The Ringer NBA Show - Quentin Richardson on Being in the Jordan Family, His Former Beef With Paul Pierce, and More | Real Ones

Episode Date: February 11, 2021

Quentin Richardson joins Logan and Raja to talk about what it was like growing up in Chicago during the height of Michael Jordan’s Bulls run (10:30), his past beef with Paul Pierce (15:15), adjusting to life in Los Angeles after he was drafted by the Clippers at age 19 (18:15), being a part of the Jordan family (29:30), and much more. Hosts: Logan Murdock and Raja Bell Guest: Quentin Richardson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's Poppin Ruins? Logan Murdoch here with a Roger Bell. We have a special guest, Quentin Richardson on the pot. He was really good, dude. He gave us Michael Jordan's stories. He gave us some stuff. It was really dope. Some real insight into being on Team Jordan, what it was like to be a 19-year-old, like dropped off in L.A. with a wallet full of money.

Like, some pretty cool stories with Q. Yeah, yeah, yeah, man. It was a great story, man, on our Thursday edition. On the Real Ones. Tap in. What's Poppin Ruins. Logan Murdoch here with Roger Bell. And we got a special guest on the pod, Roger. Professional guest on the pod, Logan.

Professional guest on the pod. And you say Shy City. We got Q. Rich, Quinn Richardson, in the building. How you doing, bro, you? I'm good. I appreciate it so I have him. Man, it's a pleasure to have you, man. Roger, what's up, man?

You want to kick it off, man? Go ahead, bro. Yeah, I got two questions. So let me just double down real quick. First of all, how was one supposed to get down with, like, the knucklehead? Like, how could I get down? Like, I was always real. like I had salt. Like I wanted to be down with that shit. Like I felt like it was like team Jordan.

Like you had to have some kind of accomplishment or something. How did that start, Q? Like where did where did that come from? Man, it really kicked off man. We, you know, we was out there in LA. D. Miles 18, I'm 19. We still was very much into the whole high school basketball AAU scene. So we went to all of the games like all the, you know, the best high school players or teams or whatever around. And we were right there. DeMalide, we were right there. DeMalide, which was like 10 minutes from Westchester High School, which were Trevor Reza, Bobby Brown, Hassan Adams, Amir Johnson, all type of dudes came up out of there, right? So when we were there, we got tight with Trev in that team,

and we would go watch their game, go to practice. So this was originally, this was really their celebration. You know what I'm saying? So they was like, yo, y'all boys do the thing in the game, do it in rep us or whatever, right? So it was really a start off as a shout out to them doing their celebration. And then the clip of fans and our fans kind of like last known to it. Like, why y'all ain't doing them more?

They kept asking. So, again, we just kind of became a thing between me and D. And, you know, 20 years later, here we are with a podcast and all that based on it. So it's just all love, man. The love that's still there, that's been there, all of the different people that did it, it was all away. Unless they were playing against us. When we played against people, they tried that it got a little chippy, but, you know, everybody else that was all love. Yeah, that's what I didn't know that story.

That's really interesting. On another note, towards the end of that career, like I know y'all have a thing on the knuckleheads pod about who went out you. I want to know, and we asked, like, maybe we could get a little segment rolling, Logan, of how did you know at the end? Like, who was it that showed you like, yeah, I got to let this shit go, bro. Like, I'm not built for this anymore. It's time to go.

Let me think. Let me think. That probably, man, I think. I think it was just more so for me, it wasn't, I didn't really have that moment where, where somebody really tuned me up or whatever, because it was just for me that I wasn't playing a lot no more. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying?

And you can't, and I found myself not necessarily, like, you know, my whole career, if I'm not playing, I'm pissed with the coach. I'm pissed with somebody. Like, at the end, it was kind of just like, like, yo, like, you were OG now, like, like, pouring to the young guys. guys and trying to influence and do that. But, like, I wasn't really in the, like, even when I can remember when I got cut from the magic.

And that was pretty much, I set out that whole season, then signed with the Knicks for the playoffs and then that was it for me. But when I got waived from the magic, they weighed me for Duan, uh, Dequine Jones, Dequine Jones, young boy that was, you know, like a undrafted guy out of Miami, but he came in and he was a real hard worker. And he earned it. Right. But, like, when that happened.

happened in the way I felt about that, I knew then that it was like, this is, this is like, okay, I thought I was going to get picked back up right away, but I was like, okay, whatever happens here, this is like I'm near the end because I'm not even like I was, you know, I still talk to the kid. I'm like throughout the season. I would check in on them and try and help him and stuff. So it was like, I think that was probably the time for me when I knew it was kind of toward the end when I wasn't playing a lot. Still did have the same work ethic, work hard and practice and stuff, but I wasn't really upset about not getting a minute to. and stuff like that. And I think that's what me and Stan Van Gundy's relationship got tight because he saw how I still was vested into the team and stuff like that. That's what's up. What does it like to feel, I've never, you know, I've never been on your level of basketball.

What does it feel like to get to that point where you're like, you've played your whole career and you can see that it's ending? Well, how does that feel? What does that do team? It was hard for me, man. That season when I set out, like I said, like I said, I thought I got way from the magic.

And, you know, even though I was, you know, wasn't upset with the situation in, in Orlando, I just felt like, all right, cool, I'm going to get waves and I'm going to go pick, get picked up. I'm going to double dip. I'm going to be cool. I'm going to still slide through this year or whatever. That's how I felt. So then when you sit there, you know, a month go by, you know, two months go by, you're sitting there, you're working out and you're doing all this stuff. Then you go through your phase. Like, you don't even want to watch who because you become the mad rapper.

You're like, man, I'm better than him. I'm better than him. You know what I'm saying? So you like, then it's like, you know what I'm saying? You come back to it. You like, nah, damn that I love hoop. I can't not watch hoop, you know what I'm saying? So then you come back to it.

And for me, my wife was pregnant with my first, with my daughter, my first kids. So for me, that was something that kind of gave me something to really focus on and not be as focused as I probably would have been on not playing and stuff like that. And I think when I got back, once I got picked up, man, I was like, I really took it for everything it was. Like when I was the Knicks in that playoff series, I had a great time with that group. It was, you know, some all-time grace on that team, J-Kid, Camby, some OG dudes. I really looked up to play with Mello, you know what I'm saying, a young boy Shump. So it was like that was a real cool experience. And like when that season was over, I for real went into the summer like, this could be it

because nobody came calling the whole season long, you know what I didn't get to do much in the playoffs to show that, you know what I'm saying, to make somebody jump at me. So I was, you know, I was realistic about it. Yeah, that's tough. At least you got that last little bite of the apple. Like, that's a really tough situation because I got wave two and I ain't get a call for the playoffs. So, like, I know what that's like.

