The Ringer NBA Show - The Warriors and the West Updates and James Dolan’s Facial Recognition at Madison Square Garden with Sam Esfandiari and Andy Liu | Weekends with Wos

Episode Date: January 6, 2023

Wos sits down again with Sam Esfandiari and Andy Liu of the ‘Light Years Pod,’ to discuss the Warriors five-game winning streak and all things happening in the West for the league. They then end the episode with a discussion on James Dolan’s facial recognition scandal. Host: Wosny Lambre Guest: Sam Esfandiari and Andy Liu Producer: Jade Whaley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone, it's Ariel Hawani. And I'm Chuck Mindenhall. And I'm Pizie Carroll, and together we are three-pack. Join us on the brand-new Spotify Live app immediately after all of the biggest fights in combat sports. And also during the way-ins, because that's when the real drama happens. So what are you waiting for? Follow the Ringwere M-M-A show right now on our exclusive Spotify podcast feed. And come join the best community in MMA.

Peace! We're out of here. Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the latest edition of weekends. I'm your host, Big Wazz, aka Waz D'Ey Lambray. And I'm joined by two returning guests, Friends of the Pod, the Abbott and Costello of Warriors Twitter. Andy Liu and Sam Espendiari was going on. Light Years' pod in the building.

What's going on with you guys, man? Not going to lie, Googling Abbott and Costello to see if I liked the reference. Even before my time, Waz, you can't be dropping references. How old are you, dude? I'm old, y'all. I'm old. Well, you know, usually I just go with Mike and the Mad Dog, but I just felt like switching it up on you guys. Bonnie and Clyde maybe get weird, you know?

This time. We are in San Francisco. The Bonnie and Clyde. The Thelman, Louise. The Batman and Robin. All right, we got to stop. I wanted to get you guys up here today to talk about the Warriors and the West. just generally, because I think the Warriors saved their season with that five-game winning streak,

I don't think that's hyperbole. I really think they could have just as easily lost those five games. And by the time Steph comes back, it's like too ridiculous to make the season meaningful. So I wanted to talk you guys about the five-game streak, which culminated in that Looney, buzzer-beater. Do you guys think, yeah, I want to ask you that. think I'm being a little bit too hyperbolic about the season being saved by a five-game streak? No, when Steph went down and we looked at the homestand, I was just like, look, man, if Steph plays,

they expect to go eight and no. It's like Detroit, Atlanta, all that sort of stuff. But without him, it's like you still got to win more of those games than you lose. Otherwise, you run the risk of being like the Lakers. Like, they're kind of out of it, you know, that sort of thing. And then with the backdrop of their luxury tax situation. and are they going to keep Draymond? What are they going to do with Wiseman? You know, if they're out of the playoff picture,

it's a lot easier to say it's time for Draymond to go and we're going to give the young kids a chance and the era's over. They're in the playoff picture. They're scary. They can potentially run the table against anyone in the West. And then you got the other end of the spectrum. Are we really going to break it up while they're still there? And, you know, if someone has to go, like,

we think you have a bright future, But if you can't play for us now, it just is what it is. So there was a lot riding on it. Yeah. I think they still could have made the play. I mean, it was probably likely that they would still make the playoffs unless they went 0 and 8 in that stretch. But the thing is, they needed to, it was more about morale and vibe too.

Like you can't, you can't go two and six, especially with the teams that they're playing. And here's the thing. It's not like they're rolling through teams at home, man. They are, they are each, each game is like a college basketball, March Madness game. It is like, it is just miracles after miracles. Kavana Luni, Dante, like these guys are hitting miracle shots to beat shitty teams.

But it doesn't matter. Hi, Jerome. Clay turning back the clock. You know, they need that more. And so they need to do all of that just to win these games, which is fine because nobody cares. It's a regular season. Win is a win as a win, right? It doesn't matter how you win, especially when you don't have Steph and Wiggins.

