The Press Box - Adam Lefkoe on the Conference Finals. Plus: Playoff TV Notes, Drew Brees, and Phil Mickelson

Episode Date: May 17, 2022

Bryan and David are joined by Turner Sports and Bleacher Report host Adam Lefkoe to discuss his career in media, working in funny references, and what he saw coming prior to this season’s conference finals (7:28). Later, they rehash the NBA bumper music, hand out the 'Press Box' Total Pro of the Week award, and touch on the Drew Brees broadcasting narrative and Phil Mickelson sitting out the PGA Championship (35:24). Plus, the Overworked Twitter Joke of the Week and David Shoemaker Guesses the Strained-Pun Headline. Hosts: Bryan Curtis and David Shoemaker Guest: Adam Lefkoe Associate Producer: Erika Cervantes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Bill Simmons. We're not just reacting to the NBA playoffs on my podcast. We're also doing it on the Ringer NBA show and the mismatch podcast. They are coming after some of these NBA playoff games. Check it out, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights on the Ringer podcast Network. David, last night, the Dallas Mavericks thump the Phoenix Suns in Game 7 to advance to the Western Conference finals. What I want to know is, how does your level? of happiness as a 44-year-old Mavs fan,

compared to your level of happiness that you would have had it, say, age 18? That's a good question. Well, I mean, the Mavericks last, I mean, the Mavericks championship, I think hit it exactly the right time for my, like, you know, availability and, you know, like a just general, you know, excitement level.

although there is something more sort of childlike about this one it just seems like such a treat it's like it's the way that luka plays the way that this team sort of defies belief repeatedly it does it feels like what you would watch sports as a kid where it's just like you assume you expect your team to win but still every time they win or lose it just feels sort of like a magical occurrence like there's not a lot of rhyme or reason to it right it's just sort of

you know, action figure smashing together. It's been a really, really wild ride. And I don't know, I mean, it's just maybe the first experience that I've had with a team that I care so much about in the data era where I found myself like just waving away any positive metrics that I've heard about the Mavericks over the course of the season. I was not very bullish on this Mavericks team. I was excited. I thought the poor Zingas Trey was a good move.

I could see that the kid was, you know, just changed the philosophy of defense in an incredible way. And, I mean, there's, you know, I could see a lot of these tweaks. But I also thought they got some more moves to make before they're in this sort of conversation. So it's been interesting to see that I'm, I mean, I guess I've been in a position where, like, I've been like the opposite of bullish, right? I mean, I've tried to be, like, incredibly cautious because I just thought, I just didn't believe it. I just didn't believe it. I believed in Luca.

I didn't believe in just about anything else about the team. I like how you identified those different periods of sports fandom. So there's kid, which we can count actual young kid running to about age 18. There is early adulthood where the Maverick's first title landed for us. And I remember that because I was able to just fly to Dallas and watch Game 5 by a ticket. I'm like, yeah, what do I have to do? No problem. Let's go.

You and I remember watched game six at a bar, something we would now have to arrange. And then there was our current period of adulthood of sports fandom. It's like, I would like to watch that game, but I got to do a bunch of other stuff. Like, I need to kind of put a reserve to get a reservation to watch that game. Yes. Because I have other things that are important in my life and I got to fit them all in and I got to do it. So that is really interesting because success has a different resonance in different periods of your life. I also think with the Mavericks, they stunk for so much of our formative years.

I mean, really stunk. And so when you don't get a title or even really anything close to a title early, it has a different build, doesn't it? Because you're waiting and you're waiting. And now you're waiting for the second. Oh, we're going to get a second title? Is that actually going to happen? That just feels totally different. Yeah, I mean, this is a totally different team.

It was nice to see Dirk out on the court last night. By the way, talking about... That hug was really cool. Yeah. When you wanted to... When you mentioned my age earlier, I got to tell you, there's nothing... You know, we always... I think we always feel old.

Sports fans always feel old when they compared themselves to other players that are their age, right? It's just like I didn't have any real... I never felt like I was the same age as Dirk or as Kobe or, you know, the other stars of that generation. and at some point you realize you are and they're retiring, right? And you're just like, oh, shit. I haven't done anything yet.

Dirk's now, like, the last thing I heard about Dirk was that he's like having trouble, like, moving around with his kids. And I'm like, well, I can, first of all, I can sympathize. I didn't put that kind of wear and tear on my body. But also it's just like, man, am I that old? Like, that's crazy, you know, whatever.

But he also, then he showed up on TV looking super young yesterday. So, yeah, it's been a, it's just unbelievable, man. And the craziest thing is, there's not like the field is such now that anything feels possible. So yeah, yeah. I mean, I was watching, I was watching the hide to my wife this morning and she said, so what, is Luca just going to leave them, leave when his contract is up and go to L.A. or New York just like everybody else does. And I was just like, I was like, actually, maybe sneakily, I mean, who knows,

but one of the best things about what's happening right now is, you know, this makes it seem like he's got a lot more reasons to stay. One funny thing I find about sports fandom as we get older is the highs are still pretty high. Like if we did a one to 10 scale, if that would have been a 10 for me when I was in high school, just the first full bloom of sports fandom, last night for me, I could still get to like an 8.5 or a 9. I wasn't, you know, climbing up onto the roof of the house and cannonballing into the front yard, but I was still really excited. But I found the lows now aren't as low.

