The Ringer NBA Show - Life Without the NBA. Plus: Tom Brady Leaves the Patriots. | The Mismatch

Episode Date: March 17, 2020

Kevin reacts to the news that his favorite football player of all time, Tom Brady, is leaving the New England Patriots (0:00). Then, we discuss the NBA’s myriad of options for proceeding with the season—all contingent on global news—and discuss what we’ve been doing while sports have been on hiatus (0:00). Hosts: Chris Vernon and Kevin O’Connor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, it's Liz Kelly, and welcome to The Ringer Podcast Network. We hope The Ringer can provide you entertainment and companionship during this time. So as always, feel free to check out The Ringer.com, where we're still covering the latest in sports, pop culture, tech, and media. And The Ringer's YouTube channel can provide endless amounts of entertainment. You can find that at YouTube.com slash The Ringer. Welcome to The Ringer NBA show. I'm Chris Vernon. And join as he does every Tuesday from The Ringer.com.

It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K. Kevin O'Bomber, A.K.K. Kevin O'C. A. Kevin O'C. Kevin O'Conflict. Kevin O'Conflict, Kevin O'Candyland, Kevin O'Hcesterbyski? Kevin! What up, Verno, how are you doing this morning? Oh, I thought of you. You know, you start thinking about the people you care about in these times, Kevin, and this morning, I wake up to Adam Schaefter's report on Tom Brady's Instagram, and my mind immediately

went to you and Bill and Kyle and so many that are part of the Ringer family that suffer the as if we haven't been through enough the utter devastation of Tom Brady's Instagram post saying that his career will continue elsewhere. How are you holding up? I'm doing okay. I wrote this on the ringer the other day. We wrote about like our favorite Tom Brady destinations and of course I selected the New England Patriots. However, in there, I did mention the fact that right now at this point of my my football, you know, life, I feel like I am, more a Tom Brady Bill Belichick fan than I am

a Patriots fan because when you have something in your life since you're 11 years old, I was only a little boy when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl. And I had that in my life from when I was 11 through now I turned 30 later this year and watching nearly or nearly every

single Patriots game with my dad over those years. I think we missed maybe one because of a family event. That's, it's very rare that you have something in your life, anything in your life, from 11 years old to 29 years old, or that span of time when you're a little kid to when you're an adult. And it's a very unusual feeling to know that that's over, whether he retires or whether he goes and plays for the Bucks or the Chargers or if he goes to the XFL, whatever's next,

I don't know. But the fact that it's over is a weird feeling. But more than anything else at this point, you know, it sucks that he's not returning for whatever reason that may be and there's mixed reports on that. But more than anything else, I hope that he, somebody who has brought so much joy to my life and created some of the happiest memories that I'll ever have sitting down and watching games with my dad. I hope that he does what makes him happiest. And if that's pursuing more Super Bowls, great. If that's going to a new place to set himself up for after his career, great. But after all these years,

I feel that more than anything else about the loss of a great quarterback on my favorite team. So more than anything else this morning, I feel thankful for all the memories watching him play. And that's something I know anybody can relate to that's rooted for an athlete when they were a kid or at whatever age you're at. So I just feel thankful for the memories. And I'm just going to have them for the rest of my life. Yeah. Well, it's really going to hit when you see him in another jersey. if this is the first time you've probably really been through it.

I guess maybe like Paul Pierce, right? You had to see him in a different jersey. You know, after all the memories that somebody like that created. Yeah, I think about somebody like even Normar Garcia-Para. I think about somebody like that. But I'm sure it will hit differently because it's Tom Brady. It's the goat. Yeah.

And the other thing is. But really like, for the Patriots, I feel like I've been mentally prepared for this last 15, 16, 17, 18 years because this has been Belichick in what he's always done. He has always let go of players before they fall off the cliff. Whether it was lawyer and Roy back in 2003 trading Richard Seymour to the Oakland Raiders, trading whoever it might be. So many guys have been dealt before fans were ready to let go. And it usually is the right decision. And not to mention Tom Brady's father himself has always said that he knows it's going to end

badly with the Patriots. He said that for many years now. And I believe him. I mean, I believed him. And in some ways, it's shocking that it's actually going to happen and seeing him in a different uniform. If he does choose to play, will be weird. And that's when it's going to seem more real than ever, as you said. But in some ways, this has sort of been the way things have always been as a Patriots fan. It's always been about letting go of your favorite players and guys who can contribute to winning. So in some ways as a fan, strictly as a fan, I look forward to seeing what's going to happen.

Like, if they make a trade for a quarterback, Cam Newton is available. Maybe. I know this is just broken while we are recording this, that Cam Newton is working with the Carolina Panthers seeking a trade. How unbelievable would that be? It would be. And also, I want to take off my fan hat for a second here and put on my analyst hat. When you look at the Patriots and what they've done this offseason, who've they lost,

losing Jamie Collins, Kyle Van Hoy, the defense is weaker, the offense has not gotten stronger. I can't imagine Tom Brady, who wants to win more Super Bowls, looks at his crappy receiving core, who looks at Matt Lacos being his best tight end, and he thinks, hmm, is this the place that gives me the best opportunity to win? I would imagine he's really looking at other situations across football, like Tampa Bay and their high-powered offense. And he's thinking to himself, I have a better opportunity to win more here.