But I think a lot of it is they saved, I think it's probably Steph and especially they saved dream on because I think when Steph and Wiggins come back, they're probably going to win more games. They do need to give some guys some rest because imagine if they were, you know, in the Laker situation right now. And Steph comes back, they still need guys to play as hard as they can. And we got to explain the Lakers situation in the sense that the Lakers, even if they make a big deal, right? What is this team going to be fighting for even after the deal? It's not like they're middle of the table, meaning like, oh, as far as players like, oh,

we're a six seed, we make this deal, we can get into home court advantage. No, like, you guys are nine to ten seed. And if you make a deal, you can solidify a spot in the play in, right? That's what we're talking about here. And to Andy's point, like, in the Lakers case, LeBron's 38, in the Warriors case, Steph is 34 is going to be 35 round All-Star. Like, if you start falling too far behind, then you're going to have to play your star player who's 40 minutes a game.

Yep. Yeah, from January on. So even if you make the playoffs, what do you have left, right? So like, that's the other part of it. The Warriors, like, short-handed, gutted out wins they needed to. And right now they are in the play-in,

but they're a half game back of being out of the playing. West is a joke. If they sit step for a back-to-back, it's not going to cost them because they've got back to where they need to be standing-wise. So they don't have to do that whole, like, Steph, you're coming back, playing 40 minutes to save us thing.

Yeah, I'm, you know, I thought it was really cool, heart of a champion stuff to actually gut this thing out without Stefan Wiggins, who, and I think the Wiggins part doesn't get talked about enough because he's seeing as, you know, he doesn't talk. Nobody really knows who Andrew Wiggins is, like, you know, like as a person or whatever. And so he can get lost in the shuffle of all of these big personalities,

but he's really important to what they do. And he's one of those people with Steffau who can actually soak up offensive possessions who can like create. You know, like that's a big deal when your best player is gone. And so for them to do this without those two guys, I think is dope.

And yeah, I think that brings us to a conversation more broadly about the West. The way I see it, I know for a fact that Denver and Memphis are good teams. They're going to be good. good for the rest of the year. They're going to be pretty tough

to beat in the playoffs. I know that. I know the Warriors have Steph Curry. And so good luck betting against that in a playoff setting. Beating them four times in seven games. I don't know shit else about this conference. Nobody does.

Did you see that Nuggets, Clippers game last night? The Nuggets have their hearts. They literally own that team. The Clippers have no heart. It's just a no heart. Well, there's that part, too. But I've been saying this feat.

And Kauai has no knee, so that's also problem. The Nuggets have no, they look at the clip. It's like, you guys can't do a goddamn thing with us. You know, and I know Paul George didn't play. And I think part of the problem in, I was talking to our buddy Moe about this. He was like, you know, it's hard to even blame Ty Lou for this when nobody's ever playing for the team. Right. One night you're asking Marcus Morris to be this one-on-one threat, you know, isolation guy.

The next night you're saying, oh, we need you to move it out the ball, be a spot-up, spacer, blah, blah, blah. Like, there's no defined roles on the Nuggets. Aaron Gordon does the same job every single night. Same thing with KCP. Everybody, the roles are defined, you know, whereas the clip is like, what is that team? Which is Sam and I, I mean, Sam and I, before the season, that was our, biggest concern. Yeah, my biggest concern was always the names are cool.

And now Robert Covington, who's like a cool name, he doesn't even play. Apparently he's not even, I don't watch every couple of his game, but like he doesn't play. He's supposed to be, he was supposed to be this cool guy. They have all these cool names, but at the end of the day, the games are played on the court in person with the real humans. That is, even the warriors have issues. They've had issues. I know people don't, people that watch the NBA as kind of just overall. They don't watch the Warriors game to game.

The Warriors had the same issues. You can't just throw teenagers out there. You can't just throw Jamichael Green out there and just say, figure it out. And like, oh, the talent's cool. Joe Lickup came out yesterday and said the Warriors is the most talented team of all times. Okay. The most talented team since he took over. hilarious.

