Speaker 1: From the King of Sports Books comes the Key sports
Speaker 1: podcast Unleashed, presented by bet MGM. Here's your host, Jana's
Speaker 1: Papas and Olivia Harland Decker. Welcome in everybody. This is
Speaker 1: Unleashed by bet MGM, the King of Sports Books. It's
Speaker 1: officially March. We even got started on the madness a
Speaker 1: little early this year as the top six ranked teams
Speaker 1: in the country they all lost on a historic Saturday
Speaker 1: in college basketball. That was crazy. We're gonna get into that,
Speaker 1: especially at the end of the show with Peter Andrew,
Speaker 1: because something tells me that was a good day for
Speaker 1: the folks at bet MGM. Actually seven out of the
Speaker 1: top nine went down. That includes St. Mary's taking down
Speaker 1: top Rankedkins Daga. And You're honest, you can't say their
Speaker 1: school name, but I know you're like watching him play.
Speaker 1: What do you see? I love watching good Zaga. They
Speaker 1: got beat down. You know it was I mean, those
Speaker 1: guys look good. They pounded it inside. You know, I
Speaker 1: think there's probably a lot of NBA scouts watching hule Green.
Speaker 1: That's his name, right, if I'm pronouncing it right, Hulgron Hullgreen.
Speaker 1: You don't pronounce you don't even pronounce your own name, right,
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeahs. You know he was getting pounded. I
Speaker 1: mean his weight is a real liability. You take him
Speaker 1: down low. I mean he's like a feather down there.
Speaker 1: So I watched that game. It was exciting to watch
Speaker 1: such a big upset storming the court. Though I'm not
Speaker 1: a big fan Olivia. I'm not a big fan. I
Speaker 1: just feel like there's a whole team that just lost
Speaker 1: and then they're getting attacked by fans. It's just a dangerous,
Speaker 1: unpredictable situation. If I was a losing team, I would
Speaker 1: just feel like a little threatened. If fans running on
Speaker 1: the I just feel like it's unprofessional, unprofessional. This whole
Speaker 1: thing is unprofessional. This is just this is kids. These
Speaker 1: are eighteen year olds. Yeah, I think they should. I
Speaker 1: mean anybody tries to get on the court, I think
Speaker 1: they should get stun guns and get them stung, like
Speaker 1: just sting them with the stunt gun like they did
Speaker 1: an old school, just one by one. That would be
Speaker 1: fun to watch college kids getting a stun gunned. You
Speaker 1: know what is really scary as a sideline reporter when
Speaker 1: you're on a football field and they storm the field
Speaker 1: and you just are looking over your shoulder, you're doing
Speaker 1: your postgame interview. You're like, oh, hell no, they're coming
Speaker 1: right for me. Scary, That's what I mean. Isn't it illegal?
Speaker 1: I mean if I was a player, I wouldn't like that.
Speaker 1: Is it? Is it? Are you allowed to do that?
Speaker 1: Technically illegal? But they do kind of line up cops there.
Speaker 1: But I think on a basketball court it's worse. You're right,
Speaker 1: it's a hard surface. Someone can get hurt. There's less,
Speaker 1: you know, surface area. Anyways, you know who knows a
Speaker 1: lot about excited fans storming the court all this excitement
Speaker 1: is our guest today and Janice, I'm really excited about this.
Speaker 1: This is one of those episodes I called in a
Speaker 1: favor for. I'm a friend Frank Kaminski, former unanimous National
Speaker 1: College Player of the Year, current member of the NBA's
Speaker 1: best team, the top seed Phoenix Suns, is joining the
Speaker 1: show today and I mentioned he's a friend mostly of
Speaker 1: my husband's. I've gotten to know him over the years.
Speaker 1: He played at Wisconsin with Sam and I've been meaning
Speaker 1: to ask Frank for three years if he got romantic
Speaker 1: with any of my cute friends at our wedding, because
Speaker 1: let me tell you that weekend was like an episode
Speaker 1: of Love Island. It was like Noah's Ark if the
Speaker 1: flood had been vodka. Everyone seemed to couple off, if
Speaker 1: only for one special night. And you honest, we've been
Speaker 1: married three years. I'm still hearing about stories from our
Speaker 1: wedding weekend. So I've got to have Frank way in.
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I got a lot of questions. We got
Speaker 1: something fun lined up that you don't know about. I
Speaker 1: can't wait. Yeah, we got some surprises. Me and the producers, Joel,
Speaker 1: we spoke behind your back. And since Frank is such
Speaker 1: a good friend of Sam. You know, when I used
Speaker 1: to watch those Wisconsin games, I called them the Ivory Towers.
Speaker 1: And now that we got him, we're gonna find out
Speaker 1: some interesting inside info. It's gonna be fun for the
Speaker 1: fans of the show to listen to. So yeah, and
Speaker 1: I promise Olivia knows nothing about it. I really don't.
Speaker 1: I'm a little bit nervous. But now Frank is such
Speaker 1: a great guy. Glad he can do it for us.
Speaker 1: This week he played in two final four, so we've
Speaker 1: got to pick his brain on upcoming March Madness in
Speaker 1: a big ten tournament especially. Uh, he's just a beast
Speaker 1: in college. And I've also got to say big heart
Speaker 1: on that big seven foot dude. He has donated every
Speaker 1: year to our children's cancer Family Foundation. He's just he
Speaker 1: is all right in my book. But you know what
Speaker 1: we do when something's not all right in our book. Honest, Olivia,
Speaker 1: I think we unleach. It's time to leach. If you
Speaker 1: say that every week? Yeah, can I go first, my friend? Absolutely,
Speaker 1: young lady. Alright, alright, everyone has seen the Kyrie Irving
Speaker 1: is back kind of. He's had a limited season thanks
Speaker 1: to the vaccine requirements in Brooklyn, New York City, he
Speaker 1: hasn't been able to play in his own home games.
Speaker 1: He had the best game of the season this weekend.
Speaker 1: He dropped thirty eight on the reigning champion Milwaukee Bucks
Speaker 1: the Nets one by three in a big one after
Speaker 1: the All Star break. And this was not only big
Speaker 1: for the Nets, it was big for Kyrie, who got
Speaker 1: hurt in the Eastern Conference Finals against this very team
Speaker 1: last year. He was done for the season with an
Speaker 1: ankle injury, so this was his first time back in
Speaker 1: that building. He said, it was obviously, you know, very emotional.
Speaker 1: You can imagine. And we all saw that great video
Speaker 1: of him hugging his dad on the court after it
Speaker 1: was It was awesome. I loved watching that. And he
Speaker 1: says that he sees the light at the end of
Speaker 1: the tunnel, because unless you've been living under a rock,
Speaker 1: you've seen that New York City and there may are
Speaker 1: planning on phasing out vaccine requirements by March seventh, that's
Speaker 1: this week. But that still doesn't include people who work
Speaker 1: at Berkeley Center. So to me, this makes no sense.
Speaker 1: Even NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said it's just not logical
Speaker 1: that unvaccinated players from away teams can play in Barclay Center,
Speaker 1: but not Nets players, not Kyrie. This is so stupid.
Speaker 1: This is not political. This is one of those things
Speaker 1: where we're just not being pragmatic. How does that make
Speaker 1: any sense? How does that keep people more safe? And
Speaker 1: I'm totally kidding as I say this, but the Nets
Speaker 1: really have been robbed of some wins. I think they
Speaker 1: could file some kind of suit to get back some
Speaker 1: wins from the games that Kyrie could have directly impacted
Speaker 1: their season. So when in doubt, whenever it comes to
Speaker 1: anything like this, I like the saying you don't need
Speaker 1: to be right, you need to get it right. And
Speaker 1: this was not right. And now we're people try to
Speaker 1: correct and everything in these big cities, you know, New
Speaker 1: York City is following Boston and other cities that's phasing
Speaker 1: this out. And I'm just speaking to this from a
Speaker 1: sports standpoint. You know, I'm not I'm really I'm not
Speaker 1: involved or care really about all the politics of this.
Speaker 1: But from a sports standpoint, this has been an interesting
Speaker 1: story to watch. You know, when we looked at the NFL,
Speaker 1: did you notice in the NFL playoffs we never heard
Speaker 1: about players getting COVID? Isn't that convenient time? In the
Speaker 1: honest they stopped all mandatory testing, all the protocols for
Speaker 1: unvaccinated players, and Rogers fell on a sword. So many
Speaker 1: asymptomatic players missed games in the regular season because they
Speaker 1: tested positive, saying I feel fine, I feel fine, I've
Speaker 1: been vaccinated, blah blah blah. And then playoffs hit and
Speaker 1: I was thinking, when I was watching the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: I wonder how many players out there don't feel so
Speaker 1: hot today but are obviously not going to go get tested.