It's a very, it's a tough thing. And that's being your whole, you know, like your whole world and to have it, you know, you have mixed emotions about wanting to still mess with it or, you know, because you feel kind of forsaken by it. And then on the flip side, it's what you love. And let me ask you because I got a friend of mine that used to coach at Riverside Church in New York. And when I told him you were coming on today, right? Yeah, yeah.

So when I told him you were coming on today, he said, I beat him. And then he referenced the team you were on, though, in AAU. And he was throwing out a bunch of names. And I had no idea, dog. Like, you know. Wait, wait, wait, Wendy, he said he beat me. I remember us beating them. Oh, shit.

We beat them in a championship game. Same name. Roger. Well, his name is Kenny Kelly. He said he coached at the church. He had a great squad, and he said he wound up beating. He said you guys were like the Illinois Warriors or something like that. Illinois Warriors, yes.

Yeah, so that's Cap. Okay, well, that's good to know, too. But tell me about that team, Doc. I'm trying to think that they ever beat them because I know, I know we beat them. And I want to say it was a championship of a peace jam. It might have been a championship of a peace jam. Okay. But I know we beat them.

That's when they had Air Base Jam. Barkley, Anthony Glover, they was, they was stacked. They were, they, they was classic New York. And y'all were loaded, too. Oh, trust me. We were like, we, yeah, we weren't playing no game. We had, we had all D1 big boys too. Mm-hmm. That particular year, Corey didn't play with us, but Corey McGarry played with us for a time, too, but not, not this particular team that played against Riverside. Hey, best, best, best, I mean, obviously, but to the best of your ability, keep your feelings and your allegiance is out of the question, bro.

best city for basketball like in the country, Dodd, like best puts out the best product. Listen. Listen. Take it how they want to take it. It's Chicago versus anybody. I don't give a care what,

who they want to come. I get my Chicago five and I take anybody. I'm talking about it. We can't even say five. I'm just saying I get a five because it's too hard to dwindle it down of that. but I'm just saying Chicago, Brown,

this is what I said about that, right? I talked to this. We had, we had, we had C Webb on the other day, and we talked about the different, you know, coast, Midwest,

East Coast, South, and all that, right? So he was like, you know, when he grew up, it was like, you know, New York,

East Coast was, was ball handler's nasty layup game and stuff like that. East Coast, I mean, West Coast was more finessed, jump shots and, and, you know,

all that stuff, some light skin stuff, so to speak, you know, whatever. That's what he said. But like, my thing about that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, we bring everything.

We got shooters. We got ball handlers. And then we got dunkers. But then we, we, we got an element that somebody done. We got that, we got that, that, that concrete junk. We got that, that, that, that, that, that Chicago toughness that, that, that's what I say, like, go on here, get your five. Because they're going to go and say, oh, we got this person, that person. That person.

I ain't called no name. but, you know, superstars or whatever. And I'm going to say, that's okay. I got something to ward off the superstar. We got these forearms and these muscles and these files that we're going to live. We're going to see how they're going to get up and come back from them. That's what I'm going to say about Chicago against everybody. Off top.

All right, man. All right. Well, damn. All right. We're going to have Oakland versus Chicago at some point. But when we, when I think about Chicago basketball, particularly in the 90s when you grew up, I always hear stories about Michael Jordan's presence in Chicago, just, you know, as a person, but also as a figure. What was his presence like as a Chicago native, both on and off the floor?

Man, he made us, he gave us the ability to go anywhere and stick our chest out for a whole decade. You know what I'm saying? Like when he was, when him and Scotty was soothing up, it didn't, like, when they came back and when he came back out of retirement, everybody in Chicago proclaimed we was about to be the champs that year. We didn't have any inclination about like, oh, he hasn't played in a year and get his back.

No, we winning. They got Scotty, they got Mike back, we winning. That's how we were spoiled like that. We were for real put into that type of a thought process that it was that simple. It didn't matter. MJ back, Scottie there, we winning. And he gave everybody that type of swag. Like, we were from Chicago.

Boy, like, what you're talking about? Like, you know what? Yeah, that's what's up. My father's from Chicago, so I came up in the summers I would be in Chicago at my grandfokes house. And there's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's almost a, uh, you're surviving out there, like, on those basketball courts and it's, it's bred into you, right? But you guys chose to stay home and go to DePaul when you probably could have been anywhere in the country at that point. Was that something like you felt like you owed to the city and you just wanted to do it in front of, the town or you you you know it was it was there were other factors involved in that it wasn't something

i felt like i owed it was something that just became it became it became a big thing like when i came down to my final two schools were kansas and d paul but by that point bobby had already committed lancid already committed and they obviously both were trying to get me to come and and at that point we we we all kind of realized what it could be and like you know with me being that final chip and and And they had already had a top flight recruiting class, me knowing that if I signed, we would lock in the number one recruiting class in the country. And what that could mean for the city in DePaul, I think that was the, that, those things played big in the background. But for me, it was all about my family. You know what I said?

I had a tight-knit family. My brother had just come home from the Navy and he was back. He didn't even know. Like, he looked at me like, yo, my brother, a superstar basketball is like, he hadn't even got to see me really play. So for me, it was like, I wanted to be. DePaul was perfect for me because we play Marquette. We played St. Louis. We played all schools that my folks could drive to.

They could be at, they obviously won't be at every home game, but they could go to a lot of the road games, and it's not a heavy lift. So it was like, for me, they're going to get a chance to see me play almost all of my college games, and I get to bounce after one year. Because that was big in my equation. And, like, between, like, Kansas and DePaul,

that was kind of the way, in fact. I mean, Paul Pierce was my host. And, like, they held him there for three years. And he was honest with me when I talked to him. He was like, you know, you may not that one and done stuff. Like, you know, that ain't really what we do here. But, you know, he's going to get you ready for the NBA and you're going to be as good as you could be type deal.

So for me, it was like when I knew, because you know how it is, Raja, you can go to North Carolina, Duke, one of those. You're going to be just another great player coming through there. Like what I did going to Chicago, me, Bobby and Lance, all Chicago public leagues kids. to Chicago kids. That hadn't been done since Mark McGuire, Terry Commons, you know what I'm saying, Teddy Grubbs and those types.

And that was the type of energy we brought back to the city. And I feel like we're going to be remembered forever for that. Yeah, that's what's up. Let me, I want to touch, Logan. I'm sorry, though, I got to do it because he talked about Paul Pierce and Paul saying they held him there for three years. Was that more of a, like, they didn't give him the platform to really show everything he had so he wasn't, you know, he didn't become the truth until the third year?

or was that really like them putting things in effect that prevented him from dipping after one? I don't think it was like putting things in effect to prevent you. I think it was just like this is one of those schools where you don't, you know, freshmen don't usually come in in this time period. That wasn't really what was going on.