And basically means of all time. I mean, the most talented Warriors teams are the ones that we're watching right now, right? So you can't just throw it in. But now all of a sudden, all of a sudden, all of a sudden, even Wiseman when he came back looked a little better. Dante looks much better. You got to have continuity and play these games. And dude, the Clippers don't.

Like you said, like, you said, like, Marcus Morris as the focal score with the mid-range jump shot, every other game. Nobody needs to see that. Dude, no. No, never. But at the same time, if Paul George and Kaua Lennard aren't playing in a game or one of them isn't, he becomes this like important piece, right? And so, again, he can't do the job that he would ideally be doing.

every single game. And that goes across the board for that team. You know, everybody, so everything is sort of in flux. It's like, who's their starting point guard on a night tonight? Like, I just don't see how you could have faith in what the clippers bring to the table. So we're writing them off. I'm writing them off. The Phoenix Suns.

Oh, they've been, I've written them off for a while. I thought that, I thought they were done the minute they lost to the Mavs last year, trying to run back. It feels like Lob City. You remember how they were on the up and up and then they just choked in the playoffs. And then they run it back and what's going to happen? Same thing.

You lose like that, you got to do something to shake it up in my opinion. And they're just, I don't think it's going to get better for them because it doesn't sound like them bookers come back anytime soon. Yeah. And those, like a groin injury, that thing lingers. He's not going to be right this year.

He's going to come back. when it feels better, and he's going to exert himself, like, in such a way that he's going to restrain it. And he's going to sit again, and he's going to come back when it's like, that's going to be perpetual. Like, that's not going away. The Aitin thing is just, like, I spent the time, like, when they went to the finals, that because Aiton was so incredibly good in the playoffs, being this defensive stalwart, like,

playing really hard, you know, it was like, oh, snap, like he's playing big man the way you want your big man to play. Not like, oh, I want post touches. Oh, I want to be a focal point of the offense. Like, no, you know, guard the pain every now and again because you can move your feet. We ask you to play in space. Rebound a hell out of it. Be tough foul. People hard as hell when they come to the lane to send messages. Be a big man. He did that the whole playoffs. They turn around and told him, not extending you. You're not worth it. And then ended up doing it a year later after making a dude feel like shit and he's not playing to his potential anymore. Like, it's crazy. It's one of those things that's crazy about the league. Like,

you get a guy to play a way that's very sacrificial, very team-oriented, and then don't reward him for it. And what's a player supposed to think are important when he does, the thing and is not rewarded for it. It's also like you should know him better than anyone else. You should know what's going to, like, is the goal to get the most out of him or to like lament the fact that he doesn't act like Chris Paul, you know? Right. Like it's kind of, they should have moved him because they tell everyone on earth they hate

him. Like it's pretty clear they don't like him. And now it's like, and what do you expect from a player in that situation? It's the whole thing feels toxic. So yeah, Phoenix was supposed to be a team that mattered coming in, you know, whatever. Chris Paul is also, I mean, just at some point, at some point, you know. Like, what are we doing here? Like, at some point.

He's old, like, there's nothing you can do. And now I want to get you guys, how do you guys feel about the Pelicans? Yeah, this is a fascinating one because they keep winning. They remind me a little bit of the Grizzlies of last season or even of this season, where they just keep kind of missing guys. it doesn't matter because they're so young, they're so athletic, they've got so much depth that they can kind of plug and play guys

and win regular season games. Not really calling them a regular season team because we just haven't seen them in the playoffs enough. I think Memphis might be getting close to being a regular season team, but, you know, story for maybe 10 minutes from now. But I think the Pelicans, hey, dude,

I just, we've never seen Zion or Brandon Ingram stay healthy. And that's it. Yeah. We've never, ever, ever seen those guys stay healthy. And you can make jokes on why,

or you can, guess why they can't stay healthy. But Brandon Ingram is a guy that looks like he's in shape, but dude's out. I don't know where he is. Zion's, is he out of shape? I don't know, but he pulled a hammy. That sounds like a dude that's usually out of shape. That's why people pull hammies.

