The Ringer NBA Show - Reopening the Mismatch Mailbag: Who Should Blow It Up, NBA Sliding Doors, and More | The Mismatch

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

We sifted through all your questions and picked our favorites: What were our most memorable arguments? Which teams are primed to blow it up next season? What music are we listening to? And much more. 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 Varner. And joining me as he does every Friday from The Ringer.com.

It's Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.A. Kevin O'Connor, A.K.K.A. Kevin O'Conflict. Kevin O Candyland, Kevin O'Camara, Kevin. Verno, how you doing this Friday? Angry. Angry. I mean, you're usually angry, so that's the norm. No, I'm not. That's ridiculous.

I'm angry at the ringer. Did you see what they did yesterday? Oh, yeah. I know what you're talking about. Just I'll let you take the floor. I mean, of all things, they played out the season. And I know that Zach cram has done a very good job with all this and he simulated the season and he came out

and the team that was knocked out of the playoffs as if they're not the eight seed right now was the Memphis Grizzlies and they put the pelicans in because much like ESPN and everybody else they fall in love with the pelicans and what they could be rather than what they have been and here I am reading this and I'm like okay how'd they get to the pelicans not only did they have the Pelicans making it. They didn't make it up by like five games. They're going 15 and three. They have

a losing record. They have barely a 500 record with Zion. By the way, the Grizzlies record with John Morant in the lineup is better than Zion's record, the Pelicans records with Zion in the lineup. I mean, look, this doesn't matter.

A, it's a simulation. It does matter. But I just want to say, we already hit. hit early in the year before all this happened that the Pelicans had one of the easiest remaining schedules in basketball, which was why, despite the cushion from Memphis, there was reason for concern. 15 and 3? I know.

That's a bit much. I know. Do you know? It was for fun. Who cares? Let it go. Let's move on. Hey, take a guess in the last 20 years.

Take a guess how many under 500 teams have finished the season 15 and 3? I don't know. It's never happened. Probably zero. I don't know if you've done the research. It's zero. I have done the research. This was a personal affront.

Zach Cram simulated the season and this is what came out. He didn't make the choice. He just simulated it. Let me just say, whatever. It's, everybody agrees with you like what happened in Memphis. So, all right. It was a disgusting miscarriage of justice, which is what took place.

All right. There has not been. all that much news that's going on this week. Adam Silver, the commissioner of the NBA, ever the calming influence, did an interview with Rachel Nichols. I guess the biggest new development from that, you know, besides him saying, right, well, it's pretty clear the NBA really wants to finish the season, right? Like, we know that.

Like, if it's not, there's not a lot of cancellation talk. It is mostly, how do we figure this out? when we can and when the health professionals give us the okay. Beyond that, they talked about maybe putting on a charity game or something that could raise money with a group of players at some point as a diversion and for something for people to watch for entertainment sake.

And he said he's had a ton of players reach out to him about the possibility of something like that. So maybe that could happen and that would be cool, at least for people to be able to see some NBA basketball being played, whatever. But they're clearly talking. over everything that could possibly be done. And then it's just basically a, you know, you've got to wait and see until doctors,

health professionals, et cetera, clear them. But I guess my biggest takeaway was they obviously desperately want to finish the season some way, somehow this season and not have it just go by the wayside and this. And the last game we saw was the end. Yeah, I mean, I think everybody I've talked to the indication that I've received and Adam Silver said this himself publicly, right at the end of the, Right at the end of the interview, Rachel Nichols asked Adam any potential of canceling the season. He says, I'm not there yet. Maybe I'm in denial, but I'm just not there yet. And everybody I've talked to has echoed that. They haven't even really discussed that yet, despite the fact that it is a distinct possibility.

They're trying to come up with as many different ways as possible with any type of idea as possible. Like if you want to post your best ideas on Reddit for what to do to conclude the same. season, the NBA might check those out. They are an open book right now in terms of putting their ideas out there, which is why I'm reporting things and why I'm hearing things, and they're open to any type of ideas to conclude this season. Whether it's like a short of playoff series, as we discussed on Tuesday show, or whether it's using a play in tournament to finish up the regular season, who really knows. But the fact is, is that there is a chance in the end, they'll have to just press cancel. And there will be no 2020. champion and it's just going to end the way it has unfortunately.

But they're not there yet. I'm not an alarmist at all. I never have been. But there's a chance that this could be it for the season. We'll see how the next month plus goes and see how coronavirus continues to progress. But hopefully, hopefully the steps are taken by local governments, by state. governments and by the federal government to do everything in their power to to slow this down and eventually allow some senses of normalcy to resume during the summer and and hopefully one of

those things is some live basketball that we can all enjoy or even if it's short in playoff series whatever it is to to give us something to watch and give us something to all to rally around it would be great one thing that has been normal is you and i are still doing the podcast and will continue to do the podcast and we reached out to our listeners on the Tuesday episode to send us emails of any questions that you would like to have answered. It was beyond overwhelming. The amount of response that we got. And I will tell you that, yeah, incredibly kind emails.

And we are glad that so many of you are happy that we're going to continue to do the show while the season is not going on. And I must tell you, I texted you and Bobby Wagner last night, Kev, and I said, I am blown away. by how good the questions are. There were a ton, a ton of really good questions. We are going to try to get to as many as we can today on the episode. Bobby Wagner is going to tee them up for us, and then we will try to provide our answers as honestly as we possibly can. All right, guys, I'm going to start with one of my favorite questions,

which I thought was really in the vein of our show. Jason asks, out of all the arguments and disagreements, you two have had, which one is the most memorable? I got one right away, Chris. All right. A couple years back, the Raptors blow it up debate. This is, I think, from the 16, 17 season or maybe 17, 18, or maybe both. But that was at a time where they had Demarta Rosen and Kyle Lowry, and it seemed like they were just stuck.

And I wrote a whole article on The Ringer with the title, The Raptors are good, but if they want to be great, they might have to blow it up. And the point of the article was to say they might have to trade one of their two star players, but will they be able to do that? And would they even be able to find a great return for that guy? They need to start adding really nice young pieces now for this to work. And of course, you look back in hindsight and it's like they didn't, you know, they didn't have to blow it up because something magical happened. Kauai Leonard was outplayed only nine games and he demanded a trade. And I think looking back at that argument, you and I were sort of arguing in circles, Chris. We were both sort of arguing different things. I was making the point,

like I said, not a full blow up, but they might have to make a big trade. And no, neither of us ever could have expected, though, that they actually would have had an opportunity to trade for Kauai Leonard, even if the perspective was that they should just ride it out, which was what you were arguing because they had something good going and that shouldn't be devalued but neither of us ever could have expected it to resolve the way it did two that i well i could have expected it um two come on two that came to my mind were the bright future sons because that's become a thing right where it was just it was an article you wrote a long time ago and i goofed about it and it's become a thing ever since and so people use that all the time when they tweet and the other

one, which is one that I was, I was wrong about, which was still standing by, and you were right about it was earlier in this season, is the, you know, and I think there's, because there's always going to be a finality to things, and at the beginning of the season, after they had played 20 games or whatever, you were ready to declare the San Antonio Spurs dead. And I just refused after, I've done that. You know what I mean? Like, maybe it's just my, it's just a trigger warning with me in that for 20 years, I've seen people call them dead or that's the end of this or whatever else.

