Speaker 1: He is drinks Chests, motherfucky podcast man.
Speaker 2: He's a legendary queens rapper.
Speaker 3: He ain't agreed as your boy in O r E.
Speaker 2: He's a Miami hip hop pioneer put up as d
Speaker 2: J E f N.
Speaker 3: Together they drink it up with some.
Speaker 2: Of the biggest players, you know what I mean.
Speaker 4: And the most professional unprofessional podcast and your number one
Speaker 4: source for drunk.
Speaker 2: Drink chans mocavery day is New Year's Eve. That's it's
Speaker 2: time for drink champs, drink up, motherfuck.
Speaker 1: Would it could be hopeing he wanna shoot me? This
Speaker 1: is your boy in O r E. P up is
Speaker 1: DJ E f N and it's drink Chefs. Japis Now
Speaker 1: we'll be starting at this show. We wanted to give
Speaker 1: props to legends, to give flowers to the people where
Speaker 1: they can smell them.
Speaker 3: They drinks where they.
Speaker 1: Can and hell them, and they thoughts when they can
Speaker 1: think them.
Speaker 3: When I'm talking about.
Speaker 1: This brother here that I would be about to introduce,
Speaker 1: I tell you I watched this man religiously. I can
Speaker 1: hear him talk about anything. He can talk about pink
Speaker 1: yellow nails and I'll still be like, yeah, I agree
Speaker 1: with him. He is a wordplay, A fisherianado, a sports aficionado,
Speaker 1: and I don't I've always had to ask this question
Speaker 1: because I don't know how to hell you watch this
Speaker 1: all of them goddamn games.
Speaker 3: And comments on them all.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 1: Some people call him a cowboy hater, and some people
Speaker 1: say he's acting about the cowboys and the cowboys on
Speaker 1: the haters.
Speaker 3: He's from my barrel, even though when I Google him.
Speaker 1: They said he was born in Brooklyn, so I gotta
Speaker 1: ask that. But he's Holly Squeens, one of the best,
Speaker 1: if not the best, sports people period. I hate when
Speaker 1: hip hop used this term goat, but in this case
Speaker 1: it's an understatement.
Speaker 3: He's a mass man and I can.
Speaker 1: I was so excited, I've been sweating all day. So
Speaker 1: in case you don't know who I'm talking about, what
Speaker 1: about the one only Legendarry And.
Speaker 3: How y'all doing?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 3: Look, I couldn't wait for this. By the way, I
Speaker 3: want you to pick my drink.
Speaker 1: I'm gon drink champagne in between, but either Japanese whiskey
Speaker 1: or h or.
Speaker 3: Vodka STD the elite.
Speaker 1: So that's something I've always wanted to ask you man,
Speaker 1: You know, wake up every morning we see you, but
Speaker 1: you you're at the games, but then you.
Speaker 2: Still know about the game that you're not.
Speaker 3: That how do you how do you do that?
Speaker 2: That's like some superhero shit. Well I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't, just you know, do my job. I live it.
Speaker 2: So what I mean by that is that like if
Speaker 2: you walk into the basement of my house. And by
Speaker 2: the way, I was born in the Bronx, the Raised
Speaker 2: and Hollis Queen since I was one years old. Okay, okay, right,
Speaker 2: so just to correct, just get that out the way.
Speaker 2: But when I go in the basement, if you see
Speaker 2: my basement, I've got a movie theater. I've got two
Speaker 2: television screens here. And then if you go to the side,
Speaker 2: I mean, that's really my man cave. I got a bar,
Speaker 2: a TV over the bar, and I got six TVs
Speaker 2: three on top of each other that I can turn
Speaker 2: into one or I can turn into six, seven, six
Speaker 2: different games at the time. So let's say, for example,
Speaker 2: it's Sunday football. If there's seven football games on in
Speaker 2: that man cave, I got a game on each TV,
Speaker 2: the one on the wall over the bar, plus the seven.
Speaker 3: Now I can say it now because I'm about the
Speaker 3: moving a little watch.
Speaker 2: What I'm saying is it's a minimum of seven games
Speaker 2: that I can watch at one time, and so I'm
Speaker 2: doing that. But when I say, I live it. Okay,
Speaker 2: were talking sports. So when I'm driving on list, I'm
Speaker 2: listening to the Sports Channel.
Speaker 3: When I'm I'm watching.
Speaker 2: When I'm watching the sports, I'm watching the Sports Channel.
Speaker 3: When i am I'm reading.
Speaker 2: I wake up and I the first thing that I do,
Speaker 2: you know, in terms of my work, when I get
Speaker 2: up in the morning, I go to ESPN, dot Com,
Speaker 2: Yahoo Sports. You know, I'm looking at all the competitors
Speaker 2: and seeing what the story is. Because you got to remember,
Speaker 2: I have a journalistic background. I started off from New
Speaker 2: York Daily News, but I went from there to the
Speaker 2: Phillyelphia Inquirer, and.
Speaker 3: Then after that I did SEEINGN.
Speaker 2: That's how while I was at the Philaelphia Inquirer, then
Speaker 2: Fox Sports and then ultimately see ESPN. This is all
Speaker 2: while I was doing newspaper from the Philadelphia Quirer from
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety four to twenty ten. And so I have
Speaker 2: a journalistic career that spans thirty years. And when you
Speaker 2: wake up as a journalist, you're thinking about what's the
Speaker 2: story that people that's percolating with the people today in
Speaker 2: my case now because of television, podcasting, radio.
Speaker 3: Et cetera.
Speaker 2: What are the multitude of stories that are percolating to day?
Speaker 2: Y'all just finished talking about Drake Kendrick, you know, and
Speaker 2: Jay Cole and all of that. Right, why you talk
Speaker 2: about it? Because they made the new right what you
Speaker 2: did that day? We have to do as journalists everything.
Speaker 2: So I'm trained in accurately, that's right, And I'm training,
Speaker 2: But I'm just talking about the storyline. What are people
Speaker 2: talking about? You literally are supposed to wake up every
Speaker 2: day thinking about what's percolating.
Speaker 3: And that's how I approach every single day. So let
Speaker 3: me ask you. Right wait, that's dedication.
Speaker 1: So let me ask you coming from the inner city. Yes,
Speaker 1: we have sports like football, stickball, you have.
Speaker 2: To play handball, statch all that ship that with the
Speaker 2: sisters and all of that stuffhen they playing you try
Speaker 2: to play it, just the double dutch. You trying to
Speaker 2: play it just because you want to be around there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, so how is it that's that's the that's
Speaker 1: the sports that we.
Speaker 3: Know that the streets come from.
Speaker 1: Right then you got to cover golf, you gotta cover soccer,
Speaker 1: which I'm finally I'm finally coming around to liking soccer.
Speaker 1: I'm finally coming around, like Christian Ronardo's watch collection and
Speaker 1: Messi's watch collections, as figured, that's what your body, that's not,
Speaker 1: that's not, but that's not like the sports that we know.
Speaker 1: Like and then later on in life, you got all
Speaker 1: these people playing golf, but then then then a lot
Speaker 1: of them equated to being rich, like like, this is
Speaker 1: a rich sport, right, how do you how do you?
Speaker 1: How do you cover that with the same emotions and
Speaker 1: the same You don't and you don't really see. Here's
Speaker 1: what happens with basketball.
Speaker 2: I'm a specialist because I'm an insider, but it's not
Speaker 2: that I know more, even though I kind of do.
Speaker 2: It's not really about you knowing more basketball than other people,
Speaker 2: because you never know more than the players.
Speaker 3: You never know more than the coaches, you never know
Speaker 3: more than them.
Speaker 2: But it's about being so connected to the sport because
Speaker 2: you've covered it intimately that most things you read about
Speaker 2: I already knew about.
Speaker 3: I didn't say anything about.
Speaker 2: I picked up the phone and talked to sources directly
Speaker 2: involved in those stories. And you got inside intelliges. So
Speaker 2: when I say so, when I say I'm a specialist
Speaker 2: in basketball, I'm telling you, like you know, you could
Speaker 2: see a controversy with a player and I ain't say
Speaker 2: a word, but I know everything about it. You see
Speaker 2: what I'm saying that most folks would know, just like
Speaker 2: y'all with the hip hop and you know shit that
Speaker 2: a lot of people would you know they got to
Speaker 2: you got to read a whole bunch of magazines and
Speaker 2: hear people talking about it and all of this other stuff.
Speaker 2: But you are already no that's me on basketball the
Speaker 2: other sports. Until the last few years, you're just being
Speaker 2: a reporter. And what I mean by that is you're
Speaker 2: recognizing what these story is. Like I didn't have to
Speaker 2: cover golf. We have golf writers to cover tigets all
Speaker 2: the day. But when his ass got in trouble and
Speaker 2: a wife attacked him in the land and he was
Speaker 2: ending up on a police bloggers, no, no, no, no, that's
Speaker 2: a story, right, So all of a sudden, it's the story.
Speaker 2: And as a journalist, you're trained to pursue the story,
Speaker 2: so you can find out about the story without having
Speaker 2: to be an insider on the sport of golf. You
Speaker 2: see what I'm saying. So that's what you're doing with
Speaker 2: most sports. You're covering it. You know, you're at the press,
Speaker 2: you're in the press box, you get access into the
Speaker 2: locker room, you go, you cover a game, et cetera,
Speaker 2: et cetera. The difference between that and basketball. You know,
Speaker 2: Alan Iverson and Larry Brown getting into it.
Speaker 3: Well, y'all reading about it. I'm the one they talked to.
Speaker 2: You're you know, so some something happened with Shaq and
Speaker 2: Kobe and you know y'all read about it weeks later,
Speaker 2: but you know it was Kobe that that that mother,
Speaker 2: you know, he going off and ship. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. On the phone weeks earlier, Shaq like hell
Speaker 2: with him, dealt with him, et cetera, et cetera. You
Speaker 2: get access that most folks don't get. And that's what
Speaker 2: makes you a specialist at that particular support because you
Speaker 2: have intel and inside info that most people don't have.
Speaker 1: Now, with that being said, with the inside info, yeah,
Speaker 1: I seen you the other day. Yep, you broung about
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan. Yes, and you said that Michael Jordan text
Speaker 1: you and said that magic Johnson was one of the
Speaker 1: greatest guards of all time, right because I think you
Speaker 1: said someone else.
Speaker 2: I didn't say he. I didn't say he texts me.
Speaker 2: I said he called me. Okay, okay, listen to motherfucker.
Speaker 2: I'm tired.
Speaker 3: You're not listening to me. Listen what I said.
Speaker 2: You said, What the hell are you talking about? And
Speaker 2: I'm like, come on, man, you know saying, Look, it's
Speaker 2: kind of hard to argue with to go, you know, say,
Speaker 2: because he would know. But we do what we do.
Speaker 4: All. I want to ask you this further to.
Speaker 1: The flex, how do you know which conversations to make
Speaker 1: public and which conversations you're gonna say?
Speaker 3: Damn like you said, y'all?
Speaker 2: Are they allow me to Okay, I don't they say
Speaker 2: that this is absolutely off the record. It's off the record. Okay,
Speaker 2: they say it's on the record, it's on the record.
Speaker 2: Or if they don't tell you, you're able to defer to
Speaker 2: their previous course, Like if I've seen you say something
Speaker 2: on the subject publicly already, then it's okay for me
Speaker 2: to say it because you've already spoke on it publicly,
Speaker 2: and you're just echoing those sentiments to me.
Speaker 3: Directly.
Speaker 2: If it's sentiments that you made to me that you
Speaker 2: didn't make to anybody, that's not a trust that you violate.
Speaker 2: That's the code of the streets. You know, you know
Speaker 2: where we come from, and so you don't. You just
Speaker 2: don't do that. You don't, you don't do something like that.
Speaker 2: And a lot of times when you got cats and
Speaker 2: they being ultra sensitive or whatever, I have no patience
Speaker 2: for it because my attitude is, okay, if you say
Speaker 2: it's off the record, it's off the record.
Speaker 3: You know that trust ain't gonna be violated.
Speaker 2: So if you know that's not gonna be violated, and
Speaker 2: we just talk and be real and authentic with it.
Speaker 2: And if you and if you, if you don't, if
Speaker 2: you want to say something publicly, then that's cool, then own.
Speaker 3: It and be cool with it.
Speaker 2: As long as I quote you accurately and I put
Speaker 2: it in this proper context, and I didn't violate your trust.
Speaker 3: What are you bitching about? You got an opinion.
Speaker 2: I got opinion probably laced with more facts, and we'll
Speaker 2: go from there.
Speaker 3: And I'm not gonna worry about it.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna worry about feelings on that level, because again,
Speaker 2: it's not personal.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying you when you I don't
Speaker 3: care who you are.
Speaker 2: And it's not about fear, it's not about embarrassment, it's
Speaker 2: not about anything. It's a code where there's certain things
Speaker 2: that you're just supposed to know.
Speaker 3: You don't reveal. You don't get personal.
Speaker 2: But professionally it's all open seas, especially if you're SI
Speaker 2: public step want to court. You shoot two for twenty.
Speaker 2: Don't bitch to me. It's not two for twenty in
Speaker 2: front of everybody doing your fact. You did it in
Speaker 2: front of everybody. Everybody saw it. So that particular night
Speaker 2: you stuck up the joint own it.
Speaker 3: You don''t get me because somebody did that job.
Speaker 2: And they highlighted this was not a good night for you.
Speaker 2: You can't get mad at that, but you got some
Speaker 2: of these cats who will because of the age that
Speaker 2: we're living in.
Speaker 3: And it's unfortunate in that regard, but it is what
Speaker 3: it is.
Speaker 1: Like I had to speak to DJ Envy one time
Speaker 1: because your Envy was was going back and forth with
Speaker 1: somebody and I had to kind of like let them know,
Speaker 1: like your voice is powerful. They were playing around, but
Speaker 1: they wasn't playing around your voice. Your voice is powersure
Speaker 1: because when you do show like a breakfast club, it
Speaker 1: comes on in other markets at a different times. So
Speaker 1: if you did somebody at eight o'clock, you might have
Speaker 1: to come see him again at two o clock. I
Speaker 1: see him again at twelve o'clock, right, have it? Has
Speaker 1: it ever been like that for you? Because if you,
Speaker 1: like you said, you critique on the game and some
Speaker 1: of these people are your connects.
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, let's understand that about the connect.
Speaker 3: You cultivate relationships with.
Speaker 2: People is how I cultivate relationships. This is who the
Speaker 2: hell I am.