And he pulled a hammy in the middle of the season versus in the beginning of the season where Dante pulled a hammy and you're like, okay, he probably came in kind of out of shape. Zion pulls a hammy in the middle of the season. You're like, dude, can he play a full season? Like, is it can he do that? So, I don't mean, that team doesn't matter, right? Unless those guys stay healthy and they never have. Look, they're 24 and 14.

And Brandon Ingram has barely freaking played. And like, look, like when Zion's played, he's been a clear all-star, a pretty dominant player. I like their young guys, you know, Murphy, Herb Jones. Nice and Daniels. Yeah, yeah. I'm, you know, of course, you know, Alvarado's on my radar as a Queens guy and, you know, just some of know. player. I love him.

But yeah, I think, but I think in the playoffs, man, that's a tough matchup if their guys are on the floor. Like, I think they present so many problems because they have enough shooting. They got guys that could beat you up, you know, in the paint. They have paint scoring and they got mid-range guys, too. So, like, they can score from every quadrant. They do a decent enough job moving the ball around. I think they're like, it's going to be hard for them to go all the way because of the lack of continuity, right? Like when, like, in the playoffs, you go with stuff that you trust, these learned habits that you don't even have to think about, stuff that people like the warriors have in like

spades where they could close their eyes and run a play for stuff that's going to generate an open shot. Yeah. I don't think the pelicans are developing that. I just like their talent a lot. And I think that's borne out. But you guys, do you guys think the Warriors, if they go to the playoffs, if they make it to the real playoffs, are the favorite in the West?

Probably. I mean, my only concern with the Warriors is depth. They just don't have anyone they're going to play in the playoffs other than Draymond or Looney up front. Like, Jamichael Green hasn't worked out. I guess there's three months to figure out if you can figure out a role. Wiseman, even though he has looked a little better recently, like, I know Steve Kerr's not playing him in the playoffs.

So my concern is how many games of those two is your only guys up front before the wear down effect comes? But, like, I feel pretty confident the Warriors five-man lineup, like their go-to lineup owns everyone else in the West. East,

maybe a different story, but feel pretty good about them. I think by the time, it depends where they're at. I mean, if they somehow end up in the play-in game that's really tough. Even if they end up as like a six-seat, which is not the plane, I think that's still pretty tough. But I think if they end up as a three-seed, like I think that's got a favor them in a series,

to win the West. I also think that the depth stuff, if they last, if you tell me that they get into the postseason and Dremont, Steph, and Clay, and even someone like Andre are healthy, I think they're good. But if you're telling me that they're going,

the last 20 games, they're going balls to the wall. Right. Like, they've got to go. They've got to go 14 and 6 in the last 20 games. And, you know, Steph's got to, like, Clay's got to play back to backs and got to win these games. And they're going in, like, huffing and puffing. I don't, it's old guys, man.

Like, I don't, I don't know if they can then from there win all these games. Like, part of what the Warriors did to Boston last in the finals was that Boston played a seven game series every series. And even though those guys were young, like, they shouldn't have played 70. They shouldn't have played seven, right? Like, they should have beat Miami in five. But they messed around. They should have beat Chris Middleton less bucks. They should have beat them in five or six, but they couldn't.

And it shit just wears you down even though those guys are young. And same with the Warriors, man. If those guys are really gunning for whatever they have to gun for right before the playoffs, they might be cooked. But like last season, you remember last season? Steph sat out the last month of the season. Dremont took a break with his back. Well, they didn't even take a break.

He was hurt. And then, you know, like those guys faltered down the stretch, but it doesn't matter. They were healthy when it actually mattered. Yeah, so of the two teams at the top of the West, who do you think presents bigger problems for Golden State? Denver? I just think Yokic is, one, Yokic is better than anyone Memphis has by like a significant margin.