When Cowboys would lose when I was in high school, I'd be growling at my mom. I would just be so upset and just so disappointed and confused and angry and just couldn't talk for an hour after the game. And now the lowest I can ever get is about a five and a half. I can never get to zero. I can never even get to one, two, three. I just, you know, I have one, yeah, that's weird. I think that comes to maturity and priorities and whatever you want to say about your station in life. I mean, I know that people still get that upset about it.

But for me, a lot of it comes from just the way we engage with sports now. It's like, I've already got all my issues out of the way during the off season when I'm like, you know, you know, like screaming in my head at the front office for not doing what I think they should do. You know, it's like by the time that the sad end almost inevitably comes, I've already made my peace with the hopelessness of this whole thing. You know, it's just like, yeah, well, what are you going to do? But you're right. I mean, it does, it certainly, the lows certainly are not as low. Coming up on today's show, Turner and Bleacher Report host, Adam Lefcoe is going to join us to talk NBA playoffs and his career.

Plus, some notes on those playoffs. They're still doing that thing with the bumper music, David. Plus Drew Brees, Phil Mickelson, and the inaugural Total Pro of the Week Award. All that more on the press box, a part of the ringer, podcast network. Hello media consumers, Brian Curtis, David Shoemaker, producer Erica Servantes here. David, let us start by bringing on Adam Lefco. He has had a media career that spans from the NBA on TNT and Bleacher Report today all the way back to nearly a decade ago when he was that funny sportscaster in Louisville,

working Seinfeld and wrestling references into his sports guest. He is here today to get us set up for the rest of the NBA postseason and talk about his career. Adam, how are you? I'm just thinking about the amount of Seinfeld episodes that I watch to do that. And I'm thinking about you want to be my latex salesman. Just, you know, man, that was back when you could go viral. I don't know if, like I feel like people go viral now and it lasts for like an hour and then it goes away. That was such a wild time, man.

This is 2013. Let's start here. I was going to start with the NBA, but let's start here so people aren't completely confused. 2013, you were a sports. castor at W-H-A-S channel 11 on your TV dial in Louisville. And you are doing what on television? I was the weekend sports anchor. I had been there over three years.

I was planning on leaving television to host a radio show full-time because no agent would call me back. And I end up signing with this guy at CSE, who now is at CAA, Matt Kramer. Shout out to Kramer. and I was like, bro, I don't know what to do. And he was like, man, just be different. And I had a friend in the station and he was like, I bet you won't say jump in Jehusa Frats on TV.

And I did it. And I came back and he had like the biggest smile on his face. And then the next week it was my friend Tiffany's birthday. So I went on TV and when Drew Brees through a touchdown, I went, happy birthday Tiffany. And I got a video of them losing their minds. And I said, let's open this up to Twitter. and I did one.

I said, send me your favorite wrestlers. And I did wrestlecast. And for the first time, I clipped out something. And I put it on my personal YouTube. And the next day, it was on awful announcing. And it had 100,000 views. And I was like, this is fun. Like, people my age are watching local news.

This is awesome. And the next week, I did Seinfeld. And it did like 300,000 views. And I was doing radio interviews in Baltimore. And ABC National reached out to our station and was like, who's responsible for this? And thinking that I was going to get in trouble, they said it was all left go. And they said, oh, no, this is the first example we've seen of local newscasts using Twitter to interact with their listeners. And then I did hip hop the next week and I did like 500,000.

And I realized I'm one week away from this jump in the shark and I just stopped. And because it was, it was still fun at that point. Deadspin wrote an article calling me like the greatest sports anchor alive, something ridiculously hyperbolic. And all of the agents called me back, but I had representation and my, my dream job hit me up at the time Comcast Sportscent in Philly, which is now NBC Philly. But instead I said, people my age are using this more than they're looking at TV. And Bleach Report came calling.

And it led into all of that. But it was a whirlwind, man. It was like three weeks straight of just whirlwind activity online. I read an article at the time that management at the station had, quote, strong reservations about you going out and throwing a bunch of Seinfeld references and wrestling references into a sports guest. How were those reservations expressed? I was on the road to Lexington to cover a John Caliperi press conference,

and I got a call for my assistant news director that the GM had, joined the morning meeting to say, Adam will stop doing this, but start again during sweeps to say our advertisers' names because ratings have doubled and tripled for Sunday night broadcasts because of this. So once I heard that the station was like, he's going to stop, but then he's going to mention like the local Kroger,

that's when I was like, okay, this is my last one. Like, I'm not doing this anymore. So it was to stop unless we could really sell some. ads against this. So what was the entire span of time? Was it really just four weeks of national notoriety? Yes. It was it was three to four weeks straight where every Sunday I had one take to nail it, get the clip up on YouTube as quickly as I can, and then watch it spread the next day. And it was, it was nuts, man. It really was. So the advice to all the up-and-coming sports journalists,

broadcasters in the world is just give it four weeks if it doesn't work, then that just cash in your chips, right? The advice is think of yourself as the viewer and how can you get involved? Because I had reached the boiling point of I'm simply regurgitating social media for the viewers that do not have Twitter and this is not fulfilling. And I'm going to have fun with this because I have to or else I'm just going to leave. And so I think I reached that point where I was like, I'm doing something for the young people. And it worked. But that's also good advice. Yeah, give something three, four weeks. And if it doesn't work, just quit. Then you're done. And if it does work also quit after you do it a couple of times. Yes. Yes. That's the sweet spot. You graduated Syracuse 2008. Were you a member of the