I'm sure that's an element of it here for Tom Brady. Because according to Stephen A. Smith on ESPN this morning, Robert Kraft called him during the break and said, if Tom Brady wanted to return, we would have made that happen. And I'm sure the Patriots have their side of the story, as Brady would have his side to the story. But it's undeniable looking at the Patriots roster

that there may be better situations out there for him to win games. And that, I'm sure, was a big part of his choice and moving on. Well, let me just say a couple of things. First, I will relate this back to basketball. I was, it just so happens. For the first time in my life, I was around Cam Newton about two, two and a half weeks ago. He was in attendance for the Grizzlies Lakers game, of all things. and on the Fox broadcast asked,

we had asked him to be, to come on and now knowing what we know, he was like, hey, look, I'd rather not just because of everything going on. But I went around and I asked the people, you know, because obviously like celebrities like that,

they sit on the front row and whatnot. So they end up dealing with a lot of people. To a man, I want to get this out there, because I think this is important. To a man, every single person that came across Cam Newton or dealt with Cam Newton about him coming in for the game, being at the game, where he was going to sit the game, walked away raving about how nice he was. And I thought that was, I didn't have some perception or I didn't really know.

I didn't know. And these are just, these are regular people. These are not like, these are not media members. These are people that are just trying to do their jobs, whether it be ushers or people that take care of tickets. or whatever else. And they said he could not have been kinder to everybody involved. And I was like mega impressed with that. I was happy to hear that about Cam.

The other thing that I'll say regarding what you were saying about, I've had two of these really, I think in my life, one of them was, and this was after a World Series, the Albert Poole host thing. I was a huge Cardinals fan. I am a huge Cardinals fan. He went to go play for the Angels. so it was nice for me because while I was devastated,

I was never going to see him again. Like honestly, like I wasn't going to like turn on TV and there he is playing for somebody else. He wasn't playing in the National League. He wasn't playing for a rival. And he was playing after I went to bed for the most part, right? So it was almost like he didn't even exist anymore. Seriously, after he went there.

Like you're like you're not going to be able to with every NFL game. being broadcast, we're not getting away from it. And you know all of, you know, a large part of his games are going to be on national TV. And the other one was when I was a little kid. I was a huge Brett Hall fan. And that one killed me. That one killed me when he left, he left the St. Louis Blues. And he went and played for, you know, he ended up winning a Stanley Cup and was playing for the Red

Wings and played for some other teams. And I just, Dallas Stars after that, after St. Louis and then the Red Wings after that. and that one bothered me, but now he's like in management with the blues now. And so it's like it's like it almost didn't happen. And I'm left with these memories of when I was young. And I think that's the truth of it all. Like you will look back.

Tom Brady is always going to be a patriot, but it is going to be so weird to see him. I mean, if there is anything that we kid. If he plays. He's playing. He's pliable. Don't you have the TB12 method? For goodness sake.

You know, you know, I saw that at Whole Foods recently. Him and that. Like a couple, couple of weeks ago, I saw that. Oh, I own it. I own it. Yeah. We're roughly this. This is news to me.

We're roughly the same age. I got to get pliable, Kev. For goodness sakes, that's his whole thing. Pliability. But anyway, you're saying you're as old as Tom Brady. I think I am. I thought you were 68, Chris. Yeah, right.

That's what some of the listeners are saying. So, you know, you know, this week, this week, I mentioned in a tweet how I'm 29 years old and because of the beard a lot of people are like, wait a minute you're 29. Oh, that's unbelievable. You must have been 29 for 15 years. For 15 years.

And I'm thinking of myself, like, it's really amazing the difference with a beard and without a beard. Because when I don't have the beard, people say, wait a minute, you're 29. I thought you were younger. With a beard, people think I'm older. There is not a week that goes. by where somebody doesn't listen to the show,

finally decide to look me up and then tweet me, oh my God, I had no. The vision I had in my mind is nothing like what you look like now. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. Sorry. Hopefully you're impressed. Here's what I'll ask you.

Last thing, would you rather see Tom Brady in a Chargers uniform or a Buck's uniform? If he does go to one of the two teams that is out there. a Chargers uniform personally because I live in Los Angeles. I hope whenever this coronavirus thing passes, which could be quite a while. But I'd love to go see Tom Brady play for the L.A. charges. That would be cool.

All right. Let's get to what has happened in the NBA. So things have changed so rapidly. And it was not long after you and I spoke on Thursday. I guess we spoke, yeah, Thursday morning. and things have changed dramatically since that moment. We had discussed the fact that it was even on Wednesday night that we were watching the game where everybody walked off the court still didn't know.

And at that point, it seemed like we would probably go on with the season and games without fans. And as we know, as we have fast forwarded, the season has been postponed. It sounds to me from the reports that are out there and people I've talked to that the NBA is they want, you know, if they could have, you know, and we don't know because everything is so ever changing. The goal would be to be able to finish the season sometime in the summer, you know, and whether that means coming back and playing some warm up games and then getting to the playoffs, whether that means jumping straight to the playoffs, whatever it may be. But I will just say this, we are so used to immediacy in sports, whether it comes to like we're doing now

with this NFL free agency or whether it is in the NBA and we hit free agency or decisions being made. And there's always kind of timelines. That's the tricky thing with this. There's absolutely no possible way to have a timeline. And I think when we are searching for news and hoping for clarity, I'll tell you that it is going to be a long time until we get any. You will get snippets of news and maybe what is being discussed here and there, but there are way too many people that have to be able to agree and then come to terms on how you are going to go forward. And I say that because you have the sponsors, you have the TV partners, you have the

international TV partners. You have the players. You have the Players Association. You have all of the arenas and the venues at which you were play. Then you're talking about pushing back all of the timelines. You're talking about next season. Do you end up playing less games? Do you end up starting later in the year? And this is all stuff that you would have to negotiate with the players. And then on the sponsor side, right, you're doing either make goods or you're figuring all that out legality-wise. And so I would just encourage people just, hey, just attempt to have patience with all of this because this is, I mean, just incredible for that. Nobody's ever been through anything like it. And to get everybody on even close to a page to start a discussion is going to be a real track.