And I just was not going to believe it until I saw it. And I mean, I'm assuming that even if they resumed, they wouldn't end up going whatever, 15, 18 and 0 down the stretch, but you never know. But I think you're right. Like, that this actually was the end. Though we have tried to call at the end,

time and time again over the years, this actually was. And it will be the first time that we've seen them in the lottery in most people's basketball watching lifetimes. You know what I mean? Like I can't, I'm being serious, I can't remember a time. Who was their last lottery pick? I mean, if we take away the trades and everything, right? Like, Duncan?

It's probably Tim Duncan. Like, if we take away anybody they acquire. fired through tray. That had to be it, right? And that's 97. I mean, you know, it's, it is funny looking back at some of the more recent conversations like that. Because with the Phoenix Suns, my, my opinion from then is looking bad right now. I still think with Devin Booker, you have a real chance to be really, really good. But they're not close. Still, even after their a little hot streak at the beginning of the season. And with the Spurs, I remember when Shea Serrano turned on me after I wrote the article about

how, you know, the end of the Spurs dynasty should be coming. I remember besides Shea, I just remember a lot of Spurs fans and, you know, others who were just like, people always say this about the Spurs. And that's true. People always did. Like, as you just mentioned, you've heard it before. But I remember thinking when I read that, I was like, but this is like my first time ever writing about the Spurs.

You don't know that I was saying this back in 2012. The fact is that I remember as a fan back then before I was ever writing, before I was writing for the ringer, I remember thinking like Spurs, what are we talking about? They are still young. I mean, I think for me as a growing up a Patriots fan, it's been different than it has been for the Spurs, but the sustained success is something relatable.

And I feel like I've always sort of fairly gauged where the Patriots were and the championship contending pool of teams. and with the spurs, I feel like I sort of related to that in that sense where I looked at it, and I was like, let's not be premature here in declaring that the end is near. And with San Antonio, the end is here of their dynasty in the sense that they need to undergo so much change. And we'll see how some of these young guys develop. Like, DeJante Murray is really good, but he has so many holes offensively. And Derek White's really good, but can he be a lead ball handler?

they have questions on this team and they don't really have that guy yet and you hope Lonnie Walker can be that but San Antonio is entering a transitional transitional phase just like the Patriots are and I think for any Patriots or Spurs fan any fan that's lucky to watch a team win for 20 years good for you

you know good for you enjoy this time of transition because it can last a while you have to find time to enjoy it. All right what's the next Bobby? All right, in the same vein a little bit. Thaddeus asks, what are your top three list of teams that need to blow it up? Oh, that's for you, Kev.

So you and I have talked about this a little bit over the past year, Chris. And I think at one point you might have said to me, you used to want to blow up every team. And that was true. During the 2016-17 season, our first year doing this show together, I wanted to blow up a bunch of teams. I wanted to trade Jimmy Butler from Chicago. I wanted to trade Paul George from Indiana. I wanted to trade to Marcus Cousins from Sacramento. I wanted to blow up a lot of teams.

But I look at the league now, and I really genuinely have a hard time getting to three. Well, then here I'll help you. Hey, let's switch roles. There's two. There's two. Number one, Detroit. And they already started. No, no.

No, no. But this is the thing. This is the thing that blow out. How are you going to blow up Detroit? No, I'm talking about getting rid of the veteran guys on that team, right? Who's taking Blake Irfan? I don't know. People say this about every player.

They say this about every player, right? Who's taking Ryan Anderson? I don't know. When there are ticks attached, people end up taking other contracts on. This is like, this is the source of our arguments years ago. My point would blow it up is trading guys before they lose all value. You can't blow up Detroit. There's nothing to blow up.

Sure there is. The first thing you do is they already got rid of Reggie Jackson. They already got rid of Drummond and now you get rid of Blake Griffin. For scraps. For nothing. And Drummond, they got rid of Big. That's what blowing it up is. If you want to call it blow it up, sure.

I'm not interested in like just little toys getting blown up. I'm not, I'm talking about big teams that have good players. And because they didn't go full bore with it, the other one is Cleveland. I mean, they're season. became a debacle because they ended up keeping veterans around. And then the veterans turned on B-line and, you know, infected that locker room. And so now you've got to try to, you know, find a- You're talking about blowing up the force team in the East.

There's nothing to blow up. But there is stuff to blow up, though. That's what's holding them back. Like, just go into the-dedicate yourself. If you're going to be shitty anyway, dedicate yourself to the entire rebuild. I lived through this once upon a time where people were like, why would the Grizzlies trade Powell Gasalt?

They sucked anyway. What does it matter? So that's the problem. Why the hell you got Kevin Love on your team? Why the hell you got Tristan Thompson on your team? Why the hell you got, you know, you had J.R. Smith that you send them home. Like, you have these guys on your team,

like move off of that. Even if it means you got to take back some stuff that you don't necessarily want to take. If you are going to commit to it, then commit to it. don't try to half ass it. How is it that you're the one proposing to blow up teams out?

I'm like, I don't got anything. No, because I'm talking about two teams that already suck. Those are the ones that I think you should blow up. You talk about blowing up good teams. Because that's the point. No, good teams become better.

Because you're talking about getting value. That's the whole point in blowing it up. You can look at, who can look at a team like Oklahoma City and say to yourself, yes, they should probably try to trade Chris Paul. But who's going to trade for him?

I think they should try to trade Chris Paul to the next to the This is the difference between us They should try to trade Stephen Adams I augment good teams I e what the Raptors did Ie being desirable for Kauai to even go there in L.A. Because they were pretty good because you never know that stuff can happen.

Yeah, it can. So don't blow up something good when it can be augmented to maybe be great and the same way L.A. You would have professed for them to blow it up being the eight seed because who cares about being the eight seat, but instead it enabled them to get great players in the off season. I blow up shitty teams. You blow up good ones. No, no, wait a minute. What do you, what do you know? I'm not, I'm honestly not even

interested in entertaining this, but I'm not sure what you're saying with L.A. What do you mean? I don't think you and I have the same definition of blow it up because with the Clippers, they were not even a blow it up candidate. I don't even look at the, the cavaliers and say they were a blow it up candidate. The pistons are a blow it up candidate, but they can't blow it up because nobody's gonna bite on Blake or what you get for Blake is just peanuts.

The Clippers last season were not a blow-it-up team. They were a young, up-and-coming team. They were building the right way. It's just about making moves and making good additions. They were not... This is how I have changed you, though.