I want to host sports center generation of aspiring anchors? I didn't get into Newhouse right away, which gave me a nice chip on my shoulder when I, because I'll never forget that first class where I didn't get in my freshman year and I held a Hull the GPA and I get in. And that first class, everyone's talking about the amazing internships they had. Oh, I was with the Islanders and I was with NBC in New York. And I was like,

I was a bar back in Margate, New Jersey, you know, like making sure that when people spilled drinks, that it was my fault. I took the blame for it. And so I've, I always, like everyone goes to the famous W AER, which is where Costas and Tarico was. And I was, I was hosting a radio show on Z-89 on Sunday mornings.

Just, I was like, let me just be different. So it's weird. Everyone tells you, oh, you want to be on ESPN. And I think because of that, it's never been my dream. If I'm being real with you, man, like, I'm kind of living it in that I've always thought MBA on TNT was the coolest show on television. I've always thought that Charles Barkley is like the perennial star of our lifetime. And I've just always thought that inside the NBA, along with a few other broadcasts,

is the pinnacle of sports television. And so it's been weird. I think when so many people tell you, you want to be on the ESPN, don't you? That I was like, oh, no, I'm just going to reject that. I'm going to go in the other direction, if I'm being candid with you. when you when you signed on with bleacher report i mean in retrospect it's a relatively straight line to where you are now but at the time it can't have seemed like a given that something that that was going to lead to to NBA on t-and-tie right i mean like that was that was not that long ago but

long enough in internet years i mean that's a generation in internet years where it's i mean that that would have still been shocking to imagine that you would have gone from a website to television at that point in time. So that was like beginning at 2014. And we all know what happened in 2015 in media. That was the pivot to video. And so I got there and we started the video crank. And we had a little bit of a head start.

A typical day for me at that time was I'm going to do 16 videos with Chris Sims, breaking down all the new free agent signings in the AFC. then I'm going to do five beat reporter interviews with different beat reporters across the country trying to hit something. Then I'm going to go into a different studio where I'm going to play Madden with Cordarral Patterson and we're going to stream it live on Facebook

just to make content. And then I'm going to end the day doing videos with Beck and Bucher, Howard Beck and Rick Buecher about the NBA and do when they were like, because when they came to Bleach Report, that was huge. And so I was crows. cranking out, man, like 20 to 25 videos a day. And they all had to be one take. And there was no teleprompter and there was no script because we didn't have producers. And it was, it felt like

live TV because I couldn't make a mistake. But at the same time, it was, I'm sitting there and I'm looking at a camera mounted to the ceiling. And I'm like, and I was just nod when they were, and I was like, what am I doing? Like, I had a lot of existential crisis along the way. But, But there was a few moments where Turner would try me out on stuff. They would, I would, I did social media for NCAA tournament. And then I hosted a pregame for like coaches versus cancer on true TV. But they really started looking at me when I did the match. That first match, Tiger versus Phil.

And I hosted the pregame show with Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley and Pat Perez. And that was like the, like, dude, when I walk. into a bar now with Chuck and he just does this all the time. He'll be like, hey, everybody, this is my friend Adam. He's really good on TV. Do you want to know when I knew that Adam was going to be good? And then somebody would be like, sure, Chuck, whatever. And he'd be like, he sat down with me as Samuel L. Jackson and he was cool. Like, it was nothing. And that's when I was like, I like this guy. So Chuck tells that story to like strangers every time I walk in. But that always to me kind of feel feels like, as you guys call the sliding door moment.

Mm-hmm, for sure. And when you're doing 25 videos a day, on the one hand, that's just incredible reps of like, I'm going to, I'm going to do this. But the other question I would always have about an environment like that is, am I any good? Am I doing this right? How did you answer that question on a daily basis? That's a great point.

I think the reps undeniable. Me and Sims, who now is killing it over at NBC, we talk about it all the time. you could put us in any situation right now and when the red light comes on, we're good. Because the amount, the Malcolm Gladwell 10,000 hours undoubtedly piled up over those years. In terms of, is anybody actually watching these things? I had to take the outside dopamine rushes of people saying, hey, I enjoy this. I had to just look at the process. The process is the result. And that's when you have to start. really watching yourself and being like, man, I got to fix this. I'm going to do that. And I would still send my videos to people I trusted and kind of get their vibe.

Early on, Ernie was amazing with me for that, where I would just pick his brain a little bit. And you know you're not going to get a lot of time, but just some initial feeling about it. And then I would sit down and it would mainly be from interviews, Brian, where I would interview somebody and they go, that was really fun. And that was what I took was, as long as the talent that I'm with is enjoying the experience, that's what I think a host role is. You know, it's not, you can't control the answers and the stories, but did it feel different than all the other interviewers that they had? And so I would find my feedback in the talent that I worked with. That's kind of how I would know where I was at the time. Give us an Ernie Johnson performance note.