I would go as far as to say he was the scariest player they played in the playoffs last year. He had like a zombie squad with him. But like they're a pain. Memphis, I just don't know, man. I feel like the more the Warriors play them, the more I'm like, yeah,

they don't really, their thing is they play hard. Yeah. That's about it. You know, like once the Warriors figured them out, it's like, it's just another young squad

that they know how to kind of pick on here and there. So I kind of, I think Denver, probably the tougher team. It is, it is Denver. It is, so I agree with you guys.

However, man, watching that Denver, Dallas game, where it goes, you know, possession by possession, Dallas ends up pulling it out because I think they generated like a wide open Dory Finney Smith, top of the key three

or could have been Tim Hardaway, somebody. But watching Luca, and again, Lucas is Luca. He's a special guy, his ability to dissect the defense because of his size, because of his IQ, his vision, his strength, all of that is singular. But watching him, every single possession, and be like, where's Yokic? Yo, come over here.

And putting him in the high screen and roll. And to be fair to Denver and Yokic, like, they came up with different coverages to throw at him. Right? Like, there were times where they let Yokic roam in the middle. There were times where they brought him up to the level. There were times where they set a hard trap. Like, they tried to mix it up,

but Luca just knew how to beat them. and whatever covers that they were in every time. And I wonder in a series against the Warriors, where Steph is the best high screen pick and roll guy in the league, in my opinion, man, they could just spam that, even though we know Steve Kerr hates doing it, but in the playoffs, they do it. And Steph did it.

I mean, that's why they, I mean, it's not why they won that series, but that's how they closed every single game out in that series. Probably should have swept them except for them getting hot. The thing about Denver, I think, is like, that's the issue. It was like the Yokes stuff is an issue. But I was the same thing with Steph too, though. Like, Steph was getting picked on nonstop. Now, it's different for a guard versus a big.

But what the Warriors did and what they put around stuff is every single player next to Steph. Is a beast on defense. Exactly. And Denver has. They haven't done that. Michael Porter Jr. is a joke on defense. And Joe Maul Murray doesn't care because, you know, he's a point guard. And he's a scorer.

So, you know, they got KCP. KCP. Yeah, exactly. So they got KCP and Bruce Brown. But unless you're telling me KCP. Aaron Gordon, yeah. But that's the thing. I think they need one more defensive-minded guy.

But how can you do that when your best three players, none of them play defense? Right? Like, are you going to move Jamal Murray? Are you going to move MPJ? And by the way, Michael Porter Jr., can he even play a series? Like, can he play two series in a row? Yeah. We have no idea.

That's the difficulty. I think if Michael Porter Jr. was just a normal Max second deal guy and he was this player, it'd be like, yo, get him out of it, try to get an OG and a Nobie. O.G. would just be, that would be devastating if they got him. Pretty much who they need, yeah. A lot of people who I talk to said they're not convinced Toronto would ever trade him for real. Like it's just.

Everybody wants OG. Everybody needs OG. The warriors are trying to, the warriors are trying to pawn on. off Weissman for OG and Maasai's like, get the fuck off the phone. Yeah. So an OG is the name, but like somebody, even a Jay Crowder, you know, who, let's face it, he's not in OG's league as a defender, but like a tougher, defensive-minded person, they need to get one more person in there because I think Yoke is going to really get picked on come playoff time.

But, you know, at the same time, you wonder, can they just get to such a number? offensive level because in the playoffs, like, Yokic is just like, yeah, I'll shoot all the time. In the regular season, he's just like, oh, I don't give a damn, whatever, who cares? Let's play, like, let's pass the ball. But, like, against the Warriors where he just had to. And the Warriors are throwing loony, they're throwing Dreemann. They're throwing all of these great players. And he just destroyed him anyway.