Freshmen coming in and this job, so you got to kind of wait your turn. Pay your dues and wait your turn and all that. And it was like for me, I understood it and I respected it, but I was like, I'm trying to get straight to it. So, you know, for me, that was a that and then the home thing that goes with the biggest factors for me. Q,

you talk about your Kansas visit, you know, and a lot of them, and you talked about Pierce, a lot of it has been made of like that recruiting visit as a reason why, you didn't go to Kansas or there's something between that. Is there any truth to that? What is the,

what was the reasoning? Like, yeah, I see you laughing, but I just want to set the record straight. Like, what is that was laughable, man.

We had, we had, we actually had Paul on the show, you know what I was a guest. And we laughed about it because, you know, I've seen some of the things, people have shown me some of the stuff that you probably talk about on the internet or all of the crazy stories about why we had a beef during the NBA. And the beef literally came from playing pickup ball in L.A. in the summer.

I think it was like Wembro High School or something or one of, you know, where they play the runs at and everybody show up. And it was simply off that. Like two highly competitive dudes, you out there, you get to talking crap. and I ain't backing down. He ain't backing down. So at one point, we, you know, I'm going to slide the ball to the side and say, what's up?

And then, you know, everybody, you know, obviously we break it up. But then it's like, all right, well, he's the same, he got the same energy I got. So it's every time we see each other, it's going to be technical. It's going to be trash talking and whatever come with it. And that was just, you know, that was just what it was. And that, Rajah knows, that type of thing dissipates as your career goes on. And as everybody matures and what moves on, it's like, you know,

We're not on that no more. And that's why we was able to come together and have them on our show. And it was all good. We talked about it and laughed about it. But it was some of the stories you hear, oh, it was over a girl on the recruiting visit. It was something that was like, what? Are they telling us?

This is hilarious. Like, just listen and see some of this stuff. Like, I had my friends and stuff sending me stuff. Like, bro, you see this? Something like that's crazy. Was Paul one of those guys, though, that you wanted to face when you saw him on the schedule? Was it respect or was it like, no, I'm about this dude's neck.

I'm at this bro's neck when I see him. It was everything. It was respect. It was a, it was a good, hefty, competitive hate for him and disdain for the way that he play. No, I'm being genuinely serious. Like, and I feel like he had the same feelings with me. Like the type of players we were, we weren't for everybody. You know what I'm saying?

It was a acquired taste. Some people might not like some of the things we did. And that was how it was. He didn't like some of the things I did. I didn't like some of the things I did. did and we weren't afraid to show it or say it or talk about it or act on. See, that for me is the essence of respect. Like, people don't understand that unless you are in a game like basketball, not even

football so much because basketball, I'm in your face every possession. Like, this shit gets real personal. So, like, the question you asked Logan about, like, was there beef or was it respect, Q hit the nail on it? They go hand in hand, though. When you have that beef, you want to see that cat. Like, because you respect what he does. Like, it's a challenge to you, you know what I mean?

Q, talk to me about going as a young in, like one year removed from high school to L.A. And, and. No, yeah. It was two years? Or two years removed. Was it two years one year? Yeah, two years. Two years removed, my bad.

From high school. But still, I mean, at that point, what? 18, 19 years old. And then trying to balance being a pro and being in a spot like L.A. Hey man, I To me, I feel like it was a blessing that I got first I got drafted with D Miles and Keon.

Two guys, I mean, clearly I knew both of them before we got anywhere near the NBA and all of that. But then also, Corey had just got traded. On my same draft day, at draft night, he got traded to the team. And Corey, I go way back to fifth, sixth grade with. So that meant I'm walking in the door

is going to be four of us. You know what I'm saying? Four of us is all experiencing the same things and going through these things for the first time. So for me, I think that was probably the biggest thing. But like, man, you're talking about some kids getting dropped off in La La Land, but like, you couldn't have told me and D. Mazz in particular, we thought we was about to be Denzel and Jamie Fox or somebody. Like, we was like, yo, we out here.

Like, we about to be everywhere. Video sets, movies, whatever we could get into. It was like, thank God that we didn't, like, it could have been so. much worse. Like, looking back on it, I just think that you know, God had angels floating around protecting us, keeping us away from this and keeping us protecting from that. Because we was in the midst of it all. And thank God it wasn't no camera phones and no social media around me. What was a moment where you were like, oh shit, I'm in L.A. bro. Like, this isn't the same. I'm not in Chicago no more. This is this is totally different.

I got bread. I'm, I got my, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, I'm a, my own but but i'm 19 in l.a i could tell you the first time where i said oh shit i'm in l. so this is like literally we got drafted you know they you party that night we got our drafts in minnesota they fly us out the next morning me and d miles he's first time flying on a private jet and all this we get to l a so you know they put us up in the hotel they give us a rental car right so we go do all the press conference and all that stuff we got like a rental car can't remember it was like a it was like a little bit bit sushi truck or something do Like, look, me and this dude just going.

We don't even know what we're going. They ain't got all the GPS and all that, like back in the day back then. Like, man, look, we just rolling, just going all around LA. Now, we didn't really figure this out until later when this movie came out. But you remember the part on training day where Denzel rode through and they, you know what I'm saying? They clap. All the jungles. Yeah.

Bro, we didn't end it up like, right? We were trying to do like a U-turn or something. We didn't end it up in the, in the little interest to that joint. Oh, you're wilding. Right here in the guy, the only thing that saved us was that that boy, D. Miles, you know, at that point, he was everywhere. He was the highest pick out of high school in the history of the game, and everybody was going crazy.

His jersey. The dudes woke up on the car, and they recognized his face, like, as they was a thing. You already know, we're from the hood. So we got to, we're like, oh, shit, we're trying to switch around. They swooping so fast. Like, it really, you could have, it would have been what it was going to be if it wasn't for them recognizing the blackest one face. And they said, that's the, that's the young boy.

I say, oh, man. They like, they don't ever come back around here. Man, y'all don't belong around here. Man, y'all tripping. We like, man, we gassed up out of it. I was like, wow, at that point, we never even knew that that was the jungle until, like, the movie came out and we saw it again. Like, yo, that's the like, yeah.

In hindsight, where was you, what was you doing? Where was y'all driving in hindsight? Because I'm sure you know L.A. a lot more than, what the hell were you doing? Where was this place at and where the hell was you driving to? bro i'm telling you we were this at this point we didn't know nothing from nothing we just like we in la we just about we got a rental car we just about to drive around we had no destination we were just going all over the place just trying to see some shit trying to see some shit trying to see some like yeah he was like the hoe and then we see the jungles we at that point we hadn't even met

l.O like in l.a yet like l.O. was the first person to really get us plugged like all right get us in the club because like in l.A at that point that was really young you like i d 19 21 And I ain't getting, we had to try. Boy, the first two days, we thought, we're about to go to the club, like, got sent away, like, some lanes, like, damn. But I'm playing for the Clippers. What you mean?