Well, he'll always say to me, just be yourself, kid. You're great. And that was awesome. For me, after that first Tuesday show, I got two notes, one from Ernie, one from Tim Kiley, who's like the legendary producer of inside the NBA. You used to do Sports Center back of the day, sure. He's just, he's a player's coach, as we would say. Ernie hit me up after that. And he was like, just great kid. Just great. And that's, and because they're not going to give you notes like that. Tim Kiley called me when I was on the plane and said, you did it. And I was like, Tim, it was the first one. And he goes, you have shown that you can get out there and you can adapt and you can float.

And that's the hardest thing about this job. And those notes for me, like, they're never going to change what stats you talk about or the way that you intro or toss to break. All of that is just you. For me, it was just the pat on the back and the confidence they gave me. that they said, we believe in you. And that was the note that always stuck with me. So you joined the NBA and T&T crew in 2020,

the Tuesday Turner crew in 2020. At that point, do you officially leave all of the childish things behind? Is this your full concentration? Are you still just repping, doing all the videos that you can get your hands on? I still had a podcast at BR. I would still do BR events all the time. I'm still with BR. just because they're all the same company.

But in terms of the amount of requests that were coming my way, that definitely got scaled down a lot. And I'm still doing like different shows, like improving Madden ratings and all that. But for me, I realized this is what I've always wanted to do. And the amount of time and the percentage of time that I dedicated to it skyrocketed unlike anything I've had. because for me, like, you follow the example, not the path,

and the example that Ernie gave and what TNT has built, it means too much to me as a sports fan to not take that with the utmost respect because I watch that show every time. Like, I don't think I've missed an inside for 10 years, whether I was on it or not. And just the way that they do television is perfect. So, yeah, it got all of my attention. Shoemaker and I have had a few discussions about studio show hosts.

I think we were circling a couple of metaphors, David. One was air traffic controller. The other one was point guard. What is the best metaphor for what you do, Adam? I got a chance to, I was talking with Dan Patrick before the Tuesday show started. And I think he's great at hosting. And he said, Lefco, be John Stockton. We don't need 20 out of you.

But if you can get us 15 assists, that's really what it's all about. And for me, there's nothing sweeter than throwing an al-A-Upe when you're hosting a show like that. I know Ernie has told me that he is on purpose, the worst traffic controller, that he's trying to create accidents. And I think that's something that I learned from him, which is when I'm in the back, the green room, which I think is the greatest place to watch basketball in the world. And I hear an argument. It is my duty to start that argument again when I get out on set and to not let them know that I'm doing it. Because that kind of stuff is what it's all about. Like I know my teammates really well.

I think Wade tells great stories. And so I might be texting with him and hanging. out with him that week and go over for dinner. And I know that he's got a really great personal story about Russell Westbrook or Donovan Mitchell. I'm getting him to that story eventually. With Candice, if I see her in the back and she kind of puts her hands up or sighs, I note what it is. I'm not going to tell her, but I'm getting her there when the show starts. And with Shaq, it's, Shaq wants to go viral. How can I get Shaq to go viral this week? Because that's, that's his drug. That's what he needs.

So for me, a good host, it's like I heard Rajan Rondo say he knows exactly where to put the ball to all of his teammates when they want to start their shot rotation. That's what a good host is to me, is putting that ball right in the pocket, but not everybody has the same pocket. So it's kind of finding the spot to get it to him. Another thing that we talk about a lot in terms of, well, writing as much as broadcasting is that it's really, hard to be on a platform, to be of the face of anything in 2022 or at any point in this decade, because when it comes to knowing your beat, the vast majority of people that are going to interact with you on Twitter probably know it better than you sitting in their chair at home, where they have the access to the information. What you're talking about is obviously a different

thing than just data consumption and regurgitation. But how much, how do you balance that part of the job? To what degree is just the memorization? just all that stuff part of what you do. I was about to pull out sheets, but I won't pull out the sheets. So when I was doing like a Twitter show and I said, hey, can I come in a day earlier and just hang out with Ernie? And they said, sure. And I came in and I saw what time he came in and how much earlier it was than everybody else.

And I just started asking, hey, Ernie, why have you got eight different colored highlighters? He's like, oh, well, this is for the different games and all that stuff. And I said, what are these? sheets. And he has like a running log of different sheets that he changes and updates every single day. And it brought me back. I interned at NFL Network in 07. And me and four dudes lived in a one bedroom in California to all figure out our internships. And I was family friends because I went to school with his daughter with Jason Stark, the baseball writer, who to me is one of the best to

ever cover that beat from a national perspective. And the thing that stuck with me when I talked to him years ago was, Adam, I have different journals for every single team in Major League Baseball. And every time I hear a nugget or a news item or a stat that's interesting, I put it in that team's journal. And I just began to realize all of these people that excel at their professions really treat this like a researcher. Like, you can rely on the researchers. at T&T, and they are a great underdog, Guam, and all those guys, like, they'll give you booklets. But if you're not treating it like you're a fan of those teams, you're going to come off as a

noob. Like, you're going to come off as someone that doesn't know what they're talking about. So when I kind of made that transition from a lot of NFL to all, like, mainly all NBA, I read an article and a column from every team, every day over a four-month period. where I was like, I'm diving in. The fact that the stuff that I knew about the Portland Trailblazers salary cap constrictions in that one year was nuts. But you just, you dive all in.