And keep in mind, the majority of the owners in the NBA, Kevin, they've all got other businesses too. you know, I mean, this is how they got in the place to be able to own said teams. And so they've all got other businesses that are of great concern to them also beyond what is going on in the NBA and trying to figure all that out. So I would just say that while we would love, you know, it just seemed like even late last week, hey, maybe you'll be able to come back in a month and jump directly into the playoffs. and maybe do three out of fives and maybe not affect the schedule at all. That has all changed dramatically, even since we last spoke last week. Not even the NBA knows when the NBA will be back. And Woge reported on Sunday that the best case scenario in the eyes of owners and executives now

is that it's a mid to late June return with the finals possibly going deep into August. but, you know, planning ahead is possible and it's important, but it's difficult to do when the opponent is coronavirus, a global pandemic. And the NBA right now, there's an owner's meeting today. By the time you hear this, there may be news that comes from that. And by the time that happens, we'll see what they say, you know, whenever Woj or Shams or whoever drops a news bomb from. But, but, like, I will just say this.

But ahead of that, everything is on the table. I've heard, you know, they've discussed having a postseason playing tournament to finish the regular season. They've discussed having all games played at a neutral site. They've talked about how it's possible. The playoffs could even have a shortened series. They don't want to cancel the season. That's right. That's a last resort.

However, there's also a very real possibility that the season is canceled. It's very real that the season is canceled and next season is postponed. What's happening right now with coronavirus cannot be underestimated. And so the NBA can make all these plans as they should. But so much of what happens over the coming weeks and months for the NBA is related to what government does in terms of installing testing, in terms of putting in a lockdown as some cities and states have already done, as have other countries. in order to slow the spread of coronavirus. And until that happens,

it's going to be incredibly difficult to even imagine games being played by the mid to late June, which as Wodge said, is a best case scenario. It could be a while before we hear balls, bouncing again, before we hear that net switching,

before we hear talk on like Zion's first 50-point game before LeBron is battling father time again. I mean, it's going to be a while. and that's sad. It sucks. And I can't help but think, Chris, you know,

if the NBA, this multi-billion dollar business doesn't even know when the games are going to be back, how can we as people know when our normal lives are going to resume? No. And then trying to figure out a major sports,

you know, like I said, with all of these different partners and everything that they've got and trying to get everybody on the same page, it's like, where do the conversations even start? The conversations have to start with not knowing a timeline whatsoever and then just attempting to come up with some level of contingency plans based upon a timeline that you don't know.

I mean, you just don't know at all. I have been told that I believe the call is actually going to be late this afternoon. Now, we are recording this on Tuesday morning. I did want to ask you about one of the players put out over the weekend, Spencer Dynwin. Whitty, a very smart guy, he put out the idea about having a March Madness style tournament. You know, and we have talked about the fact that there would be, uh, that we saw with the Elam ending in the, in the All-Star game, we've talked about them trying different things in the G League or Summer League or whatever else. It did dawn on me that this would be

some kind of extremely rare opportunity to try something. wild like that, right, to try like a single elimination tournament or something like that in order to complete the season. Again, you've got so many legalities. You've got so many contracts. You've got so many sponsors. You've got TV partners, players associate, the whole nine, that it's probably an impossibility and the goal would be to resume some semblance of what you have as a usual season slash playoffs. But I was extremely intrigued by the idea. of a tournament. You know,

I would love that too. Wouldn't that be a cool way to resume the season if it, let's, let's just imagine. And, okay, here's,

here's the way I look about it, man. He had the bracket with the four, top four getting buys, and then everybody missed March madness. Just,

just something. Yeah. And just something to get the game back and being played. Because I, the way I think about it, man, these next few weeks and months,

it's not going to be what we just had in the past year in our past life. This is a new normal for us for quite a while. And whenever we get to the point that we can turn on the TV and watch a live basketball game, that's a sign of progress. Whenever it hits a point where you hear fans cheering from the crowd, that will be another sign of progress. And as you and I doing this podcast for as long as we've had, all the listeners and us included who truly love sports and love basketball. To me, when I was a kid, I used to think about the year. The year is sort of like based on the schedules.

Like when the playoffs were happening, I knew the end of the school year was near. I knew, you know, when school was starting, at least it meant football was starting. And right now in this situation we're in, I know as soon as we can turn on TV and watch sports, it means that we're getting better as a country, as a planet. And I just can't wait until that day happens. You know, right now we're only at the beginning of this. I look forward to that day. And if that means having a tournament, that means it's progress.

If that means regular full games with fans of the crowd, that's immense progress too. I look forward to that. Well, Kevin, I spoke about this before, but my, obviously, my entire life is planned around the sporting calendar. And I was trying to think about this. I mean, as small as whatever my first memories are, I'm not kidding, of life, I cannot remember my life without sports. I can't. I can't remember where it wasn't incredibly important.

And that would be, you know, playing them, creating memories, like my greatest memories with my father, much like yours, and you've talked about many times, are sports are included with that. The same goes with my son and my daughter for that matter and obviously my career. And it's what I watch. Like I don't watch much else, honestly. And so I don't know if I've ever gone three days or a week without watching a sporting event. I'm serious in my whole life. From the time I was, you know, four or five years old, you know, I've got. I. like these pictures of me in jerseys and wearing helmets around the house and whatever else. It's just been a constant.