Speaker 3: Off top, Let's get that out the way. This is
Speaker 3: my job.
Speaker 2: Your personal life is your business. It is your story
Speaker 2: to tell. Don't end up in the police blotders. Now
Speaker 2: that's a matter of public information. You're saying privately, what's
Speaker 2: going on in your life is your business. Your professional
Speaker 2: career is there for me to chronicle. I'm gonna call
Speaker 2: it like I see it now. I'm gonna come to
Speaker 2: you now if I got access to you, like you know,
Speaker 2: you'll see me. And there's certain people that I'm straight
Speaker 2: and I could be hardcore with, And then there's certain
Speaker 2: people you look at me and say, damn, I expect
Speaker 2: the steven A to go harder. They're not realizing it's
Speaker 2: not because of friendship. It's because you stood there and
Speaker 2: talked to me and gave me your perspective. If this
Speaker 2: if the drink champs create headlines and it's for a
Speaker 2: negative reason, right If I.
Speaker 4: Know you, yeah, well happened because you have the access.
Speaker 2: So you're giving me a perspective. I've heard the perspective
Speaker 2: from you, and at that time, there's some things you
Speaker 2: might say to me it's cool to tell, and then
Speaker 2: you might give me even more intel pen say don't
Speaker 2: go there with that, because I can't do that, because
Speaker 2: if you do that, that's gonna burn somebody, and I
Speaker 2: don't need that information.
Speaker 4: Not.
Speaker 2: The better way to go is to tell you right,
Speaker 2: and some and most of them usually do. I'm simply
Speaker 2: making the point that if I have a relationship with
Speaker 2: you and you talk to me, I have a professional
Speaker 2: obligation before we even get to the human part us
Speaker 2: knowing one another, communicate with one another. You talking to
Speaker 2: me before we even get to that, I have a
Speaker 2: professional obligation to make sure that I'm honorience. What the
Speaker 2: conversation is meaning if you tell me it's off the record,
Speaker 2: it's off the record. If you've given me intell and
Speaker 2: you say this is the context I'm coming from, that's cool.
Speaker 3: You'll see me on TV and plenty of.
Speaker 2: Times I'll tell somebody I disagree with them, but I'll
Speaker 2: stop and say, let me tell you where they are
Speaker 2: coming from. Because what I owe to you is to
Speaker 2: make sure that I project and disseminate the information to
Speaker 2: go to the masses in the context that you want it.
Speaker 2: Whether I agree and disagree. Now, I always tell them
Speaker 2: I ain't nothing, no obligation to agree with your ass.
Speaker 2: Now you understand that. I mean, I might agree with you,
Speaker 2: I might not agree with you, but before I do anything,
Speaker 2: I'm gonna make sure that unfair and I'm gonna make
Speaker 2: sure that I project.
Speaker 3: The information in the fashion that you gave it to me.
Speaker 2: If you want to be one of those casts that's inaccessible,
Speaker 2: you want to hate on me, you want to avoid me,
Speaker 2: that's at your own damn peril. Hey, my broblem, Because
Speaker 2: here's the thing about me. Please understand this. I've kept
Speaker 2: my number the same for twenty years. My number, my
Speaker 2: phone number, has been the same for twenty years.
Speaker 3: I haven't changed it for one.
Speaker 2: Reason and one reason only. I want no excuses about
Speaker 2: you couldn't reach me. Impossible, impossible. Too many people know
Speaker 2: me for you to tell me you could have reached me.
Speaker 2: But you do have some people who believe they so
Speaker 2: big that they untouchable. And I don't know why people
Speaker 2: would think that way, because in this industry, I can
Speaker 2: touch you any damn time I want. And it's just
Speaker 2: that simple. And I'm gonna be as fair and it's
Speaker 2: humane and as authentic as I can possibly be. But
Speaker 2: please trust, I'm gonna do my damn job. We don't
Speaker 2: have to have Christmas Thanksgiving dinner together, we don't have
Speaker 2: to exchange Christmas gifts. I'm gonna do my job because
Speaker 2: I answer to the public. I don't answer to the
Speaker 2: people I cover. So long as I'm fair, as fair
Speaker 2: minded as I can possibly be, and I contextualize this
Speaker 2: stuff in the fashion that is accurate, that is what
Speaker 2: I owe folks.
Speaker 3: I don't owe them more than that.
Speaker 4: But that goes you. That goes without saying. But I
Speaker 4: feel like you said, the landscape is different now. People
Speaker 4: might need you to explain those rules. I don't deserve
Speaker 4: it necessarily, but it seems like the landscape.
Speaker 2: And I would say to you that you're putting it
Speaker 2: in a very very nice way.
Speaker 3: Some people just soft as hell mentally.
Speaker 2: We're gonna call it like it is. There's a generation
Speaker 2: out here that's soft as hell mentally. You know, you
Speaker 2: got a lot of people and they'll be like, man,
Speaker 2: you know some people. You know, you're cool with some people,
Speaker 2: but some people can't stand your ass. And I'm like,
Speaker 2: who the hell told you I could stand them? They
Speaker 2: don't like their asses either, some of them, not most,
Speaker 2: not all. It's a lot of cats and professionals.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 2: First Take on ESPN has been number one for twelve years,
Speaker 2: every week, every week, every month, every year, twelve years
Speaker 2: in counting. You know what I'd like people to do.
Speaker 2: How many athletes you see coming on there? How many
Speaker 2: former athletes you see got a job on there? How
Speaker 2: many cats you see being given shine? Who you think
Speaker 2: they come to? I'm the executive producer first Take. Youin't
Speaker 2: coming on without my permission. I'm the one that puts
Speaker 2: them on. Now. I'm blessed and fortunate enough to have
Speaker 2: accomplished what I have accomplish than my career at es
Speaker 2: being to be able to have that kind of tipe,
Speaker 2: that kind of power and knock on wood, that's the
Speaker 2: day it could be going tomorrow. I don't trust corporate.
Speaker 2: Anything can happen, but what I'm saying is have I
Speaker 2: have that now? And so when you look at it
Speaker 2: from that perspective, it's like, wait a minute, you're letting
Speaker 2: cats know. You want you want to talk, You want
Speaker 2: your perspective herd you you you want to make sure
Speaker 2: that you're gonna have viewers listening, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 2: The platform is here available to you. You got a
Speaker 2: lot of cats don't want that because they got their
Speaker 2: own platforms. They think they're doing you a favor by
Speaker 2: coming buy and not recognize you was number one before
Speaker 2: they arrive you number one.
Speaker 3: They ain't doing all that they think about.
Speaker 2: They're thinking about what you have to gain, or more importantly,
Speaker 2: what they may have to lose by being in an environment.
Speaker 2: It's unedited, and it's live, ain't no tape delay, ain't no,
Speaker 2: it ain't no live tape and Aaron later, oh no, no, no, bro.
Speaker 3: When we on ten o'clock, it's ten o'clock. Oh wow,
Speaker 3: I didn't know this love Okay, it ain't taste saying oh.
Speaker 2: So when you come on live, and that's what I
Speaker 2: tell them, it's the live platform. You can go on
Speaker 2: Sports Center, you could do an interview for three or
Speaker 2: four minutes. They could come and interview you, and they
Speaker 2: could add three or four minutes.
Speaker 3: You come on first take.
Speaker 2: If I tell you you coming off for fifteen minutes,
Speaker 2: it's fifteen minutes. I tell you thirteen minutes and fifteen seconds.
Speaker 2: It's thirteen minutes and fifteen seconds.
Speaker 3: You know, So you have that.
Speaker 2: And if you want to pass up on that because
Speaker 2: you don't trust, or you think you too big, or
Speaker 2: you thinking that your influence because of your reach, your
Speaker 2: followers and all of that stuff is going to stop
Speaker 2: me from doing what I do, well, good luck with that.
Speaker 2: Good luck with that.
Speaker 1: Recently we had people come on here, right, you know,
Speaker 1: have a good time, say something they don't want they
Speaker 1: don't want to say, and ask for.
Speaker 3: Us to edit it.
Speaker 1: Right, and us, being good people, we ain't.
Speaker 2: Chase.
Speaker 1: But then these artists will ask us to edit and
Speaker 1: then go on another that for them and say what they.
Speaker 2: Told her that that should push you off. What you
Speaker 2: should do, I'll be wanting to blow it up. What
Speaker 2: you should do should be like this. I will tell
Speaker 2: you that. Let me tell you. Let me listen eight years,
Speaker 2: but let me get as a person that's been in
Speaker 2: media for thirty years.
Speaker 3: Let me give you a piece of advice.
Speaker 2: So you want me to cut this out? You don't
Speaker 2: want me to add this. You know I better not
Speaker 2: see you saying this ship nowhere else? Right?
Speaker 3: I didn't say that.
Speaker 2: You know that, right, because if I see it anywhere else,
Speaker 2: I'm an eric.
Speaker 3: Do you understand me? So long as you know, I
Speaker 3: ain't got no.
Speaker 2: Problems cutting this out, especially if it's something that you
Speaker 2: think is gonna compromise you gonna hurt your brand.
Speaker 3: We ain't trying to hurt you.
Speaker 2: You're saying, but I better not see it somewhere else
Speaker 2: because if I see it somewhere else, or that just
Speaker 2: means you want to give that to somebody else other
Speaker 2: than me. But I got it already. Oh yeah, that
Speaker 2: shit tomorrow. You understand I'm saying, And put the date
Speaker 2: when you said it, so everybody I had it. Don't
Speaker 2: play that game. You say you want it out, keep
Speaker 2: it out because listen, there's certain things, you know, a
Speaker 2: code of the industry. It's like you don't give somebody
Speaker 2: else editorial power. I've had politicians, I've had, you know,
Speaker 2: a big time executives. I've had various others wanted to
Speaker 2: sit down and do interviews with me, and I canceled
Speaker 2: the interview because they wanted editorial control. You're not getting
Speaker 2: editorial control of my content. Don't come on and give
Speaker 2: me the content. I came on here today. I told
Speaker 2: y'all y'all could ask me anything y'all want. That don't
Speaker 2: mean I'm gonna answer every damn let me assure you
Speaker 2: what you want. Here from me is me saying, please
Speaker 2: do it, please edit that out. No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 2: I came here, I showed up. I know you got
Speaker 2: critics and people gonna say, I'm gonna get asked. I
Speaker 2: know how y'all wrote what I'm saying. I knew what
Speaker 2: I was showing up for. And a lot of times
Speaker 2: you got these cats and they being run by their team,
Speaker 2: but they want to act like they did and they
Speaker 2: being rung by their team, and their team didn't have
Speaker 2: any connection. They't creating no kind of viby talk to
Speaker 2: you man, the man won on one or whatever the
Speaker 2: case may be, and then they walk around with their
Speaker 2: backup like somebody did them wrong instead of owning what
Speaker 2: the hell they did.
Speaker 3: That's my life.
Speaker 2: Right there where.
Speaker 3: It's like I'm constantly the villain and.
Speaker 2: I cannot tell y'all how many times, whether it's y'all,
Speaker 2: I don't give a damn what podcast was, show it is.
Speaker 2: I'll see some people say some shit. It could be
Speaker 2: on YouTube, it could be anywhere, and my name come
Speaker 2: up and they say something, and I'm like, how come
Speaker 2: nobody asked they say that to my face? Would they
Speaker 2: put their truth up against my truth? Because we all
Speaker 2: got receipts, but very very few people got as many
Speaker 2: as me, And so I'm like, what.
Speaker 3: When I see people I'm.
Speaker 2: Watching because if it's sports related, especially when they talk
Speaker 2: about sports commentators and stuff like that, my name coming up,
Speaker 2: I'm like, okay, and I'm wondering whether that person's gonna
Speaker 2: call me or yo Stephen a yo. Man.
Speaker 3: They said something.
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying, because I'll have an answer,
Speaker 2: I promise you that.
Speaker 3: But I really get.
Speaker 2: That opportunity and it's it's all right, But Sometimes I say,
Speaker 2: people say stuff because they know they can get away
Speaker 2: with it.
Speaker 3: They know they could get away with it.
Speaker 1: But your name is so big, I can see why
Speaker 1: certain people want to say your name.
Speaker 3: I can see why.
Speaker 1: Because it's a clickbag, even if it's not trying it
Speaker 1: for it. Because someone say A talking about Steven A,
Speaker 1: They're gonna click on it.
Speaker 3: The name is a hot commodity. So is that something
Speaker 3: that bothers you when you don't get that call?
Speaker 2: When I don't get that call sometimes, especially if it
Speaker 2: depends on the ship they're saying and how personal it get,
Speaker 2: because I would, I would listen. I know what codes
Speaker 2: I live by. I know if you're a player and
Speaker 2: you didn't get along with the coach, it was because
Speaker 2: y'all were y'all were, y'all were doing the same woman, right,
Speaker 2: you know what you're screwing around with a teammates girl
Speaker 2: or a teammate's wife, or you know you got in
Speaker 2: of this beef because you know you tried to choke
Speaker 2: a coach or something. You know you gotta you gotta.
Speaker 3: Well that's the trust me.
Speaker 2: Well, but you know, depending on rumors, think about it.
Speaker 2: You hear about that stuff every year, every year, Right,
Speaker 2: So you got all types of the kind of stuff
Speaker 2: that I get access to the kind of information that
Speaker 2: I get access to by virtue of what I do
Speaker 2: for a living. I promise you I don't say seventy
Speaker 2: percent of the stuff that I know, Wow, seventy percent.
Speaker 2: And so what happens is when you see cats and
Speaker 2: you know they talking about your stuff like that, I
Speaker 2: will remind you I've been in the business for thirty years.
Speaker 2: I know about dudes who were talking about me and
Speaker 2: they were filming a commercial in the off season in
Speaker 2: Hollywood and not realizing I knew the damn producers. Wow,
Speaker 2: you connected with cats in the hip hop industry? You
Speaker 2: don't know I know Them's what I'm saying. I mean,
Speaker 2: don't don't listen. I'm not the expert, the officionado at that.
Speaker 2: Like I like music, of course I did. I grow
Speaker 2: on a product of the hip hop generation growing up
Speaker 2: in Holland. Queen's jam Master Jay was best friends with
Speaker 2: my late brother god Rest of Soul. I grew up
Speaker 2: with run DMC. So why they see me? What do
Speaker 2: you say a Holland fifty was?
Speaker 3: It was was you know down the.