I'm going to be in there. No, look, nope, don't care. Like, we don't even, who know who you are. Like, I was even less known in DeMiles at that point. And they knew DeMau. You're out of high school. You're going to get us shut down, get up out of you. I'm like, damn.

So, hey, give me a story on the flip side of that one, Q, something, you know, podcast-friendly, of being in L.A. like some shit where you were around, some people, like, where you were like, in my wildest dream, I couldn't have imagined, like, sitting where I'm sitting watching this shit go down. Man, I'll say the first time we went to the club with Ella, listen, listen. Like you said, we're going to keep you PG for the podcast, but I'm just telling you, from that day on, I was like, yo, this is the league? I was like, I was, man, I was calling my partner from in the club like, bro, you're not going to believe this.

And I'm going to, I'm going to just say, listen, it was, like, we, we, we in L.A., in L.A., inside the club. And it was some, some, some, it was some X going on. That's all I'm going to say. It was some X going zone. I was, I was, I would, that would have been like my first time going out in L.A. I think that, that set the tone for the craziness. Like, no lie.

Hey, did you, did you ever play for Larry Brown? Yes. I love it. So you already know LB. So my introduction to that shit was Alan Iverson. So, you know, where at the spot? Like the same shit. I'm like, what?

What is going on? So my second year, I got sick. Like I had a cold, but I couldn't shake that shit because I was out to like five in the morning every night fucking around with whoever would let me get down. LB came to me one day in practice and he said, you are not Alan Iverson, son. You need to get your priority straight.

He got to get to go into the son, too. I'd say, okay, bro, duly noted. Duly notice. Fools, go, son. Damn right. Oh, my goodness. Wait, so, do you guys think you got, you know, I grew up a Lager fan, but I remember watching you guys, and y'all were really excited to watch?

It was dope to see, like, young dudes really out here doing it. But when you talk about what's, you know, your experience in L.A., were y'all ready for that? Were y'all ready for what everything else that came with the NBA at that time? Were you guys ready for law? And not just the NBA, but also the NBA in Los Angeles. Man, I'd like to say, yeah, I mean, shit. I mean, hindsight, looking at it out, you know, we dealt with it out.

I mean, people then went to some cities and done a lot worse. I mean, for myself, if I look at it as, you know, obviously we, as far as on the basketball court, we didn't make the playoffs while I was there, but, I mean, as far as like a young kid, 19, coming into the NBA into a city like LA and, you know, you've been giving all this money and responsibility. I kept myself out the headlines. You know, I didn't, you know, I enjoyed myself. I enjoy myself well, but, you know, I didn't do too much.

I never strayed and got too out of control and never got, you know, I mean, for me, I always kept basketball the main thing. And I think that was what, you know, between my family, you know, being grounded. than not letting me get the big head. I mean, I always kept hooped the number one thing for me. Summertime's in L.A. have some crazy runs, and I'm short some crazy workouts and shit. Like, who were your guys?

Who were your vets? I always like to ask this, because they meant a lot to me. But who were the dudes in the summertime queue? Aside from that young group of cats that came in together, that really held y'all down and worked with you, taught you the game, and kind of mentored you guys through that. See, for me, it was, it's a funny thing because, you know, back then it wasn't like now, and we didn't even have a facility in L.A.

So, summer, summertime. It was in L.A. Southwest, right? At junior college, L.A. Southwest, Jukos, shout out, shout out to all of the people that was up there. You know what I'm saying? There was our people up there. We was in it, but it was all good. But so back then, we didn't even stay in L.A. Harley, bro. Like those times, like, few and far between, we would stay a little bit right after the season and come back early.

So we wouldn't really be there. Like, people would think like, oh, you in LA? You're like, man, I was on the first thing. Like, we losing. Like, you know how it is, right. I mean, my, my cars and stuff, gone to the crib, a couple weeks for the season in. And then as soon as it's over, I'm hitting it.

You know, we was at, we had hoops with Tim Grover and MJ. So for me, the vets that really poured into me and that I looked up to and was really like, all right, I'm a kid in the candy store. But, like, I was, you know what I'm saying? First, TG, you know what I'm saying? Obviously, if MJ was ever around, but the normals, it was, I'm looking at, I'm looking at, I'm looking at, like, my, my OGsies is Joanne, Howard, Mike Finley, you know what I'm saying? Stack was there for a couple summers in the road, St. Jerry Stackhouse. So it was like, them was the guys.

And, like, for me, my whole career, literally, like, after I really got to meet and know Joanne, Howard and Mike Finley, those was the, those was the bar for me. They were the model, the perfect pros, like, from every angle, like these dudes all bagged out, all-max dudes, all-stars, big boy contracts, and then, like, they, they work their ass off. They do the right thing. They help people like me and others and give back in the community, and they well-spoken, they look the right way, they act the right way, they do the right things, and they're some fly-ass dudes, you know what I'm saying? So I was like, my friend, like, Big one, new them I, those the dudes who I look to, like, we getting there like 1030. You know what it is.

You get there to work out, man. My boy's icing up, reading the paper already. They do. With a Mike Lowry whip sitting outside something foreign that you ain't seen. Only them, MJ pulling up in. Like, I'm like, that's the move right there. You want to be flat like them dudes, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, that's what's up.

Hey, low key, Mike Findlay is exactly the way he just described him, Logan. Like, you might not know Mike, dog. But Finn is the dude he just described, dog. Like steak and eggs for breakfast on game day, suit cleaner than a mug, and a DB9 in the garage. Like what? You feel me? Something like James Bond-ish, boy, like, man, Finn, dog.

That's hard. And he's going to have a cold is tuck in, in practice, and every time you see him, I'm talking about I used to walk around and working out, like, oh, my Finn joint right now, boy, got a thing tucked in. Straight up. you speak about Mike and we talked about his presence earlier though but when was the first time you met Mike man

how did that go? Crazy crazy crazy crazy story bro so Mike Jordan we talk about Mike Jordan we're talking about Mike Jordan no no trust me it's only when you just say one name and say Mike that's where I'm from

that's on the show you could have said him and we knew he was talking about but no so literally I literally grew up on one block over from where Juanita family is from. Juanita, his ex-wife, Juanita. So one day, he in the hood, like, he used to do this, like, once in the blue moon, just be over there.