So I wonder if they can get to such a high level on offense that it won't matter. But, yeah, I'm fascinated by the West Picture. Looking to get more out of this NBA season? Well, now is the perfect time to download Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Because new customers get a no-sweat first bet up to $1,000. That's free bets back if your first bet doesn't win. Just download the Fandu Sportsbook app. It's safe, secure, and super easy to use.

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dot net in West Virginia. I wanted to get you guys out of here on this one last thing and that's our friend,

Ethan January 6th Strauss, no, I'm just kidding. Ethan Strauss on his substack, dropped a story

about James Dolan and MSG security. And, you know, the gist of the story is that James Dolan will find

people that might have dissed him on the internet or work at a law firm that he's in litigation against who might not even be necessarily working on the case but works at the law firm and he will use facial recognition software technology at MSG at Radio City at his Tao group restaurants wherever James Dolan owns something his facial recognition software will pick up a person who he has a gripe with no matter how petty or small and harass these people, if not outright

banned them from entry. And Ethan wrote this story. And I'm reading this man, and I'm like, yo, this is dystopian shit. Some billionaire dude using facial recognition technology to basically bully and get back at fans.

Like, this is crazy. Like Robert Sarver, all the shit that he did in Phoenix was whack. I'm glad they banished him as an owner for the people that have worked there, for the people that have had to work for him in the past. He got his just due. This James Dolan stuff is just as bad. And to my mind, probably worse. It feels like something we watch on like Netflix. It feels like one of those shows that we watch on Netflix. And I think the scariest part of this is the slippery slope stuff. If it's being done here, where else is it being done? You hear about this a lot and China and other places that aren't as maybe, I know, people set a lot of stuff to say about the

United States, right? But end of the day, it is, it's more free than China. Yes. Right. And so, you know, not a shocking thing to say. So it's, it's insane, man, it's insane. And I wonder what are the places, that's my thing. What other places are using it? And then the next step is what, because if Dolan's using it, I'm sure Lekap knows about it. I'm not saying Lakeb's used, but I'm saying like, other owners know about it. And so it's a matter of like, how are they going to use it? I'm going to sit there and be like, you know what?

This is kind of fucked up. I'm not going to use this to my advantage because I have good more. No, nobody's going to say that. So it's a matter of, well, who else is using it? And what are they going to use it for? Because this isn't going to be the last time we're going to hear about this. It's super interesting to me that like Ethan wrote this piece

and it did less in terms of generating traction or noise than any of his pieces discussing woech. For example. And there's kind of a, and you mentioned Sarver, but like the point of, it's essentially an egregious abuse of civil liberties is what it is. I know he's a private company, but this dude's spying on people. It's, I mean, I'm old enough term. He's a private company, but you know what?

You can't hide behind that because MSG, they get supported by the taxpayers in New York City. And I'm sorry, that shit is a public institute. at this point. Like, I know James Dolan owns it. Like, it's in his name. But, like, bro, like, that's a public property at this point. And, like, telling Nick fans that who might right sell the team on your weak-ass

band's Facebook fan page that they can't come to games or when they do come to games, your big-ass security guards are going to menace them and intimidate them and harass them. That's craziness. And where does it end? And like, yo, they asked Adam Silver, like, yo, what do you got? Not Adam Silver, the league office. What do you guys know about this, doing about this? Yo, as long as it's legal in your state, dude, stay within the confines of the law, which is a bullshit answer.

But it's like, to me, people should be enraged by this, right? Like, I'm sorry, bro. Like, I know we're supposed to pretend that every billionaire shit don't stink and they're the greatest people of all time. And they're so fucking great and all of that. at some point as a public, as a media, we need to hold these folks accountable. This is fucking crazy. Like somebody needs to be at Adam Silver.

Like, bro, how is this acceptable behavior by one of the league's owners? It's unacceptable. Maybe I'm just disillusioned because, like, I remember, this is a complete different thing, but just like surveillance around the Patriot Act 20 years ago and how much everyone was up in all. arms about something like that. And then a story like this drops. Nobody thinks about it.