Speaker 2: Block llll who j grew up five minutes from your
Speaker 2: Pharma's ball, the Rock, The Rock, you know, John Rude fifty,
Speaker 2: all of these, I'm like, who you talking to? I'm
Speaker 2: seeing I've seen these people years. I root for them
Speaker 2: all day every day. I'm proud of them because I
Speaker 2: look at the road travel and I know where they
Speaker 2: came from to get to where they go. They always
Speaker 2: gonna have my support. Give a damn who it is
Speaker 2: my man should have? Yeah, you know, I just got
Speaker 2: with Snoop because I told her, Damn, I said, I
Speaker 2: have to prepare for the interview. I what you did?
Speaker 2: I mean it just like these these are my brothers.
Speaker 2: They know you pick up the phone, stephen A, is
Speaker 2: what what you need done? That's you know. I mean,
Speaker 2: I'm incredibly grateful and humbled and thankful that I got
Speaker 2: relationships with such iconic figures.
Speaker 3: You can't have relationships with those with cats like that.
Speaker 2: If you don't live by a cold and you don't
Speaker 2: stand for ship and you're gonna betray p Pully and.
Speaker 3: You go backstab, you can't do that.
Speaker 4: So when you got cats in the sports world, what's
Speaker 4: good drink Champs Army. If you like this show, You've
Speaker 4: got to check out The Midnight Miracle. If you don't
Speaker 4: already know about the Midnight Miracle. It's the Legends Dave Chappelle,
Speaker 4: Talib Kwali and Y'asin Bay co hosting this indescribable podcast.
Speaker 4: It's music, it's convo, it's debate, it's a million other things.
Speaker 4: It's really dope. It's so dope to hear these legends
Speaker 4: chopping up about everything from wild stories to debating what's
Speaker 4: going on in the world.
Speaker 2: I mean, it has it all.
Speaker 4: Season one was taped at the Shack That's Dave Spot
Speaker 4: in Ohio, where we had the honor of filming our
Speaker 4: Drink Champs episode with them. They had guests like Questlove,
Speaker 4: Kat Williams, Michelle Wolf, Q Tip Radio, Raheem, and a
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Speaker 4: the Midnight Miracle. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Trying
Speaker 4: to be Smirch and Sully. My reputation that gets me
Speaker 4: hot because you're.
Speaker 2: Implying that I live by a cold that anybody who
Speaker 2: knows me knows I do not live by it, And
Speaker 2: so what happens is then I'm watching everybody, because I
Speaker 2: will watch whether it's y'all or somebody else. And I'd
Speaker 2: be like, you just gonna let them say that, You're
Speaker 2: gonna let that slide. What evidence do you have to
Speaker 2: say that shit about me? You know?
Speaker 1: And you got to.
Speaker 2: Remember, I know of Athletic they remain nameless, but I
Speaker 2: know the stars that spoke to executives trying to keep
Speaker 2: me out of the business. Oh wow, trying to get
Speaker 2: me fired, trying to trying to deny what I'm bringing.
Speaker 2: And then come and they won't say anything. I gonna
Speaker 2: accuse him of smiler in my face because they ain't
Speaker 2: that flagrant with it. But they don't know that. I know.
Speaker 2: Like I told you before, you're filming a commercial, you
Speaker 2: hanging out with your boys, you might be in a hotel,
Speaker 2: you might be at a party or whatever. Yo, bro,
Speaker 2: you ain't been I've been in this business for thirty years.
Speaker 2: I kind of know people. So it could be a week, lady,
Speaker 2: it could be a month, lady, It could be that night.
Speaker 2: It's gonna get back to me, and it ain't gonna
Speaker 2: get back to me. From Nay says that you know,
Speaker 2: I barely know. I'm talking about people that I know
Speaker 2: whose words I know I can trust. Yo, Stephen, Ay, Bro,
Speaker 2: that ain't no friend. This is what he's saying about you.
Speaker 2: This is what they trying to do. This is what happened.
Speaker 2: And so I just sit back and I watch, and
Speaker 2: I pray, pray that they say something about me by name.
Speaker 2: Oh you don't know how to be praying for it,
Speaker 2: because again, I can unleash at my discretion at any
Speaker 2: moment if and I and I'm mostly reserved, no doubt,
Speaker 2: because I'm in corporate America and I grew up in
Speaker 2: corporate America. The freedom that y'all have in this in
Speaker 2: this podcast world, that's something I just adopted. I never
Speaker 2: had to Stephen A Smith show on YouTube that just
Speaker 2: started a year ago. I don't you know, I wasn't
Speaker 2: doing that all of these years. I wasn't.
Speaker 3: I said, what, thank you? I appreciated that.
Speaker 2: I don't. I don't do you know.
Speaker 3: I just started doing that and I didn't you.
Speaker 2: Know you could call it a podcast because I got
Speaker 2: to deal with our Heart Radio and they gonna push
Speaker 2: that on their platforms. But out of my own pocket.
Speaker 2: I built a television studio because my god, I came out.
Speaker 2: I can't a couple of mill out my own pocket.
Speaker 2: I built this television studio because A. I want to
Speaker 2: show that I can produce television on my own. Whereas
Speaker 2: I'm not getting the checkers an employee, I'm getting the
Speaker 2: check as a production company because I'm producing content and
Speaker 2: I'm getting that bag too, on top of me being
Speaker 2: the talent. Oh by the way, not only am I
Speaker 2: doing that, I own and operated one hundred percent. Oh
Speaker 2: by the way, not only am I doing that, but
Speaker 2: I'm doing it with the purpose of not just myself
Speaker 2: but looking for young talent on the come up that
Speaker 2: I can produce years of years to come. Because I'm
Speaker 2: fifty six. I ain't twenty six. I don't want to
Speaker 2: do this shit in thirty years. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: I want, I want, and I want my legacy to
Speaker 2: be somebody that's reaching out to help those on to
Speaker 2: come up, so we can find we can find a
Speaker 2: way to do that.
Speaker 3: Because everybody can't be you.
Speaker 2: Everybody can't be you, everybody can't be me, but they
Speaker 2: can be themselves in a fashion that's most profitable for them,
Speaker 2: show them the way, and show them there's another I'm
Speaker 2: not I'm corporate because I had to live in corporate
Speaker 2: America for thirty years. I know who I am, you said,
Speaker 2: I know what I am when I take the suit
Speaker 2: off and I'm hanging in Hollis, You're a SENI. I'm
Speaker 2: hanging with the Fellas or something like that. But you
Speaker 2: can't roll up with Bob IgA, the CEO of Walt Disney,
Speaker 2: and Jimmy Pataro, the president of the ESPN, and Roger
Speaker 2: Goodella NFL commissioner, Adam Silver, the NBA commissioner. You know,
Speaker 2: like you with the Fellas, it calls for something different.
Speaker 2: Do you have the flexibility, the skill to know how,
Speaker 2: the professionalism to be able to dance in that world
Speaker 2: when you're not you or you or me?
Speaker 3: And I'm the kind of person that thinks that I
Speaker 3: could help.
Speaker 2: Is showing the way so that versatility kicks in and
Speaker 2: you can show yourself to be marketable to a whole
Speaker 2: bunch of people. People a lot of times don't see that.
Speaker 2: We encouraging young cats. Man, do what you want to do,
Speaker 2: when you want to do how you want to do it.
Speaker 2: Fuck everybody, else, But you got your hand out for
Speaker 2: somebody else's money. And that pisses me off because I'm like, yo,
Speaker 2: you don't have to be a business owner. Tell me,
Speaker 2: even if you were on a street, hang it with
Speaker 2: your boys. If your boys came to you and said, yo, dog,
Speaker 2: I need some money, you might give it to them
Speaker 2: the first time. Second time you go be like, what
Speaker 2: fuck you need it for it? Third time again?
Speaker 3: Again?
Speaker 2: Why you underta what I'm saying. And you're gonna want
Speaker 2: to know what they're doing with it, you see what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. But we act like we can encourage people
Speaker 2: to do what they want to do, when they want
Speaker 2: to do it how they want to do. When they
Speaker 2: got their head out for somebody else's money, you setting
Speaker 2: them up for a dead end ride. They're gonna fall.
Speaker 2: You can't operate that way. I'm the kind of person
Speaker 2: that says that. And because I say that, you got
Speaker 2: people that snub their nose up to get the backup.
Speaker 2: They got an attitude all of this other stuff, And
Speaker 2: I don't have patience for that because I'm like, yo,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to help cats.
Speaker 3: What you're trying to do when you're leading them down
Speaker 3: a dead end road.
Speaker 2: Right like me?
Speaker 1: Right, I did love and hip hop. Right, this is Viacom,
Speaker 1: which is corporate America. I did it because I enjoyed
Speaker 1: working for somebody.
Speaker 3: I enjoyed it. I already know I'm the boss of
Speaker 3: whatever whatever my world, but I wanted.
Speaker 1: To go into somebody else's world that I could be
Speaker 1: accountable for not being on time. I'd be accountable for
Speaker 1: not showing up or things like that, and I enjoyed it.
Speaker 3: I fully enjoyed that.
Speaker 1: They didn't want to keep paying me because I wanted more, exactly,
Speaker 1: so we agreed to disagree. But that time, I always
Speaker 1: say that I'm good with, you know, doing what I
Speaker 1: gotta do, and then if I have to work for.
Speaker 3: Somebody else, I'm okay with it.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: I know who I am in real life.
Speaker 2: So is that how you feel when it comes.
Speaker 3: To first thing?
Speaker 2: I wouldn't say when it comes to first take, you know,
Speaker 2: because my weakness is I hate getting up in the morning.
Speaker 2: Because once I'm up, i'm up. I don't take naps,
Speaker 2: and I stay up real late. I don't go to
Speaker 2: sleep before two am. So because of that, I'm up constantly,
Speaker 2: you know, and I'm on my grind. I can't stand
Speaker 2: getting up early. That's the only hiccup in my entire career.
Speaker 2: I'll turn down millions if you asked me to get
Speaker 2: up at four or five am to help with it.
Speaker 2: I gotta figure out something else, you know.
Speaker 3: That's how I am. And that's been my week.
Speaker 2: That's been my one weakness throughout my career, throughout my life.
Speaker 2: But I will tell you this, I've often said this
Speaker 2: about working for Disney. It ain't perfect, right, damn. It
Speaker 2: could be hard sometimes because they got a shareholders, stock holders,
Speaker 2: all of that stuff, and you got to answer for that.
Speaker 2: And when you're a major player, somebody that moves the needle,
Speaker 2: and you know, God has blessed me. I've been number
Speaker 2: one for them for like eight nine years on that
Speaker 2: level in terms of moving the needle. Here's the deal.
Speaker 2: I've often said this, I'd rather work for someone with
Speaker 2: standards than someone looking for them. I can always make
Speaker 2: the adjustment to being free and easy and not having
Speaker 2: to answer to anybody.
Speaker 3: But if I had never had to answer to anybody,
Speaker 3: and then all of a.
Speaker 2: Sudden I got to work for somebody and work in
Speaker 2: corporate America, I'm a lost soul. I ain't gonna not adjust.
Speaker 2: I'm not going to know how to live that life.
Speaker 2: It's going to drive me crazy. But the fact that
Speaker 2: I have worked for the New York Daily News, for
Speaker 2: the Philadelphia Inquirer, for CNN, Fox Sports, ultimately ESPN, and
Speaker 2: Walt Disney. Right because of that, especially walked Disney over
Speaker 2: the last twenty years, I'm in a position where I've
Speaker 2: seen so much corporate and how strict it can be
Speaker 2: and how paralyzing at times.
Speaker 3: It can be right that I can adjust to anything.
Speaker 2: Because it ain't gonna be much tougher than that in
Speaker 2: terms of the standard. Right, everything's gonna be a little looser,
Speaker 2: And as a result, I'm gonna feel more free no
Speaker 2: matter where you put me, right, and that gives me
Speaker 2: a decisive advantage moving forward because I played the long game.
Speaker 4: Makes sense?
Speaker 1: Do you when you uh uh first take, but then
Speaker 1: when you uh do Stephen a show.
Speaker 3: You're the boss boys, Yes, I'm the boss boss. So
Speaker 3: is it is it more hard to deal with employees?
Speaker 2: Hell?
Speaker 3: Yeah, let me tell you something. Look, look, look, look,
Speaker 3: when people.
Speaker 2: Work for you, When you're working for somebody, you have
Speaker 2: a standard you're determined to meet. When you're the boss,
Speaker 2: you have a standard you're praying everyone else will meet,
Speaker 2: and most people ain't you.
Speaker 3: And so as a result, you know on what and
Speaker 3: not only that. Here's the thing.
Speaker 2: On one hand, you the priority has to be competent,
Speaker 2: your ability, You got your carew here.
Speaker 3: They got to know what the hell they're doing.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. You see them ain't got
Speaker 2: smiles on their faces, but they not do the damn jobs.
Speaker 3: You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So they're good because they know you believe they're good.
Speaker 2: And that's all right. Okay, So the competence is number one.
Speaker 2: But right there is trust right now. Trust comes in
Speaker 2: a variety of ways. You don't want people telling your business,
Speaker 2: but then again, when you ain't got much to hide,
Speaker 2: you don't care about that. But the other part of
Speaker 2: trusting is being able to close your eyes and turn
Speaker 2: your back and know that the standard that you've mandated
Speaker 2: is being met at all times, because you got folks
Speaker 2: that are that committed, and when there's a question mark
Speaker 2: to that, that could be very, very stressful. I'm doing
Speaker 2: the Steven A. Smith Show on YouTube right I got
Speaker 2: six hundred thousand followers. I probably hit six hundred thousand
Speaker 2: subscribers tomorrow.
Speaker 3: Right in year one.
Speaker 2: That's not bad. I'm picking up about fifteen hundred subscribers
Speaker 2: a day. I ain't satisfied. I think it should be better.
Speaker 2: But I got people around me. Man, we're doing well,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking at them. You know while I'm looking
Speaker 2: at them, God, damn it. You don't set the standard.
Speaker 2: I set the standard. I'm the one cutting this check.
Speaker 2: Tell me what we're doing. Now. If I'm unreasonable, that's different,
Speaker 2: But don't you did? Tell me what we're doing as
Speaker 2: if you're the one who is defining the standard, and
Speaker 2: let me give a sports to that alogy to you,
Speaker 2: then I'm gonna give it to you because you'll love this.
Speaker 3: I'm a diehard Knicks fan.
Speaker 2: We all know that.
Speaker 3: Yes, it's hard being a Knicks fan.
Speaker 2: I know, but no, no, no, no, no, no, now
Speaker 2: ye now, oh god, So it was so hard being
Speaker 2: a Knick fan. It was hard for me to look
Speaker 2: at that. Damn Jim, do you know I walk by him.