You don't ever say there's no good teams. When we first started doing this show, you were blowing up good teams. You don't blow up good teams anymore. Indiana? Indiana was a good team, but Paul George is a free agent in two years. That's why I wanted to trade him. No, no, I'm saying now.

Jimmy Butler was on a Chicago Bulls team, soon to be free agents. That's worked out well. Yeah, it hasn't worked out well. You're right. But how has it worked for Indiana? I'm saying right now, how has it worked for Sacramento? This is how you have changed. This is how you have changed.

There's not one good team that you look at now and you say would blow up. No, because right now we're in a cycle where these guys aren't there free agency. If you asked me, if you talked to me in two years, maybe I'll feel differently about Houston. You have started to see the value of making the playoffs. No, no, I haven't. There's value of making the playoffs. You used to say, if you're going to be the seven or eight seed, you might as well be terrible. It depends on where the team is in their life cycle. It depends on where the team is in their life cycle. Houston right now has James Harden locked up for four more years. You do not blow it up. Maybe in two years or three years

just think about that. You don't think about that now. You don't think about that with so many teams in the postseason right now, which have young guys on new contracts or their rookie deals right now. You look at Toronto with Siakam, just signed them. Boston still has guys on their rookie deals. Miami still has young players. Indiana still has young players or recently signed guys. Philadelphia, guys at the beginning of their deal. Up and down the line, teams right now are in the early contending life cycle. teams that we are interested, or I am interested in blowing up in the 2016-17 season, are towards the end of their life cycle with contention, with their star players nearing contention or getting towards a point where that trade demand is coming.

My intentions in that season a couple years back, we're getting ahead of that to maximize value. And right now, you look across the league, there are very few teams that you can even look at and think, oh, this team should trade this guy for sure, because, you get the Blake Griffin situations in Detroit where the guy has lost value. You get the OKC situations with Chris Paul where almost every team has a point guard and he's making so much money and he's old that it's tough to trade him. Or you got these younger teams that are really, really good that have guys signed for long

term or still on their rookie deals. There just aren't a lot of teams right now that you can look at. To answer the original question, I think you look at Portland. I think you look at San Antonio with Aldrich and DeRosen that they, perhaps should have done that before the deadline. You look at Oklahoma City. There's still other guys on that team, Gallinari, Stephen Adams, that you think about perhaps trading. But the value wasn't out there for either of those guys before the deadline this year. So it's more advantageous for them to keep trying to win. But the fact is, is that's something that those three teams

to answer the original question should be thinking about. But the fact is that there's no team right now that I look at and think it's a no-brainer that they blow it up. But we will get there in a year or two. I can't wait. I can't wait. Once upon a time, I have a recording of you saying who gives a shit about making the playoffs. I would still say that.

Who gives a shit about making the playoffs? No, but your argument was you would rather be a lottery team than to make a B's eight seed and losing four games. And I always describe to you the value of being the eight seed and losing because of the experience that you get, because of your team getting the home playoff games, because you are an entertainment entity that your fans want to watch? The seventh and eight seeds in the 1617 season, Indiana, Chicago, Memphis, Portland. The seven and eight season, the 2017-18 season.

Milwaukee, there's value. Washington. Well, maybe. San Antonio, Minnesota, team in transition there. 2018-19 season. Detroit, San Antonio, L.A. Clippers. Again, another good example there of the value in making it. But again, two of those teams from the past two seasons.

All of them have become shit for trading their best player after that. Almost all of them. Memphis is the one that has not. Minnesota, shit. Chicago, shit. All those teams. How's it turned out for those teams that were those seven and eight seeds? Milwaukee didn't and moved all the way up.

And now they're the best team in the league. Here's the thing. It's interesting. I love that you. named those off. Okay, let's just talk about Chicago for a second here. When it comes to wanting to make a trade or thinking that it would be a smart decision to make a trade, that does not mean that the decision that that team will make will end up being a good one. And I understand this may come off as some cop-out answer. But at the time when that deal happened,

on the night of the draft, I gave the Lowry Markeran and pick an F plus because of the trade being what I thought was poor value. The idea of trading Jimmy Butler was a good one. I don't like the trade that they ended up making in that draft.

And I think I look back at that and Lari has been really, really up and down. I still think it's absolutely insane that Chicago gave up a first round pick. But the idea of trading Jimmy Butler was correct. it's just it hasn't worked out in the deal that they made wasn't the type of deal that

you may be that they could have gotten out there from some other teams that were making offers so that's the way I feel with the Indiana deal when they made that thing that's where we break no that's where we break I don't believe trading one of the best players in the league in their prime okay or just let them or let them walk for nothing like you literally root for a team that just traded Mike Conley and Mark a soul and is having one of the funest seasons it's had And you can tell me that it's because they lucked out won the lottery. And that's partially true. But it's also partially.

It is partially true. But they also traded. But they also traded those guys and got worse and got assets back in return. Bro, let me tell you something. They suck if they conveyed their pick to Boston like they were supposed to last year. Instead of conveying their pick and not having that pick, they ended up with frigging John Morant. Yep. Like, it's not partly. Because because there's higher value with having high draft picks.

They didn't have a high draft pick. Well, they did. They had the number two pick in the draft. They won the lottery. But there's higher, there's higher value in having. Do you know what their odds were? Let me rephrate.

Let me refrait. Yes, their odds were pretty good because of the new draft lottery odds. Your odds are better. You don't need to tank as much. And also one other thing I want to hit. They won 30 something games. One other thing I want to hit. one of the thing part of the reason again for in those early years for us doing the show the

2017 draft the 2018 draft the 2019 draft were all all had guys that you would want to tank for or guys that were higher value this year's draft i don't feel as strongly about i don't think that there's there's that guy that you necessarily want to tank for this in this year's draft you might end up with the number one pick and you're signing a rookie that's going to make 10 million dollars in his first year because of the rookie skill contracts. And you might, you may have a poor value rookie young player immediately. It may be better in this year's draft that end up having the eighth pick or the ninth

pick or the 17th pick. Every single draft class is different. And that's all part of the evaluation process. So you can look at it the way you want to with me saying team should blow it up. Or you can look at it the way I'm looking at it and looking at a team in their life cycle and what the actual other alternative options are. are. It's not A or B. There's so much to it in terms of evaluating whether a team should pull the plug on trading really, really, really good players. It depends on so much. It's not

just, oh, a team's the sixth seed. Oh, they're not good enough. No, it's not that. It's way more than that. All right. Well, as soon as you can find the team that blew it up and it worked out great for them in the last 10 years, by all means, because I suppose you're the shining example for all of you, paper basketball fans is the, is the Sixers. Paper basketball fans. And the Sixers are, oh, 60. It's a good thing they lost 700 games. Would you say what the Celtics did in 2013 was blowing it up, trading Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett?