Like, he had put a cord in the backyard, everything, and all this shit. So one day, I'm standing out in front of my career, I grew up in front of and everything. And this was, this was my senior year when I was getting ready to go to, school. And so I hadn't even decided yet. But whatever. He called, they whole neighborhood going crazy. It's like kids running through the alley, coming down the block going this way. So then after so long, we're

standing there being one of the little kids going to say, hey, Q, MJ wanted to see you. He on the next block. And we like, it was me and my homeboy at what? I'm sitting there like, yeah, right. We like, he's like, man, we've got to go make this walk just in case, though. Like, it ain't no way right through the alley. So we go out through the, soon as you get halfway through the alley, it's just like, you don't see nothing but congestion, but cars, people, folks everywhere.

Now, the house is like five houses in. It was on wallet. So it's like right there. Like, literally, it's the next block I grew up on forever for my whole life. Go over there, show of shit, MJ in the backyard, shooting hooves with me, right? He's playing catch football, people from the back of the yard to the street and everything. And so as I'm walking up, bro, I'm walking over. He's like, I'm looking.

I'm in, oh, man, turn around. Hit me with the, what's up, Q? I didn't dare right there. I'm like, yo. Like, then, MJ just turning to me, said, what's up, Q? I'm like, what? He'd go over there, chop it up with him. He talked to me, like, the coolest thing ever.

Like, you know what I'm saying? You don't ever want to meet somebody like that. You're idol, somebody you look up to, and it'd be, like, a bad experience. It was just, like, the coolest thing, man, in the world. MJ said that eating McDonald's, bro. People didn't want to the stove guy. He got a McDonald's.

One dude lead a hood. Go get his whole trunk spray painting with an MJ mural on the MJ sign. It was just like, it was crazy. Damn, that's right. Art Kelly pulled up. No lie.

Arch Kelly, because Archelly from my neighborhood, too. He's from like 119th. And like literally, all this is like on 115th and Parnel and Wallace. And like, you know what I'm saying? They stay in between 114th and 115. Swear to God, bro. Archie pulled up all the time.

It was crazy. It was, I want to say it was either Easter. It was an Easter. It was like father's death son. It was like a long, done long time ago, bro. What did, when did you get to the point with him

where you got a sneaker deal, when you got to look, when you got blessed? When did you get blessed? And what is the process of getting blessed? Um, from MJ. So,

man, listen, we literally was, like, when you say blessed, for real blessed. So like, we didn't even,

at this point, it was barely in existence. Our first year, we wanted to our rookie year to league in the league, 2000 was the second year of the existence. Like, whatever. whatever, Jordan.

Team Jordan. Yeah, Team Jordan. A year before, he had really just kicked it off with, like, Ray Island, Finn. Like, Mike Bibby was on there, too. Yeah, Bibby, Vin Baker. It was like, it was like only like five or six. Eddie Jones was the original guy. That's right, yeah.

So it was like those, that was like the first. And like people didn't even really realize that it was what it was. It was just kind of like flew under the radar or whatever. But that was the first year of it. So the next year, me and D Miles, we have been going to his flight school where he has a camp for kids out in Santa Barbara. So we just get drafted. We out there. It's like August.

We still, our agent still was trying to work on our shoe deal. And, you know, at that point, you know, different companies try and send you stuff. So at that point, right before we left LA, Enwin had sent the gang of stuff, you know, Amon was big back then. Sent us a big huge box of stuff. And one was, like, based on it. I don't know. They had a big office of something in LA. they gave us a gang and stuff.

So we go up to camp. We got all in-1 stuff on. So one day after we get through hooping in the little game, the night game and stuff, we sitting there ice and other stuff. And MJ looking at us like, why y'all got all this in-one crap? I thought y'all was some, you know what I thought y'all was Nike guy.

And, you know, we explained to him like, man, you know, Jeff trying to get the deal done. We don't know what's going to happen. And da-da-da-da. So, you know, whatever. M-J, like, now y'all don't worry about it. Y'all going to come with me. And we, like, we didn't even know what that meant at that point.

You know, our agent call up. Like that happened one night. Jeff, Jeff called us the next morning. Like, yeah, like, I don't know what's going on, but you know, it looked like, you know, Michael called and said whatever. And now he wants you guys to be with his brand or whatever, and we're gonna get the deals done.

So I'm like, we didn't know what that meant. But like, well, we got back to LA, when I say, you're talking about blessed, bro. Like, first of all, before you even get to the gear, I'm a Chicago kid. It grew up watching MJ. So for me to know that like this man just handpicked me to be on his brand to wear like, brother, the first pair of joins I ever got was given to me by my A.U.

Coach Larry Butler, like free. My pops ain't do that. We weren't spending that type of bread on some shoes that I was going to go run through in two or three days. So I ain't never had no joins boy like, man, see, you about to get, I'm talking, on them boxing start coming? Bro. You're talking about one of everything for a kid from Chicago who's. couldn't get boy.

And then not only that, you got an allotment to where I could go call and send my partner, send my nephew. My nephew was in high school. You understand? My nephew was like a 13 year old. Like, this man showing up to high school at Morgan Park High School with stuff that they don't even know coming out. They don't even know it's coming out.

They don't even know it's coming out. He's getting it so early and it's so different. And then when it comes out, he's looking at him like. And then, And then he was known for his whole high school, like his whole high school existence, he was known because I was plugged and he was getting everything. And so like for me to be able to bless my family,

my partners, my friends and stuff like that. Boy, man, he's talking about Cloud 9, boy, it was out of here. Out of here. That makes me, that's just making me real salty right now, bro.

It's making me hot right now. Let me tell you my story and then I want you to answer this shit because mine is just the opposite of that, right? I come into the league. I'm on a 10 day, right? I cop my own person. of 16s. We're wearing blue

that Sixers alternate blue uni in Orlando. They're fucking fire. So I bought my own 16s, took like the removable top off of them. They have the blue toe. All white, blue sides, blue toe. I'm crispy, bro. National TV.

Scotty Rego comes in, the Sixers equipment dude and is like, mm-mm. And I'm like, what? I'm like, what you mean, man? He's like, you can't wear those. And I said, I was like, what are you talking about? I bought these. They're my shoes. He said, bro, unless your team Jordan, you cannot wear those.

And my whole world was deflated, bro. I had to throw on some like AN ones. And literally, I wore AN ones that game, some Thai cheese. MJ put the kibosh on that, bro. What's the reasoning behind that? Well, I wasn't, at the time, it was like Team Jordan, I guess, had just kind of popped off. And it wasn't like. And he wanted to stay elite.