Speaker 2: Now you're billionaire. Now you're a billionaire now, and I
Speaker 2: want but I think it's hard for him. How you doing,
Speaker 2: he sees me, Steven, How you doing? You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying, demon is misster snineteen ninety nine, nineteen ninety nine,
Speaker 2: can't get to finals, bleed for shut on top. But
Speaker 2: this year I think I had a chance, but they
Speaker 2: had too many damnag. Well we'll see what happened since
Speaker 2: they got og number one, defensive efficiency, all of this
Speaker 2: other stuff.
Speaker 3: But we'll talk about that. We're doing better than he.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no no.
Speaker 3: I want the heat again. I actually want to hea.
Speaker 2: He't the healthy.
Speaker 3: Listen, listen. No, no one thing as I as an aside,
Speaker 3: know one thing about me.
Speaker 2: I am never losing when the Heat a plan because
Speaker 2: because that means I get to come to South Beach.
Speaker 3: Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: The difference between Heat fans and Nick fans. Heat fans
Speaker 1: don't even sit down in their seats, stay back there
Speaker 1: and club live drinking. Nick.
Speaker 3: I remember going to a Lebron game.
Speaker 1: Halftime came Lebron was losing, the whole, Heat left, the whole,
Speaker 1: the state left, and I remember being the diehard Knick
Speaker 1: fans saying that would never happen.
Speaker 2: That's true, we do not leave, that's true. But here's
Speaker 2: the flip side. Sorry, you could be at a Knicks game.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry. You could be at a Heat game and
Speaker 2: if you're not from Miami and you know anything about Miami,
Speaker 2: you get there early just for the view. Is they
Speaker 2: got a club.
Speaker 1: Club eight o'clock, eight o'clock. That's the only time, so
Speaker 1: motherfuckers going here just for the club.
Speaker 2: Miami. Miami is the only time in my life where
Speaker 2: I sound like Sammy Sosa.
Speaker 3: Miami has been.
Speaker 2: It's the only time I sound like save me something
Speaker 2: I said. I don't need no dam but it is
Speaker 2: what it is. But I say all of that to say,
Speaker 2: you know, using the whole nixt thing or anything like
Speaker 2: that as an example, Okay, you've got a situation where
Speaker 2: they improved and they doing their thing, and folks are
Speaker 2: salivating over what they're seeing.
Speaker 3: We're just doing better, doing great, You're doing.
Speaker 2: Bet And I'm going like this, do we have a
Speaker 2: chance to go to the finals or not? Because that's
Speaker 2: how I'm looking at it, Like mister Robson, you gonna
Speaker 2: get healthy.
Speaker 3: Oh, jann Over, You're gonna get healthy.
Speaker 2: You're just ready to go get healthy. Jayden Brust and Ballert,
Speaker 2: somebody gonna give um some help. Because I'm looking at
Speaker 2: the Boston Celtics, and I'm saying that.
Speaker 3: Should be the only team standing in your way right now.
Speaker 2: Milwaukee with Dame Dolla and Giannis can't be ignored. We
Speaker 2: get all of that, but losing jew Holiday and stuff
Speaker 2: like that, you compromise defensively, New York, this got a chance.
Speaker 2: Boston is the one roadblock standing in your face. To me,
Speaker 2: anything other than a trip to the conference finals, if
Speaker 2: you're healthy against Boston is a failure. Anything less than
Speaker 2: that is a failure. So when I see folks like, man.
Speaker 5: We were doing that, I'm like talking about yeah, and
Speaker 5: I'm going like, this is your ass for New York.
Speaker 2: You have you suffered since nineteen seventy three. You understand
Speaker 2: I'm saying. I'm like, because I want you out, I
Speaker 2: want you out of here. You ain't a part of this, coach,
Speaker 2: You ain't a part of this because they don't know.
Speaker 2: And then you got these young whipper snappers and stuff.
Speaker 2: You in your thirties. Shut the hell up. You don't
Speaker 2: know what kind of soft wind, weird stuff. I was
Speaker 2: five years old in nineteen seventy three when the New
Speaker 2: York Knicks went to the finals. I ain't seen him
Speaker 2: Dave Listen, they went to the fund. I'm sorry when
Speaker 2: they won a championship. They've been to the finals ever since.
Speaker 2: But thevin even when they went to the finals in
Speaker 2: nineteen ninety nine, we knew they weren't gonna beat san Antonio.
Speaker 2: You knew you in with his old knees and spree
Speaker 2: Well and no one gonna beat I'm sorry, you was hurt.
Speaker 2: So you got spree Well and Camby and you aren't
Speaker 2: beating Tim Duncan and David Robinson. That's not that was
Speaker 2: like when Lebron went to against San Antonio the first
Speaker 2: go round in two thousand and seven, we knew he
Speaker 2: wasn't gonna beat him, So congratulations getting there, but you
Speaker 2: ain't got a snowballs chance in hell of beating that team.
Speaker 2: This is the same thing with the New York Knicks.
Speaker 2: So I'm like when I see people, I'm like, it's
Speaker 2: not just about getting there, it's about me firmly believing
Speaker 2: you got a chance.
Speaker 3: The last time that happened was when you went against
Speaker 3: the Lajawan.
Speaker 2: In Houston and John Stark shot one for eleven from
Speaker 2: three point range two for eighteen for the game in
Speaker 2: a game seven.
Speaker 3: You know and pat Riley my man, pat Riley.
Speaker 2: I love this man. I love Rob's but pat Riley
Speaker 2: is the boss of the New York Knicks. I'm sorry, Yes,
Speaker 2: he the once in the New York Knicks, the head coach.
Speaker 2: You picked up Rolando black Men in the season who
Speaker 2: does nothing but shoot, and there was nothing that's said
Speaker 2: to you. John Starks is suffering right now. I need
Speaker 2: to get Rolando black Men in there because John Starks
Speaker 2: tore it up and gave six See it's moments like this.
Speaker 2: You can't be young, not even born, ignorant and come
Speaker 2: to me talking about all the hell with you. You
Speaker 2: ain't no real Nicks man. You got to shut the
Speaker 2: hell out here. You don't know, you have no idea.
Speaker 1: The frustration tell you how much I'm a Knicks man
Speaker 1: is every time the Knicks get on the street, I
Speaker 1: watched and then they lose, So don't watch.
Speaker 3: Because they keep on winning.
Speaker 2: Because that was about it. I think.
Speaker 3: It's being a Knicks fan. I think it's me. I'm
Speaker 3: like Erica, like, how did they do tonight?
Speaker 1: I won't physically why because every time I physically what
Speaker 1: they physically love?
Speaker 3: That's right question?
Speaker 2: So you for that that all was the bad luck. Listen,
Speaker 2: I feel that way sometimes too. And then I swowed
Speaker 2: myself up and over, I'm gonna watch it. Damn I
Speaker 2: shouldn't have watched, but he let.
Speaker 1: Me give you even more more crazy. I moved in Miami,
Speaker 1: in Miami fifteen years.
Speaker 3: By the way, how you feel about living here?
Speaker 4: Oh?
Speaker 3: I love it.
Speaker 1: I'm taking thinking about how bad it was being a
Speaker 1: Knicks fan is it's a stuff of law.
Speaker 3: If you're a Knicks.
Speaker 1: Fan and a Nets fan, it's round upon if you
Speaker 1: are a Jets fan and a Giants fan. When I
Speaker 1: moved to my and I said, oh that's she is
Speaker 1: out the window. I'm a fan of New York. I'm
Speaker 1: even a fart of the New York Islanders's hockey team.
Speaker 1: By the way, I'm just braised our hair called Dumpies, right,
Speaker 1: Duffy's a great ball? Yet, please, the Duffies is a
Speaker 1: great ball every time the Knicks and the Heat played.
Speaker 1: Everybody just get together, don't. It's a dope ask ball.
Speaker 1: But it's a whole bunch of New Yorkers twenty years
Speaker 1: that we fucking got back into my area. It's not letting.
Speaker 2: You don't have to let it. You only came here
Speaker 2: for the weather, the taxes and stuff that we don't
Speaker 2: need to message that. Let's be like, let us have
Speaker 2: a lot of view of public right here. But I
Speaker 2: will tell you this. I will tell you this. You
Speaker 2: don't have to let go of your New York family
Speaker 2: because New York is everywhere. We get all of that,
Speaker 2: we get all of that. But I got a better
Speaker 2: story for you. So Miami hardcore.
Speaker 3: Yes, they are Raleigh.
Speaker 2: They don't play. They don't communicate with nobody. They ain't
Speaker 2: returning text messages. You know, they ain't leaking information and
Speaker 2: and they don't do all that. They don't play that game.
Speaker 2: You know, they're real ones. They they you know, if
Speaker 2: they got something to say, they said publicly. You know
Speaker 2: what I'm saying. I mean, I've known them for years.
Speaker 2: I'm very tight with the Heat organization. I go back,
Speaker 2: you know, close to thirty years with a lot of
Speaker 2: these cats, the raleighs and the Tim Donovan's that the
Speaker 2: communications got to thank you so much, the Tim Donovans
Speaker 2: and and Rob Wilson's and me relationships. The players. D
Speaker 2: wade all of them, I mean U d all of them.
Speaker 2: I'll go back. Yeah, I've known a lot enough for
Speaker 2: years and got a lot of love for them, and
Speaker 2: they real ones. But here's the thing that happened to
Speaker 2: me last year. Let me show you how the pressid
Speaker 2: this is. So I'm furious with the New York Knicks
Speaker 2: because they didn't get Donovan Mitchell. And this is the
Speaker 2: inside right, because everybody know worldwide. West, you know that's
Speaker 2: my man. I love them, But we had to stop
Speaker 2: talking for a little while because they was.
Speaker 3: Running the organization.
Speaker 2: Doesn't know that he works under the president of the
Speaker 2: basketball operation, Leon Roase. They were pissing me off, and
Speaker 2: West would come to protect them, missit, and I'd be like, look, man,
Speaker 2: we can't talk.
Speaker 3: This is the Knicks.
Speaker 2: This ain't object I'm not objective about the New I'll
Speaker 2: tell you right now. See that's the key with with me.
Speaker 2: I'm not I'm talking now. I'm objective with what I
Speaker 2: report in terms of actual factual information, but I'm not
Speaker 2: hiding my emotion. I am rooting for the knicks'st anybody,
Speaker 2: and when they lose, I'm pissed and I'm looking for
Speaker 2: who is.
Speaker 3: Going to incur my.
Speaker 2: Wrath because you affissed me off because yet again, you're failed. Okay,
Speaker 2: So he's calling me to to to be protected of
Speaker 2: Leon Rose, your rust man, and the interests of our friendship. Dog.
Speaker 3: We're not gonna talk. Come by, cush ass. I don't
Speaker 3: tell this ship man.
Speaker 2: I'm tired, you know what I'm saying. I love him, man,
Speaker 2: I love him, knowing them for over twenty five years,
Speaker 2: but it was driving me crazy. So here's what happened.
Speaker 2: You got an opportunity. I'm watching the Knicks, and I
Speaker 2: believe I believe that if the Knicks had Donovan Mitchell
Speaker 2: last year, they're in the conference finals.
Speaker 3: Miami does not be them. Miami does not beat.
Speaker 2: Hi. Conference finals. They do not beat Miami does not
Speaker 2: beat the Knicks. If Donovan Mitchell was with bruntson the way,
Speaker 2: Brunton was playing you with me. So I'm saying this now,
Speaker 2: you gotta remember. You gotta rewind the clock. I'm doing
Speaker 2: radio in New York City for ESPN Radio back when
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell was coming out of Louisville. This damn dude,
Speaker 2: Phil Jackson, you know the eleven time champion, six championships
Speaker 2: in Chicago, five in l A. You know the sin
Speaker 2: master who all of a sudden don't want to coach
Speaker 2: when he get the New York and ship what we
Speaker 2: need you for? You don't want to coach, daddy.
Speaker 3: You know what, here's the deal. We don't know because
Speaker 3: he went shoe.
Speaker 2: He didn't show up right, at least trying to show up,
Speaker 2: tripping there all the way. For the point that I'm
Speaker 2: trying to make, is this so so Jackson don't want
Speaker 2: to coach, right, And I'm going like this, I'm hearing
Speaker 2: all these names, Elik Monk and all you know, all
Speaker 2: these people, and I said, Donovan Mitchell, Louisville, the brother Special,
Speaker 2: get him. Phil Jackson drafted this dude. Frank Neela Kina.
Speaker 3: Frank Neela Kina never heard of him from overseas. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I just came from France.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I'm serious because I know you're
Speaker 2: passed up, right, So now bring that up. Why because
Speaker 2: Donovan Mitchell taking the league by storm, averaging twenty five games,
Speaker 2: showing the skill set. Utah, blah blah blah. He I
Speaker 2: know Utah he wants out. Utah is looking to move
Speaker 2: him and he wants to go home from Upstate New York. One,
Speaker 2: come out, come on, no question.
Speaker 3: Figure out how the hell.
Speaker 2: I know that emphatically, he wants to come to New York.
Speaker 2: You understand what I'm saying. Leon Rose has an opportunity
Speaker 2: to get this man, and he is on the phone
Speaker 2: with Danny Inge, who departs from Boston. It's now running
Speaker 2: the Utah Jazz and Danny Ainge is universally recognized as
Speaker 2: one of the elite executives in this ward.
Speaker 3: He's not someone you bluff. He knows what he's doing.
Speaker 3: But this is what he wants.
Speaker 2: What about four or five picks?
Speaker 3: One and RJ Barrett you know.
Speaker 2: One crimes. I'm like, ye, it's all. You got eleven
Speaker 2: picks over the next seven years. You got Yanni's coming,
Speaker 2: you got something lebron on Lee La who you got?
Speaker 2: You got to get him.
Speaker 3: Not only does he not get him. One of the
Speaker 3: reasons he doesn't get him.
Speaker 2: This brother Leon Rose has some dude named Gershard Ross
Speaker 2: who hain't recently gotten fired in Minnesota on the phone
Speaker 2: negotiating for him.
Speaker 3: Now again, how do you notice, I'm Steven a baby.