No. And would you, you wouldn't say that's, well, why's not not blowing it up? Did even, even our boss, Bill Simmons, hated that trade. I mean, that was at the end. So many Celtics fans hated that trade. They're like, let's go, let's make another. run. Let's make another one. That's what people were saying. That's not blowing. That's not blowing it up, but trading Blake Griffin on his broken knees.

There's blowing it up. Come on. Be serious. No, no, no. I'm saying if you already suck, then just suck completely. They didn't. Oh, okay. Right. All right. Like I said, we have different definitions. Did the Celtics ever suck? All right. Let's move on to other better questions. Bobby, Bobby, I'm ready for the next one. All right. Now that we went 15 minutes on one question. Let's do something that you guys can't possibly argue about. This comes from Sahan. they ask, can you guys talk a bit about your past and how life as a sports analyst came about? All right. I'll go quick. I went to college in a small town in Tennessee where my family, my parents were from. I went there and it was a small enough school that I guess my sophomore year, I became interested.

I took a media class, like a sports reporting class, and I liked it. And then I went and I did it on, they had like, you know, you would be on camera, like doing like, uh, you know, they had all the setup, like TV and radio there. And so I called basketball games for the college basketball team. And then I did the TV stuff. And then I did my own TV show at the college for the college, uh, campus station, whatever. Um, I like doing that a lot. And then I interned twice in the summer. I interned at a sports radio station in St. Louis. and I interned for a minor league baseball team, which I absolutely, in media relations, and I hated it. And I then got out of college. The closest big city was Memphis, which is where I still live. And I got a job out of college at the local sports radio station,

just working behind the board, doing anything they would ask me to do. I mean, if it was high school football games, that I had to go do remotes for whatever, You know, minimum wage gig. And then I basically like the long, the long story short is I worked my way up. I started doing, they let me do shows on the weekend where I could kind of practice and be terrible. And then I moved to being a co-host and then got my own show.

God, I don't know, like a long ass time ago. And then I've been in radio for, I guess, 20 years. So that was it. Yeah. That's how I got the gigs. And then obviously I had, the Grizzlies came to Memphis the year after I moved. And so I looked around in the landscape of what was going on in the city.

And there was, there was people that did SEC football. There's people that were the Tigers guy. There was a guy that was the history guy. But I knew from that point, like no one could ever say they went to more grizzly stuff or were at, you know, nobody had an advantage when it came to that. I was never going to be able to match all the reference points that people had for so many

different sports things that had gone on. And so I just dove in and started covering the NBA whenever that was. And then I think everything's pretty well come from that. And then, you know, to be honest, almost everything's come for that. The reason I'm at the ringer, I think to this day is because, I met Bill during the Western Conference finals. He was working for ABC, him and Jalen.

And I was buddies with Zach Lowe. And I was with Zach. And then through him, I met Bill and Jalen. And then I had communicated with Bill throughout the years. And he would come on my local radio show and whatnot. And then once upon time, he talked to me about doing this. And so that's how I got here. I was a psychology major in college and I had a communications minor.

And I noticed at my college that you only had to take like three more classes in communications to get the major. So I was like, uh, why not use those? I was like my elective classes to get enough credits for the final term. And, you know, and I didn't know really what I wanted to do. I think my whole life I've always, I've always had interest in working in. sports when I was a teenager. I was like, oh, maybe it would be cool to be a sports agent or something like that. And, you know, maybe it, maybe it would be cool to, to work for a team or, or work for a website or something like that. I just never, I never really ever knew the path to get there, you know.

And then I, um, over the summer of, uh, 2012, I, um, I, there was like this little contest that Tommy Curran of NBC Sports Boston, a long-time Patriots writer, unbelievable beat writer. Bill Simmons has had him on his podcast. Great guy, great analyst. He's the best. He had like this little contest or you answer a question. You get to go to this Patriots talk event where he would be at and other Boston

sports media personalities would be at. So I entered that and I answered correctly and got to go to that with my dad. And that was in August 2012. and there, there are some people from NBC Sports Boston who were like, I asked around like, hey, do you have like job opportunities? How do I get an internship? And they're like, oh, you just apply on our website. I'm like, oh, okay. So I applied on the website and did a interview there with Maury Levine, who, I remember, I remember during that interview, it was questions like, named the Boston Red Sox starting lineup. Can you name the Patriots offensive linemen? And like, I'm

like just nailing it. I'm thinking of myself like, wait a minute, this is an interview. I feel like I'm having a, you know, this doesn't feel like an interview at all. And I got the interview.

Mori made a joke. He's like, your, your pay is going to be like $100,000. I'm like, what? He's like, no,

actually, it's unpaid. And this is before. They pay their interns now for what it's worth. But I was so happy to do it. it didn't matter to me. I mean, I was living at home at the time and which I'm thankful about that having that cushion was able to allow me to take an unpaid internship and busted my ass there and then someone there, Andy Levine, towards the end of my internship, uh, it was around this time

seven years ago, March, like 27th or something like that. No, March 26th, seven years ago. And he's like, so what are you going to do after this internship is over? And I was like, I, I don't know. I don't know, I'd like to work for you guys. And he's like, well, we don't hire people that are, that just finished up their internships. And so he's like, so what are you going to do? I mean, I don't know. You tell me. I didn't really know. And he sort of, he sort of made that path clear in that conversation. He said, well, do you like to do video or writing more? And I told him, I like to do writing more. And he's like, okay, well, then why don't you apply to write for a blog? Do you like doing Celtics or Patriots more? And I said either, but probably Celtics,

because I feel like I'm better able to analyze basketball than I am football. And even though I really love football too. And he said, okay, then apply to write for Celtics blog.com from SB Nation. And I was like, wait a minute, Celtics blog. I've read that site for a long time now. Isn't that a real website? He's like, no. People like your age who blog on that site and people who do it for fun.

And so I applied and got that. And then from there, just things sort of snowballed. And eventually the ringer, Chris Ryan contacted me. and a lot of opportunities before that kind of led to Chris contacting me because of my draft guide that I did for three straight years by myself. And they liked that and they gave me an opportunity. And here we are. I mean, it's pretty wild. It's all,

none of it feels real, really. But I'm just thankful for all the opportunities and the people along the way, the great connections that I've met that have sort of led to, led to this. I was talking right now, Chris. What you got, Bobby? all right i really like this one this one comes from ben it's uh what are your pick up hoops NBA comparisons for yourselves and who are your favorite role players of all time i guess he's insinuating that you guys would be role players and pick up hoops that's hurt that hurts ben i would i would be a a bent warmer still i'm not good at basketball i'm not i hustle i i play hard

um i box out i set screens the problem is is that you know i i i just i don't have a good jump shot. I don't have good handles. I used to have a good jump shot like when I was in seventh grade and then it fell apart. I think I would compare myself to like a Glenn Davis. Big baby Glenn Davis.