He wanted to be like, like, if you're not part of this, this is what makes this elite because nobody can't wear this stuff. Right. Like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't want, he was like, he put the,

because I remember, I used to give Corey McGarry, my team, I used to give him stuff. You know, so we wear the same side shoes. So, you know, you guys come bust up,

coming equipment, I'm like, man, whatever, you don't see, you get like, you get one. 50, you get one. Fitty wearing them joints in the game, bro, one time my phone ring,

just, I don't know, and pick it up. You like, yo, I'm like, hello? Q, you know, yo, MJ. I'm like being like you get called

to the principal office like your father you're like well I'm like yes I'm like yeah yeah yeah I know you give me Corey the shoes and you can't do that no more I was like

okay went back to court like yo like uh I'm gonna need them back player nah I don't need them back but like you know you might say you know can't win him in the game no more brother

I don't want to get I don't be in no shit Like, whatever you do, I don't want to be, you know what I'm saying? Bro, I saw a picture when I was doing research for this. You went to the Knicks, like, for the postseason, and you already had a P.E. ready, bro. Like, I think it was the twos or something. Like, how often did you get packages from Jordan? How often do you get them now? Well, you see.

And what size do you wear? Because I'm, like, two hours away. Yeah, what's up, man? First, I'm big body bins. I'm 15s. I'm 15. Perfect. Me too.

See, that's the 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, you 15. I'm 12. I'm over here like, damn. But the thing is, so, like I told you, that was at the end of my career when I got, you know, way back Orlando and then set the season out and went back to my, went back to New York. So I had already played four years there. So literally my four years with the Knicks, that might have been like, it's hard for me to take a different team and say,

I had a better run of P.E's. Like, Clippers, you can, you can semi-compare, but we weren't getting P-E's into, like, halfway through the Clippers. So, like, I got four, four years with the Knicks, where it was stupid heat. I'm talking about twos, fives, eights, like, the, what was it, the 60, I'm talking to, it was numbers, bro. And then I had, like, you know, when they were coming with the,

not even the numbers, when they were just coming with their whatever shoes, like, man, I got so. many Knicks. I still got Knicks shoes now. Like, I wish I could trade some of them in for some of the other team, because I ain't got a lot of my clippers, some of the Phoenix. I got a lot of my Miami Heat, all of my Orlando stuff

and then a lot of the New York, because it was so much New York. I got to go and say New York, I had the most heat with New York. That was my most fire period of time because two reasons, because those colors were so foreign to anything Jordan Brand would

ever do. So when that orange blue and white hit, it was like, it looked stupid. Because, you know, you used to, Mike's coming out in red, black and white, and all of that, any other colors with red, black and white for all this time with the bull. So it was like, when you saw them colors coming again, like my phoenix colors was ill, too, with that purple and orange and white, but only had one year of that. But them 13s from that year, the 13s and 21s was crazy. So what about now?

How much, like, where's it, where's the, where's the, uh, the storage? Like, do you still bring a mouth? Do you still bring out the stuff from like 99 and like what and how often do you get shipments now? So I am still blessed to still be getting love from the brand and getting shipments. I get shipments every other month or so or whatever, you know, you know, it's still love. That's the that's the biggest thing. They still take care of me and the kids. And that's the biggest thing.

Because for me, I still got a lot of stuff. Like you saying, storage. And I still like the new stuff. But I would be okay. But the biggest thing is I got to get my kids, all of the stuff and that stuff. So, but, yeah, man, I got, I got a storage. I got stuff with my pop's house. I got stuff with my sister house.

And I got stuff with my house. And then did my best friend house that lives here in Orlando. He got a whole garage. He probably got the most stuff. He, he's been trying to consolidate and do different things. And we're trying to figure that out. But I probably end up, I got a storage here that has a lot of stuff. So I probably end up taking the rest of that stuff here to the story.

But I, I feel like both of my sons got to. a good shot, it wearing a 15 someday. So that's why I try, especially my P.E's, I try and hold on to them and preserve them so that they could at least walk around them. Because I've been finding out, like, when I tried to plan the big three, I pulled out a couple of them that I just, you know, I don't keep them in the right temperatures and all of that to try and preserve them. So some of them joints I put on the things, I ran right up battle. So, but I mean, I could walk around in any of them. So I definitely know that they'll be at at least rock some of them at some point. I did a terrible job holding on the shit, man.

Roger, what did you do with your 16s, bro? What you do with them 16s? No, I didn't keep, like, I was wearing Kobe's towards the end with Kobe's. Like, I was in, you know, for my last four years, I wore all the Kobe's. And it just, I wasn't forward-thinking enough to know that those were going to be fire again in 10 years. So I just let them all kind of, I just let them all go. Like, I got a couple pairs, but not nearly what I should have. Q, you touched on, hey, you touched on the big three because I got to,

asked to play in the big three, too. And I just, man, it had been so long and my body just wasn't, like, anywhere where I thought I could look the way I wanted to look. What was the experience like, bro? Like, did you really get where you felt like you were all the way back? Did your body, did it respond at all, man? Or was it like, no, I can't do this? First, I would say you definitely could have did it.

Okay. I would say you definitely could have done it. But secondly, I mean, I was. I would never say I was all the way back and like ready to play in league type games like that half court was perfect. You would have took I asses. Three quarter court,

you might have saw somebody fall in and out there. Like for real. Like for real, but like it was perfect, it was a perfect storm and a perfect experience because especially the first year, the second year got a little less because it took some hits

because they added so many teams and I think they grew a little too fast, Like, overall, it still was a great experience, bro, because, like, you know yourself, like, you've been out of it. So one of the things we as players and pros miss the most, people may think, oh, man, y'all miss hooping, y'all miss, oh, bro, we missed the camaraderie. We missed the being in the locker room, the hanging out on the planes, on the buses, the bonding and the just talking how we always, we've been doing this.

Like, you got to think about it, bro. Most of us been doing this since we've been able to walk, six, seven years old. we've been part of the team since she was on the little T-birds and Biddy. Like, we've been on the team. So it's like, for the first time, you found yourself like, damn, I ain't of this. I ain't, I ain't a bull, I'm not, whatever you are. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, that's a, that's a adjustment for some people, especially for those of us that,

like me, I was always extremely social with my teammates, going out to dinner, hanging out, doing things together, whether we got girls or whatever, we all going to hang, you know what I'm saying? And so for me, that was like a, a, uh, a, uh, a, uh, a huge part of that where we was all going to one city, you all get there, and it's like, yeah, we're planning competing, but it wasn't, you know what I said?

It was more like some fun exhibition games, and no doubt it was competitive as shit, because we really wanted to win. And it was still like afterwards, we didn't have that where you were in the league where it's like, I don't even see them. Like afterwards, it was like, man, we already know what we're doing. We're about to be at the hotel, the bar, kicking it,

hanging out, playing pool, doing something, going to dinner. And it was like, that was something that, For that whole period of time when I was in the big three, each weekend I would look, I would look forward to that part of the week. Like, man, we're about to go, be the guys kicking. You know what I'm saying? Quick little guy trip to the go hoop, do this day, and you stay too.