Speaker 1: It's a Super Bowl, like I'd love to know if
Speaker 1: there was some way to retroactively test someone for COVID.
Speaker 1: If there were any players on the Super Bowl field
Speaker 1: who had active COVID, we'll never know because the NFL
Speaker 1: said this isn't working for us. So anyways, as the
Speaker 1: NBA is trying to deal with city laws and ordinances,
Speaker 1: this has been This has been kind of sketchy with
Speaker 1: the Kyrie stuff, and I know fans for any team
Speaker 1: are hoping he can play. He's an incredible player. By
Speaker 1: the way, the Nets are expecting to get Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: back from injury this week. He's missed one and a
Speaker 1: half months. They have new acquisitions like Ben Simmons, backup
Speaker 1: veteran point guard Gore and drag So just watch out
Speaker 1: the Nets are coming and keep an eye on the
Speaker 1: politics in New York City because if Kyrie is able
Speaker 1: to play in home games, that's really big to finish
Speaker 1: up this last quarter of the season. But come on, Mayor,
Speaker 1: this is ridiculous. Yeah, at this point, it's ridiculous. I
Speaker 1: agree with you. Even when you look at tennis, it's
Speaker 1: like Djokovic is getting robbed. You know, he probably would
Speaker 1: have won the Australian. He probably would have just won
Speaker 1: an Acapulco. I mean, I'm a Nate Dolphan, so hey,
Speaker 1: I'll take it, but it's getting ridiculous. I look if
Speaker 1: the nets when it there's one person in this country
Speaker 1: is pretty famous who's gonna be happy about it, and
Speaker 1: that's Joe Rogan. You know he's rooting for Kyrie anyway. Uh,
Speaker 1: I'll be back on Rogan at the end of the month,
Speaker 1: so that's good. Yeah, yeah, alright, So it's time for
Speaker 1: me to unleash on what I want on Lesha. But
Speaker 1: it's less of an unleash and uh, it's more of
Speaker 1: the elephant in the room. So I'm gonna take my
Speaker 1: comedy hat off for a second, and um, just really
Speaker 1: give a huge shot out this. You know, this is
Speaker 1: the perfect time to mention this. If we're gonna mention
Speaker 1: this on this show is right now during our unleashed segment.
Speaker 1: But some pretty amazing is happening in the world right now.
Speaker 1: You know, often during times of darkness, there's certain things
Speaker 1: that inspire, and um, it shows the best of us,
Speaker 1: the avry and us and the humility and loyalty of people.
Speaker 1: And right now you've got four, four absolute champions, four
Speaker 1: the best boxers of our era and that is not hyperbole,
Speaker 1: who have decided to go back to their home country.
Speaker 1: In the case of Vitality Klitchko, he's the mayor of
Speaker 1: keV and his brother. Of course, everyone knows the Klitchko brothers, Lomanchenko,
Speaker 1: who's currently i think ranked eighth in the pound for
Speaker 1: pound best fighters in the world. And also now we
Speaker 1: got Alexander Oosik who just beat Anthony Joshua, who's set
Speaker 1: to fight him again I think in May. As of
Speaker 1: right now, that fight is still on, but all four
Speaker 1: of them are back in the Ukraine fighting against the
Speaker 1: Russians in this war, and um, that's just an unbelievable
Speaker 1: thing for them to do that. I'm sure that's inspiring
Speaker 1: the people in the Ukraine. It's really inspiring the world
Speaker 1: and really making Vladimir Putin look bad so and that's
Speaker 1: what we need right now. This was a horrible act
Speaker 1: of aggression and I just want to take a moment
Speaker 1: too for us that unleashed in myself to our hearts,
Speaker 1: go out to the people in Ukraine who are suffering
Speaker 1: because of this unjust war. It almost feels like war
Speaker 1: is antiquated, like you just can't do it anymore. It's like,
Speaker 1: come on, guys, just boxers fighting in this thing. You know,
Speaker 1: you got kids underground and bunkers going to school, and uh,
Speaker 1: it's just a beautiful thing to see sports highlighted in
Speaker 1: such a way during such a horrible time by these
Speaker 1: four brave young champions deciding to put their fame and
Speaker 1: riches aside and go fight for their country to make
Speaker 1: a point, and their points being heard the world round.
Speaker 1: So I just wanted to say it's an amazing thing
Speaker 1: and shout out to all four of those absolute Ukrainian
Speaker 1: beasts fighting for their country and for what's right. That
Speaker 1: is awesome, be honest, very well said it's it's crazy
Speaker 1: to see you get deep. Sometimes I'd never take you seriously,
Speaker 1: but it was hard not to their Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Let's go ahead and bring in our guests to switch
Speaker 1: it back over to hoops. Frank Kaminsky's next. He's a
Speaker 1: former men's National College Player of the Year from the
Speaker 1: Wisconsin Badger's top ten NBA draft pick and current member
Speaker 1: of the best team in the NBA, the Phoenix Suns.
Speaker 1: Frank Kaminski is here. Frank, thanks for joining Unleashed. Hey,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. That was a very nice introduction. Thanks.
Speaker 1: That's fine to pay me so much. I teased earlier
Speaker 1: that I'm still hearing funny stories from our wedding weekend.
Speaker 1: You were at the wedding obviously three years ago. I
Speaker 1: swear I'm still hearing crazy stories. It seems like all
Speaker 1: of Sam's Wisconsin friends and all of my Georgia friends
Speaker 1: just kind of coupled off like an episode of love.
Speaker 1: But I never heard did you find love that weekend?
Speaker 1: I did not. I did not find love. I was
Speaker 1: at that time. I was not searching for it. But
Speaker 1: there was definitely with some individuals I'll keep names out
Speaker 1: of it, there was definitely some Love Island type situations
Speaker 1: going on. It's like good episode of the Office where
Speaker 1: Michael's like, Jim and Pam's wedding is going to be
Speaker 1: the single greatest hook up destination on planet Earth, and
Speaker 1: your wedding was a great spot. There was a lot
Speaker 1: of bachelors and bachelorettes that were enjoying themselves. Yeah, Lebby,
Speaker 1: I was about to say loves a little I mean
Speaker 1: loves a little bit. It's the wrong word. You were.
Speaker 1: You used the wrong word. I would advanced differently. I
Speaker 1: would did anyone it was fun? Yeah? Did anyone smash
Speaker 1: There was a great time. I'll just say that that
Speaker 1: one was a great time. There was just there's so
Speaker 1: many funny things. I mean, both of them just have
Speaker 1: Sam and Olivia both have like great friends, good people,
Speaker 1: good personalities. I think you know Sam's friends are. They're
Speaker 1: kind of like me. They're just goofballs, like John. We
Speaker 1: had a tiny T shirt from Sam's bachelor party in
Speaker 1: Mexico that he decided to wear under beneath his black
Speaker 1: tie suit and this bust out. At one point it
Speaker 1: was about six sizes too small. It's just just funny
Speaker 1: goofy stuff. It's a lot of fun. We have this
Speaker 1: funny picture framed in our house of like the dance
Speaker 1: floor of everyone dancing and Frank's head is like two
Speaker 1: heads above everyone else. Really Jesse, Frank and it. But
Speaker 1: it's a it's a great picture. We're glad you were there.
Speaker 1: There was a lot of fun. Yeah. I gotta give
Speaker 1: a shout out to Jerry. Jerry's my favorite. Jerry is
Speaker 1: my brother in law who has never met a stranger.
Speaker 1: He's this kind of handsome Italian guy who just everyone
Speaker 1: loves and at our wedding, the whole wedding party started
Speaker 1: chanting Jerry, Jerry. We have no idea why, they just
Speaker 1: love him. Jerry's the best. Yeah, alright, Frank. So we
Speaker 1: were talking a little bit before. Um, you know, there's
Speaker 1: this myth out there that you're Serbian because you played
Speaker 1: in the Serbian League. But and you're not Jewish, even
Speaker 1: though your last name is Commitsky. Me and you met,
Speaker 1: like we were talking about TI asked you about your
Speaker 1: bar Mitz fun. You told me you didn't know what
Speaker 1: you were talking about. And I still don't believe you.