I'm gonna. I will go on the I will go role player front and it's going to make you laugh. It would be like Eddie House. That's a throwback. Oh yeah. I would

and I'm, and I'm, and I'm, going to take them. Like if they are available, I'm not passing them up. Yes. I used to love Eddie House. I would say like Eddie House, like any of those guys that would just come off and you know they're shooting it when they get it. It's not like I'm not going to pass. But if I'm open, I'm going to shoot it.

And we pick two NBA champions from the same team, the 0708 Celtics. Oh, yeah. Well, much like Eddie House, I might make five. in a row, but I might miss all five in a row. So you're either going to love me or you're going to hate me, depending upon that. Role players, how about this? Another one from that team, Kevin. Tony Allen and Shane Batier are my two favorite role players of all time in the NBA. It's not even close. I got to know both of them personally over the years. I like them as people. I love them as players. Those are my kind of guys. So Batier and TA for sure. I'm not sure he counts as a role player.

but he's definitely not a great player or even good player. But I used to love watching Ricky Davis. I used to love watching him with Boston and Minnesota and then L.A. right at the end of his career. Granted, he wasn't really playing as much then. But those Boston and Minnesota years, I really, really loved watching Ricky Davis. And before that, I think he was in Cleveland the year before Boston.

I probably remember correctly. So that's stretch of time. I just loved watching Ricky Davis. score. It was a lot of fun. Yeah. Ricky Davis. There you go. All right. Kevin, I got a question for you. You said your jump shot fell apart after seventh grade.

Do you think maybe you should have switched hands? That's the thing. He shoots with the wrong hand. No, just playing. All right. Let's do a couple pop culture questions. So a lot of people ask for music recommendations from both of you guys. I'm going to tell you this.

I'm going to shock you, I think, with something. the album that I think over the course of the last month, I've probably like just turned on and listened to all the way through the most amount of times is, I think it's going to shock people. Halsey. It is awesome. Great.

This one that came out like maybe a month ago, it is great. And it is a different experience to listen to it all the way through. But she is one hell of a songwriter. I was shocked at how much I loved this thing. I think this album is great, great. So a Halsey one, which I just came across because it was a big, you know, obviously she's mega famous.

I turned it on one day and started listening to it. And it kept on playing all the way through. And the whole thing is so damn good. It is. She's great. I have not heard her new album yet. I love it. I have it on my list to check out.

I love it. You're right. She is very talented. And I'm going to give a. shout out to some guys that listen to us, who I do know, a Memphis band who's got, they've gotten bigger and bigger. Like, Taylor Swift's got her on, like, her Spotify list. And, like, they're starting to get some love.

The band Camino. And a couple of their guys are big ringer NBA show guys. And they are, they're kind of like, like, I like these bands that are kind of doing like the 80 sound throwback. Like, you could turn it on. It kind of sounds like a, like, aha, or Peter Gabriel. or that kind of like how the 1975 does. Because I like the 1975 a lot too.

But the band Camino, I've listened to that a lot. They've got one album out that's come out, and I like it quite a bit. Because I like, it's like harmony and melody, which is always good. But it's kind of got that 80s sound. So it's just something different than what I'm used to normally. Do you like country, Chris? I do. So one album I would recommend for you is from Jonathan Wilson.

All right. The album, Dixie Blur. Jonathan Wilson is this outstanding musician who's toured with multiple bands over the years, including Roger Waters from Pink Floyd and his album in 2018 Rare Birds is one of my favorite albums of that year. And this year, Dixie Blur is really low-key, you know, softer rock with country vibes. And that's been one of my real favorite albums to listen through, start to finish this year. I think in terms of singles that have come out, not full albums yet,

they've been on the show before. My buddies in the band Mount Joy, Mount Joy has released, I think four or five singles off their upcoming album later this year. And each of them have been really, really, really strong. I think for Mount Joy,

like this is going to be a step forward for them in terms of like gaining new fans around the world. Like their first Elm self, uh, self-titled Mount Joy is awesome. And that's something to listen to from start to finish. And of the new songs, I think strangers is worth like really starting out with or or rearrange us or every holiday.

Those three tracks are really good. You might like those too, Chris. I mean, like those those like, I mean, it's not country, but like it's good. It's good in Iraq. So you might enjoy them. It's funny because you brought up the country thing. My favorite guy that I've heard like over the last six months. months to a year is this guy named Colter Wall. Coulter Wall, he sounds like, you know, almost like

a Johnny Cash type of thing. And his voice is crazy. I heard this guy, Coulter Wall, and I loved it. And I went and looked him up, and he's like in his 20s. So he's in my same vein. He sounds nothing like he looks. And he's in his young 20s. He's from Canada, too. and he's going to end up becoming really big. He is great. Just going to rattle off a couple other songs that I have in my 2020 best of playlist. The song Marbles by the band Snarls. The song Headaches by Ravena.

The new Wild Nothing album is really good. The new J-song, a song called A Thousand Words is really good. She released an album last year. that is fantastic. Anakko that you've got to check out. King Princess, Her Elm last year, Cheap Queen. I don't love the album through,

but there are some real highlights on that elm, like the song Prophet. Post Animal, just released an album that's really, really strong called Forward Motion Goddessy. And my favorite song off that album is How Do You Feel?

That album's outstanding. There's a moment in that song that reminds me so much. In fact, I would be shocked if it weren't inspired by a moment in the song, Echoes by Pink Floyd. It's kind of a jam section of the song. It's fantastic. Great song, great album. A lot of good music out there this year.

Perfume Genius, Yeagie, Best Coasts. I mean, there's just so much out there right now. I think it's a really good. time for music. You are at home at the ringer, aren't you? You are at I mean, I never heard any of these people. I don't know. I mean, I don't know.

You don't listen to like, like popular music, right? Look, I mean, here's the thing. I feel like there was a time of my life when I was a real classic rock snob. All I listened to was Jimmy Hendrix and Pink Floyd. And I used to think modern music sucked. And I look back at that time and I hear other people say that. And I would say that

without really even giving a listen to modern music or I wasn't even looking at a form. I wasn't looking for new music. But I think it's great to, there's nothing better than finding something new, right? Like when you're a kid, everything's new. Everything's exciting. But as you get old or things become regular and the days, you know, start to fall into a loop. But it's really fun to discover new music that you really enjoy. Yeah, and I've really found enjoyment and finding new stuff, whether it's from recommendations from friends or coworkers like Matt James and Corey McConnell. There's so many, you know, people like super, super into music. My friend Sean you from the ringer, like always dropping stuff in our chat rooms and are looking on

Reddit or whatever. It's fun to get that enjoyment of finding new music. Well, I also, this morning on my way, I listened to the Weekend's new album that came out last night. He's very famous. I love him. I think he is great. I do. I love the weekend. Oh, it's great. He's always just torn up over something. I love it. I love it. I love it. And some of those singles that he's put out right now, I mean, those would be a hit from the Anytime if that song came, that blinding light song, that song could have come out any time in the last 40 years and it had been a hit. He's got some bangers.