It was on in my house when I was growing up. My father watched. And then obviously my whole life and it was collecting cards and then it was collecting other stuff. And then it was like it's just been. I don't know. And I know sometimes you could say like, oh, well, it's just sport. but like sports ties into everything else in my life, you know? And yes, it's different with me because it's my career.

But I will tell you that it ties into all of the relationships that I have, you know, my best friends. I've got sports memories with them. My coworkers, I've got sports memories with them. The people I talk to on a regular basis, my mother, my father, my every, my son, I mean, everything is like. I see the videos of you, you know, with your son in the house, I'm playing a little hoop or your daughter hitting her basket and you give her money after she hits a basket. I mean, like, it's just like we're not going to be able to do that.

It's included in everything. And what we watch. I mean, no, we've been playing 2K. I'm not kidding. Like the same way me and my father, I mean, I have vivid memories. My dad and I used to play each other in NHL 94 on Sega Genesis when I was a kid. and we would go downstairs after he'd get off work and we'd play that or we would go to games or we would do i mean i i tell you this there was a moment last night this was late last night

where and i know i got i got i got emotional reading your stuff today about talking about your dad about the brady stuff right i'm sure you got emotional about it too i cried honestly man i didn't i didn't i figured after my dad passed away i figured that i would probably get emotional when it comes to sports stuff. Like that's always when it would hit me. And this morning when I read that from Tom Brady and, you know, he said in there about how, you know, he'll always have love for, for Patriots fans and yeah.

All the memory to enjoy and the happy moments. I mean, because that's the way I feel. I feel it's, you know, he was a, he was a friend, you know, he was an integral part of, you know, my relationship with my own father and, you know, sitting on the couch every single week from September through February. and watching him play and the joy and the thrills he provided to me and him. And that's something that so many people you can relate to with your dad and with other athletes. Others can with many other athletes.

And that's something that I will forever cherish. And it did make me emotional this morning, which was good. It felt good to feel. Well, and there, and for those, for all of you listening, here is your safe space for the sports fan that feels like so much. has been taken away and it's not just the games it is that connection that you have with people that you love and one of the best moments i had through all of this because it's just been so damn depressing it just has you know like you i'm so used to my it's like my whole everything's gotten turned upside down but last night it was late when the story came in about amari cooper my father you

know, from the time I was four years old, my father was always a Cowboys fan and he raised me that way and we have always been fans. So there has been this incredibly hilarious ongoing thing that I chronicled on my local show years ago that when Amari Cooper was playing at Alabama, my dad, he used to call me like regularly throughout the college season. And he would, he would say, have you seen this receiver from Alabama? This guy's like the best. receiver I've ever seen in my life. But he did it like five or six times during the year, right? And I was like, yes, dad, I've seen him.

And it was always Amari Cooper, right? When he was playing at Alabama. My dad, I don't think, had any idea what happened to Amari Cooper after college. Like when he went and played for the Raiders for three years, I don't think he knew what happened. And then he signed with, or he got traded to the Cowboys. And I was like, Dad, you know that's that guy that you used to call me about every week. And he was like, oh, I know, like acting like he knew.

And of course, Amari Cooper, like, drug the team to the playoffs that first year, right? And then obviously last year played. And so he was a free agent. And so that news comes across. And the first thing I did was call my dad. And I was like, they resigned Amari Cooper. And we got to talk about it because, look, Look, I mean, my father is in the, like, he's been in poor health for a long time.

He's been in a wheelchair for a long time. He is, and he is also, like, terrified of everything, right? Like, same way people, you know, he's like, I'm at highest risk of this. My dad is in his room, like watching Netflix or Apple TV or whatever he's watching, right? And then he rolls out to the kitchen and gets what he needs and he rolls back. And he's like, I'm quarantined. you know and I'm like bro you have been quarantined for years like I don't know what you're talking about like what are you not letting mom talk to you now and he's like and he's like no no I'm really quarantined now you know because I watch the news and I'm at the highest risk for this and I'm like oh you got like a arm guard in front of your door or something like are you not rolling out of your room anymore and it's these moments where it's like I mean for goodness sakes the idea of the idea of that he has changed his life

and he doesn't even leave the house right but at least for that moment I could call him and we could just talk about Amari Cooper and that Dak Prescott got re-signed and Blake Jarwin got re-signed

and does that mean Witten's gone it? It was something to talk about that wasn't what's going on and that to me I think exemplifies the massive escape slash bond that we miss, you know? Yeah. You know, when this stuff's not going on.

Yeah. I mean, that's the feeling that, you know, I miss this morning as being able to, like, you know, call him on the phone or text him or he would be home now in this scenario. And because I'm home in Massachusetts with my mom right now. I'm not in L.A. And, like, you know, just being able to talk with him and reminisce. and think about what could be next and all that. I mean, those conversations are, I mean, there's just something you have forever.