Speaker 2: This is what I do. This is basketball. I'm telling
Speaker 2: you what I know, and I'm livid because you don't
Speaker 2: get them. Right. So now we fast forward to last
Speaker 2: his playoffs and you the Knicks, and you go and
Speaker 2: you take Cleveland out, you smoke him. They can't deal
Speaker 2: with y'all defensively. Their big boys don't respond. Jared Allen
Speaker 2: and or Mobley and these brothers, they don't respond to
Speaker 2: the challenge. You take them out in six I'm like,
Speaker 2: let's go to he the next we come. Right, I'm
Speaker 2: feeling I'm feeling feeling, man, I'm feeling it right. And
Speaker 2: then I watched Jimmy Butler. Oh yeah, put on a
Speaker 2: show before had this is Jimmy Butler last year. So Jimmy,
Speaker 2: my man, love Jimmy to death. Jimmy used to be
Speaker 2: in Philadelphia. I felt Philadelphia is making a big mistake
Speaker 2: because him and and bid like this and b love
Speaker 2: the ground. This brother walked on Jimmy Butler. He holding
Speaker 2: cats accountable, all that sort of ship you saw from
Speaker 2: Ben Simmons. You know what I'm saying. I understand mental awareness,
Speaker 2: mental health, all that stuff. Not trying to disrespect, but
Speaker 2: damn it, you know, where's the mental health when it
Speaker 2: comes to cash in that check?
Speaker 3: That seemed he seemed to know how to get to
Speaker 3: the things I don't want to hear that.
Speaker 2: You understand, say, ain't trying to hear that ship all
Speaker 2: right anyway? Anyway? Right, so dominate he on he on
Speaker 2: the sideline, looking like looking like Julyn in the shades
Speaker 2: and the fly and all of this other stuff. I'm like, hey,
Speaker 2: I think, ain't no doubt the wants you. But what
Speaker 2: that doing for your game? What they're doing for your team?
Speaker 2: Don't get me started with that.
Speaker 3: Damn Ben Simmons.
Speaker 2: Anyway, I'm like that, don't happen with Jimmy Butler there,
Speaker 2: one way or another, son gonna happen.
Speaker 3: He ain't having that, right.
Speaker 2: But he in Miami now and he had dropped like
Speaker 2: over fifty on Milwaukee one game, right, and then they
Speaker 2: closed them out. So I'm like this, all right, you
Speaker 2: know it's gonna be tough, but we we could take them.
Speaker 2: We could take them, right.
Speaker 3: What am I bringing this up for? Because the Heat won?
Speaker 2: No, that's not why, that's why, That's not why I'm
Speaker 2: bringing it up. Because remember the Heat don't talk to nobody.
Speaker 2: Nobody right during this time of year, they locked in.
Speaker 2: Eric sposed, the phenomenal coach, one of the best ever.
Speaker 2: They locked in. It's eleven thirty, at nine, I get
Speaker 2: a text message. It's from Jimmy Butler, y'alling next, and
Speaker 2: I went like this, my heart, my heart, My heart
Speaker 2: has never hurt so bad over a basketball game before
Speaker 2: the game than that, because when he said that to me,
Speaker 2: in my heart, I knew they're gonna get us, but
Speaker 2: I couldn't admit it to myself. I'm like, holding up.
Speaker 2: Come on, come on, Jayleen.
Speaker 5: Did it take you to answer that text message immediately?
Speaker 5: I said, oh, damn, said damn, and that's all I said.
Speaker 2: That's all he said. That's all he said. He had
Speaker 2: said next you saying all my Knicks fandom, and everything
Speaker 2: came down and I went.
Speaker 6: On first take the next day. See he said were next?
Speaker 6: Still were next? I said, come on, y'all, come on, y'all.
Speaker 6: And then I go to the game and he just
Speaker 6: looked and he said word.
Speaker 3: He just shook his head out. Tiger.
Speaker 2: That was a student.
Speaker 3: It was at one point, this is you just said.
Speaker 3: One of your big disappointments.
Speaker 1: One of mines was I felt like we had a
Speaker 1: chance to get Lebron at one point twenty ten. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you had just got nine, right, so we had we
Speaker 1: had a chance to get Lebron. Yeah, why didn't James Dolan?
Speaker 1: Why didn't the next organization go all out? If they did,
Speaker 1: they just didn't have anything to offer.
Speaker 2: Like like James Dolan's pitch was, come to me and
Speaker 2: I'll make you a billionaire. That was his pitch.
Speaker 3: That's kind of like a cool pitch, right.
Speaker 2: I know that unless you believe you're gonna be a
Speaker 2: billionaire without him, which is what Lebron believed. All right,
Speaker 2: So that was number one. So Lebron, they in Cleveland.
Speaker 2: You know, you got Donnie Walsh rolled in in a wheelchair,
Speaker 2: you got James Dolan, who don't have the greatest reputation.
Speaker 2: You got d'An toni and cast like that. All right,
Speaker 2: that that that had to compete with pat Riley. Pat Riley,
Speaker 2: from what I was told, rolled up in there with
Speaker 2: the championship rings.
Speaker 3: And put them on the table. Shit, you want one
Speaker 3: of these? You want one of these?
Speaker 2: Now? If you remember, I'm the one that broke that story.
Speaker 2: I went on the air and I said, n I
Speaker 2: said Lebron. I said, I said, Lebron. Now I'm talking
Speaker 2: about Lebron's taking this. He's going to South Beach and
Speaker 2: everybody was like, they would crucify me for three weeks
Speaker 2: because by this time I was going I was unemployed
Speaker 2: for them.
Speaker 3: I was unemployed, damn there for a full year.
Speaker 2: I read. I had started off resurrecting my career by
Speaker 2: going to Fox Sports Radio and I was doing morning radio.
Speaker 2: And on that morning radio show, I announced to the
Speaker 2: world Lebron going to South Beach. I had sources tell
Speaker 2: me Lebron going to South Beach. This is three weeks
Speaker 2: in advance. He taking his talents to South Beach. What
Speaker 2: the hell does he know? The one he got fired
Speaker 2: from ESPN? He don't know shit. You know, he ain't
Speaker 2: doing this, he ain't doing that, blah blah blah. And
Speaker 2: it was one of the hardest three weeks of my
Speaker 2: life because I knew I was right. I knew my
Speaker 2: source was reliable. But if he had changed his mind,
Speaker 2: you know, yes, it's something different, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So it was like, and you know, the wolves were
Speaker 2: circling because you know, cats wanted me to fall on
Speaker 2: my face. They wanted me to fail the whole nine.
Speaker 2: And so had he announced that he was going somewhere else,
Speaker 2: you know, it would have made me look really really
Speaker 2: bad at that particular moment in time of my career.
Speaker 2: Nobody's right all the time. You only go about what
Speaker 2: your sources tell you. But at that time time in
Speaker 2: my career, having been let go by ESPN a year earlier,
Speaker 2: having starting to resurrect myself on Fox Sports Radio in
Speaker 2: the morning time, with Fox Sports Radio not really getting
Speaker 2: that kind of shine, and now the eye of the
Speaker 2: sports world was on Fox Sports Radio because of what
Speaker 2: I reported. That night that Lebron announced he was taking
Speaker 2: his talents to South Beach was one of the most stressful.
Speaker 3: Nights of my entire life. But because because you got
Speaker 3: the prop store for that. Yeah, but I'm saying because
Speaker 3: he could change his mind or whatever.
Speaker 2: So had he said he was taking his talents everywhere
Speaker 2: anywhere else, they would have said I was wrong.
Speaker 3: I't know what I was talking about.
Speaker 2: No wonder ESPN let his ass go blah blah blah
Speaker 2: blah blah. So all of that was going on, right,
Speaker 2: And I knew my sources, and I knew my sources knew,
Speaker 2: so I had no doubt. But that didn't mean he
Speaker 2: wouldn't changed his mind. And so that's what I was
Speaker 2: dealing with. That's what I was living with. And ultimately,
Speaker 2: when he decided to take his talents to South Beach,
Speaker 2: it's because, first of all, him and d Wade was
Speaker 2: supposed to be here. Whether Mello wants to admit it
Speaker 2: or not, Melo was supposed to be here. I'm the
Speaker 2: one that told you that.
Speaker 3: And hold on.
Speaker 1: I also thought that Melo was supposed to join him
Speaker 1: with the Knicks at one point.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, that wasn't it. Okay, they were
Speaker 2: supposed to join. They had made a pack. Yo, we
Speaker 2: going to negotiate our deeals in two thousand and seven
Speaker 2: to have an out after year three, so we have
Speaker 2: an option to be opt out and become free agents
Speaker 2: to go wherever we want to go. Melo was like, Yo,
Speaker 2: I'm from Baltimore. I ain't passing up that guaranteed money.
Speaker 2: Denver offered me five years. I'm gonna take the five years,
Speaker 2: which wouldn't make him a free agent.
Speaker 3: Until a couple of years later.
Speaker 2: It was supposed to be d Wade, Lebron and Mello,
Speaker 2: but Mello locked himself into the cash in Denver and
Speaker 2: as a result, Bosh opted out, and because Bosh opted out,
Speaker 2: Bosh ended up going there with them, and Melo had
Speaker 2: to force his way out of Denver a year later,
Speaker 2: of Denver a year later to come to New York City.
Speaker 2: But had Melo kept the option, he had an option
Speaker 2: to get out in twenty ten, it was going to
Speaker 2: be Melo, Lebron and d Wade. Now they will tell Now,
Speaker 2: I don't know. I've never heard them admit it. I
Speaker 2: don't give a shit what they say. I'm telling you
Speaker 2: what I know. Melo, Lebron and d Wade they can't
Speaker 2: go on their shows. They go on their shows. They
Speaker 2: can talk whatever they want, they can tell whatever story
Speaker 2: they want.
Speaker 3: I'm the one that reported it. I'm the one that
Speaker 3: broke the story.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you the intel that I received it was Mello,
Speaker 2: d Wade, Lebron and because Melo had opted out, had
Speaker 2: not opted out and took the five full years for
Speaker 2: eighty mil from Denver at that time, that's why didn't happen.
Speaker 2: And I got Mello on camera on my show quite
Speaker 2: frankly on ESBN two it at that time saying, Yo,
Speaker 2: I wasn't walking away from the guaranteed dollars. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 2: So it was never supposed to be bosh. Wow, it
Speaker 2: was supposed to be Mello. And now we sit here
Speaker 2: and looking at an illustrious career, a scoring machine, a
Speaker 2: future Hall of Famer in Carmelo Anthony, who's never won
Speaker 2: a championship. And we all know if that brother was
Speaker 2: with d Wayne and Lebron, he'd have had at least
Speaker 2: those two and probably three of the four. Because you
Speaker 2: can't convince me when Lebron And that's one of the
Speaker 2: reasons why, and I speculating in fairness to Lebron, Me
Speaker 2: and Lebron are respectful to one another. I got mad
Speaker 2: respect for him. Incredible role model, incredible play. I got
Speaker 2: him number two all time behind MJ is the greatest
Speaker 2: play in the history of basketball.
Speaker 3: All of that stuff, major major pross with him. But
Speaker 3: that's the biggest reason we don't fuck with each other.
Speaker 2: Because it was a chuk job against the Dallas Mevericks
Speaker 2: and I called it.
Speaker 3: I said, Yo, it's a joke job.
Speaker 2: You understand you can't have Jason Terry or JJ Brea
Speaker 2: guarding you in the fourth quarter. That's it excusable, you
Speaker 2: Lebron James.
Speaker 3: And that's what happened.
Speaker 2: Because he hadn't learned how to win yet to the
Speaker 2: degree that he that he did. And see when I
Speaker 2: think about measuring just to shift a little bit, if
Speaker 2: you don't mind, when I think about the goat, that
Speaker 2: is the ultimate reason why I have MJ over him. Statistically,
Speaker 2: that's fine. Hell with all of that, Jordan averaged over
Speaker 2: thirty about nine times, nine time defensive All Defensive NBA
Speaker 2: First Team, ten times scoring tacking we were talking about
Speaker 2: he went't he all at and played in a different
Speaker 2: area that was far more physical than it is now.
Speaker 2: The issue is this the road to prosperity matters. Think
Speaker 2: about what you have gone through in your life. You
Speaker 2: ain't talking about hip hop, talk about your life, the
Speaker 2: obstacles that you had to overcome to get to where
Speaker 2: you are. The greatness isn't measured by just your skill
Speaker 2: set and your success and where you landed you Jay Zu,
Speaker 2: l L you others. It's not that it's the road
Speaker 2: you travel. If you born with a silver spoon in
Speaker 2: your mouth thinking you hit a whole run when you
Speaker 2: started off on third base, that's entirely different than starting
Speaker 2: off from nothing and getting to where you are. And
Speaker 2: so what I'm saying is MJ had to do that
Speaker 2: with Lebron. The difference is, as MJ was climbing, you
Speaker 2: never looked at him and said, he's the reason y'all
Speaker 2: in win In that Dallas series, Lebron was the reason
Speaker 2: you didn't win the title the first year in Miami.
Speaker 2: You should have had three titles. You should have had
Speaker 2: the title against ok See, the title against San Antonio,
Speaker 2: the first title against Dallas. You should have had that.
Speaker 2: They had an agent, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, JJ Brea Okay,
Speaker 2: Dirt Novitski of course was a superstar at that particular
Speaker 2: moment of time. We get that, but it wasn't Lebron,
Speaker 2: d Wade and bossing those brothers.
Speaker 3: If Lebron shows up in that.
Speaker 2: Series, and specifically in the fourth quarter, because first three
Speaker 2: quarters he was there. Specifically in the fourth quarter, we're
Speaker 2: talking about four consecutive fourth quarters of an NBA finals
Speaker 2: where there was an apbolt for your ass. Yo, yo,
Speaker 2: we just talking facts. Lebron.
Speaker 3: I still have him number two all time.
Speaker 2: I still think that he's a great player, a great person,
Speaker 2: one of the great people. I mean, he's phenomenal. But
Speaker 2: the fact of the matter is that's on your resume
Speaker 2: when we look at Jordan where you didn't beat the
Speaker 2: Pistons because Scottie Pippen had that damn.
Speaker 3: Migraine in game seven against the Pistons.
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying when you finally overcame the
Speaker 2: Pistons and you got to the finals. Although it was
Speaker 2: an agent magic and it was Lade Devak instead of
Speaker 2: Kareem and all of a sudden, you still smoked them
Speaker 2: in five, still smoked them in when Jordan switched hands
Speaker 2: in the mid in all that stuff and gave two
Speaker 2: and all of that stuff. You saw what the brother
Speaker 2: did to Drexler and Kersey and all of those brothers
Speaker 2: when he went against them in the second go round,
Speaker 2: third go round.
Speaker 3: It was Barkley with Kevin Johnson, Damn Marley, and.