Man, it's good. It's good. I like him. Today's episode of the Ringer NBA show is brought to you by Microsoft Teams. Hey, NBA show fans, we all know meetings. Struggling to pay attention. Files seem impossible to find. Luckily, there's a solution for all the meeting-related issues that we constantly complain about. Welcome to the new slam dunk to work together. Microsoft Teams. Using Microsoft Teams is one play that's guaranteed to work every time.

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Let's rapid fire a few real quick right here. All right. Eric asks, who ends their Bucks or Bucks' careers? So Bucks with the CS and Bucks with a CKS careers with more titles, Tom Brady or Yannis. Oh, well, this has to be like,

look, the best guess, they probably both end up with zero if we're playing the odds. I mean, if we're playing the odds here. If we're playing the odds here, but. Janus is the answer.

Yeah, Janus, if you're playing the odds. Come on. In reality, of course, it's Tom Brady. Ah, I mean, what's the maximum he could win? Probably one or two. I would say max is three for Tom Brady. What? Oh, my God.

Jesus. Come on, Kev. Why? Peyton Manning. Did you see the last Super Bowl? He won? He won because of defense. the bucks have a great defense i'm not yeah yeah who no they don't no you're just we're speaking in

theoreticals no we're not we're we know what team he's playing for we're not talking about him on a mystery team i'm not like we know who he's playing for i'm not saying he's gonna win three rules i'm saying you ask what's the max three three more years i mean in all anyway oh when he wins three in a row yeah In all likelihood, he just wins one more, and that's it. In all likelihood, in all likelihood, he doesn't win anymore. I'm saying if you're talking maximum, like if there's one, if there is one more, you said one or two, I'm saying three's the max.

But in all likelihood, it would just be one more, if any. Hey, you probably should have switched that, Bobby, and asked who will win more, um, uh, Janus or, uh, Jared Stidham? would it be hilarious if Jared Stidham is like absolutely unbelievable and then every and then and and and Tom Brady stinks in Tampa and everybody's like oh my god it was Belichick that would be wild I hope that doesn't happen it will not it will not happen don't worry I don't think it will Tommy's still going to be put up big numbers all right next up Ryan asks yes specifically for Chris but I this I think this applies to both you guys he wants to know if you were to ever leave Memphis what's a city you'd like to

try living in. And I guess, Kev, what's the city you want to live in that you've never lived in before? All right. I've lived in three. I grew up in New York. My father, we moved because of his job to St. Louis when I was in fourth grade. And then I lived in St. Louis until I went to college. And I've lived in Tennessee forever now. I actually, you know, this ties back into the job thing. I did go through the phase where I was offered to move many, many, many times. And I saw the internet exploding and I thought, you know what? I like where I am.

I like it. I like where I am. I love the city. I love that the MBA is here. I'm comfortable. And the internet is going to make it so that I don't have to live in a big market. When I first was coming up, you had to live in a New York, Chicago, L.A., one of these.

But I do think the Internet made the world a smaller place. If I ever had to move, if I ever had to, it would be somewhere where it's sunny all the time, where the weather's always great. So you're talking like Southern California, maybe? Yeah, like, I tell you this, the prettiest place I've ever visited was San Diego. It was unbelievable.

My God. I remember leaving there being like, I can't even believe that's it almost didn't even feel like reality this is how long ago this was too it was the friggin bucks raider super bowl I covered that super bowl what year is that that's uh jeez John Gruden John Gruden oh that was the oh two oh three season if I remember correctly yeah I was I was there I was there for in San Diego that week and every day I mean that is frigging what January February every day I woke up I walked out on the porch in my room, you know, there was like a balcony in the room and I'd walk out there and it's like, people didn't even have shoes. Like, there are people that didn't even own shoes there. Like, all they owned was flip-flops. And I'm like, what a world. I mean, then you fly back home. It was two degrees. And I don't even, I live in the south. I don't even live in the northeast.

So it'd be somewhere where it's sunny all time. I mean, so I, I'm between Los Angeles, California, where I moved to in 2018 and Massachusetts, Brockton, Massachusetts, where I grew up and where my mom still lives. And so I'm here now in Massachusetts. I would, I mean, I haven't been to San Diego yet. I want to do a road trip there with some friends, whenever all this, you know, goes away what's happening now. San Diego would theoretically be on that list.

I think somewhere in Arizona, I really like Arizona. It has the beautiful weather. It's still close proximity to a lot of places. That would be on the list too. I think New York would be on it just because it's a great city. It's an amazing city. But I really love it there, but I'm not sure I'd want to live there. I would like to try it out, though.

I'd like to see what it's like. But right now I don't see myself ever leaving Los Angeles. I really love it there. I could do it. I could do New York. I love it. I love it too. I love New York.

I've got like severe like. like ADD, right? So like the it's just the action, man. I just feel like I'm in the middle of it all that's going on, you know? It's a good feeling. I mean, New York, I mean, look, I love Los Angeles, but one thing New York has that LA doesn't, New York feels like there's like a beating heart. It feels like it's a living, breathing city. And that's unlike anywhere else I've yet to be. And I'm not super well traveled. I've only

been out of the country twice to Toronto for the NBA finals. And once to Montreal for a trip for a trip with friends years ago. I'm not well-traveled. But New York is unlike anywhere else that I visited in terms of just that living, it felt like a living, breathing organism. And by the way, they don't even have any sports left in San Diego. That's a tough one for me. They got the Padres. That'd be like after I retire. Like baseball with me sitting right here. Hey, hey, hey, like I said, Bobby. Oh, wow. The Padres are actually good. Come on. Let's get serious. They're, they're

an up-and-coming team. They're the bright future sons of the MLB. Look, when your highest selling jersey is still Tony Gwen, you got an issue. Verno would want to blow them up. I don't even not. Chris Vernon just wants to blow out baseball.

Blow it up baseball. All right. Any more rapid fires? Yeah, yeah, one real quick one. And then we'll do a couple more and then we've got to get out of here. Last rapid fire one from Levi. What is the most memorable performance by a player you've ever seen in person? Oh, I got, all right, I got three. Number one, and it's by a wide, wide margin, is 2011 playoffs.