And they just bring you joy. And, you know, when it comes to what's happening now, you see, you know, obviously our sports are postponed or delayed or suspended. And it's obviously more than that, though, like we see in certain cities that restaurants and bars are shut down. People are not allowed to go out and do. there are other types of escapes. It is unsafe to for like, I remember for many years, me and my friends would play basketball together every Saturday morning. That's something you can't do. Not being

able to have these public social gatherings together is going to take away the escapes of reality that we all have had. I mean, dude, I, last night seeing a story of the man who has been married. Did you see this, Chris, the guy who was married for 67 years to his wife and he wasn't even able to visit her in the nursing home because, you know, all the amino compromised people in that nursing home, they couldn't let him in and risk him infecting anybody in there. They couldn't let him in, knowing that he could get infected and bring it back out into the world. I mean, it's the saddest thing, man. It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking. I mean, our cultural norms have been.

shattered in a matter of a week in the United States, but this has been happening for months now around the world and hasn't changed. And who knows how long it's going to last, but this for a while is going to be a new normal for us. And it just sucks, man. Like, I think about personally the, how nice it was last month for my mom and I to have like a nice funeral service for my dad. I mean, having everybody, so many people send flowers and seeing so many loved ones. And and family there and my friends who showed up. And it was just a really, really therapeutic day for my mom and I and, you know, the rest of my dad's family as well.

And it's this odd thing, right? Where it's, it was actually a blessing, though. It is. You know, it is. That you were able to have that. Yeah. Right. It was.

I texted the funeral director of the place we had my dad's service this morning and asked him, hey, man, like how have protocols changed? And he said, as of now, we have a maximum, a maximum. a maximum of 10 people for a service. And in some places, like in Italy, in Spain, weddings are not allowed, funerals are not allowed. And soon enough, that very well may happen nationwide in the United States. And that's sad, man.

Like, that really breaks my heart because already, already there are, you know, regardless of somebody passes from coronavirus or something else, like my dad passed from cancer, if you don't have the option to do that, that's just really sad to me. And that really hurts to just think about. All right. Let's get to the lighter side of things. Yeah, let's get from the lighter side. One of the things that we have as a collective sports fan nation done is attempt to,

now what do we do, right? I'm so programmed. I'm so programmed to be flipping on a game. I am so programmed to be watching something, caring about something, talking about something, sports related, right? So I said, you know what? I should go through all these old books and some of which that I was sent over the years that I never read or that I haven't, that I don't remember what they said. And so I have picked up a book and flipped through different stuff over the course of the last couple of days, biting the time. By the way, one of which I went back and there was like,

So one of the most famous basketball books is the Jordan Rules that Sam Smith from the Tribune wrote. Or I think he was Tribune, sometimes or Tribune, Chicago paper. Forgive me, Sam. But he wrote the Jordan Rules, right? Well, then they came out with another updated version where he had written like this new intro. And I went back and read the new intro and I was like, oh, my God. And I don't know if ESPN will cover this, whatever. But like, I'm thinking of myself, imagine if it was the world today.

Like, there's this whole part, Kevin, about how like this. guy wrote a book about Jordan and gambling with Jordan and the fact that the reason the guy wrote the book is because Jordan owed him $1.3 million and only paid him $300,000. And so the guy was like, screw you. I'm writing a book about what a degenerate you are. And I'm like, what in the world? There's a whole other thing about how he gets federal subpoenaed. There's some drug dealer on trial. And he gets federal subpoenaed because he's in the calls as you know, have lost with a huge money exchange to the guy. But the money exchange is, of course, because he lost, you know, playing cards with him or whatever. And I'm thinking to myself,

can you imagine if like nowadays, like if, God forbid, like Kevin Durant or LeBron walked into a federal courtroom and is part of some kind of big trial? And I'm thinking, God, did he come along at the right time when media coverage wasn't as big? So I ended up being so wowed by what was going on. I read the first, you know, that intro that I had never read for that book and then kind of wished I hadn't. I watched, there was like a Jack Nicholas documentary, the golfer, that I saw. I went back and watched, I had saved like all these games on my DVR. I watched game five of the Western Conference semifinals the year the Grizzlies beat Oklahoma City to go to the Western conference finals.

I watched that. I watched the 1987 finals game that was on NBA TV. I tweeted about that between the Celtics and the Lakers. And I can't remember what else. Have you taken in? Have you attempted to take in any? What sports content have you gone out of your way to try to take in? On Sunday night, I watched American Idol.

Hey, don't talk about it. I haven't caught up yet. Oh my God. I haven't. I'm sorry. What are you doing? What are you watching all this old stuff for? It's Tuesday.

What are you reading books for, Chris, what American Idol's on? No, no, no. It's Tuesday. So we always watch it taped so I can fast forward through the commercials. Oh, that's smart. Yeah. Right? Well, usually, usually like my mom and I, like, I don't, first of all, I don't usually, I don't

usually, I watch Bachelor of my mom every week. This week, this year I started watching American Idol after many years. years away. But we've started like we devr it and then we start like 30 minutes in. And then by the time it's over, you don't see any of the commercials. What's crazy is it's one of the few family shows, right? So I do gather around the whole family. And the other thing is I've watched that show. I mean, like it's the only one. So forget it. People can make fun of me all they want. I've watched. Nobody if who cares if somebody makes funny you. I mean, it's like what you like. And I just want to say this. There's two people in this week's show that I thought were amazing.

Well, I, I, watch out for Franklin Boone and Grace Lear. They were my two favorites. Outstanding. I'm going to look out for them. I broke away after like the, the years that like Simon left and then it got wonky on Fox or whatever. And like they tried to redo the judges and whatnot. Like they kind of lost me for a couple of those years. Same hair. But they brought me back. I love Lionel Richie, Katie Perry. and Luke Bryan. I do. I love them. They're really good.

And Katie Perry especially. Yeah. She's awesome, man. No. She's a great, great judge. You know what they found? They got three people that I find to be intensely likable people.