Because it was literally like you go Friday. You could, like, depending on what time of game was, you might be able to leave Saturday night or definitely first thing smoking Sunday. I was at the crib. Right. And so for me, it was cool. It wasn't taken away from me being like, there some trips. Like my kids didn't get to see me playing the leave.

They weren't here yet. So, you know what I'm saying? That was the first time. my kids got to see me in the NBA arena and stuff like that, playing on the court and then they got to see me in a championship. Right. They were, you know what I'm saying? So for me, it gave me a lot of things from that situation that you didn't get if you didn't have kids while you played in the NBA. How's this transition to media been for you?

Because, you know, I obviously got Roger right here. And, you know, on one side, when you're playing, you know, there's this, you know, we got this weird relationship with players. You know what I mean? There's no really other way to sugarcoat it. How was it to be on the other side right now with your podcast? And I'm a big fan of your podcast. How was it to be on that other side of it? Thank you.

First, thank you. But for me, it was definitely, I had to say weird at first. Like, you know what I'm saying? It was like something that I had to, I would say, get used to certain things and doing certain things that, you know, other people was telling me that I was doing good at and it was natural and it was this. But to me, it was kind of foreign because it was like, when I talk to my peers, I'm used to just talking to them. So it's hard for me to come at them.

And I'm a straight shooter. I don't, you know, I don't come around the corner. I come straight. So it's like, you know, for me it was like some of the, some of the posturing that's done. I didn't, you know what I'm saying? I didn't like some of those things.

Or I just come straight out of it. This is what I want. This is what I want. I'm not going to try and massage you into it or trick you into it or do this. I'm going to say this. And normally if I know if I know if it's something it is, you know, kind of funny or could go one way.

I'm going to say it before we even start recording or doing anything. I'm going to say, yo, are you cool with this or not? Because if not, I'm just not even do it. And then, you know, I try to be, I just try and do to people how I would have wanted to be done. And I always keep in mind how certain people that I didn't like things that they did. And I always try to be mindful to never do those things to my guess and always be respectful of their time and appreciative that they even giving it to me. Yeah, that's what's up. Did you find it at all difficult?

I mean, your personality type, the way you're describing it, it shouldn't be a hard thing for you. But I struggled with it. I was a straight shooter, too, Q, but you get conditioned in the NBA at times when you're dealing with the media to not say anything, right? Like, even if you feel a certain kind of way, because you keep that shit in a locker room. Like, you don't, but then when you flip the script

and you're on the other side of the microphone, it becomes your job to have an opinion and say something, even if it's derogatory or constructively criticizing somebody, did that, did you struggle with that at all? Like having to say, hey, man, I don't really like the way they're playing. I did. I did. And for me, that was something that when I first began doing this and I got put in that position, I had to, I had to like have a conversation with myself like, yo, like, you got to, you got to really handle this the right way.

Because I remember how it was when I looked at guys that was on TV that played. or whatever and some of the thing, you know, me and our, my teammates, you and your team, we're looking at, oh, what are you talking about? So it's like, you know, I always, I would always say that was one of the first things I said to myself, like, okay, like, how are you going to handle when you do got to be critical or somebody? Like, my whole thing is like, it's fine for anybody to have their opinion. But like me as an ex-player, I have to be conscious that, you know what I'm saying?

Like, you know how it is to sit in that locker room or wherever you sit in to hear a former player talk crap about whoever it is so like you got you got to come at it the right way and it's not that you can't be honest about something when something happened but you got to come from it from a place like yo bro you wasn't no all-star you wasn't this you wasn't that and be mindful of that so like while you can still tell the truth about what's happening it's just it's about your delivery and the way you're saying if you up there just wowing and saying stuff recklessly like you was injure now now you're gonna have to deal with the with the repercussions because dumb people gonna be be looking at you like, hold on, hold on, bro.

Like, while you're saying what's true, well, let me say something true, too. You ain't do this. You ain't do that. You were telling you, you, you know what I'm saying? Like, whatever. Like, but if you say it, you know what I'm saying? If you say the truth the right way, people will, it'll be, it'll land softer and it will land more, you know what I'm saying?

It'll be more accepted because it's like, okay, this guy's just really telling the truth. He's not trying to be an asshole about it and trying to go in on somebody. He's just really just weighing in on the situation and that's it. Now that you're on this side, do you have a bit more respect for the media and what can the media do to improve from, you know, you're a basketball player,

so what can they do to improve in covering basketball players? So a two-part question. I do respect them more because this is not an easy job or it's not something, you know, that is always made easy by us too. You know, sometimes we make it difficult for those guys. But at the same time, I feel like that all media, just people in general, man,

just try and treat people the way you want to be treated. If you want to, you know what I'm saying? If you're going to interview somebody, quote them the right way, don't take parts of it out and try and paint it the way you wanted to be, you know, painting. You knew what he meant when he was saying. And if you didn't understand him, you should under, you should ask him again so you can't understand. But you should try and be true to what people say to you and be a, you know,

if you're going to document somebody and interview somebody and be a journalist, you should be true to that, to that craft and do it the right way because we all know us a lot of times that they pick and choose and take quotes and leave that part of it out and leave this out to make it look a certain way when if you had that whole whole paragraph you would see the story different but people know how to paint a narrative and you know that's what they do if you had to create like like a like on 2k or something if you had to create a beat writer or a personality right and keep in mind that they still have a job we're doing they still have to keep it fair right but if you had to create a beat writer or a media member

What would be their qualities? What would be the perfect media member beatwriter for you that covered you on a daily day-to-day basis? Man, for me, all I would want somebody to do is be brutally honest, shoot straight with me and just treat me how they want me to treat them. That's it. It's super simple. Anti-Logan Murdoch. Right, exactly. Exactly.

Thank you. I'm going to ask you, look, we ain't done a whole lot of like chopping up what's actually going on in the league right now. But I wanted to ask a question because, what was it, 0-4, 05 maybe? That first year you guys with the Sons really took the league by storm with the style of play. And it's now like the norm, you know, that's the way we play. And you shot like a league leading 600 and changed threes that year, dog. Right. You know, and that was like people.

People shooting that by the first half now. By the first half of the season now. Dog, like, but back then it was like, whites. Yeah. They was mad. They ain't liked that shit. They didn't like that shit at all. It was like, no.

I was playing for Jerry Sloan at the time. And I shot like 90 of them. And he cringed every time I shot one of them. Like, it was like, no. Where do you think the league is? Like, because, you know, there's some old, old has an older generation players that beef and they don't like it. They come off like old crumudgeers.

There are other guys that, you know, think it's phenomenal. Like, where do you stand on the way the games being played? Like, who are the people? people you like to watch now. Not Roger Bell. I've never been a person that, you know, once I got out of the league, I'm not about to be the mad rapper. Like, ah, they play, like, you know, I've always been a fan.