Speaker 1: But what are you exactly? What's your background? We're all
Speaker 1: over the place, told you this all my great grandparents
Speaker 1: are somewhere different. We've actually tried to do like the
Speaker 1: ancestry dot com, like find out where everyone's from, and
Speaker 1: it's just it's all over the place where just those
Speaker 1: Eastern European immigrant Chicago families, like we got Polish, Irish, German, Serbian, Croatian.
Speaker 1: My grandma I think is part Czechoslovakia, And it's just
Speaker 1: it's hard to know because especially on my dad's side
Speaker 1: of the family, there wasn't there pretty poor, so there
Speaker 1: wasn't a lot of records kept, so it's hard to
Speaker 1: truly know, but it's it's a lot. So you won't
Speaker 1: be playing for the Serbian national team. You're going to
Speaker 1: be in the US of A. Um, I mean I could. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, we'll see what happens. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I read that they were like they were leaving it
Speaker 1: open ended, like, yeah, maybe Frank will play for the
Speaker 1: Serbian national team, and that's funny, You're not even Serbian.
Speaker 1: That's hilarious. I mean I I technically I am, but
Speaker 1: I mean the hold up on that stuff is, I
Speaker 1: don't know, you have to give away your summers basically
Speaker 1: to go to a different country, you know, training camps
Speaker 1: and stuff, you know, especially like I couldn't imagine doing
Speaker 1: it after this last season where we only had like
Speaker 1: a seven and a half week off season to just
Speaker 1: go basically. I know, guys from like Devon went from
Speaker 1: our team, he went from playing in the finals to
Speaker 1: two days later he's on a plane to go play
Speaker 1: in the Olympics. Like that's that's that's that that turns
Speaker 1: into a lot And wasn't he on the same flight
Speaker 1: as some Bucks players that Yeah, he was. It's just god, yeah,
Speaker 1: the competition. You don't want to see those. I think
Speaker 1: Chris Middleton and Drew Holiday, We're on his flight with
Speaker 1: him afterwards. It's just that's tough. You gotta get beat
Speaker 1: by somebody and go play with them on the same team.
Speaker 1: That's tough. Speaking of tough, I feel like I have
Speaker 1: good insight to it from Sam over the years of
Speaker 1: how grueling mentally a season is. And just think you
Speaker 1: guys have been like many pros since college because you
Speaker 1: were so in the spotlight at Wisconsin. You went to
Speaker 1: two final fours. You had more attention than most college players.
Speaker 1: I've noticed lately you're off social media. What has that
Speaker 1: done for you? How has that helped you? You know,
Speaker 1: there's just so much for me, it's become it became
Speaker 1: like kind of overwhelming, you know. I I'd slowly have
Speaker 1: like gotten less and less involved with it over the
Speaker 1: course of time to like, I think a couple of
Speaker 1: months ago, I just deleted the apps off my phone. Nice,
Speaker 1: you know, I have my ways to get my news
Speaker 1: and things that like. I just there's so many opinion
Speaker 1: based things out there, you know, especially with like politics
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. I don't like waking up in
Speaker 1: the morning and reading and seeing like bad things happening.
Speaker 1: I like starting my day off on like a good note.
Speaker 1: I've gotten really into like mindset training and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: So I think just getting rid of social media for
Speaker 1: me help me just kind of be happier, you know,
Speaker 1: see the things I want to see in the stories
Speaker 1: I want to see, and I can control it a
Speaker 1: little bit more Like when you sign into Twitter and
Speaker 1: you're just reading negative stuff. It just got it just
Speaker 1: got old and to be too much for me, and
Speaker 1: I don't I don't really like it that way. So Instagram,
Speaker 1: I don't really go on there at all anymore either.
Speaker 1: You know. That one's a little bit harder because especially
Speaker 1: you know, I got friends that are getting married and
Speaker 1: having kids, and they post stuff about their babies and
Speaker 1: stuff like that, and I don't get to see a
Speaker 1: lot of that stuff. But I also don't want to
Speaker 1: see a lot of I just don't like what social
Speaker 1: media has turned into. So that's basically what it boils
Speaker 1: down to. What's mindset training. It's a lot of different stuff.
Speaker 1: You know, It's about like controlling your thoughts, your breathing,
Speaker 1: you know, especially I've I've always done it well with basketball,
Speaker 1: but I've kind of incorporated it into like the rest
Speaker 1: of my life, you know, because the last couple of
Speaker 1: years it's gone through a lot like hardship wise, being
Speaker 1: injured two out of the last three seasons. You know,
Speaker 1: it just kind of weighs on you, and you know,
Speaker 1: especially right now. I'll like what I'm this season. Our
Speaker 1: team is the best team in the NBA, and I
Speaker 1: haven't been able to play since November, and it's it's
Speaker 1: it's been tough. So I'm just trying to mentally train
Speaker 1: myself because I know I'm gonna come back at some
Speaker 1: point this season, like kind of keep myself with the
Speaker 1: same mental approach every single day, try to attack rehab
Speaker 1: like I would attack like a basketball game, Like kind
Speaker 1: of shift my mindset around to be able to stay
Speaker 1: in the same mental space so that when I do
Speaker 1: come back, I'm right where I need to be. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you were playing incredible too when eighton went down. You
Speaker 1: were playing incredible, So I assume that it's extra frustrating
Speaker 1: because you were on such a streak playing some of
Speaker 1: your best basketball. Yeah. Yeah, that definitely, uh definitely makes
Speaker 1: it a little bit harder, you know. It's kind of
Speaker 1: like right after that I had a thirty one point game,
Speaker 1: which was my career high, and kind of right at
Speaker 1: it's like the game after I started feeling something weird
Speaker 1: in my knee, and then like the next game after
Speaker 1: that was like the last one. So it really did
Speaker 1: happen fast. So like the emotional high too, like kind
Speaker 1: of an emotional low happened really fast. But I did what.
Speaker 1: I ended up having surgery this year so that I
Speaker 1: could come back this season. So that's it's all been
Speaker 1: the goal of trying to compete for a championship. Because
Speaker 1: Olivia knows this. We've been close. I've been close a
Speaker 1: couple of times, and I really want I just really
Speaker 1: want one really badly. Yeah, well they're getting one. It
Speaker 1: would be like against the universe if you retire without
Speaker 1: without a ring of some kind. I don't want to
Speaker 1: harp on this too much, but we recently had Ryan Lee,
Speaker 1: former NFL player, on the show. He battled addiction, he
Speaker 1: went to prison, and now he's an advocate for mental health,
Speaker 1: especially mental health when it comes to athletes. And like
Speaker 1: I said, I get it with trades and being waived
Speaker 1: and injuries, and even politics on the team and all that.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's so much you guys deal with. But
Speaker 1: to the average fan, they're probably like, what do you
Speaker 1: have to complain about. You're a millionaire, you're happy, you know,
Speaker 1: girls want you, Your life's good. How do you explain
Speaker 1: to someone who doesn't get it why a season is
Speaker 1: so taxing. I mean, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: we're all still human beings, like we have, we go
Speaker 1: through the same struggles that everyone else goes through. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you can look at money in any situation and think
Speaker 1: that should you know, I think to an average person,
Speaker 1: you would think that would cure all your problems, but
Speaker 1: it doesn't. The same real world problems can follow literally
Speaker 1: any single person. You know, it's just different types of
Speaker 1: frustration for athletes, you know, sometimes like things that bother
Speaker 1: us may not bother someone else, but also things that
Speaker 1: bother the regular people definitely still bother us. So it's
Speaker 1: hard to explain because I only know the one way obviously,
Speaker 1: going from Wisconsin to getting drafted. But I see like
Speaker 1: my family and everything, and like what they go through,
Speaker 1: and obviously the money makes things nice, but also you know,
Speaker 1: like being in a situation like I hate to keep
Speaker 1: bringing this one up, but like the situation I'm in,
Speaker 1: like everything, You're on the best team in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Like a lot of people dream about being able to
Speaker 1: play and help and do everything, and I'm kind of
Speaker 1: sitting on the sidelines right now watching it all happen.
Speaker 1: And that's and that's difficult. That weighs on you. That
Speaker 1: can like that stuff can definitely follow you home because
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, our careers are kind
Speaker 1: of our lives, and basketball kind of it doesn't just
Speaker 1: stop when you leave the gym. It kind follows you
Speaker 1: everywhere you go. Yeah, yeah, Well, wishing you the best man.