Speaker 2: We saw that. We saw him retire, come back, come
Speaker 2: back in the second year with seventeen games left, lose
Speaker 2: in the playoffs against Nick Anderson and Dennis Scott and
Speaker 2: Shaquille and Harrast and we saw them carry Horras Grant
Speaker 2: as former teammate, off the court and the shoulders, and
Speaker 2: that brother went out and got robmin and the next
Speaker 2: year they took him out four straight, swept them, blew
Speaker 2: them out of the building. I mean there was an
Speaker 2: annihilation because Jordan and Pippen had you scared to dribble
Speaker 2: the ball because they were pressing you full court. It
Speaker 2: was unreal. We saw you beat GP and Sean Kemp.
Speaker 2: Remember Sean Camp. I'm not talking about Sean Clump. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about Sean saying, I'm talking about that brother. You
Speaker 2: beat him. We saw you beat Malone and Stock then
Speaker 2: not once, but twice. This is what we saw at
Speaker 2: what we saw him against Portland. Jordan against Portland and
Speaker 2: we saw him not look great in game six and
Speaker 2: Phil Jackson pulled him to the bench and the reserves
Speaker 2: came back on like a fifteen to two run or
Speaker 2: whatever it was. But we also saw Phil Jackson put
Speaker 2: his hands right back in that game to close. This
Speaker 2: is Jordan were talking about. You didn't see that lebron
Speaker 2: in that series against Dallas. My point in all of
Speaker 2: in saying all of that with the story is this,
Speaker 2: when we're measuring greatness, it's not about your resume.
Speaker 3: All of y'all got a resume.
Speaker 2: It's about moments and when those moments arrive, where you at,
Speaker 2: Who are you?
Speaker 3: Who are you now?
Speaker 2: If it's an aberration, and it's something that you've never
Speaker 2: done before you being asked to do it. That's different.
Speaker 2: But when you got a game that's hurt your leg,
Speaker 2: and it's that way throughout the regular season, throughout the first, second,
Speaker 2: third round, and then you get to the finals and
Speaker 2: all of a sudden it evaporates, that's a problem. That's
Speaker 2: a problem because it's you not being able to do
Speaker 2: what you normally do when the moment arrives. This ain't
Speaker 2: stephen A choking with some damn first picture Yankee Stadium,
Speaker 2: when I never stepped on the mount on my.
Speaker 1: Damn life's on, I did I got I did.
Speaker 2: I made a business decision.
Speaker 3: I made a physics decision.
Speaker 2: I'm I'm trying to get it over the plate. But
Speaker 2: when I'm not gonna do is bust my ass on
Speaker 2: national television on mount. I'm not doing that, all right.
Speaker 2: So I made a business decision. But I choked. This
Speaker 2: done over. But I've never been on a mound before.
Speaker 2: That's entirely different than me being on a mount all
Speaker 2: the time and I'm throwing strikes and then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden, the moment of rids and I can't find
Speaker 2: the strike zone.
Speaker 3: There's a difference. And I'm saying to you, we ain't.
Speaker 2: Never said that about MJ, and that is why MJ
Speaker 2: has got status amongst those of us who know.
Speaker 1: Like, I watched Gilbert Arena say that he thinks the
Speaker 1: NBA got soft because the Europeans.
Speaker 3: Right, Okay, I thought it was an interesting take.
Speaker 2: Gilbert knows basketball, and I respect the hell out of Gilbert.
Speaker 1: Never I never looked at it like and he said,
Speaker 1: he said, they don't play defense, right, they just want
Speaker 1: to shoot jumps yet, right, So that's what made it
Speaker 1: a soft.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm gonna say that because monod Genoblei played defense
Speaker 2: min Ad. You know, Rudy Gobert is a three time
Speaker 2: defensive player the year. That brother ain't from the States.
Speaker 2: I mean, you got European players that play defense, not
Speaker 2: all of them, not all of the but he's right
Speaker 2: for the most part in terms of how they change
Speaker 2: the complexion of the game. But understand why they changed
Speaker 2: the complexion of the game. If we're gonna be listening, man,
Speaker 2: we're gonn here on drink champ. It's the brothers fault.
Speaker 2: It's the brother's fault. Let me tell you how the
Speaker 2: NBA is a business. They about making money. You make
Speaker 2: money is sports when you make your product attractive to
Speaker 2: the masses. So you got the bad boy Pistons right,
Speaker 2: very physical game. NBA wanted to take that out. They
Speaker 2: thought they were successful. Then Raleigh went out and had Oakley,
Speaker 2: you wing Mason. You see what I'm saying, Catholic and
Speaker 2: even at the guard part either that, don't say no,
Speaker 2: damn Charles Smith. Don't get me started with its five
Speaker 2: Miss Labs don't want.
Speaker 3: To hear that.
Speaker 2: We ain't going that route. But what I'm saying is
Speaker 2: for what I'm saying is is that when you have
Speaker 2: that right. So you got these rough riders, okay, and
Speaker 2: if you remember, you remember this, you appreciate you gonna
Speaker 2: get me a high five on this one or for
Speaker 2: Mace or four Oakley Kim Banister, remember that brother we're
Speaker 2: talking about that brother, got that brother straight off the streets,
Speaker 2: straight off the streets. I mean, he was like, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna said, you're entertained. It was doing case of comedy
Speaker 2: and he was joking around and that you can't have
Speaker 2: a black person in hockey. They'll just beating around. That
Speaker 2: was Banister. He was that kind of dude, right, So
Speaker 2: Roles was like that to me.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but I'm saying he Banister.
Speaker 2: Preceded him, as my point, and then you don't forget
Speaker 2: Zavie mc daniel.
Speaker 3: Don't get him right now on.
Speaker 2: Scarre nobody rough riders, right, So what did Riley do?
Speaker 3: Riley said.
Speaker 2: He ain't got the talent to be we ain't got
Speaker 2: the talent to beat Chicago. But if we get enough
Speaker 2: dudes that could snatch their heart, we could get them.
Speaker 2: And obviously you couldn't do that to m J. But
Speaker 2: that's the only reason you couldn't do it to them,
Speaker 2: because they were giving Scottie Pippen in the Those Cats nightmare.
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying. So my point is as
Speaker 2: the game evolved the NBA, particularly with the Dream Team,
Speaker 2: the original Dream Team in Barcelona, you're seeing all of this,
Speaker 2: and as the game evolved, you saw what attracted the
Speaker 2: global market to the sport.
Speaker 3: That wasn't gonna do it.
Speaker 2: You want to see shooters, you want to see a
Speaker 2: more uptempo style, You wanted to see more for ness
Speaker 2: because it ensured the likelihood of those players being on
Speaker 2: the court more when it counted than if you allow
Speaker 2: the level of physicality to dominate the game that could
Speaker 2: compromise cats. A perfect example is, let's look at Steph Curry.
Speaker 2: I think that Steph Curvey is the greatest shooter God
Speaker 2: ever created. I've had Hall of Fame easy, Okay, as
Speaker 2: great as a Ray Allen was. Any shooter that tells
Speaker 2: you that they were a better shooter than Steph Curry,
Speaker 2: bitchlapping them thrown off the show. Just get rid of it.
Speaker 2: Just get rid of just get rid of them.
Speaker 3: They're not being honest.
Speaker 2: There is no shooter in the history of the game
Speaker 2: better than Steph Curry. Because you had spot up shooters,
Speaker 2: you had catch in shooters, you had shooters that had
Speaker 2: their favorite spot, right wing, left wing, top of the key,
Speaker 2: twenty one feet, twenty three feet, twenty five feet. Steph
Speaker 2: Curry there is no spot, nor is there any range
Speaker 2: that he can't touch. Do you realize with Steph Curry
Speaker 2: you literally have to keep your head on the swovel
Speaker 2: from the moment he steps past half court. He can
Speaker 2: pull up from forty He's that lethal. There has never
Speaker 2: been anything like him. But I've had Hall of Famers,
Speaker 2: hall of famers tell me he wouldn't average twenty a
Speaker 2: game if he was playing an I era and I
Speaker 2: said what magic, I said what. But they weren't disrespecting him.
Speaker 2: What they were saying was the game was so physical.
Speaker 2: We could get away with hitting his helphet. We could
Speaker 2: get away with tripping them. We could get away when
Speaker 2: he's running through those pics, giving him, giving him some wood.
Speaker 2: We could do that.
Speaker 3: You can't do that now.
Speaker 2: And because you can't do that now, it would have
Speaker 2: compromised them. What is the one thing that has compromised
Speaker 2: Steph Curry? Particularly earlier in his career, he had those
Speaker 2: ankle injuries and those ankle injuries, those ankle injuries, Man,
Speaker 2: they would have stepped on his foot as he was
Speaker 2: walking through screens on purpose, just stepped on his foot.
Speaker 2: How are you gonna catch the view the referee? There's
Speaker 2: an accident, you know. And listen, you had Lawrence Taylor
Speaker 2: in football later on in life admitting, man, he was
Speaker 2: sent prostitutes to the hotel room to the night before
Speaker 2: the game for opponents. Your crazy stuff like that. I'm
Speaker 2: just using that. I'm just using that as an example.
Speaker 2: I'm using that as an example to high like back
Speaker 2: in the day, the extent they would go to to
Speaker 2: derail an opponent. I know certain superstars one of the things.
Speaker 3: They love to do.
Speaker 2: See these are these And this is when I say,
Speaker 2: when I can't say everything right, I'm no superstars. They were,
Speaker 2: in fairness to them, they were single, they weren't married.
Speaker 2: They would literally go to go after your girl just
Speaker 2: to mess with you before they played you, and then
Speaker 2: step out on the court and bust your living ass.
Speaker 2: And they said, just to demoralize you, gonna let you
Speaker 2: know worship you can't mess with me. And literally when
Speaker 2: they're doing that, you might go home thinking you ain't
Speaker 2: the man he is, and other departments after he gets
Speaker 2: after they get through with you. And they did it
Speaker 2: on purpose. I'm just telling you. These are the stories
Speaker 2: I'm telling you they told me. I'm like, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I ain't making up, yo, this is what happened. No one.
Speaker 2: I would never tell who. But I'm just saying to
Speaker 2: you those kind of things. So when I'm covering the game,
Speaker 2: I'm bringing all of this up here to the equation.
Speaker 2: I sit up there and say, stay off the weed, right,
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about brothers that he ain't costing you money?
Speaker 2: How I got family members been smoking weed all their life.
Speaker 2: You understand I'm saying, depending on whose relatives, how I
Speaker 2: go to, I might get a contact. You know what
Speaker 2: I'm saying. I mean, come on, y'all, I'm like, I'm
Speaker 2: not talking about somebody, not for the week. I'm talking
Speaker 2: about when it's compromising your dollars, because you're gonna get
Speaker 2: you're gonna get fined, you're gonna get suspended.
Speaker 3: Don't let it mess with your money.
Speaker 2: Back in the day, when I was covering the sport,
Speaker 2: we sat courtside. We had the score his table, so
Speaker 2: when you're playing, you're checking in, you have to walk
Speaker 2: right by us. I saw Larry Brown one day and
Speaker 2: this was not Iverson, it was not Cyrus. I saw
Speaker 2: Larry Brown one day look at a player three down,
Speaker 2: three down. The player was right in front of me.
Speaker 2: He went like the huh. I threw up my paper
Speaker 2: and just walked away. And my for god, he ain't
Speaker 2: gonna do nothing tonight. I'm like, I'm sitting there. I'm
Speaker 2: sitting there right now, ladies and gentlemen. That was when
Speaker 2: weed wasn't legal in twenty six, twenty seven, twenty six,
Speaker 2: twenty I don't care step out. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: But I mean that was when we wasn't legal in
Speaker 2: twenty six to twenty seven states without diming anybody. Right,
Speaker 2: how much weed you think is being smoke before games? Now?
Speaker 2: Oh no, I think they're gonna I talked about and
Speaker 2: any sport you pick, and oh, by the way, and
Speaker 2: by the way, all you gotta do is look at them.
Speaker 2: So I'm sitting there. I'm sitting there like like you
Speaker 2: you really mad when you see me on first take
Speaker 2: and I'm like this, damn or I'm like this.
Speaker 3: I'm like this because I'm.
Speaker 2: Not saying stay off the weed to any specific person
Speaker 2: to dimond mouth, because I wouldn't do that. But I'm
Speaker 2: sitting there looking at them. He had a problem last night.
Speaker 2: He ain't seemed like himself. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: You mad?
Speaker 4: You mad?
Speaker 3: But jass walk up to the scorer's table walling.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying, I'm like and and that's
Speaker 2: why when I'm watching cats with their podcasts and all
Speaker 2: of this other stuff. See, you got people in the
Speaker 2: media and other places pistol off because you're looking at
Speaker 2: players and you're like, what they trying to do.
Speaker 3: Is they trying to etch out the media?
Speaker 2: You just rely on us.
Speaker 3: You ain't got to talk to them. Oh no, no, no,
Speaker 3: no no, I say, y'all looking at.
Speaker 2: It all wrong. I want all of them to have
Speaker 2: their their podcast, all of them to have their voice,
Speaker 2: because they're gonna talk. And when they're gonna talk, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna have news to talk about because I'm I'm watching.
Speaker 2: You can talk all you want to. You still got
Speaker 2: to play. I'm looking at you. You told the stuff
Speaker 2: you want. I'm looking at you.
Speaker 3: I saw what your ass did.
Speaker 2: I saw you roll up in the game. I saw
Speaker 2: you well enough, whether it's me in person or the
Speaker 2: camera angle zoom and it on you. I saw how
Speaker 2: blood shot your eyes was. I saw how you look
Speaker 2: like you could barely open that. I'm watching you move.
Speaker 2: I'm watching you move. I even went to the doctor
Speaker 2: the other day, man.
Speaker 3: And I asked him.
Speaker 2: I said, yo, man, because it's this cat that that
Speaker 2: I talked to for like ten X health, Gary Breck.
Speaker 2: I got him on my podcast now because I made
Speaker 2: a tremendous health change because I was really in bad
Speaker 2: shape a couple you know, a year and a half ago,
Speaker 2: and stuff like that really resonmerect in my health. I'm
Speaker 2: feeling better than I felt like thirty years right. So
Speaker 2: I go to him, thank you, and I went to
Speaker 2: him man, I.
Speaker 3: Said, let me ask you a question.
Speaker 2: Scientifically. Could you give the breakdown of weed and tell
Speaker 2: me what kind of effect it has on people? And why?
Speaker 2: Go to the podcast stephen A. Smithchelle on you too,
Speaker 2: and he'll break it down. You ain't gonna have no problem.