Yes. I like all of them. And I think they're all funny, too. Like they all got a good sense of humor. They're all self-deprecating. I like it. And Katie seems to take sometimes the Simon role with being critical. That's right.

She's not harsh like Simon Cowell used to be, but she does it in a way that sometimes, like, I would imagine, hurts someone who, but in a good, in a way that is constructive, right? And I really admire that in her. It may hurt, but it's constructive. And she also has a good way of, I think, conceptualizing what a singer is, who they might sound like and comparing it to other things that are more relatable to somebody who is not a world-famous. singer or a singing expert. So we have, and so I have gone out of my way throughout the days, I've grabbed my son to watch these different things, whether it's old games that have been on or ones that I have DVR or maybe an old documentary or whatever, I've grabbed them because it's an

opportunity to say, hey, here's something that mattered to me, right? Or something that I think is worthwhile and it was crazy, you know, it's crazy to watch, like old NBA finals games and stuff like that that they have run. They ran like some old college basketball games that were on. And then I went through and I have collected memorabilia since I was, again, since I can remember. And I just have piles and piles. And then when my parents moved out of their house, I had to go retrieve it all.

And so then it becomes just stacked up in my house. And so what we did is we went. through all of it or are in the process still of going through all of it. And my son has helped me, who's 10. And he has gone through and asked me all manner of questions about baseball cards. And like I got all these starting lineups and bobbleheads and just what many people would say is crap. But it, you know, it mattered to me. And I'm just a pack rat. You know, I don't throw the stuff away. And so we have gone through all of that. And then I think we've only left the house like twice.

We went to Trader Joe's to go grab stuff at one point just because like Kroger, which is our local supermarket, was slam to the gills. And so we figured there's going to be less people at Trader Joe's and they got hand sanitizer everywhere. So we went in there and grab some stuff. Bro, we're in the frozen foods and like, oh my God. Hey, 50 feet away from me. I'm talking at the end of the row.

This dude coughs. And I'm like, oh. No. I'm like, I'm like, William, we got to bounce. We got to get out of here. I'm saying, I can't believe what this is done to us. I mean, I'm freaking this dude. And I felt so bad because the guy, you know, they got probably just coughed because he had stuck in his throat or something. It didn't matter. I was terrified that he's got Corona. He might have swallowed his gum. Oh, God. And I go, and I go through every freaking thing and the way like, oh my God, my son and me. and we could give it to my dad. And I'm, this poor guy just coughed inside Trader Joe's. And it was like,

I lost my mind. I'm like, yo, let's grab the two other things we need. We got to get out of here. Because one dude cough. I mean, that's what it was like for,

for my mom and I yesterday when we got our last bit of shopping done. We got most of it done early last week and one other time, late last week. And, but we couldn't find, we couldn't find, boneless chicken. It was gone.

There must be a world shortage. There's no, you're in, you're in Massachusetts. Yesterday we hit jackpot, though. We hit jackpot. Where?

At a Shaw's grocery store. Shaws. Of all things. Local grocery store chain and northeast Massachusetts. My wife, my wife ran around everywhere, trying to find,

like there were no chicken anywhere, none. And she was, Tisserie chicken. No, she ran into a whole food. None. She ran into a whole food. And she was like, where's the chicken?

They're like, we don't know and we don't know. She's like, well, are you supposed to get? He goes, the ship, the shipment guy comes here tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. So that would probably be your best chance. She's like, what? I'm not going to show. I got to get up early in the morning and try to get over to over. Like, who knows how many people the guy told.

Well, people are going to be standing next to a truck trying to get bones. this chicken breast or something. I was like, we'll just eat something else. I mean, that doesn't that really put into perspective, though, like just how much are, our norms have changed.

Oh my God. I mean, like, we've had, we've had some bad snowstorms and blizzards in the Northeast. And my mom like yesterday says to me, she's like, there's never been a time. There's ever been a blizzard. And shelves have been this empty from what

she can remember in her entire life. And she lived through the blizzard of 78. Anyone from the Northeast knows what that is. you know, that lived through that. It was an insane time with a lot of stuff. I did was not alive for it, so I don't know. But the Blizzard of 78 was pretty extreme. And even then, uh, it wasn't as insane as it is right now.

I mean, the fact you can't go find hand sanitizer or chicken or even soup can be hard to find in some places. I mean, it's, the only thing I can remember and there may be some old enough listeners, uh, that could recall this when I was a little kid I was living my family lived in New York and there were Hurricane Gloria was the name of it came through and I remember being devastated. I remember us like not having power and candles being lit and like staying in our house and and that kind of stuff. But that was again temporary. You know what I mean? Or snowstorms like you say and I can remember

stuff like that. But other than that like no, this, then nothing is like this. And I am going to, before we get done today, I'm going to cheer you up. You ready? Because we're hoping, sure. There'll be, there'll be, there'll be NBA news later today and hopefully we can get some clarity on how a season could be, could happen. But, well, we made a little bit of news earlier, mentioning that, you know, there could be a play in tournament. That's right. Or something of that nature. But more news will come. So how are you going to cheer me up? Well, no, I, I, well, by the way, I am against a play in tournament. The Grizzlies are the eight season. as it stands right now.

I want them to freeze the standings. By the way, I'm glad you made that clear. I'm glad you did. By the time we come back, Zion's going to be 450 pounds anyway. Oh, my God. Come on.

Come on. You come on. He is over 300 already. I've heard 305. 305 is the number that I heard for Zion. 305. Hey, tell him not to run for a month and see what happens. see what happens, Kev.