Speaker 1: You guys got a good chance this year. You're what's
Speaker 1: the timeline for you coming back? Right now? Hopefully I'll
Speaker 1: be back in and I think it's like three weeks
Speaker 1: from now. That's what I'm aiming for, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm in that ramp back up to play because when
Speaker 1: you've been out for so long, you've got to go
Speaker 1: through the whole ramping back up to play process. So
Speaker 1: that's kind of what I'm in right now. I'm back
Speaker 1: on the court and everything, which definitely feels good because
Speaker 1: there was a good ten weeks span there where I
Speaker 1: couldn't do anything, literally just every single day just basically
Speaker 1: walking around doing nothing. You're watching any good shows if
Speaker 1: you're not on social media, I know you like to
Speaker 1: watch it with the subtitles on. By the way, I
Speaker 1: do the same thing. I watch every show at the
Speaker 1: subtitles on, and now I got my wife into it.
Speaker 1: I don't know why I like it, but I do.
Speaker 1: I speak English, it just makes it more enjoyable. Why
Speaker 1: do you watch it with the subtitles on? I actually
Speaker 1: have a good reason. My grandma can't hear very well.
Speaker 1: So when we were kids, every single thing we had
Speaker 1: to watch on view with my grandma had subtitles on,
Speaker 1: and I just liked it, so I kept doing it.
Speaker 1: So I've been watching TV with subtitles forever, and I
Speaker 1: know a lot of people it's like you watch a
Speaker 1: show like Peaky Blinders where you can't understand what they're saying,
Speaker 1: and that's why people is like I had to watch
Speaker 1: subtitles with that. Now I do it with everything mine was.
Speaker 1: My grandma can't here very well. That's a great that's
Speaker 1: a great reason. Yeah, the British shows are almost the worst.
Speaker 1: You're like I know this is my language, but there
Speaker 1: are there are some shows it's really tough like there
Speaker 1: and you know those things too, Like I'm sure we've
Speaker 1: all listened to songs before and think that the lyrics
Speaker 1: are one thing, and then the lyrics are something totally different.
Speaker 1: It's kind of the same ways with movies sometimes, like
Speaker 1: what you hear sounds so much different than what they're
Speaker 1: actually saying. Yeah, yeah, I know you're right. Okay, you
Speaker 1: mentioned your grandma. What a lot of people don't know
Speaker 1: about you. I think too. You always talk about being
Speaker 1: from Chicago, the Chicago area. Your aunt worked for the
Speaker 1: Bulls in the Jordan era. You grew up a fan
Speaker 1: in the Jordan era. I've always wanted to ask you,
Speaker 1: how did that shape the way you view the n
Speaker 1: b A, the way you loved basketball. I don't remember
Speaker 1: what it's like to not like being I was born
Speaker 1: into that situation where my aunt worked for the Bulls.
Speaker 1: Like all of our birthday parties growing up, when we
Speaker 1: were little kids and family were like at the practice facility.
Speaker 1: My mom would just take us there and let me
Speaker 1: and my cousins just kind of like run around and
Speaker 1: burn off all of our energy, Like you saw so
Speaker 1: much stuff when we were kids. And obviously, you know,
Speaker 1: my aunt always got us tickets to games, and you know,
Speaker 1: especially when I got into high school, I would used
Speaker 1: to call my aunt at like my lunch period and
Speaker 1: be like, hey, can I get a couple of tickets
Speaker 1: to come to the game tonight. I just drive, like
Speaker 1: right after school, I just drive down and go to
Speaker 1: Bulls games with my friends. So it's just like I
Speaker 1: I mean, I always wanted to play in the NBA.
Speaker 1: That was just like a dream of mine because you know,
Speaker 1: I was kind of born into having a family member
Speaker 1: be a part of everything. And obviously Michael Jordan and
Speaker 1: Chicago everyone had posters of him all over my wall
Speaker 1: when I was growing up, Like my aunt used to
Speaker 1: get all like the giveaways from the games and like
Speaker 1: grab me one and give it to me. And it's
Speaker 1: just I don't know, I was a fan from day one.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. Why why Wisconsin? Why did you pick Wisconsin?
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to play in the Big Ten.
Speaker 1: That was, you know, being a Midwestern kid, I always
Speaker 1: wanted to play in the Big Ten. I'd be lying
Speaker 1: if I didn't say Illinois was would have been my
Speaker 1: number one option, but um, they never offered me a scholarship.
Speaker 1: So I had some other scholarship offers from Big ten
Speaker 1: schools in Wisconsin. I just felt like fit me the
Speaker 1: best of all those. And I mean I went and
Speaker 1: visited on campus, and if you've ever gone to the
Speaker 1: campus before, you would know why anyone would want to.
Speaker 1: I went on the campus in the middle of summer
Speaker 1: and I was like, I'm I looked at my dad.
Speaker 1: I was like, I want to commit here. I was
Speaker 1: ready to commit on my first visit, but my dad
Speaker 1: wouldn't let me because I needed to take my mom
Speaker 1: there first. And then I went with my mom like
Speaker 1: two weeks later and committed like two days after that.
Speaker 1: When I got back home, I called and was like,
Speaker 1: I'm coming here. John. If you've been in Madison, he
Speaker 1: said he loved it. Oh, I love Madison. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: loved it. I've I've done shows there. It's great. It's great. Yeah.
Speaker 1: But about the camp, this is so great? Is it
Speaker 1: just beautiful? We're talking about there's a lot of dime
Speaker 1: pieces walking around. I mean to a seventeen year old
Speaker 1: kid getting recruited that there was a lot of good
Speaker 1: scenery between the lakes between it was bikini season. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. You know, you have the two lakes there
Speaker 1: on campus. You go around, you see everything. Everyone's just happy.
Speaker 1: I mean it was, and you know, being it was
Speaker 1: only two and a half hours away from home, it
Speaker 1: was important to me that my mom and my dad
Speaker 1: be able to come to games and my family be
Speaker 1: able to do that. So I think that was why
Speaker 1: I was wanted to play in the big tents so badly,
Speaker 1: because I had never been far away from home, and
Speaker 1: I don't think I wanted to go that far away
Speaker 1: from home. So you go to Wisconsin, to one of
Speaker 1: the best places on earth, Madison, Wisconsin, and your career
Speaker 1: blows up, especially your junior year. And fast forward, I
Speaker 1: think it was your senior year on route to play
Speaker 1: in the National Championship when you made the s I
Speaker 1: cover with Frank the Tank written behind you. What did
Speaker 1: that cover mean to you at the time? What did
Speaker 1: that feel like at the time, like you were a kid,
Speaker 1: you know, it all happened so fast, ye that it
Speaker 1: just felt like I don't know, it was just it
Speaker 1: was definitely a weird feeling because it was like I
Speaker 1: always wanted to be you know, one of those guys.
Speaker 1: You know. I remember, you know, you come out when
Speaker 1: you're high school class with a lot of people and
Speaker 1: you see people from your high school class that you
Speaker 1: played against already like going one and done and two
Speaker 1: and done and already playing in the NBA, and you're
Speaker 1: just like, it's just like a competition thing. I wanted
Speaker 1: to be one of those, like one of those guys.
Speaker 1: And then you know, when everything started happening, it was
Speaker 1: just like I couldn't believe it at the time. And
Speaker 1: then I think the first time it really hit me
Speaker 1: was you know, when I was I think it was
Speaker 1: it was me and Josh after we made the Final
Speaker 1: four that we were on the Sports Illustrated cover, like
Speaker 1: the first time we were on it, like just going
Speaker 1: crazy after we beat Arizona the first time. And that's
Speaker 1: when I like it kind of hit me that when
Speaker 1: we were going to the Final four and every and
Speaker 1: it's like, wow, like we're really like doing this because
Speaker 1: we used to talk about it, like about changing the
Speaker 1: culture in Madison, but like talking about and doing it
Speaker 1: were like two completely different things. And then starting to
Speaker 1: get more and more notoriety and everything. I just I
Speaker 1: don't know, I just liked playing. That was that was
Speaker 1: the phone and Olivia. I'm sure Sam's told you we
Speaker 1: were just a bunch of idiots, Like we didn't really realize,
Speaker 1: you know, like a lot of the stuff we were doing.