The first time the Spurs were declared dead forever, when the eight-seed Grizzlies knocked them off, and in game six, Zach Randolph had 31 points, he had 17 in the fourth quarter and became absolutely positively unguardable. And I have never been in an arena like that in my life, I probably never will. And they won the series. And people were cheering. As the first time that they had won a series, he was out of control great. And people were chanting zibo, Zeebo throughout the hallways of the arena. That one, weirdly, a college basketball performance, I was there the night it was Deeran Fox versus Lonzo Ball. And Deeran Fox scored 39. And I've

never seen anything like that in a college game ever it was i mean high stakes a sweet 16 game and it was the matchup fox versus lanzo and fox just annihilated him it was unbelievable and then uh the other one that i would mention is actually a boxing match i saw roi jones junior get knocked out by gl by glen johnson and i it was one of the most shocking things i ever saw yeah i know he had already lost Antonio Tarver, but it was just, everybody thought that that was just a lucky punch. But Glenn Johnson was a literal nobody and knocked him out. And it was the, uh, it was one of craziest things I ever saw. First one that comes to mind for me is Isaiah Thomas scoring 53 points in the 2017 NBA playoffs against the Wizards. That was shortly after his sister had passed away.

he had lost a tooth. He'd been dealing with injury at the time. Just everything leading up to that game, like whether he would even be able to play after having surgery, like I said, dental surgery, after his sister passes away, playing with pain. And then he just carries the team on the back the way he did. It was an emotional game for all those reasons.

And I'll just never forget the feeling in that crowd, just how loud it was. I can't imagine what the decibel levels was in the crowd that night, but it was a very emotional experience. And that's something I'll never forget. And just two more quick ones. Game one of the 2018 NBA finals when LeBron James scored 51 points and the Cavaliers lost. That was the game with the J.R. Smith meme.

Oh, that was that game. That LeBron game, it felt like it was him versus them. And he was in he was up to it. Yeah, it was one of the most unbelievable performances I'll ever see in my life. And then since you picked a non-basketball one that this made this come to mind, it's not an individual player, more so just a moment. I was at the game in April 2007 when the Red Sox hit four home runs in a row against the New York Yankees. And I mean, I was there with my dad.

And every single time there's the home run, the crowd got progressively loud. Louder. It was Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Loll, and then Jason Veritech. And the crowd after the Veritech home run just blew up. It was insane in Fenway Park. And I'll just never forget that moment because that was really sort of at the peak of the Red Sox Yankees rivalry, which is still obviously and always going to be a thing. But I don't think it's quite as strong as it was from 2002 through 08, 09. That was a really amazing time to be a baseball fan. especially a fan of the Red Sox or Yankees. All right, Bobby, get to the last couple of these

and then we will certainly continue this next week because we got hundreds of questions. So many. Yeah, we got a bunch of good ones still to get to. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to continuing next week. Let's do another NBA one. Let's do what is your favorite personal NBA alternate history or sliding doors moment?

So this comes from Nicholas. Bill Simmons has talked a lot about the sliding doors moments. What do you guys have specific ones that you? you think are the most impactful or your personal favorites? One that comes to mind, like, maybe it's just because we mentioned him, but I wonder in an alternate universe, what happens if LeBron never leaves Cleveland from Miami? What if he's, what if he goes the route where he's like, I'm staying in Cleveland my whole career? Do they ever build a championship team around him? Do they ever get the assets to add the guys? Or do they

continue being like right on the cusp? But we're looking back at LeBron. now as a guy with like just one championship or maybe does he have no championships. I guess that's something I look back at. And I just wonder if LeBron ended up being one of those lifers like a like we've seen with others, Duncan, Kobe and Dirk. What if LeBron had gone that path? How different would his career look and how different would we assess him as one of the greatest players of all time?

I mean, the first one when I read this, the first one that came to my mind is if Jordan doesn't leave. So similar to me then. We're talking about two of the greatest. Yeah. If he does it, what if the baseball thing never happens? Do they win all of them? Do they, right? You know what I'm saying? Does he just, he just lose his mind and go so fed up after the next one? And so those next three never happened? Right? Because he had like thought about retirement. He's ready to walk away. He had the dad thing going on. He wanted to play baseball. Like, what if that never, what if he never walked off? What would have happened? Because we do consider him, you know, in most course, the greatest of all time. and it's like there is this odd, you know, interlude, you know, in his career. Do they win the last three?

Does he end up winning six? Like if that just never happened, if they went on to the next season like normal, who knows? I mean, obviously, NBA history, it would not have been the same. I think we would, no matter what we think, it would not have been the same. and the question is does he leave there because he's so sick of it and he can't take it anymore does he win both of those and so then he's got eight um i don't know you know what i mean one more that that comes to mind uh since we just talked about him a little bit earlier is what if the clippers never blow it up and trade d'andre jordan and blake griffin before

like fans are really ready to do that what happens? Like does that mean Kauai Leonard doesn't end up with the clippers? Does that mean Paul George doesn't end up with the clippers? Where are those guys? What do the clippers look like now? They don't have Shagildos Alexander. Are they still a bottom feeding team?

If they don't make those trades, are they stuck with DJ and Blake Griffin? That's one team I look at that's sort of right there at the top of the league with the bucks in the Lakers, right there in championship contention for the next couple years now. Where are they? If they don't make that very difficult decision in trading Blake Griffin months after resigning him to a new deal. Where do they look like? Is Chris Paul still there?

I don't know. No. I mean, he's not, right? He was already gone. Yeah, he was already gone. Paul is the one. Paul is the one to me. That trade was in 2017 season, correct?

No, but that's what? If he's still there and he's, you know, I mean, obviously he was fantastic and won a lot with the Rockets, and then he's been fantastic, and he's won with the Oklahoma City, right? What if they just hold on to him the whole time? Chris Paul was traded at the 2017 summer. Blake Irfan was re-signed the 2017 summer and traded before the 2018 deadline.

Yeah, well, Paul's the lynchpin to me. You know what I'm saying? Like, if he never goes and plays in Houston, does what happens with Hardin, what happens with all of it? And truth be told, how about this? That's the ultimate one. that whole Paul going once upon a time to the Lakers, which was Nix.

Sure. I mean, that's a big one. I mean, what is the world like then? And I guess Gassall was going to Houston and all that stuff that got, you know, David Stern stepped in when he was running the Hornets and Nixed. It's still pretty wild in hindsight that that actually happened. Oh, incredibly. Because it wasn't a bad deal.

You know, worst trades have been approved. One of the other thing is it's like, you know, typically your owner is the one that steps in and says, What the hell are you talking about? No, we are not doing that. And in this case, it happened to be the commissioner of the NBA that is playing the role of the owner. And no, no. What is wrong with you? We are not doing that.

And so the commissioner acting as if he is an owner of one of the NBA franchises and then saying that trade sucked. we're not doing it is truly unbelievable. There should be a 30 for 30 on that. You know Daryl would love to be a part of it. I'm sure. Yep. All right. Any more, Bobby? Yeah, let's do one final question.

Let's do some life advice for Jeff. He writes, Chris, you're married with kids, which is what I dream to have in my life. And Kevin, you're young and single like me. I'm 26 and want to meet someone. How am I supposed to do that with these lockdowns lasting for months or even possibly a year? The internet!