It is going to be crazy to see if we... I'm not going to feed him for that. All right. You're not going to feed him, hopefully. What happened? Hey, look, that is, hey, I was covering the NBA during the lockout, and that is something that dawned on me, especially with them not being able to practice and whatnot. Like, there's some of these guys that are coming back way out of shape.

Trust me. It's just the way it happens in a league of 500 players. Um, but not Zion. He'll be in great shape, I'm sure. Um, and the NBA is not drug testing during, uh, the, the, uh, this, this, this time without games either as well, which is a smart thing to do. And by the way, like, how is that the, the NBA is the only league that tests for marijuana? I mean, come on.

Can we make this change and, and get with modern times here? I don't want to, uh, geez. I don't, I don't want to get in trouble with anybody. Um, but. I will tell you, Kevin, it ain't serious. Like, don't worry about that. Oh, the testing for marijuana? I know they, I know they don't, but why even have it on in the rules, though?

You don't, you don't even know if a guy failed a test for marijuana. Like, you never find out, basically. No kidding. Why have the rule? Get rid of it. They make, I'm with you. They should get rid of the rule. I'm with you on that.

Number two, bro, you got a test positive, like three times. and then you go to like some kind of count. Like you got to like just really be spitting in their face. Like and just smoking. Let Dion waiters. Let Dion waiters have all the edibles he wants. That's all I'm saying. No, no.

No. What? The guy had like almost went to a damn coma. Don't, don't advise that. He don't need them. Yeah, that's kind of, I kind of forgot. I forgot about that point. I apologize.

That's true. If anybody don't give the edible suits to you. That's true. That's true. My bad. Hopefully. Hey, come on. There's humor in that.

Hey, look. How are you going to cheer me out? Because last night, I played against my son in NBA 2K. Ooh. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And I said, you pick whoever you want. And he chose the Los Angeles Lakers.

I should have known. Wow. Wow. He wanted Anthony Davis and he wanted and he wanted, uh, LeBron James. Oh, not so. Bradley. I thought he wanted David Bradley.

No. No, not Avery Bradley. Not David Bradley. Not Danny Green. Okay. Not Danny Green. Oh, he wanted LeBron and AD. And I know, he wanted Frank Vogel on the sidelines with Jason.

Yeah, that's right. That's right. Yeah. And so I, but he didn't choose the gris. So what, well, no, because he knows I'm about to pick somebody awesome. This is, this is, this is, and that, look, we're using our brains here. If he chooses somebody. this somebody awesome, then he knows I'm going to choose somebody awesome and try to beat his

brains in, right? And so what did I do? I said, there is only one team to choose. And that is one that I know, I know his strategy. And I know that LeBron and AD are going to be going to the rim all game. I got to choose a team with great rim protection. Give me the bucks. And I cursed to Brooke Lopez this whole game, Kevin. The whole game. I wanted to see. I told you, I'd cheer you up. I said, Kevin O'Connor and all these bucks fans tell me this guy stops everybody at the

rim. He hadn't stopped them once. And I'm using him. I'm using him right in front of the goal. I got him. So you take it up with 2K because this is fraudulent what you've told me because I got waxed. I got absolutely waxed by a 10 year old because I trusted the rim protection of one Brooke Lopez. There you go, Kevin. There's my research project. Take it up with Ronnie 2K.

Okay. I want to play you in 2K, even though I'm bad. And you got a PS4? No, I don't anymore. Oh, shoot. I don't have a console. I haven't had a console for two or three years. I think three years now. Well, I have considered returning to Xbox or PlayStation. I have considered it because of our new normal air. Yeah, you have to. I have considered, you know, the possibility. I put out like a questionnaire.

Did you see that on Twitter recently? I put out a questionnaire asking people for like, hey, you know, what are some things that you're into? What are some things that you'd like to see from me over the coming weeks and months in terms of content, non-basketball-related content. And I mentioned video games and all that. I'm curious to the listeners.

That poll was not about the show, but this question is, for the listeners who are still tuning in right now, I am curious, would you watch me and Chris Vernon play a game on Twitch? Would you be interested in hearing us talk about a TV show or an old basketball game? Let us know.

What are the things that you'd want me and Chris talking about? That question's from me. I'm very curious about that. Hey, you know what you should do? I would love to play you online, Chris. No, this would be good. Hey, good grief. Good grief.

I would beat you down. I think you're on marijuana. So here's the thing. All right, look, give out, this is what you need to do because now this gives, we always are blabbing and everybody's listening. to us all the time. Give out that email address that we have set up and then people can send

in whatever question they always wanted to ask. Oh yeah, we could do some more Q&As. Do that as well. Yeah, we could do them. How about how about that's perfect? What if what I mean, obviously for Friday show we'll do whatever the latest news is. Well, yeah, we'll get updated. Also do a mailbag on the back. Perfect. What do you? We can do that for, look,

we'll get enough questions. Lord knows we did one one time we did this and we were swamped. The email is NBA mailbag at gmail.com. So if you want to submit question.

No, that's not the one we set up. Yes, it is. That's the one. NBA mailbag. That's the one. Why? Do you want me to make a new Gmail account?