Speaker 1: We were just like having fun and just enjoying ourselves
Speaker 1: and just everything that came along. It was cool. We
Speaker 1: all did it. It was fun. I just like, I
Speaker 1: literally looked back on my college career and it makes
Speaker 1: me smile and like kind of want to cry at
Speaker 1: the same time, just because of how much I enjoyed
Speaker 1: it and how much fun I had, and like the
Speaker 1: relationships that we all have now, and it's like it's
Speaker 1: cool seeing everybody like grow up and start to move
Speaker 1: on and have families and start their own thing, and
Speaker 1: it's just, you know, it's I have a lot of
Speaker 1: pride about what we did and what we accomplished. I mean,
Speaker 1: not only have I heard this all retold from the Deckers,
Speaker 1: but also media members have come up to me when
Speaker 1: they found out I was married to Sam and said,
Speaker 1: I've never enjoyed covering a team as much as I
Speaker 1: did those two Wisconsin teams, the fourteen fifteen teams, and
Speaker 1: it was you guys were just a bunch of vidiots,
Speaker 1: genuinely friends, and it's like you were playing backyard basketball
Speaker 1: and just having way too much success. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you go. You even go to like the tournament press conferences,
Speaker 1: like you see the other teams, like you're all on
Speaker 1: the same thing, and everyone's like in the thing like
Speaker 1: serious like this, and here we are just like joking
Speaker 1: around with people, like not answering any questions seriously. You know.
Speaker 1: I even remember in the last final four, we had
Speaker 1: golf carts taking us around the stadium and we were
Speaker 1: literally like trying to hijack the golf carts and like
Speaker 1: driving around ourselves and just like goes righte them. I remember,
Speaker 1: like we were just nothing was too serious. Like it
Speaker 1: was like off the court, everything was like a joke
Speaker 1: and it was like our time to have fun. But
Speaker 1: then like when on the port happened, it was like
Speaker 1: serious and like go time. And that's why if we
Speaker 1: would have been just serious and not friends, are not close.
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know if we would have enjoyed
Speaker 1: the experience as much as we did. That that was
Speaker 1: what made it so fun. We were so close enjoying
Speaker 1: ourselves so much, and we were having so much success,
Speaker 1: and I wish we could have won one of the two.
Speaker 1: But I mean what we did and what we accomplished,
Speaker 1: I don't think anyone expected out of us, So it's
Speaker 1: just it's amazing that all that happened. Well, now you're
Speaker 1: on like you said, like we all know, you're on
Speaker 1: another great team. How do you compare those two teams?
Speaker 1: Is the vibe the same? I mean, obviously you were
Speaker 1: in Charlotte, you were on a bad team for a
Speaker 1: little while. Is being loose and being friendly because from
Speaker 1: a fans perspective, all you see is the talent out there.
Speaker 1: You're like, oh, these guys are talented, they're gonna win.
Speaker 1: But that's obviously not enough. Is it the chemistry? And
Speaker 1: is part of that chemistry being loose and having fun
Speaker 1: and liking each other. Absolutely, I think that's a huge
Speaker 1: part of it. Like what your culture is as a team,
Speaker 1: and I've seen it in the NBA. One bad one
Speaker 1: bad egg can kind of spoil it for everybody, and
Speaker 1: especially from what I got here my first year in Phoenix,
Speaker 1: we missed the play us. We weren't very good, But
Speaker 1: like that bubble team, like it gets talked about a lot,
Speaker 1: we went eight no in the bubble, and that's really
Speaker 1: what did it. Like, we spent so much time together
Speaker 1: in the bubble, you literally couldn't spend time with anyone else.
Speaker 1: Everyone got close. And then the next year we traded
Speaker 1: for Chris and Chris came in, and Chris has been
Speaker 1: just like a huge mentor and like another great personality
Speaker 1: to have in our locker room. And it's just been
Speaker 1: it's been great. Like I see a lot of similarities,
Speaker 1: Like I don't want to compare the two and say
Speaker 1: they're the same, because I mean, I don't think any
Speaker 1: team in the world could be much closer than our
Speaker 1: Wisconsin team was. And obviously the NBA is different. People
Speaker 1: have wives, children, kids, different things. But this team is
Speaker 1: very close and we got a lot of great personalities
Speaker 1: on it. It has been a lot of fun to
Speaker 1: be a part of it. You mentioned the bubble year,
Speaker 1: but the next year, you guys go to the finals
Speaker 1: and you got to contribute and did great. Obviously it
Speaker 1: was against the Milwaukee Bucks and a state that's been
Speaker 1: so good to you, a state that loves you so much.
Speaker 1: Did the moment in weight of that ever hit you
Speaker 1: or was it more after wrapped up, you're like, whoa,
Speaker 1: what just happened. It's definitely more after the fact for me.
Speaker 1: That's what kind of how it's always how it's been.
Speaker 1: I get so focused and like kind of into it
Speaker 1: when it comes to basketball that you don't really take
Speaker 1: a moment to stop. And especially in the finals, everything
Speaker 1: is kind of coming quickly. It's like game after a
Speaker 1: game and you're preparing, Like the second a game is done,
Speaker 1: you're already preparing for the next game. So it's just
Speaker 1: happening being after thing. It was just cool to be
Speaker 1: back in Wisconsin. You know, my family could drive. It's
Speaker 1: like an hour and ten minutes away from home, you know,
Speaker 1: having all my family and everybody there. You know, I
Speaker 1: saw a lot of the familiar faces from Wisconsin and everybody.
Speaker 1: It's just it was so cool. It's just it's weird
Speaker 1: how that works out. The first time you play in
Speaker 1: the finals, you play against you know, the team that's
Speaker 1: close to where your college was. It's it was it
Speaker 1: was a pretty cool experience, you know. And and it
Speaker 1: used to be funny when I was working, When I
Speaker 1: was warming up in the finals, there used to be
Speaker 1: fans there and everyone would scream out, hey, Frank, I
Speaker 1: hate I love you, but I hope you lose. It's
Speaker 1: it's just nice. There was a lot of people cheering
Speaker 1: for me, which was really cool because there's obviously so
Speaker 1: many die hard Wisconsin fans. But it's hard to put
Speaker 1: into words like kind of how that experience works out.
Speaker 1: It's just it's very cool, but you also still want
Speaker 1: to win. At the end of the day, where there's
Speaker 1: some red jerseys in the crowd, they definitely were. Yes,
Speaker 1: it was it was cool and it's crazy. Like what
Speaker 1: I tell people this all the time they ask about Wisconsin. Actually,
Speaker 1: somebody just asked me this. It's like Wisconsin fans are crazy.
Speaker 1: Like there's some crazy college fans. I know, the Kentucky
Speaker 1: people are probably just nuts, but like Wisconsin fans will
Speaker 1: support like the second you leave and you go somewhere else,
Speaker 1: they'll still support you no matter what. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: which pro team you go on to play for, what
Speaker 1: else you do. They're still very very supportive of you.
Speaker 1: And that's cool. Like I still feel all the love
Speaker 1: from Wisconsin and everything. Oh yeah, yeah, I remember when
Speaker 1: I recorded I actually recorded my first album there and
Speaker 1: in Madison, and I remember walking around and I think
Speaker 1: it was basketball season. I remember correctly. The whole town
Speaker 1: looks like they're on the team. I mean everyone's just
Speaker 1: in the apparel. All you see is red. I mean,
Speaker 1: you guys really do have some great fans for sure.
Speaker 1: Did you buy a jersey? I didn't buy jersey. I
Speaker 1: didn't buy a jersey. I should have. But now I'm
Speaker 1: gonna buy yours now and I'm gonna get its signed perfect. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I want to Turkish. I want to Sam Decker
Speaker 1: Jersey to Olivia. I want both of my my I
Speaker 1: used to call you guys the Ivory Towers, so I
Speaker 1: want both, Jane, what do you call Sam's team in Turkey?