When I moved to Nebraska for my first job, I became obsessed with college football. When I moved to Louisville, I became obsessed with college basketball and horse racing. When I came to Bleacher Report, it was like, I'm learning the NFL. And to me, if you don't enjoy studying and reading and you, think that you can just go on TV and be like, Pistons. Remember Grand Hill? Like,

if you think that you're going to pull that off, you're going to get incarcerated. And I just love the process of learning and reading because it reminds me growing up with my dad, like Sunday mornings reading the sports page, waiting for him to finish it. Like, that's just the best stuff,

man. That's why we, it's why I do what I. I would watch a remember Grand Hill segment. Remember Grand Hill? And then it's just one highlight. And you're like, and that was, remember Grant Hill brought to you by Mindyke. Wow.

Great stuff. We're talking to you on the eve of the NBA conference finals. And I love how we in the sports media and we are certainly guilty here at the ringer do the, how did we not see this coming game with a player or team who suddenly here? Who or what did you not see come in this season? I did see Luca. And I, so I'm going to take, I'm going to pat myself on the back for that.

I did not see him beating the stunts. That was incredible. Okay, but that's the key here. We all saw Luca, right? It's Luca being right here at this moment. I just knew that they were going to be a title contender because I had the conversation with Wade. I was like, look, man, in your third year, you surprised the NBA and you won the title.

And we just assume because of LeBron that it's always the guys that have been the league for 10 years that make the run. Eventually, one of these young guns is going to be. going to shock our nervous system and make the run when we're not expecting it. I think my, I can't believe it happened is that the sons and the bucks were up three, two, and neither of them are in the conference finals. That's the thing that shocked me, because I looked at the bucks and, yes, you lose Chris Middleton, but Janus had elevated to a status that it seemed undeniable. And I think in both situations, the fact that you have a first year head coaching

Kid and IMA Udoka that come with defensive specialist backgrounds and were able to, in their respective series, shut down, not shut down, but contain Janus and in the other one, contain Booker and eliminate CP3. It's a testament to those guys. But for neither of the defending finals participants to be in it, when any NBA podcast was saying, kind of think it's going to be a repeat, that's the thing that I'm most shocked. What about you guys? Well, Brian and I are both from the Dallas-Fort Worth area

and both, I think, professed Mavericks fans. That being said, I am more shocked about the Mavericks than anything else in the world. I was very on record inside the ringer for saying that we had a top three player and the rest of the roster was 11th men this season. So much for that. That's not true.

Jalen Brunson, you know, aside. But what I wasn't, I just didn't think it was possible to do what he's done. Incredible. I mean, the fact that you guys now have this guy, Luca, for the next decade plus, it's what I have to imagine cheese fans were thinking when Patrick Mahomes did that in his first year. And you're like, wait, I get almost a lifetime of this guy. Like, I'm so happy for you guys and jealous at the same time because that's just incredible. What are you excited to talk about the next time you're on TV? What's the first thing? What is what's what are you what's burning in your in your heart and soul?

Oh. Well, I brought it up to Brian beforehand. I mean, the Tom Brady, I mean, this wouldn't, I wouldn't do it on it. The next time I'm going to be on cameras for the Twitter show. And so for that, I, the thing that's all my chest right now is I think Amy Ewe doka has a chance to be the best coach in the NBA for the next decade and nobody's talking about it. Like that's, I just, this guy's pedigree of coaching for pop, winning at everywhere he was the assistant, team USA basketball. And then he comes into Boston where it's been an absolute clown show for the last three, four years of not being able to figure it out. And suddenly you go from, how do we deal with Marcus Smart to Marcus Smart is unleashed and Jason Tatum is reaching his potential? I just, I look at you, Doak and I go, he might be the next big coach that people aren't giving credit to. But on the Tom Brady thing, all of us that started off in local news, like, this is a big deal for me that I'm doing this podcast. Because like I remember when it was either Richard Deich or Marchand like tweeted out that I had got the Tuesday show gig.

And I remember tweeting back like, wow, like this is the most shocking part. Because you just, when you're when you're coming up through local news, national TV people don't even feel. really. Like, I would cover March Madness that Jay Billis would walk by and I'd be like, he exists. Like, this is a real person.

And, yeah, like, so we're all fascinated by media coming and goings, but the fact that Tom Brady has never even done a single game and is already making more than his entire football playing career where he was single-handedly, arguably the greatest to ever do it.

It just, it opens your eyes about what we do because it's just it the whole landscape feels different the money is fascinating and just the interplay between playing the sport and announcing the sport and that you know i still i still thinking i was telling this to david the other day i still am i still don't don't don't hold your breath for someone like leave leaving a sport at their pinnacle to be an announcer or somewhere closer but i just don't think that's going to happen a lot didn't kishan do that i'm not he wasn't at this peak, but Kishon left the Cowboys with years left and went to ESPN and went right to their countdown show.

And that was the first time I remember seeing somebody like, and Tiki, like Tiki was big at that, but nobody will match Tom Brady. No. Oh, no, not at all. Yeah, I guess I was thinking more of the Sean McVeigh. I've won a Super Bowl. I'm super young. Let's go be an announcer for a few years.