Speaker 2: You ain't gonna have no problem. None of y'all ain't
Speaker 2: gonna have no problem. But when he said what he says,
Speaker 2: you're gonna ask yourself, should them brothers be doing that?
Speaker 1: If they gotta play, they gotta play it, probably because.
Speaker 2: You gotta remember, calms your mood, mellows you out, helps
Speaker 2: you sleep, et cetera, et cetera. You know what it
Speaker 2: doesn't do. It doesn't elevate your level of urgency. So
Speaker 2: let's say, for example, you going against Kobe, who wasn't
Speaker 2: doing that, or you're going against Jordan to somebody like
Speaker 2: that who wasn't doing that. Now right right, and you
Speaker 2: mellow and they killers, what chance do you have? You
Speaker 2: have no chance because there's a level of urgency that
Speaker 2: they feel. You get the check, you.
Speaker 3: Get in the bag, and on top of it all,
Speaker 3: you know, everybody know you can ball, so you ain't
Speaker 3: no scrub.
Speaker 2: But did you win? See that's where Steven Ay comes in,
Speaker 2: because that's me like, yeah, dog, I know why the
Speaker 2: hell you lost? I know what you didn't do. You
Speaker 2: see what I'm saying, and I'm not I might be
Speaker 2: talking about them, but I'm not talking to them. I'm
Speaker 2: talking about that audience out there to say, let them
Speaker 2: talk that shit they want to. I'm telling you you
Speaker 2: gotta hold them more accountable than that. You can't always win,
Speaker 2: but you gotta be able to look at any professional and.
Speaker 3: Go like this, did you do all it them to win?
Speaker 2: Because as a Nick fan, if a Nick walked in
Speaker 2: here and looked you in your face, yeah man, you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know he tried to win, you know, but ship happened.
Speaker 2: Ain't no big dead. You're gonna be like this. I
Speaker 2: don't like you, gonna be like this. I don't like
Speaker 2: give like, I don't like I don't like you. I
Speaker 2: don't like him because you're like, wait a minute, it
Speaker 2: ain't non schalm, it ain't blase what you mean. That's
Speaker 2: how you gonna feel that's me.
Speaker 1: Let me ask me, let me change the subject a
Speaker 1: little bit, but it's still on the same subject. Do
Speaker 1: you think Lebron is a victim of his circumstances, because,
Speaker 1: like you said, the league has changed, right, So a
Speaker 1: lot of people accused of Lebron not having killer instinct, right,
Speaker 1: But when I look at youngsters who only have like
Speaker 1: me me personally, was here what I was about to say, Well,
Speaker 1: she was here. He had T and T shirt jacket on.
Speaker 1: But to me, and I know you could debate me.
Speaker 1: I know this clearly of people who could debate me
Speaker 1: what I'm about to say right now, sure me, I
Speaker 1: think Floyd Mayweather is the best box of all times, Okay,
Speaker 1: because I've seen.
Speaker 3: Clearly the best defensive box of all time without Okay,
Speaker 3: I agree to both.
Speaker 1: But I've seen all of his fights, right, So have
Speaker 1: I missed some of I missed all of Ali's, I
Speaker 1: came a little late. I missed even some of Tyson's.
Speaker 1: But I see all of Floyd. Maybe ironically, the only
Speaker 1: fights I didn't see is his exhibitions.
Speaker 3: I can't stand it.
Speaker 2: I love him.
Speaker 1: I love him too much for his for his legacy
Speaker 1: on the line, but is Lebron? Is Lebron a victim
Speaker 1: of his circumstances? Meaning, could you think Lebron could have
Speaker 1: survived in the Kobe Jordan.
Speaker 2: Era survive, yes, prosper I'm not so sure. Allow me
Speaker 2: to explain.
Speaker 3: I would like it.
Speaker 2: Let me explain I would like And before I answer
Speaker 2: that question, let me say this. Let's not forget Sugar
Speaker 2: Ray Leonard. That's right, Let's not forget wi Fredo Benitez.
Speaker 2: It's a bad brother. Let's not forget Salvador Sanchez who
Speaker 2: died in the plane crash.
Speaker 3: I forget to come on, no, no, no, we can
Speaker 3: forget him.
Speaker 2: We can forget now. He went on that level. Hector
Speaker 2: Camacho was nice, but he went on that level. Okay,
Speaker 2: I'm giving you dudes, that was on that level. I
Speaker 2: would say Aaron Pryor, but he but he took too
Speaker 2: many many punches. He just he'd just take you out.
Speaker 3: That had the gloves.
Speaker 2: I don't think so, but I know what I know,
Speaker 2: I know they would he be a Lexus of Guilo,
Speaker 2: a Lexus Aguilo. They were talking about.
Speaker 3: Give him the stuff, give him the stuff.
Speaker 2: I don't know what the hell of stuff was, right, there.
Speaker 2: I don't remember remember that, But let me tell you
Speaker 2: why I answered the Lebron James question that way, because
Speaker 2: that's a great question that you asked, and everybody need
Speaker 2: to understand this. Just like I talked about moments, you
Speaker 2: got to talk about competition. So when we're talking about competition,
Speaker 2: right then it has to be something along the lines
Speaker 2: of what would have happened had you gone against those people?
Speaker 2: Feel me, when Lebron was struggling to develop the killer
Speaker 2: instinct that ultimately was in him and he was able
Speaker 2: to conquer to ultimately beat a young OKC team after
Speaker 2: he had beating Boston to get, you know, to the
Speaker 2: finals and all this other stuff right in the enda.
Speaker 2: Actually too, what I'm saying to you is that while
Speaker 2: you were learning how to win, would Jordan have ever
Speaker 2: let you learn?
Speaker 3: See, here's what you have to understand.
Speaker 2: Michael Jordan is six and oh in NBA Final Series,
Speaker 2: MVP of every single NBA Final Series, incredible who never
Speaker 2: allowed series to get the game seven, not one time,
Speaker 2: not one time. And so when you say to me,
Speaker 2: Lebron playing in that Jordan era a threat to MJ
Speaker 2: then what we have to ask ourselves is how would
Speaker 2: MJ have responded to a perceived threat. You don't get
Speaker 2: to dismiss that. You gotta absorb that. You gotta absorb.
Speaker 2: I they saying, yo, ass can take me out. There
Speaker 2: are people saying that to Michael Jordan. How would he
Speaker 2: have responded? And I'm telling you, I believe because of
Speaker 2: what I saw from Lebron in that fourth in the
Speaker 2: fourth quarters of those of that series against the Dallas Mavericks,
Speaker 2: right that Michael Jordan would have never allowed him to
Speaker 2: find out what it was to win.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying. That's the difference. And so when
Speaker 3: people talk to.
Speaker 2: Me, yeah, Lebron's an ultra talent and Lebron and MJ
Speaker 2: was a six ' nine to sixteen, But my resorters, well,
Speaker 2: Lebron is six nine to sixteen and still lost six
Speaker 2: NBA finals. He didn't lose six, even at ten, but
Speaker 2: he lost six. You had Boston in his way when
Speaker 2: he was younger, Mam Jay. You had Detroit in his
Speaker 2: way when he got older. Lebron had Indiana with Paul
Speaker 2: George and Rick Smith's you know, and shit like that.
Speaker 2: We were yeah, I'm not even saying Rick Smith's but
Speaker 2: but but but Paul George and the crew. I'm sorry, Uh,
Speaker 2: Roy Herbrick, That's right, Roy Herbrick, Okay, And I like Roy,
Speaker 2: but I'm saying this. You had that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: You ain't have Boston with Bird Michel parish age, and
Speaker 2: you ain't have Isaya du Mars fit need a micro
Speaker 2: wave coming off the bench, Sally Lambard. I mean, what
Speaker 2: what you ain't had that you ain't had? That you
Speaker 2: had you had you had Indiana early, Toronto late with
Speaker 2: DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
Speaker 3: Much respected both, much respect to both.
Speaker 2: But that's what you had. You didn't have those obstacles.
Speaker 2: That is how I look at it, and that is
Speaker 2: why Lebron James will never be my goat ever. It
Speaker 2: will always be Michael Jordan over him. But mad respect
Speaker 2: to him. He's on the Mount Rushmore basketball, incredible role
Speaker 2: model on this day and age, social media beyond. He's incredible.
Speaker 2: He just ain't MJ.
Speaker 1: Is it possible, And I know this is going to
Speaker 1: sound like a cliche type of question, Is it possible
Speaker 1: that Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Lebron is all some
Speaker 1: of the greatest of all time?
Speaker 2: Sure?
Speaker 3: But when you compare it to each other then.
Speaker 2: And that's why I get pissed because of the sensitivity.
Speaker 2: Like I've said to Lebron teams, the Rich Paul and
Speaker 2: the Maverick Carters of the world and others.
Speaker 3: I remember I said to.
Speaker 2: Rich Paul, you act like it's an insult to call
Speaker 2: him the second greatest player of all time.
Speaker 3: Rich Paul said, it isn't in I can't talk to you.
Speaker 2: I can't talk to you.
Speaker 3: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. I ain't talking to you.
Speaker 2: I'm not wasting my.
Speaker 3: Time to beat above Kobe, which is very side.
Speaker 2: But the reason why is because Lebron played the dec
Speaker 2: he Kobe is number two to MJ playing the identical
Speaker 2: position with the identical style. And so my point is,
Speaker 2: I'm looking at Lebron and thinking about the point forward
Speaker 2: that you are, you know, a Magic Johnson type who
Speaker 2: can still put up twenty seven a night in your career, rebounds,
Speaker 2: assist playmaking ability, scoring ability, and at one time was
Speaker 2: an elite defender for at least one year.
Speaker 3: And so when I'm looking at all of those things.
Speaker 2: That is what I put over Kobe because he facilitated
Speaker 2: winning to a graded to an even greater degree in
Speaker 2: the visually as Kobe did. In terms of making your
Speaker 2: teammates better. Kobe was just an assassin, and so as
Speaker 2: a result, he emulated Michael, and he was the closest
Speaker 2: to Michael in that regard, but he was still number
Speaker 2: two at the same position.
Speaker 3: I'm going to give Labar respect. Well, I have no
Speaker 3: idea me neither. Keep you going. I have no idea.
Speaker 2: That's all right, that's Kobe or somebody a TV ahead
Speaker 2: as long wasn't hit me anyway. So anyway, it was like,
Speaker 2: that's the only difference. That's the disquade that you know.
Speaker 2: That's the nugget that I'm picking apart. That's it.
Speaker 3: Okay, that was That was a great fucking ass.
Speaker 1: That was a great the flowers, Yes, Stephen A our show.
Speaker 1: It's about giving the flowers to the people. I want
Speaker 1: to tell you how much I watched you so much
Speaker 1: that there's been times I got busy and I knew
Speaker 1: that it was okay not to watch the game because
Speaker 1: you're gonna cover it in the morning. And I enjoy
Speaker 1: sometimes watching you covering the game more than actually watching
Speaker 1: the actual game. You know what, I mean, because like
Speaker 1: you'll break it down and you're very very fair, you like,
Speaker 1: but you're very firm. If a player has that two
Speaker 1: for eleven night, call it, you call it. So we
Speaker 1: wanted to face the face man, the man give you
Speaker 1: your flowers. Snoop Dogg said, is better than a Grammy
Speaker 1: because it comes from his people. And we want to
Speaker 1: give you. But you know how great you are. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be honest in case you I know you know this,
Speaker 1: but in case you don't know. You change the way
Speaker 1: we watch sports, We change the way that that that
Speaker 1: we articulate sports and we understand sports. And in case
Speaker 1: anyone never told you, that's who you are, you are
Speaker 1: you are go, I said in the intro, and I
Speaker 1: mean that I appreciate you.
Speaker 3: Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I mean you and you continuing to be great. You're
Speaker 1: here losing weight, doing you running around. We love, we
Speaker 1: respect you. Wanted to give your flowers, man, because you sincerely,
Speaker 1: one million percent deserve your props every single days.
Speaker 3: You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: When people talk about you, I know why they talk
Speaker 1: about you because you're that You're that guy.
Speaker 3: And we want to tell you how much we appreciate
Speaker 3: y'all thanks, Yeah, doing quick time?
Speaker 1: Oh yes, okay, all right, cool. You want to bring
Speaker 1: in Sonny deal, Yeah, bring there, there, there there, come on.
Speaker 1: This is the United Nations of this United Nations. We
Speaker 1: got a whole type of races here.
Speaker 2: I like it. They're talking about whatever y'all want.
Speaker 3: Yes, so all right, you want to play him the game.
Speaker 2: So now, this is a drinking game that we play.
Speaker 3: And I ain't no drinking.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm taking a little bit to you can
Speaker 1: you can have a designated drinker like as for the shots.
Speaker 4: So we're gonna give you two choices. If you pick one,
Speaker 4: no drinking. But if you say both are neither the
Speaker 4: politically correct answer. We all drink, got all.
Speaker 1: Of us, right, Yeah, we don't leave you cold, all right,
Speaker 1: So I can't wait for this.
Speaker 4: And then if you have any stories to go behind
Speaker 4: any of the names, always things that we bring up.
Speaker 3: Okay, please please dive in.
Speaker 2: No problem, no problem.
Speaker 3: By the way, I'm glad of this first question.
Speaker 2: She bringing my drink. You're gonna do this first question
Speaker 2: so much.
Speaker 3: You can do like shots, you don't have to go great,
Speaker 3: well they said, I can sip on this drive, all right?
Speaker 3: By the way.
Speaker 1: By the way, Uh, these people who are about the name.
Speaker 1: It's making hip hop so exciting right now, right, I
Speaker 1: don't necessarily at all. I don't at all co sign
Speaker 1: any any brothers beefing. I don't co sign that we shouldn't.
Speaker 1: But no sign competition, right, I don't compet I don't
Speaker 1: co sign drama. But if if me and you're gonna
Speaker 1: go in the booth together and all go separately, and
Speaker 1: I'm gonna try to take your hands.
Speaker 2: You should listen when Kendrick Drake j Cole Lol, I'm
Speaker 2: gotten that. The other day, all I said was, Yo,
Speaker 2: we grew up. The hip hop industry was born from
Speaker 2: that foundation. That the foundation of it, right you know.
Speaker 1: So that's the first question I gotta ask, is Drake
Speaker 1: or Kendrick Lamar?
Speaker 3: Damn such the ball?