Speaker 1: What do you call them? Bops? Yeah, we're not very
Speaker 1: PC around here. I don't know how much our Turkish
Speaker 1: listenership is. Yeah. Well I'm Greek. It's good ribbon. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Greeks and Turks really don't like each other too, so
Speaker 1: it's a little got a little thing. Yeah, it's like
Speaker 1: Duke in North Carolina. Just speaking of the Bucks, and
Speaker 1: when people look at what could be the NBA Finals
Speaker 1: this year, you know a lot of people nets Bucks
Speaker 1: Heat Bowls. There are so many good teams in the
Speaker 1: East this year, you guys are a favorite to win
Speaker 1: in the West. What team matchup wise do you think
Speaker 1: would be the toughest handle for the Suns? And if
Speaker 1: it is the Bucks again, what will that mean the
Speaker 1: second time around for you personally? From like a competition standpoint,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think I said this. I remember after
Speaker 1: our junior year. It's like when we got into the
Speaker 1: tournament our senior year, we saw that we had the
Speaker 1: ability to play Kentucky again, and that's obviously like who
Speaker 1: we wanted to play, Like you want to play that
Speaker 1: team that beat you, And that's just like from a
Speaker 1: competitive standpoint, like I'd love to be able to play
Speaker 1: Milwaukee again in a series and beat them. As far
Speaker 1: as matchup wise, you know, it's different. Every different round
Speaker 1: of the playoffs brings a different type of matchup. And
Speaker 1: that was the cool part about, you know, our run
Speaker 1: last year. It's like every single round we played we
Speaker 1: saw something completely different. The Lakers playing against Lebron and
Speaker 1: them having Anthony Davis, and then going against the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Obviously Kauai was out, but they played smaller on us.
Speaker 1: Then we went to Denver and had to play against
Speaker 1: your kich and the problems that he brings. And then
Speaker 1: we played the Clippers and they played smaller on us,
Speaker 1: and just like adjusting of that, having to then go
Speaker 1: play the Box who are playing way bigger, and just
Speaker 1: adjusting to all that because out of Honice is a
Speaker 1: matchup problem. So you just kind of have to be
Speaker 1: I think that's a good part about our team. We're
Speaker 1: able to adjust to pretty much anybody we've played against
Speaker 1: so far in the past two years. So it's hard
Speaker 1: to truly know. Obviously, Janice caused a lot of problems
Speaker 1: for us last year, so I think if our team
Speaker 1: is super competitive, so I think anyone would say we'd
Speaker 1: want to play Milwaukee again. I have a question I'm
Speaker 1: very interested in actually, Like in my error, I'm a
Speaker 1: little older than you guys, somebody who was six and
Speaker 1: eleven seven ft like you. They're in the block their
Speaker 1: whole life. You're very good in the block. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've got great footwork in the block, but you also
Speaker 1: can shoot your modern big man. What's the prep like now?
Speaker 1: Is it mostly outside shooting mid rangers or do you
Speaker 1: do a lot of work in the block? I mean,
Speaker 1: are all plays just you know, cheat out to the
Speaker 1: three point line and get a kick. I mean, what's
Speaker 1: it like now being a big man. I still do everything,
Speaker 1: you know, And I think that's a good part about
Speaker 1: our team. Everybody kind of works on everything because the
Speaker 1: way offenses go and the NBA big has got to
Speaker 1: be able to score kind of in multiple positions. You
Speaker 1: gotta be able to screen and roll. You gotta be
Speaker 1: able to catch the ball in the middle of the
Speaker 1: paint and be able to kick it out and pass.
Speaker 1: You gotta be able to kind of see the floor.
Speaker 1: Especially the modern big man has to be able to
Speaker 1: be comfortable with the ball in his hands. And I
Speaker 1: think a lot of my game came from I was
Speaker 1: I grew late. I grew later on in high school,
Speaker 1: so I was always a guard growing up. So I
Speaker 1: was just comfortable playing that position. I kind of kept
Speaker 1: it with me as I kept going. Personally, I love
Speaker 1: shooting threes. I just always have, you know, And I
Speaker 1: wasn't a big jumper or anything like that, so I
Speaker 1: just knew that wasn't gonna be a huge part of
Speaker 1: my game. So I just felt more comfortable playing on
Speaker 1: the perimeter. But I think you see in the NBA
Speaker 1: more and more big guys keep stepping further and further away.
Speaker 1: Some of them shouldn't, but they do, and they think
Speaker 1: they're a little bit better shooters than they are. But
Speaker 1: it's that's kind of how it's becoming. And you know
Speaker 1: that's good because that fits right into my game. Okay,
Speaker 1: I've got to ask you when you watch the college game,
Speaker 1: I'm not sure how much you're able to catch. I
Speaker 1: know it's really tough the pro level. But the Big
Speaker 1: Ten Tournament starts March nine, that's Wednesday, next Wednesday. Who
Speaker 1: do you like right now Wisconsin is on a role
Speaker 1: winning their last four. I mean, yeah, I'll never say
Speaker 1: anyone other than even if they were in last place,
Speaker 1: I would say Wisconsin is gonna win the Big Ten Tournament.
Speaker 1: That's just kind of me. I'm I'm a super loyal fan,
Speaker 1: and obviously you know I went there accomplished things there,
Speaker 1: so but it's good to see them back playing really well.
Speaker 1: I know last year was kind of tough for them,
Speaker 1: you know, just with the whole everything that went down
Speaker 1: towards the end of the season. But I love seeing
Speaker 1: him playing well and they got a good team and
Speaker 1: hopefully they can make a run, because that's that's what
Speaker 1: I want. I love being especially I got so many
Speaker 1: friends that went to different Big ten schools at this point.
Speaker 1: I love it when they play. One of my best
Speaker 1: friends played it. You know you were there at my
Speaker 1: Jersey retirement night. One of my best friends went to
Speaker 1: Purdue and war was Perdue Letterman jacket when we played
Speaker 1: perduing Perdue that night, and he wanted he always felt
Speaker 1: like crying. So I hope they played Perdue in the
Speaker 1: championship game and end up beating him. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: hoping for. Al Right. Well, I didn't ask what you
Speaker 1: were hoping for. I asked what you think. Like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Olivia pretty good too. Yeah, so people can pick who
Speaker 1: they also root for. You know, it's a little heart
Speaker 1: and its it's Alma mater. Al Right, Frank, We've had
Speaker 1: a great time with you man, so much insight. Now
Speaker 1: we're gonna switch to something a little more personal. We're
Speaker 1: gonna have a little fun with you since you know
Speaker 1: Olivia personally, so I'm sure you used to go one
Speaker 1: on one with Sam and practice back at Wisconsin all
Speaker 1: the time. Well, now you are going to take on
Speaker 1: Olivia one on one in a different game. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a different game. It's time to find out who knows
Speaker 1: Sam better, his former teammate for his wife and a
Speaker 1: little Yeah it's Baby's Baba and a little Sam Decker
Speaker 1: trivia show. Okay, I love it, all right, So here
Speaker 1: we go. Okay, first up, so I'm going to ask
Speaker 1: what number did Sam Decker air at Wisconsin. We'll start easy, Okay,
Speaker 1: they both know. Alright, we're starting easy and we're getting
Speaker 1: gradually harder. What did Sam say? And Frank will go first?
Speaker 1: And Olivia, what did Sam say his favorite class was
Speaker 1: at Wisconsin? H Olivia, you're both wrong. Oh my god,
Speaker 1: I hope he doesn't see this. It's entomology. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: well you know you can't get it right now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had to raise the bug. He had a caterpillar
Speaker 1: in his room that turned into him off. So the
Speaker 1: kid likes bucks. All right, here's another one on Draft night,
Speaker 1: Who did Jalen Rose compare Sam too? That made Kyle
Speaker 1: Lowry tweet? Is Jalen Rose just comparing people that look
Speaker 1: a like Andre Carolinko? Good gas because they do look alike. Olivia,
Speaker 1: I don't know, no, no clue, no clue. Okay, it
Speaker 1: was he works for the Knicks now Wally Zerbiac. So
Speaker 1: at this point, so far, neither one of you guys
Speaker 1: know Sam. Hard question, it's got better than this? Yeah? Well, hey, listen,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean we got this is we're
Speaker 1: talking about friendship. Who knows Sam better? Okay, we gotta
Speaker 1: go with the good ones this one. Probably Frank's gonna
Speaker 1: have the advantage. How many points did Sam score in
Speaker 1: his first career NBA start? Well, actually, Olivia made of
Speaker 1: the advantage. How many points did he scored in his
Speaker 1: first start? Olivia thirty against the Memphis Grizzlies. We were dating,
Speaker 1: I don't think engaged yet? Yeah, is that what one?
Speaker 1: You over right there? You're like, I'm a married this
Speaker 1: guy kid can play. Yeah, we weren't even close to
Speaker 1: getting married until that game. Now, I was watching in
Speaker 1: Wisconsin with his sister Hannah. We got together at a
Speaker 1: bar in Milwaukee to watch the game Sam's first start.