What are we talking about? He says, do I have to resort to online dating? Yes. What? What? Yeah, I think I think yes, but to answer your question, I mean, I was thinking about this the past week because I wonder if some connections will be stronger going into that first date now. If somebody, if somebody connects on Tinder or Instagram, if someone has a little bit of a spark and a connection through. whatever their initial conversation is, but they don't want to meet because they can't.

I wonder if maybe going into that first date, it's going to be a little bit different for those people instead of like just meeting one night, then going to get drinks, like hours later. This is where I get to become the old guy. And you guys will love this. Does this give a better foundation, Chris? I believe it can, certainly, because of the conversations that you can have. And you have access to talk to people that you would never have talked to prior to.

This is where I get to become the old guy, you know. We used to have to go meet girls. As he had to do, you had to go meet the girls in person and then impress them or make them laugh or whatever it may be if you were interested in them. Hit it off with them and go out. Like you can meet people online now. Like, and there are all manner of sites in order to be matched up with people online. Ones that you can type in, here's what I like. Here's what I'm my interest.

here, whatever. Like these, they give you like tests now on some of these. And they try to match you up with people. But still, despite all, like, it is better for initially meeting people. But I think to Jeff's point in the original question, he in all likelihood must feel more comfortable meeting in person exactly as you're just describing. It is a more organic experience. And I think with online dating, with online dating, sometimes it's going to feel more artificial. But I would say this, you know, my first girlfriend, was a long distance relationship. And we were friends online for like three, four years.

And, you know, we met in real life for a week. I broke up with her shortly after that, like months after that, just, you know, just sort of fizzled out. But, you know, I think dating online, doing long distance can be difficult, but it is doable. And I think, you know, talking to someone online, if this theoretically is a worst case scenario, and this lasts for like 14 months.

I don't, I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing for people to be chatting for that amount of time and then meeting afterwards. Or if like you both get tested and neither of you have it, we're able to do a road trip and meet each other or whatever. I don't think, I don't think this precludes you from meeting people, whether it's long distance or whether it's somebody in your town.

Because it's kind of, it's nice to chat. You can FaceTime now. You know what I mean? Plus you got a easy, so many ways. You got like a super easy icebreaker, right? Man, this is crazy, huh? Wow, you get some real game.

One of my friends texted me, his line, which I don't, it's definitely not working, but I've been asking every girl if they want to get quarantined together. I've been saying people out here catching coronavirus, but I'm just catching feelings for you. Oh my God. It's so bad. It's so bad. That's why y'all are texting each other. It's so bad.

That is not going to work. So to Jeff, don't do that. I don't know. I mean, it's like a dad joke, you know, but.

Yeah, it's kind of funny. I think that would be fun. I think you would probably want the kind of girl that would laugh about that. Yeah, I think so too. Even though Bobby booed. I mean,

it's so, because it's so over the top corny, man. It is over the top corny. But here's the thing. I think this is the thing, right? You want to meet somebody who you don't have to like change the fundamentals of who you are.

There's always compromise in a relationship. But if you feel like you get to be somebody different than you are with a person, then that person's just not for you. There you go. They're just not for you. That's something I've sort of realized over the years. And granted, I don't, I definitely don't have the most extensive dating experience. But, you know, there's just certain relationships or people you meet where I'm like,

I don't feel like I can be my total self. And I mean, look, you've virtually become. And with the amount of hours you spent watching The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, you're virtually an expert. I mean, I'll say this about Bachelor and Bachelorette. I'm always shocked watching these dating shows, the amount of people who are like, oh, my God, he's so open and vulnerable with me. And I'm like, wait a minute, is it unusual for somebody not to be open about their feelings and the way they feel and the way they think about stuff in the world or about themselves or what their relationship is? And the answer is, yes, people usually are close. closed off. And I guess, I mean, as somebody who, like, I've, you know, let my whole life out there the

past year, you know, with family stuff, I've just always been surprised by the amount of people on those shows who are really in shock by how people, you know, when it comes to dating, aren't open at all. But, you know, I guess it's understandable because it is, it is scary, obviously. It's scary to, you know, give yourself to somebody. What, when was it, Chris, that you feel like you found somebody like with your wife like when what was a moment or a date or a time where you guys were like or you were personally like wow this could be this could be the real deal here my story is odd so i met my wife at church camp when we were kids you know i mean i had a crush on her at camp and we did not like we would see each other you know maybe once in the summer

or something like that but then after i got out of college everything i moved to Memphis and I remembered she was from here and I caught up with her and then I every once in while like out and about I'd see her here and there but I was I was in a relationship she was in a relationship um and then as time went on I ran into her again um years down the road I guess I started going out you know I mean I felt like I had known her so long and obviously we were both kind of both of us had been in serious relationships prior to neither of us had ever gotten married we both missed serious relationships whatever and it just I don't know it was easy right off the bat you know I do think that as you go through

relationships you kind of figure out you know how you act towards a significant other right and so and things you can get away with things you can't get away with and so by the time we were we were probably probably 28 maybe by the time i got married 26 when we got together so i mean we're we weren't young young but we weren't old either but we had both been through relationship i think it was just i don't know it it was easy it was easy immediately and so we both had you know there's no one specific moment it was just right from the start I don't think there was a I don't think there was a moment

where I was like she's the one for me I it's odd my situation is different like you gotta remember there's pictures of me and her together when we're like 12 you know what I mean

so I knew her from the time she was since we were kids I knew her then and then obviously so it was never uncomfortable for me you know it was never uncomfortable when we when we met up again, it wasn't like someone I didn't know

like a stranger that I'm trying to learn everything about and whatever else. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? That makes total. And that sort of touches on the other aspect of, you know, relationships and meeting somebody is something. The timing matters, right?

Like there might be somebody you meet and you have some sort of connection and there's potential for something long term. But the timing in either or both of your lives might just not be right for whatever reason. And whether it's a move or location or something happening in your life, that can be something that sort of prevents it from continuing between you two or from just an individual individual person choosing not to really pursue that more often. So it's like you two were an extreme example. You met when you were 12, 13 years old.

It wasn't the right timing. But, you know, it's true if you're in your 20s or 30s too. Sometimes the timing needs to be right for something to work. Yeah. So, I mean, I don't have a great answer for, when do you know? Because, I mean, I don't, I don't know. This only advice I'll give you, and I read this years ago, I think it was Will Smith that actually said it. Find somebody that you like. There's a lot of people that love each other. You say, I love this person or I have love for them or I love them forever. Find somebody you like. I really like her. And that, to me, that's the one. If there's any advice I could get, you really like her.

And that means you like being around her. You like being in her presence. You enjoy each other. That's, for sustainability, I think that is more important than just saying, I love this person. So a lot of people love each other. But you've got to like the person for it to really, I think, work long term. You know what I just realized? there's going to be a whole generation

of coronavirus lockdown babies whole generation all right thank you to everybody for sending in the questions we will continue this next week thank you to Bobby Wagner for producing as always

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