No, I just think there was a different one. No, that was the one on August 19th, 2019. I sent the tweet. Chris Vernon and I are answering your questions

during next week's episode of the mismatch. Ask us to anything about life music movies. There you go. To submit questions, please email us,

NBA mailbag at gmail.com. That's NBA mailbag at gmail.com. That was like a live ad read right there. There you go. You did well at that. Ad read voice and everything. Last thing before we get out of here, there's one other teammate that we have in having to do these

podcast every week and is going to help us get through this. And that is our producer, Bobby Wagner. How are you holding up, Bobby? Oh, I'm doing all right. Although it's been raining here. LA. So it's like particularly apocalyptic as opposed to just like apocalyptic on Twitter. It feels apocalyptic outside. Although the sun's come out today. So maybe the mismatch returning has cured things a little bit. And you're at home, right? Yeah. Yeah. We're all at home.

It's really unbelievable. That is a true blessing. In 2020, being able to do this while all being able to still abide by the rules of the, the rules of the day is truly crazy. You know what I mean? record podcast and they could sound good and yet we're still all living through this. That is not the way communication would have been 10, 15 years ago. I promise you that. I was looking like, I was looking like a hardcore coder while I was like controlling the New York computers while I was recording Recapables Westworld. Go check that out. I was like doing all these different different applications open, two different computers. It's like it's a different type of science than we usually have. But yeah, we're making it work. Hey, Bobby, you mentioned Westworld.

can how do you think conversations between me and Chris would go discussing Westworld have either of you ever watched it? I love Westworld. I love it. It's one of my favorite shows that I've ever seen it. You know what? Look, we'll get people in the mailbag to talk to us about it, Kev.

We do need to figure out maybe at some point we do something, pop culture, whether we. Yeah. We need a show to watch together. I mean, like couples always watch shows together. No, but you got to be. We're a couple. But you've got to, we are, but you got to remember, right? It cannot be some kind of very long time commitment. Yeah, I know. I know. It needs to be a shorter series. The way it works at my house, I creep around, right? I got a 10 year old, a 6 year old and a dog. And so there are moments where like my 10 year old will be playing on his mini hoop. My 6 year old will be watching like Berenstein Bears or something, right, in the living room. So then I just creep on by, creep, creep, creep, creep. And I go back into the bedroom. And I'll, and I'll, I'll turn something on.

By the time it gets fired up, I got a dog on my face. I got a six-year-old pulling on me asking me to draw or like build something or whatever. I got to do everything after they go to bed. So I can't, it can't be something where I got to watch like, you know, 50 episodes or something, you know. Oh, no, no, no. I don't want to binge, you know, something that I haven't watched before or same with you. You know, I don't want you to have to watch like 30 episodes. There's no way.

I mean, I personally want to catch up on Better Call Saul after I didn't watch the last season and a half. However, I wouldn't want you or anybody to have to feel like they have to catch up on four seasons of that. But I think a show that's just starting, such as Devs, is something to think about. Or something that's only, you know, one episode into the third season, like Westworld. We have opened it up. whatever it might be. What Westworld might be, I don't know. I think you would, I think knowing you, you would probably hate this world. That's just like, I probably would. Talk about a time commitment, man. That's like, yeah, it's like 22 hours to catch up. Catch up on. No, bro. Come on. I know. I think, I think it needs to be a first season show or a short series or like one of those reality shows like Survivor to that type of thing. Survivor is a good one. Talk about crossover with ringer content. Oh, no doubt about it. Survivor would be. be a good one. And, you know, in that poll I put out last week, a lot of people did mention Survivor is one of the shows that they're watching, too. Interesting. All right. Bobby's holding up good. Have you watched any sports content at all Bobby?

No. I mean, what am I supposed to watch? I go tune into ESPN and watch Cornhole. I used to do that with my roommate when no other sports would be on in college. Those dudes are out of control, man. And they get so mad at each other when they miss any type of throw or when they leave it off the board. It's insane. It's just makes it. You know what? I can relate, though, because I was talking about the video game. I know, me too. Hey, you got to watch out for this, Kevin. You know, like when you're nine years old and you chuck the controller and you get so mad about the whole thing and you're like, man, I can't believe I did that, right? Nothing changes.

Oh, I will tell you nothing changes. Bobby, can you at least relate? Nothing changed. I'm old now. I get so pissed off playing those games. Dude, it's like, when I lose, I get so mad. It's like golf, though. You got no one to blame but yourself.

I know. Yep, exactly. I get so mad about the whole thing. And I was like, I thought you grew out of this. I never grew out of it. I still get mad. I get pissed off. I'm just saying I never smashed a controller or anything like that.

But I'm a much calmer person not playing video games nowadays. I played And I talked a lot less trash too That's for damage I played against a guy Who I work with I played a guy Like remotely on the headset thing last night

Yeah And the game ended This is hilarious So Zach Levine had the ball At the top of the key We run out and we double him He flips it over I'm up two

He flips it to Auto Porter In the corner Nobody within 50 feet of him He takes the three clanks, game over. I can't hear him on the headset, right? The guy texts me and said, I broke my headset. F auto, auto. He said, I broke my headset, F. Otto Porter.

I'm happy to know that the defense was practicing social distancing. That's right. Away from auto, yeah. Good for you, Chris, you know. That's how we treated auto Porter. We ran away from it. All right, Kevin, you stay good. Stay safe, you and their mother.

Bobby, same with you. We will reconvene on Friday. Give out that email address one more time, Kiff. We're taking questions for the mailbag, NBA mailbag at gmail.com, and we're going to do that on Friday's show. And you stay safe as well, Chris, you and your family as well.

All right. Thanks to everybody for listening to another episode of The Mismatch. Thanks to Bobby Wagner for producing. If you did what you're hearing, go give us a rating and review on iTunes, five stars, five stars. It really helps. Everybody stay safe out there. Stay quarantined.

And we'll talk to you on Friday.