Speaker 1: We didn't know he was starting until like thirty minutes before.
Speaker 1: We're like, oh my god. And then they played the
Speaker 1: Bucks next, and he was flying in Milwaukee after and
Speaker 1: uh that that was an awesome week. He was very
Speaker 1: happy that week. That's incredibly I remember watching that too, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he had. He was on twelve or nineteen shooting. It
Speaker 1: was against the Grizzlies. Incredible, incredible start, incredible debut. All right,
Speaker 1: Which restaurant did Sam once say is home to his
Speaker 1: favorite hamburger? Frank Culver's, Olivia, Yeah, Culver's. If we're going
Speaker 1: with just like a chain, is that what you mean? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you're both right, you're both right. Okay, we're getting there.
Speaker 1: We're getting there, alright. So like if you know, because
Speaker 1: let's just say somebody had kidnapped, you know, he's playing
Speaker 1: in Turkey, someone kidnaps him, and they say, if you
Speaker 1: entered these questions, he lives. He's doing okay right now.
Speaker 1: At first that he's gonna be gone, But now we're
Speaker 1: getting back, We're getting them back, all right. What team
Speaker 1: once hosted a Sam deck or bobble Head Night? The Rockets?
Speaker 1: The Rockets, Oh boy, I'm worried about Sam's well being
Speaker 1: right now. It's the Wisconsin Timber Timber Rattlers minor league
Speaker 1: baseball team. I've got it over here. You should have
Speaker 1: known that one. You should have known that one. All right.
Speaker 1: That's a big, a big gift in Wisconsin. Is he's
Speaker 1: holding up brought Zuka. It's it's a machine that shoots
Speaker 1: brought worst. That is very Wisconsin. I'll give you a
Speaker 1: signed one. Yeah, I mean he probably would rather I
Speaker 1: have it at this point, since you didn't even know
Speaker 1: it existed. All right? Who made headlines when they trolled
Speaker 1: Sam for not graduating from college? Me, me, what do
Speaker 1: you say? I think he tweeted it to me something
Speaker 1: at me once and I said, I'm sorry, I don't
Speaker 1: respect the opinion of a college drop out. That's really good.
Speaker 1: That's fair, Olivia. You have a guess or an answer.
Speaker 1: It was me, Well, no, it's I mean, it's got
Speaker 1: to be that well, according to Samon it was his mother.
Speaker 1: According to Sam, it's his mother. Yeah, so I don't know.
Speaker 1: I wasn't there. I remember tweeting something at him about
Speaker 1: that too. Didn't his mom make a mow the lawn too?
Speaker 1: I think it was like two days after he was
Speaker 1: drafted or something he had to mow his parents law
Speaker 1: And come on, well, you know what, Frank gets that
Speaker 1: one because he also did it. You get negative two
Speaker 1: points because you didn't even know that Frank did it,
Speaker 1: so that you're now you're I'm taking I'm taking a
Speaker 1: point away like what they do in boxing. All right,
Speaker 1: last question, where did Sam take Olivia on their first date?
Speaker 1: Don't answer this yet. I want to guess mm hmm,
Speaker 1: and you honest, I don't think whatever answer you have
Speaker 1: will be accurate. Well, I just hope you know it
Speaker 1: capital girl. No, No, I take it back. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Well, I'm not. I have no idea
Speaker 1: what answer you have, be honest, but it was just
Speaker 1: to a Mexican restaurant. Our second date was to watch
Speaker 1: a Packer game. No, no, no. Our first date was
Speaker 1: to watch a Packer game in Houston, and he brought
Speaker 1: his roommate Max Nice. He was serious about you at
Speaker 1: the beginning. Was that the answer you had? Well, I
Speaker 1: don't know, there's no answer, but I was just I
Speaker 1: just knew that you would know. Yeah. Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: just say thankfully he didn't ask you, because I know
Speaker 1: if you you would have been like take me, flyw
Speaker 1: me on a private jet. We're going to New York
Speaker 1: and I want to go to a steakhouse. Because you're
Speaker 1: what they call I see. You don't look like a
Speaker 1: back Sam. You're not a two for twenty at Applebee's.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. Sam will tell you that I
Speaker 1: bought a bucket of beer. You got buckle beer. I
Speaker 1: see you were trying to downplay. You're trying to just
Speaker 1: you're trying to play it off like you were just like, hey,
Speaker 1: I'm blow maintenance and little did he know. That's what
Speaker 1: as as girls we do that. We do this thing
Speaker 1: of like you're you gotta be cool girl for a while,
Speaker 1: right right, and then you get married. Yeah, You're like,
Speaker 1: I'll go anywhere and take me to Applebee's, anything for
Speaker 1: twenties fine, and then a couple of years into marriage,
Speaker 1: you're like, Okay, I want to go to Paris and
Speaker 1: I want you to take me to one of the
Speaker 1: two sushi chefs who are Michelin rated in Paris. Now, well,
Speaker 1: that's it. So I think Sam's okay. A good date though, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he survived. He survived, he made it. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be okay. So that's the game. Yeah, good job,
Speaker 1: be honest. Well that's it. Thank you so much, Frank. Frank,
Speaker 1: that was a lot of fun. Thanks so much for
Speaker 1: joining us. Yea, thanks for having me. Okay, I hate
Speaker 1: to start this segment off on a bad note, But
Speaker 1: we've got to talk about it because it rocked the
Speaker 1: betting world this past weekend. Peter Andrew from bed MGM,
Speaker 1: what happened to all these ranked teams losing on the
Speaker 1: same Saturday? What did you see? Well, it turned out
Speaker 1: all right for us, but first first time ever the
Speaker 1: top six seeded teams in a given week on a
Speaker 1: given day all went down. I don't think it's as
Speaker 1: crazy and as big as surprise as some people will think.
Speaker 1: Some of those matchups. I think probably the Arizona Colorado
Speaker 1: one is the most peculiar. Colorado was at home, so
Speaker 1: that's the one I considered kind of an outlier. But
Speaker 1: you know, people don't realize sometimes a team like St.
Speaker 1: Mary's you're in, you're out. Give teams like Zagga Trouble
Speaker 1: that is the only team in the w c C
Speaker 1: that's even remotely close to beating them in a in
Speaker 1: a conference game or a conference tournament game. So some
Speaker 1: of them not so crazy. But you saw teams like
Speaker 1: Alburn go down to Tennessee, Michigan State beat per Due,
Speaker 1: Baylor Kansas kind of a toss up between them two
Speaker 1: in terms of how good they are. I think both
Speaker 1: top ten teams at the time, and then the real
Speaker 1: surprise to me or the team that I really like
Speaker 1: going into next week and into the tournament. Arkansas over
Speaker 1: Kentucky j D note is awesome. I think you look
Speaker 1: at that team, they have a legitimate shot at being
Speaker 1: a real threat in the tournament right now. I think
Speaker 1: if you're looking at value, you want to take teams
Speaker 1: that could make some noise in their respective conference. Geames
Speaker 1: men could make some noise in the tournament. I think
Speaker 1: that's you have to consider for some value in the future.
Speaker 1: So Arkansas forty two one right now five dollar bet
Speaker 1: when I mean they're they're a good team, and they're
Speaker 1: only going to get better if they make it to
Speaker 1: the finals in the SEC tournament or they get a
Speaker 1: four seed in the actual n C Double A tournament.
Speaker 1: They are going to be way better than forty to one.
Speaker 1: I promise you that. So good time to take teams
Speaker 1: kind of in that level of that caliber. I watched
Speaker 1: that Gonzaga game. Do you think St. Mary's offered a
Speaker 1: blueprint for how to beat Gonzaga by pounding it inside?
Speaker 1: They kind of went inside out? Or is it just
Speaker 1: that if Gonzaga plays a team with three white starters,
Speaker 1: Gonzaga's in trouble. Yeah, for a team that's got to
Speaker 1: almost seven foot guys or seven inch foot guys, they
Speaker 1: can be a bit soft the time. So I think
Speaker 1: it kind of is the blueprint. But that's also the
Speaker 1: kind of game that Gonzaga needs is a bit of
Speaker 1: a wake up call. So happening towards the end of
Speaker 1: the season. I think we mentioned this even last year.
Speaker 1: Losing a game in a conference tournament. That's great when
Speaker 1: it's happening before the n C Double a tournament, because
Speaker 1: that's how you get, you know, kind of whipped into shape.