Yeah, rides off in the sunset like that. And, you know, the money is there. maybe. Man, crazy. Last question for you, Adam. We love strained puns around here at the press box. Would you mind coming back in a few minutes

to help David Shoemaker guess the strain pun headline? Are you kidding? Yes, it would be my honor. But first, it's time for the overworked Twitter joke of the week where we celebrate a gag that was so obvious that all of media Twitter made it at exactly the same time. Send your nominees to at the press box pod

where they are always gratefully received. On Sunday, David, the other side of the NBA double hitter had the Boston Celtics beating the hell out of the Milwaukee Bucks. One reason they beat the hell out of them was because

the Celtics made 22 three-pointers, including seven from Grant Williams. It was an fairly obvious overword Twitter joke to call it the Boston three party. Boston three party.

Now, I did some research, which is to say I googled it and looked at the first two pages. Thank goodness. Boston three party came up in 2008 when KG, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen won the title. They were the three. Was it used again last year during a random February Celtics Raptors game. So it's a go-to. Thanks to Brendan Chisholm. If you're not afraid to reference the classics, congrats.

You made the overwork Twitter joke of the week. Speaking of classics, David, in the notebook dump, we are still having an NBA playoffs bumper music crisis here in America. A lot of people relying on the press box for their information and updates in this trying time. I'm watching that Celtics Bucks game seven. First quarter, Jason Tatum is dribbling at the top of the key. He shoots a three-pover the outstretched arms of Janice and Tintacompo. You probably saw this play. ESPN comes back with this awesome replay showing Tatum elevating and getting the ball just over Janice's arm.

Three-pointer amazing. And then they play the oldie spirit in the sky. Because we're jumping up into the air. Yeah, of course. Of course. Spirit in the sky. Now, that song rocks, man, but we're doing the oldies again. Yeah, we're still doing the Mike D. Antony, the XM radio channel here.

That Mike D. Anthony hosts Yacht Rock on Sirius. I'm so confused. What a bizarre moment, yeah. A guy tweeted at me and said, well, you know, the singer of that song, Norman Greenbaum is from Malden, Massachusetts, which is outside of Boston. Okay, was that the reason we were telling all the people who know that Norman Greenbaum is from Malden, Massachusetts? The little wink. I the best theory is still that there is an ESPN producer or executive who is reliving a very special time in their lives remember we caught him doing all those songs from 1976 last time so this is 1969 so maybe this is middle school

this is elementary school 76 high school college it's almost like an FBI profile here I know who I'm looking for you just got to figure it out. I know the age range. Whoever you are there in Bristol playing those oldies during the NBA playoffs. Somebody also sent us a note and said, is this ESPN just trying to be as

broad as humanly possible? Yeah, probably so. Somebody also told me that ESPN played bad to the bone at one point over the weekend. I did not catch that, but holy mackerel. Oh my God, that's amazing. Yeah, it is. It's just broad. It's like what?

I mean, I was going to say he was going to complain, but they're, you know, your kids have been saying you're not watching terrestrial television anymore anyway, so we're just going to play the stuff that the old people like. Awesome day of basketball on Sunday. We had two game sevens, Buck Celtics and Maverick's Sons. And I'm pretty sure I heard both Mike Breen and Kevin Harlan, who were calling those games, say that this was the Celtics second straight elimination game. And then this is the Maverick second straight elimination game.

Now, if it's game seven, by definition, it's an elimination game. Well, it's by definition an elimination game and also one team's second straight elimination game. Yes. Like that's how game sevens work. One team was down three to two, and then they tied it up, but now it's three, three. Anyway, I thought that was a funny note to kind of pull out. I have a press box total pro of the week award to hand out. All right.

We're going to hand this out every week unless we forget, which we probably will next week. So here is perhaps the one and only press box total pro of the week award. Watching the second half of Maverick's Sons was an absolute blowout. Mavericks would go up by as many as 46 points in the second half. And if you were listening closely, maybe you heard this, you could hear the Sons in Arena PA announcement. and he was still selling the hell out of every son's three-pointer. Landry Jammit for one, two, three. He was like getting the audience to count the points with him.

Now, at this point, the fans are leaving. Phoenix has turned in one of the worst game seven performances of all time. Yeah. One of the worst number one seed performances of all time. So I tweeted this out. I was like, this is absolutely heartbreaking. Turns out the PA announcer's name is Jake Marada. He was on Twitter at this moment.

And he tweeted about, well, hey, there hasn't been that many, meaning three-pointers to celebrate. Jake Marada, David, total pro. By the way, if you were, I mean, I understand when you're at a game and it's really, really not going your way. At some point you just want to throw, I mean, listen, when you're at home, there's a point where you turn the TV off. but wouldn't the fear of being the fan who's used as in the video package is the fans who's streaming for the exits during the third quarter stop you from doing that? Yes. Because you just look like a spoiled...