Before I was in the league, when I was in the league, since leaving the league and right now, and I feel like, I feel like the game is in a great place. I mean, I feel like everything is, is perspective-based. And I feel like, you know, those people that feel how they feel, they have, they have, they quirks and they, and their qualms and their reasons to feel that way. Could the game be a little more physical? Yeah. I mean, it could be a lot of different things.

But for me, man, I enjoy the hell out of the game. There's so much talent. There's so many dudes with games, so much going on. And it's so much, you know, I feel like it's more parity in these last few years now. And it's like you really, I mean, right now, obviously you look at it and you say the Lakers are dominating and what are the Nets going to do in the East and, you know, some other teams threatening. But, I mean, for me, man, I just enjoy it.

What LeBron is doing is amazing. I enjoy watching him at this age go out there and still put it on these young boys the way he's doing Luca, Jai, and Zion, and those young boys, Trey Young, and they're super impressive. Obviously, I'm still a fan of, you know, the Melos and KD, man. Right now what KD is doing coming off of that injury, like he's got to be like my favorite player just to sit back and just watch. Like right now, coming off what he's coming off of being out and looking as good as he is, looking as strong as he is, and it's like just bawling and the efficiency dude.

Like, the man was 11 for 13 other day and had like 28 on 13 shots, bro. Yeah. Like, that is, that is insane, man. And then the boy, you know, not to mention he's seven feet doing all this with the, with the smoothness of, I don't know what. So, I mean, yeah, man, it's just for me, I love the place that the game is. and where it's going. I'm just waiting to see what's going to be next. Is it going to be the big man comeback?

Right. You know, it's just, for me, it's like you never know. It's just all good to me. Selfishly, though, like as a fan, I love that perspective of an OG or a player that's a vet, right? Because sometimes you see the other side of that where it's jealousy, you know what I mean? It's a lot of jealousy of a young generation.

It's a lot of just, like, get off my lawn. And I just feel like, you know, there should be an appreciation. for the game. And I think it's great for the game when older heads are like, yo, man, that's dope what you're doing right now. So I am glad. I think you are one of those guys.

I think the biggest example of that is Alan Iverson as someone that is always giving flowers to the young generation who gives them flowers right back. So is that a conscious decision to do that to be like, yo, man, I'm not going, I'm good and I'm not going to, you know, hate on this next generation.

I'm going to give them their flowers. Is that a conscious thing that you do? I don't, I mean, for me, is just what it is, but I don't think that all of those guys that, you know, some of the older guys that are called or seen as haters, I don't think, I think sometimes their messages are just misunderstood, but I think, you know, I don't think that they necessarily are hating on these young guys. They know that without them, we wouldn't have been able to make the money we made and without us, they wouldn't make them, and so forth and so on, you know what I think. I think it's

everybody paying it forward and everybody, you know, watching the next, next phase come along and seeing how it is. And sometimes you think about how it would be if you were there. Like, I think about if I played in this in this league right now, I'd be like, man, I'd be shooting everything, doing everything, making all kind of money. But I'm not, I'm not jealous or anything like that. I'm still, listen, man, I'm here. I'm working.

I got a good life. I'm not, you know, I'm appreciative for my NBA career. And I'm appreciative to be blessed with this platform that I have to be able to talk to the players. old and current and then, you know, being able to work at Fox and commentate on the games with the current guys with the magic. So me, I just look at everything, man, as I'm super blessed to be here still doing this, people even care what the hell I'm talking about. And, you know, I get to get to be front row at the greatest sport and the greatest players and athletes. And

it's all for free to me. This is just gravy and cherry on the top from the career. That's dope, man. All right. Let's get to Rewan of the Week. Real One of the Week is a award that we give for a person, an entity, an organization that we just all had a really good week, man. Mine is pretty heavy, so I'm going to let Roger and Q go first. Roger, who's your real one of the week? Oh, man, you're going to do the heavy one again, bro. You've been coming really heavy-handed on these, like really deep. It's real tough times, bro.

That's fair. I'll keep it shallow again, though. And you know my affinity for Patrick Mahomes. So this kind of, it's tough for me to say this. It's tough. All right. It's tough. I got to go with the goat, though.

Tommy Brady, man. He's the real one of the week. Like, he was written off in New England to some degree. Like, they didn't want to re-up him. You know, they weren't trusting. Bill Belichick wanted to get off of him before the decline. Put some car on his name. Yeah, dog.

And so he just took his talents to Tampa and turned around and turned in an MVP level like Super Bowl performance like he always does. And now he truly is the goat. Hey, Logan, let me double down again because they got one more player on that team. before you get too deep. Like Jason, Pierre Paul, man, lost half a hand, bro. Yes, him too.

That man is out there doing that with like three fingers on his right hand, two and a half of them. Like, that's real one, that's real one shit. Okay, man, I was, I was going to stick alone. I am going to stick along them same lines. Like, while we had, we got to say Pat Mahomes, too. He had a lot of excuses. And he didn't say one excuse.

He said he's going to learn from this game for the rest of his career. He didn't say, no, he had surgery the next day. He didn't say my toe. He didn't say nothing. He didn't say nothing. He stood up to like a real one and said, listen, they was the better team and I learned from this for the rest of my career. I got to salute that. That's what's up.

Throwing passes off his belly and shit. Man. Yeah. Nah, that's crazy, man. Somebody who played quarterback, that was crazy to see, man. He's over here diving and shit. It's like the scene in the, in the movies where the dude is like diving with the guns. Shooting the gun.

Yeah, he would lie that when I was out to like the Rodman rebound when he died out on the set. I was like, how the hell you did that, bro. But, yeah, man. My real one of the week is Teres Pailer, who passed yesterday. He was a real pioneer in our space and covering the league for Yahoo. Was really good at Casey. He covered the Kansas City Chiefs for a long time. Passed at 37, man.

It was real hard to get that news, man. And after, you know, Sekew Smith, who I know, you shouted out Q. It's been a hard year for, you know, black journalists. And, you know, it was just really, it was a really hard day. man, but I just want to give the OG as flowers, man. And that's my somber one. I just want to get that out the way. But that was another edition of the real ones.

Q, where can we get your pie, bro? Everywhere, man. We everywhere podcast is brought to you, Apple, Spotify, whatever. Yeah. And you can get all our podcasts on Spotify, on wherever you get your podcast. You can check out the real ones every Monday and Thursday. you can check out the mismatch group chat. Also, you can check out the answer.

And also, Black Girl's Songbook with Daniel Smith. And we will see you guys next week. Thanks again, Q for coming on. Bro, we'll see you soon, man. Yes, sir. Appreciate your having you.