Yeah, no one thinks about it. Like you said, like I said, people were more interested in salacious gossip about Woj than they weren't an owner outright using technology to stock consumers. Like, okay, one, it's it's scumbag to kick to kick a fan out. Like, it's a paying consumer why you do that. But like, if he's willing to stock someone to find that out, what else is he willing to do to them. That's my thing. It's like, it's one thing like, oh, no, you can't watch the Knicks versus the Sixers. Like, you know, it's another, it's like, he actually is looking on your Facebook to see or like, man, when will he sell? You know, like, what else is he trying to use against you down the line?

Essentially, he took the guy's Facebook picture, profile picture, threw it in his software and they could identify him out of tens of thousands of people at a fucking Nick. Which is just terrifying. I went to Chase Center this, this. this last week, first time I've been in a very long time. And, you know, most, you feel so anonymous in an arena of 20,000 because there's 20,000 people there. The idea that like someone can spot me in a crowd of, let's just say, hundreds of bodies walking through. It's like, what was that movie? It was also like, enemy of the state. It's like that sort of stuff where it's just like, damn, I'm not safe at all. I don't know. It's like, and I wasn't doing anything, but just the

idea that you're being watched like that. It's a line I don't like. So the Civil Liberties line being crossed is one thing. Let's just talk about, like, the excuse making that they say is this is for, this thing, this facial recognition technology is for security. Of course it is. You know, terrorism threats or whatever, some guy come to MSG, shoot it up, God forbid, whatever, we can catch them, we can find them all of that.

If your security guards are harassing dudes for Facebook comments, they're not monitoring potential security threads. Yeah. This shit is crazy. Like, what if somebody at MSG really gets hurt? Because his security guards are score settling. The league needs to step up here. I'm sorry.

I know, like, obviously the bigger, the major outlets have been like, whatever, fuck it. We don't really care. But, like, MSG, excuse me. the league office is like, bro, something needs to be said and done and it's got to be better than, oh, as long as you follow your state's laws. That's all I'll say about that.

I just wanted to get you guys' opinion about this because I didn't get to touch on it last week, but I did want to talk about it because I think it's something people should know about. Like, this is, and again, like, I need to reiterate to people like, James O'Dolan, he owns. Well, actually, that's a lie. He don't own a forum no more.

Balmer just gave him $400 million just so he could build his new Clippers Stadium, which is just a crazy thing that that could even happen. But he owns that weird orb thing that he's building in Vegas. The Tao group has like, they got restaurants out here. They're in Vegas. They're in New York. All kinds of stuff. About 20% of Andy's network.

Yes, that is 100% what I've done is since then. So, like, and again, he can ban normal everyday citizens. from patronizing those things too. Like, there's no end to this how he's applying this. And I don't see how people, like, I don't know. This story just kills me on like several different levels. Like, everybody just fucking countouts to the power. Everybody just bends the B.

Nobody questions it and it's just completely fine. It's an easy sell. I mean, you say security. It's an easy sell, right? You use the fear. You use the fear of terrorist threats. or bombings or shootings and people believe it.

It's what the government has done for 20 years, 40 years, 50 years, 100 years. So that doesn't surprise me. It kind of, it's funny because I think of the dark night, if you watch the last 10 minutes of that where he has that same thing. Literally. This guy's behaving like a bond villain.

But anyway, thank you guys for coming on today. Tell the people where they can find your stuff. We appreciate you guys, man. Yeah, check out Light Years Pod. Can find it on any pod player YouTube, you know, all the same places. Appreciate you, Oz. Thanks for having us.

Of course, enjoy your weekend. Of course, make sure you guys are locked into every single thing on the ring of NBA feed. The Answer, Real Ones, group chat. Stay locked with us. We'll see you guys next week. Peace.