You look like a fake fan. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's the way they're using it, right? I mean, that's what's always implied. Am I getting this story wrong, but remember when Kirk Gibson hit it out in... the World Series in 1988, and there's supposedly some view of Dodger Stadium where you see the car and they hits the brake lights

right when the ball goes out because they gave up. Yeah. And they're pulling out. Maybe I'm getting that right. But the other thing is just the sad fan, right? I mean, which is used at every single game. But I think I was watching all these sad sons fans on TV today, and I think I decided that you got to treat a sport, if you're there in person, especially if you're in the lower bowl,

you got to treat a sports loss like a mugshot. You know, just do the irrational smile. A thumb delay. Yeah, exactly. Just look like I do the I know something you don't know expression on your face. And that's in that way there's just no way they could possibly use you as the, you know, as the just the icon of sports loss for this week. Then you'd be big on Twitter. Why is that man smiling?

Well, I guess I'd probably think you were a Maverick fan. But regardless, keeps you out of trouble. Got this tweet from listener David Carpenter. When TV announcers send the call to the public address announcer, in the arena. They always use an adjective. Example, legendary public address announcer or longtime voice

of Team X. Will one TV announcer send it to the PA guy and say here's this guy I've never heard of who just screams a lot during a basketball game. Take it over. We got some interesting television this morning, David. Pat Beverly.

Timberwolves guard was on first take with Stephen A. Smith. Here's a little bit of how that appearance went. Do guys in the NBA go to sleep early the night before playing the Phoenix signs? Hell no. No. You mean as a team or would you talk about Chris Paul individual? Chris Paul individually.

Okay. No. I'm going to State 44 over there in Phoenix. I'm going to have me a nice little wine, probably sweat it out, and the pregame shoot around and get ready for Chris Paul. Steph Curry, I'm going to bed at 8 o'clock. Mom, don't call me. My girl don't call me. I'm locked in right now.

Is this the best case scenario for a current player hopping onto television to roast his opponents? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, listen, he got a lot of attention live as this was happening. By the way, he was on Get Up too. I mean, he did the full battery of programming. A lot of people were joking. This guy just got out of bed, flew across the country.

And, you know, just pulled on his tennis. to go on TV and just just to destroy Chris Paul on national television for all this. I mean, that's like the ultimate, just like petty flex. But, you know, he was also just kind of being honest, right? I mean, maybe from a very specific point of view. But if you, I mean, I think there's this expectation that he's going to be over that, like, you know, because of the way he plays, whatever. And he is very, you know, he was definitely being sort of performatively adversarial on the show.

But the things that he actually said, like would that have been so shocking? if it had been another person on first take trying to make that case, it would have only been shocking because it's not conventional wisdom, you know, but I don't know, I just kind of felt, I felt like, I felt like he was telling the truth, and it really felt like the truth,

and that we should, that should be applauded, you know, I mean, not that no one's not, not that anyone's like booing him or whatever, but I'd be, let's just not, it's not just the, the, the pettiness or the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, dude, he was, he was just straight up.

We never get that. And that's what he was saying to Stephen A. Smith, right? He was just like, you disagree with me on this point because no one's going to tell you the truth. And I'm telling you the truth. You know, and maybe that'll open up the conversation and more people coming on and being like, well, in my locker room, the truth is slightly different. You know, but regardless, even if it was just a total slander job, it was amazing television. Both applauded and encouraged, I think is what we want for those kind of takes. News from the NFL, David, Andrew Marchand, and,

the New York Post reports that legendary NFL quarterback Drew Breeze will not, when they're calling you legendary in the right at the top of the story, it's always going to be something bad. Legendary NFL quarterback Drew Breeze will not return to NBC after just one season as a studio and game analyst according to sources. Now I was thinking about this story, it's not particularly surprising. But the Drew Breeze broadcasting career has been a series of transaction scoops. not been a lot of notable broadcasting.

But do you remember when he was still playing? It was like, oh, you know, the networks cannot wait to get their hands on Drew Breeze. There have been some, there have been some rumblings that Drew Breeze will sign a contract to go be a high profile announcer.

So he gets hired by NBC. And then last March, Andrew Marshan, same Andrew Marshall, publishes a piece titled, Drew Breeze's edition, Drew Breeze edition means end is near for current Sunday night football booth. meaning, oh, they hired Drew Breeze.

Mm-hmm. He is probably going to be pushing out Chris Collinsworth. Then Drew Breeze did one very high-profile game of announcing Bengals Raiders in the playoffs, and he stunk. Now we're back to the transactions again in April, Marchand. Drew Breeze could move from NBC to Fox in possible NFL TV madness. This weekend, Marchand again. Drew Breeze done at NBC after one season as NFL analyst. So if we're counting here, actual notable stuff Drew Breeze did on television, one.

One, I know he called Notre Dame games. There was one super high profile thing he did, which was be boring during an NFL playoff game. Discrete content opportunities to tell us that Drew Breeze might or might not do something on television. Four. Mm-hmm. It's just a bunch of transaction things, all of which are interesting in the moment. And then you realize that nothing ever happened. Nothing notable happened at all.

But we got excited about, oh, my God, you've got to be pushing out Chris Collins. He hadn't done anything yet. And then when he did it, it was terrible. And then he's like, he could be going to Fox. Could be going to Fox in a possible TV madness. And then now he's not going. I don't know what he's doing. Well, yeah.