Speaker 1: But you're not totally wrong. I think that is the blueprint,
Speaker 1: and that's what teams are going to now look to
Speaker 1: do when Gonzaga is inevitably a one or two seed
Speaker 1: and they're looking to try to, you know, try to
Speaker 1: scare them off. Joannest, I know you're so excited we're
Speaker 1: talking hoops again. I can hear in your voice, and
Speaker 1: we are just getting into the crux of it. Now
Speaker 1: that All Star Break is over in the NBA, let's
Speaker 1: take another look at futures. The Warriors are the favorite
Speaker 1: to win it All at plus four that's better odds
Speaker 1: than the Sun's, which surprises me. I know everyone's excited
Speaker 1: about Golden State, but it just seems like the Sons
Speaker 1: are head and shoulders above the rest, regardless of the
Speaker 1: Chris Paul injury. Which team would you put your money
Speaker 1: on today, Pete Man, It's it's crazy on the West
Speaker 1: is interesting because Warriors do not look good right now.
Speaker 1: So I think they're five and five in their last ten.
Speaker 1: I mean, maybe don't have a pretty good skid. They
Speaker 1: lost some pretty embarrassing games. You have to look at
Speaker 1: the Suns. I still love this Warrior's team and similar
Speaker 1: in a different way, but similar to the Gonzaga issue.
Speaker 1: I mean, they need this kind of stretch to kind
Speaker 1: of get their stuff together. But the difference is Gonzaga
Speaker 1: is not facing a team like the Phoenix Suns in
Speaker 1: a conference tournament or in the first rounds of the
Speaker 1: first couple of rounds n C Double A tournaments. So
Speaker 1: Sons are legit when you go to the East, though,
Speaker 1: heat look awesome. Plus four fifty to win the Eastern
Speaker 1: Conference right now, that is a great value bet. You
Speaker 1: don't know what's going to happen when it comes to
Speaker 1: the embied and hardened connection. It looks good so far.
Speaker 1: The Nets, I still don't know what to expect of them.
Speaker 1: They're not to get political or COVID here, but they
Speaker 1: still don't know what's going to happen with Kyrie, with
Speaker 1: the sanctions that are going to get lifted in New
Speaker 1: York City. Pete, there's no room for that kind of
Speaker 1: talk on this show, don't you know. We don't go
Speaker 1: there any any reason to not take the nets. I'm
Speaker 1: all in, I'm kidding. I just unleashed on it in
Speaker 1: the open. It's like my main thing I want to
Speaker 1: talk about today, So i'd know, I don't know what's
Speaker 1: gonna happen. I do know, indeed, plus a hundred two
Speaker 1: an m v P. That's my lock. Even money right now,
Speaker 1: it's only going to go down in a way. Playing
Speaker 1: with Harden is gonna help him because less doubles, more shooters.
Speaker 1: I think he's going to get the looks and I
Speaker 1: think points wise, he's gonna, you know, continue to accumulate.
Speaker 1: So that's the one I feel real comfortable about. I know,
Speaker 1: I think it's joke. It's that's probably right there with
Speaker 1: him at probably like plus one nine years so maybe
Speaker 1: a little bit more, but I think in bids are
Speaker 1: really safe. Bet Yeah. I mean this year, this is
Speaker 1: a good year to put put your money on a
Speaker 1: sleeper because injuries are such a factor this year, Like
Speaker 1: I got, the Sun's winning at all. But it depends, right,
Speaker 1: it depends if Frank to Take comes back the way
Speaker 1: he played when Aton went down. It's all about Frank
Speaker 1: to Tank. We just spoke to him. If Frank Kaminski
Speaker 1: is not healthy, I'm not I am not betting on
Speaker 1: the Suns because that kid looked good when he was playing.
Speaker 1: I think it was DeAndre eight and went down, and
Speaker 1: then he stepped in he started playing well. Because the
Speaker 1: Suns is all about the That's what I see. Chris Baul,
Speaker 1: DeAndre Aden and Frank the Tank. Baby, I'm a Phoenix
Speaker 1: Suns fan. Now forget about the Turkish League Wisconsin Star,
Speaker 1: I'm about Frank the Tanks fan Peter. Last week he
Speaker 1: was all North Carolina with Tate Frasier. Joannis is as
Speaker 1: as much of a sellout as anyone I've ever known
Speaker 1: in the sports world. Come on, yeah, Olivia, you're rubbing
Speaker 1: off on me. I'm picking up some moves from you.
Speaker 1: You can't lose if you root for everybody. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: told you guys before the show too that I was
Speaker 1: a huge frank to Tank guy because of his time
Speaker 1: in Charlotte. I hope, I hope you got me that
Speaker 1: autograph in that little cameo video. That's really what I'm
Speaker 1: looking for as we get into some craziness at work
Speaker 1: for the next couple of weeks with marsh Madness, I
Speaker 1: want to just revisit m v P one more time.
Speaker 1: You talked about Joel Embiid. We just saw him dunk
Speaker 1: on the entire Knicks team. That was so gnarly. I'm
Speaker 1: pretty sure the people who worked concessions and sell tickets
Speaker 1: were on the court as well. There were just a
Speaker 1: lot of bodies that he was flying over. He is
Speaker 1: the favorite, as you mentioned, Can you give us a
Speaker 1: couple of sneaky value picks? Maybe of m v P odds.
Speaker 1: You mentioned Yoki. He's obviously won it before, Janice has
Speaker 1: won it before. Is there anyone else we should look at?
Speaker 1: It's gotta be John Moran. I'm pulling up his odds
Speaker 1: right now. John Moran is freaking awesome. So he's plus
Speaker 1: eighteen hundred. I mean, I think it was yes So
Speaker 1: we're recording on Monday. I think it was yesterday where
Speaker 1: they had that little give and go and he spun
Speaker 1: around the defender to lay it up. He is electric.
Speaker 1: Even you look at them as a sleeper, maybe you
Speaker 1: take them plus dred to win it all. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're right there in third place. They can easily go
Speaker 1: on to run and get hot. But but John Moran
Speaker 1: is awesome and for the next fifteen years is gonna
Speaker 1: be awesome in the NBA. Love it. Yeah, if he
Speaker 1: stays healthy again. That's a it's a running theme with
Speaker 1: the guy who plays like that. You know he uh,
Speaker 1: he reminds me of a lot of guys who like
Speaker 1: to play above the rim. And you know that in
Speaker 1: that league, that can that can be a little bit
Speaker 1: of a liability. Yeah. I wouldn't compare him like for
Speaker 1: like with Westbrook, but like you've seen the decline of
Speaker 1: Westbrook over the last two years versus what he was,
Speaker 1: and he was that high flyer again, kind of different
Speaker 1: player but above the rim of the time, it feels like,
Speaker 1: so hopefully it doesn't happen in the fizzles out like that.
Speaker 1: He's got a little bit of a Derrick Rose vibe
Speaker 1: a little bit, you know, and that's what scares me sometimes. Yeah, yeah, well, Pete,
Speaker 1: great stuff as always, Thank you so much. Next week
Speaker 1: we'll dig even further into March Madness and conference tournaments obviously,
Speaker 1: and then selection Sundays here before we know it, just
Speaker 1: two weeks away, so I can't wait for that, Peter,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much. We got some treats for
Speaker 1: you from bed MGM, so for the next couple of
Speaker 1: weeks you're ready. I love it. We like treats with
Speaker 1: free stuff. You're honest love free stuff, especially a T shirt. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you should see this guy at an NBA game with
Speaker 1: a T shirt cannon. You've never seen someone moved so fast.
Speaker 1: T shirt cannons can end all wars. Just send them
Speaker 1: over right now to the current conflict and just say,
Speaker 1: don't say it, don't go there. And Food is listening.
Speaker 1: I think he is a big, unleashed listener. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: see all right, that was a lot of fun with
Speaker 1: Frank Kamenski. We learned a lot about Olivia's wedding and
Speaker 1: you know, they both barely know Sam, which was hilarious.
Speaker 1: But I hope Ni gets better. He's a big part
Speaker 1: of that team. And yeah, he's not serbian, so the
Speaker 1: rumors are not true. He's about his serbian as Elizabeth
Speaker 1: Warren is Native American, so that's that. As for you guys,
Speaker 1: fans of our show, we need you to vote. Vote
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Speaker 1: The sations in the past in the mis