in Milwaukee a couple weeks ago,

I went to the Brewers game and Brian Anderson, my buddy calls the games for the Brewers and I was up in their broadcast booth and they had like this, there's like a pitcher in the Brewers broadcast booth of Robin Yount. And I was like, Robin Yount.

I was like, where's he now? Oh, he's just living his life. They're like, there's no more, like, there's not a more ripped 65-year-old in the world. Oh, you're wrong. And you are not following Wade Boggs on Instagram. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. I sent it to Wilds and Bill.

And I was just like, what are people taking nowadays? Like what, what? Yeah, that is. You shouldn't look like that, Wade Boggs. Like, you, I think, someone needs to wellness check Wade Boggs and, you, immediately. No, he was shredded. What?

Like fire hose running down the arm, the whole thing. It's ridiculous. That was awesome. I'm concerned. That doesn't feel like, oh, I just cut carbs out of my diet. No, no, no, no. That is chemically enhanced. He's in his 60s, my guy.

Of course it is. Who cares? I care. I'm worried about the chicken man's health. Oh, no, bro. he looks like he's living his best life and he's wearing fishing gloves he's got special gloves for fishing

I don't fish are you fish are you a fish guy I can I've been a while I've fished like once in my life my dad my dad is a big fisherman so I did it a bunch of people I want to be a fisherman it's not just like sitting around waiting for fish and drinking beers right

that sounds great it is fun you know what I want to do I want a tube have you ever tubed of course so you like it drop off at one point and they just slowly float down a river and drink beers and they get picked up, brought back to your stuff, right?

Yes. That sounds awesome. What's the number on that? I would pay $1,000 for that. Nothing. You go to Walmart and buy it too. No, but you have to have a truck to pick you up and bring you back to your stuff. You just find a friend that has a lake house. No, I don't have any friends.

Yeah, you do. Somebody has a lake. Do you guys even have that there? go do that? Does anybody, do you know any, do you know one person that owns a boat? I know one person that owns a boat. I bet I know, I bet I know 50. No, I don't think I know one person that owns a bone. I think I have a friend that bought a boat, but then, oh, Dave O'Connor, he bought a boat, but it ends up in financial ruin. He had to like pay the dock fees and he never used it. And it was just like, yeah, Dave O'Connor, I have one friend that owns a boat, but it's like, he tells the story. It was like the worst thing that never happened to him in his life.

Oh, shoot. My dad got one. And then, like, he ended up selling it. My dad got, like, he did the, I just retired after 35 years of working a corporate job. I'm going to buy a bass boat. I think he used it like five times. 35 years.

Yeah, he worked 35 years. I've only got nine more years. Is that right? There you go. Yeah. Well, they kicked him out the door after 35. I've been kicked out. So many doors.

They said 35's enough. Oh, bro. Hey, you know what they gave him? A grandfather clock. I've got a Mickey Mouse in Fantasia statue for 15 years of Disney. That's what they gave you? Before we go, I got an update.

My wife is on vacation. The RV trip is getting closer and closer. And one thing I forgot when I agreed to this is I'll be flying cross-country with an 18-month- month old, a 10 year old, and a 13 year old. Six hours in the plane by myself. Does an 18 month old cry a lot? Yeah.

I'm thinking about... Wildson Bill just did that pod where Bill did on half-bank ideas that kids under 10 could not get on the plane. You know, certainly resorts have like a pool. We're like, there's no kids in this pool. It's like that. I'm with it. But here's what I'm thinking. You're the guy with the baby.

I'm sorry. No, if I put her in a box and poke holes in the box and put food in the box, can I check her as luggage? I'm being serious. There'll be holes in the box and I'll put some snacks in there. Can I just check her? I don't know. Does it get cold in the luggage area? Put her with the animals.

I'll ask Claude. I'll ask Claude. I'll ask Claude after the show. When is that flight? bro I don't even want to talk about it okay we won't talk about it all right we'll catch up next week thanks to the list of the misfetch

as always thanks to Jeff Steph and Jesse for helping producer the show and Jacobi I'll talk to you next week you next week