I mean, in retrospect, it looks like there was, you know, I don't know if someone is feeding Marshand these stories or what, but it certainly seems like they were all coming from a very specific point of view, which is sort of gin up interest in Drew Breeze. Maybe we're just all big Drew Breeze fans or something, but it's, it is interesting. I guess the only, I guess the only, we're not exactly where we started, because when we started, Drew Breez had a job, and now it seems that he doesn't, right? I mean, he's, he tweeted that he's still evaluating his options.

it's sort of shocking to me that he didn't have a contract in place that would have made more sense for them just to keep him around maybe in a different role. But as many detractors as he had as he had, he wasn't just the worst thing that ever happened. And he was also new to the job, you know? So I don't know. That part kind of surprises me. Maybe there still is some internal negotiation going on. Well, they re-sign Collinsworth. So whatever hope there was of getting the big job on Sunday night football is not a thing anymore.

I think he was somewhere on the board to potentially go to Amazon and work with Al Michaels, which that playoff game might have cured everyone of that notion. So if you're him and Marcian said a couple of times that he prefers to do games rather than the studio, maybe you're just kind of looking around going, I want to do this. I don't think I'm going to get to do this here. I don't know. But yes, and you're right. Drew Breeze then created another content opportunity for Drew Breeze speculation.

He even jokingly, I think, said he may play football again. Drew Breeze's broadcasting career is a transaction story. It is not an actual broadcasting career. Finally, from the world of golf, David, we have the unfortunate metaphor of the week. Oh, no. PGA championship starts on Thursday, and Phil Mickelson is the defending champ. but he's not going to play. You'll remember, he told author Alan Shipnick,

whose biography I cannot wait to read, this about the new startup golf tour funded by the government of Saudi Arabia, quote, they're scary motherfuckers to get involved with, dot, dot, dot, dot. They killed Jamal Khashoggi, that's the Washington Post writer, and have a horrible record on human rights, dot, dot, dot, dot,

knowing all this, why would I even consider it? Because this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reshape how the PGA tour operates. Then he went to hiding, basically. Okay, so we all remember that. Today, Mark Schlebaugh and Kevin Van Valkenberg published a piece where they talked to a bunch of golfers about Mickelson's eventual return. And here's what golfer Charlie Hoffman said.

Obviously, there are some things he said that people didn't like. It is what it is. You can't take that back. He's a leader in this game. And unfortunately, he stuck his neck out and it got chopped off. Wow. So

made the comments about Jamal Khashoggi and then that is the metaphor. My God. You go with. Woo! All right. It's time for David Shoemaker, guess is the strain pun headline

featuring Adam Lefco. Wow. Okay. Tuesday's headline about a tennis star's triumph in Madrid was no escape from Alcaraz today it's personal David because for a time Adam operated a

Tumblr site which collected videos his NFL and NBA takes a little bit of a zany perspective as you might expect from him and this Tumblr site had a strained pun title what was Adam Leftco's

Tumblr's strained pun title oh of the entire Tumblr Oh, yeah, it did. Wait. So he knows. I thought he was going to help me on this. I was like, Oh,

no, no, he's just going to stand by and laugh. Yeah. Okay. Here we go. So it's just a zany sports and stuff tumbler site.

So hold on. But it's mainly about me. So I am a part of the pun. Lefco. Yeah. See, Adam consummate host here. He's sending you up,

David. Here we go. Um, um, My left, uh, my left go foot. My left,

left, um, see, you're starting off right. You're focusing on the left part of it. So that's weird sports. Yeah. Out there,

out there. Reverence. Left turn, left, left, left, left, uh,

wait, wait. The whole phrase. The whole phrase is. Oh, sorry. Out, out, from,

from out, from out, uh, What is the phrase? On the doorstep, right? Should we go it to him, madam? Wait, what is it? From way out of Lefco Field? Out of Lefco Field.

There we go. You have a hat? He held up a hat, guys. My dad liked the name so much that he made a hat, and he gave it to me. This is what happens when you get on TV is that your parents, they watch everything. And when you start a Tumblr, they make a hat out of the Tumblr name. I have no idea you were saying that. What perfect timing.

The first thing they do is they ask, what is Tumblr? And then they make the hat sometime. And then they follow you on Tumblr. Actually, as a matter of fact, now Tumblr is just a hat printing company. So it all comes closer. Huge thanks to Adam Lefcoe. He is David Shoemaker. I'm Brian Gertes.

Production Magic by Erica Servantes. We got a very fun podcast coming on Wednesday, David. Oh, yeah? You remember the Super Bowl podcast I did with Al Michaels, where we just went through the Super Bowls. like Bill going through an actor's IMDB page with the actor. I'm going to call this announcer anthology. And we're going to do it with PGA championships with the one and only Jim Nance this week. Oh, nice.

And I learned my lesson that 10 Super Bowls is a lot to get into a podcast without sounding like the micro machine man of our youth. So we're going to do four. And they are four that you will like whether or not you are a golf nut. 1991 John Daly Remember that 2000 Tiger Woods 2014 Rory Macquaroy and the aforementioned

Phil Nicholson last year and this is really cool because I'm going to ask him about calling those events and there's such a big span of time that you will see Jim Nance or hear Jim Nance go from young guy at CBS

to face of the network I think it'll be really, really fun. Plus, of course, more lukewarm takes about the media. See you then, David. See you later, Brian.