Speaker 2: First of all, major props to both of them, Yes,
Speaker 2: both for them and by the way, and by the way,
Speaker 2: as an aside, Kendrick Lamar did a hell of a
Speaker 2: job acting in power. Oh yeah, yes, he was phenomenal.
Speaker 3: He was phenomenal. He was I mean, he was it
Speaker 3: was special. I'm gonna go with Drake.
Speaker 2: Because even though everybody knows Kendrick Lamar and knows how
Speaker 2: gifted he is. You got too many people periodically trying
Speaker 2: to trying to come at Drake, and he's always standing.
Speaker 3: Like mainstream globally. I mean, he's one of those dudes.
Speaker 2: It could be the look, it could be how he communicates,
Speaker 2: it could be his flavor, it could be anything, but Drake,
Speaker 2: damn near seems impenetrable. And what I take from Drake
Speaker 2: is I don't hear too many people coming at Kendrick Lamar.
Speaker 3: Yeah, nobody really, I don't. But everybody always trying to come.
Speaker 2: They drink. That's fact, and obviously I can relate to that. Right,
Speaker 2: So I'm gonna say, Drake, okay, Okay that I'm gonna say,
Speaker 2: Drake okay.
Speaker 3: Does that mean I need to take a sip?
Speaker 2: No?
Speaker 3: No, no, no, you don't got to drink? Yeah, Jordan
Speaker 3: or Lebron.
Speaker 2: Jordan, I was gonna switch it up.
Speaker 3: There's nothing to talk about it, there's nothing.
Speaker 2: You don't even would have been.
Speaker 3: No, I'm not gonna say because i'ma switch it up.
Speaker 3: So well, yeah, okay, okay, you in or.
Speaker 2: Damn, I gotta go with the dream a keem O
Speaker 2: Lodge one I mean he did beat him in the finals.
Speaker 2: He did bust his ass while he beat him in
Speaker 2: the finals. He was the league MVP. He wasn't inn
Speaker 2: be a finally, I mean a game to dream of
Speaker 2: Lodge one, of something spectacular, I mean the dream shaking,
Speaker 2: the whole nine. You gotta go with the chem to
Speaker 2: dream of Lodge one. I respect you and appreciate him,
Speaker 2: love him, But he wasn't a chem o lodge one.
Speaker 2: Any smith of your hood feeling good about itself, right, yeah, yes, Ham,
Speaker 2: Craig Elo, Robert Orby and all of those brothers.
Speaker 3: Yet at nas or jay Z jay Z.
Speaker 2: Now let me say this about let me I'll be
Speaker 2: quick with it, because somebody asked me the other day
Speaker 2: and I picked them in them over Nas I'm thinking about.
Speaker 2: I know Nas is special. I'm not trying to dismiss him.
Speaker 2: He's phenomenal, but we appreciate him. I got to take
Speaker 2: into account how much you appreciated the world over, regardless
Speaker 2: of communities, regardless of ethnicities, regardless of your heritage, where
Speaker 2: your locale is, whatever.
Speaker 3: I got to take all of those.
Speaker 2: Things into consideration. And obviously Eminem is something spectacular. Plus
Speaker 2: he's white, and he's spectacular, and you got brothers standing
Speaker 2: down against him because they know how spectacular he is. Now,
Speaker 2: that doesn't mean Nas is doing it. Because Nas is
Speaker 2: phenomenal in his own right, then we can't ignore that.
Speaker 2: But in the flip side to it is that I
Speaker 2: gotta acknowledge that when you talk about jay Z, I
Speaker 2: mean we're talking about somebody that I consider to be
Speaker 2: the greatest of all time.
Speaker 3: And when you when you talk about jay Z, do
Speaker 3: you know what you have to do?
Speaker 2: Sometimes you got to bring up Tupac and Biggie God
Speaker 2: rest their souls and what they would have been if
Speaker 2: they were still alive. To conquer jay Z. You don't have.
Speaker 2: You don't have a living creature in the hip hop
Speaker 2: game that you say definitively eclipses jay Z. You just
Speaker 2: don't have it.
Speaker 1: But let me let me reiterate what you were saying earlier.
Speaker 1: I think jay Z's a victim to his circumstances as well,
Speaker 1: because the rap game is really, really foul when Biggie
Speaker 1: and Pop's going at it, and after Biggie and Pox's lost,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like the lebron.
Speaker 3: From the standpoint of what the.
Speaker 1: Standpoint the emergence of jay Z is from wasn't as
Speaker 1: hard core.
Speaker 2: But what I'm saying is that's why I brought up
Speaker 2: You got to bring up Biggie Tupac, right.
Speaker 3: I said, I said, because when you asked me that.
Speaker 2: Question, I'm thinking about living rappers and all that other
Speaker 2: and that you asked me if Biggie or Tupac could
Speaker 2: have been jay Z, I'd say yeah, A lot of
Speaker 2: people I'd say, yeah, they couldn't. That's a voidant not now. Now,
Speaker 2: to me, Biggie would have been that dude to rival
Speaker 2: jay Z. Tupac to me, as brilliant as he was
Speaker 2: as an artist, he was just as potent and profound
Speaker 2: as an activist.
Speaker 3: So because of that, I mean, when you go back,
Speaker 3: he's multi.
Speaker 2: I mean, when you go back, when I think about
Speaker 2: myself some of the positions that I've taken some of
Speaker 2: I mean, because you know, you talk about me, I'm
Speaker 2: communicating sports, but I'm also talking politics.
Speaker 3: I'm talking I'm talking a lot of different things.
Speaker 2: And when you if you really really paid attention to
Speaker 2: what I have to go up against and the platforms
Speaker 2: that I'm on, having to know, I got to deal
Speaker 2: with corporate America in the streets, and I got to
Speaker 2: do all of that. I think about not comparing myself
Speaker 2: in any way, but I think about Tupac as a
Speaker 2: not as a comp not as something to compare to.
Speaker 2: But I think about him as someone that I'm marveled
Speaker 2: at because when he stood before anybody and like literally
Speaker 2: spoke his mind, no matter what the subject was, you
Speaker 2: was transfixed. You had to stand at attention and really
Speaker 2: really listen, even if you are disagreed. And I've seen
Speaker 2: reporters and commentators and others disagree with him, but you
Speaker 2: have to shut the hell up and listen because what
Speaker 2: the brother had to say was deep and a lot
Speaker 2: of times I'll get on cats, you know what I
Speaker 2: mean like this. You know, one of the things is
Speaker 2: a pet peeve of mind from us in our community
Speaker 2: when we're like, yeah, you on, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Know the fuck I don't you just speak yad, I
Speaker 3: don't know what you mean?
Speaker 2: Say it first. Now follow that up. I say, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean. You can't say it before you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. I mean, you in the business
Speaker 2: that you know, you're out here trying to make paper,
Speaker 2: you trying to make some money. You know, you're talking
Speaker 2: business with somebody, You got to roll up on them
Speaker 2: and speak fluently. You got to know how to communicate
Speaker 2: in a fashion that will resonate with them, to sell
Speaker 2: yourself on the opportunity.
Speaker 3: You're trying to get them to embrace with you.
Speaker 2: How are you doing that? Yeah? Man, you know you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. You know, I'm just trying to
Speaker 2: you know, you know what I mean. No, I don't
Speaker 2: please say yeah, and that drives me crazy. Say it first,
Speaker 2: and then if you followed it up with you know
Speaker 2: what I mean? Yeah, I do know what you mean.
Speaker 4: I got it.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying. That's why I mean, we do.
Speaker 3: We make exceptions time.
Speaker 2: But sleepy Joe all crazy Trump, I mean, why do
Speaker 2: you have to give those words. I ain't gonna lie
Speaker 2: to you. Man, Listen, I've been on but let me
Speaker 2: be totally honest. Because we got we we got, we
Speaker 2: got the streets watching. I'm not a fan of Trump
Speaker 2: because I don't like the way he acts. I'm not
Speaker 2: in disagreement with all his policies. When I see cats
Speaker 2: out here acting up in the streets, y'all lucky, I
Speaker 2: ain't president oh, this ship would be on the getting.
Speaker 2: We're not gonna let you get in the way of
Speaker 2: business because business messages with everybody's money. We can't be
Speaker 2: in Cali and they letting three people in the stores
Speaker 2: at the time because they scared you.
Speaker 3: We can't start that.
Speaker 2: We can't. We can't have the National Guard in the subway.
Speaker 2: We can't have we can't have cats assaulting people on
Speaker 2: the streets and getting out of jail the same day.
Speaker 2: We can'ts My bodyguard is Dominican. I got family, I
Speaker 2: got family members. My family is from Saint Thomas, Virgin
Speaker 2: Island's Antigua, Saint Croix, stuff like that West Indies, and
Speaker 2: I got relatives from Puerto Rico.
Speaker 1: I got.
Speaker 3: I got Puerto Ricans in my family career.
Speaker 2: So I'm saying all of that to say I would
Speaker 2: never want anybody to say that I don't support immigrants,
Speaker 2: because I do. But you got a whole bunch of
Speaker 2: immigrants that are in this country that are telling people
Speaker 2: like me we have to stand in line. How the
Speaker 2: hell you don't have to stand in line, and how
Speaker 2: seven and a half million plus immigrants illegal immigrants coming
Speaker 2: now understand what we mean by illegal immigrants. That means
Speaker 2: you're coming into the country, you're undocumented, so they don't
Speaker 2: know when to find your where to find your ass
Speaker 2: when it's time to pay taxes. But you're pooling some
Speaker 2: of our resources and so as a result, what happens
Speaker 2: is is that the American taxpayer has to come out
Speaker 2: of pocket extra to pay for you who came over
Speaker 2: to the country illegally. Ain't got a problem with you
Speaker 2: coming here, but we gonna know where you at, where
Speaker 2: you at with your address, phone number, all that you're
Speaker 2: gonna pay security exactly. And so when you have that
Speaker 2: going on, and you got a president like Joe Biden
Speaker 2: that's acting like it in a crisis, then I got
Speaker 2: to take history into consideration. And I was on a
Speaker 2: podcast Patrick Bett David just the other day and he
Speaker 2: brought this up, and he was absolutely right. So John F.
Speaker 2: Kennedy gets assassinated in nineteen sixty three and Linda B.
Speaker 2: Johnson takes over the presidency because John jfk Is dead,
Speaker 2: and you had a bipar artisan group of Republican senators
Speaker 2: and Democrats, Dixiecrats whatever, bringing legislation to the deaks for
Speaker 2: civil rights legislation.
Speaker 3: When he signed it in the law.
Speaker 2: He said, they uppitty, these blacks are upty, they're feeling themselves.
Speaker 2: Blah blah, blah blah blah. He said, we gotta do this.
Speaker 3: We gotta give a little.
Speaker 2: We can't give them too much, but we got to
Speaker 2: give them a little, because if we give them a little,
Speaker 2: we'll have this. We'll have the negroes voting for us
Speaker 2: for the next two hundred years. That was his quote, right.
Speaker 2: So now fast forward to the year twenty twenty four.
Speaker 2: You can't tell me that this immigration quote unquote crisis
Speaker 2: isn't being utilized for one party or another to benefit
Speaker 2: from it. Politicians been using us forever, they may manipulating
Speaker 2: us forever. And so when I'm looking at that, I'm
Speaker 2: looking at the Democratic Party just letting cats in understanding
Speaker 2: the mayhem that's in the streets and basically facilitating it
Speaker 2: instead of addressing it with the further that it deserves. Though, Bro,
Speaker 2: you remember this, just a few weeks ago, fifty three
Speaker 2: million dollars in pre paid credit cards for legal immigrants.
Speaker 2: You know how many times black people have been looking
Speaker 2: for prepaid credit cards reparations and every day, But you
Speaker 2: ain't having it for US, but you got fifty three
Speaker 2: million and prepaid credit cards for cats.
Speaker 3: It ain't even citizens in this country.
Speaker 2: Yo, I don't like that even so again, exactly, it's billions, billions, billions.
Speaker 2: But the wholenesses you can't address Israel Harmas. I don't
Speaker 2: say Israel Palestinians, because we know that the Palestinians are
Speaker 2: a lot of them are innocent in terms of what's transpiring.
Speaker 2: But Harmas the terrorist group, and of course Israel they
Speaker 2: going at it and all of this other stuff. I
Speaker 2: don't get involved in all of that. But what I'm
Speaker 2: saying is you funneling money to Israel, you funneling money
Speaker 2: to the Ukraine. You follow them, the funneling prepaid credit
Speaker 2: cards to illegal immigrants.
Speaker 3: But black people all behind the eight ball.
Speaker 2: And so for me, I'm no officientad with politics, but
Speaker 2: I'm practical. I'm intelligent enough to know what I'm reading,
Speaker 2: and I'm looking at certain things and I'm saying, wait
Speaker 2: a minute, I'm a black man in this sin, in
Speaker 2: this country.
Speaker 3: I understand what the hell you haven't done for us.
Speaker 2: I know you've been talking shit for decades, but the
Speaker 2: fact of the matter is our education system is still
Speaker 2: up in smoke. Wealth Fittism is up in smoke. You
Speaker 2: know what opposition to corporate America. When white folks catch
Speaker 2: a cold, black folks catch pneumonia. Everything that happens to
Speaker 2: white folks is worse for black folks. The unemployment rate
Speaker 2: is below four percent, it's below it's it's damned there
Speaker 2: three and a half percent for white people.
Speaker 3: What is it for black people?
Speaker 2: It's at five point six percenting, we bragging, We happy
Speaker 2: because it ain't higher, but it's always worse for us.
Speaker 2: So I look at all of those things and I
Speaker 2: say to myself, wait a minute, I'm not going to
Speaker 2: ignore what I'm seeing from the Democratic Party. My problem
Speaker 2: with Trump is this, to Dan Petty, you're the president
Speaker 2: of the United States of America, and this brother will
Speaker 2: go after Kathy Griffin or Stephen A. Smith or somebody
Speaker 2: you know addresses shit that really really goes on. You're
Speaker 2: looking at him and it's like, come on, man, you know, focus, focus, focus,
Speaker 2: you know I need to know that if you back
Speaker 2: in that office, you gonna govern the country, not just
Speaker 2: cater who got you in. Are you gonna be the
Speaker 2: president to all Americans? Or is it just to the
Speaker 2: people faith you. I remember when John Lewis died. We
Speaker 2: know what a warrior he was on behalf of our community,
Speaker 2: the form of rep out of Maryland.
Speaker 1: What have you we?
Speaker 2: You know we know what he meant for us. Okay,
Speaker 2: he passes away. You don't even want to pay homage
Speaker 2: to him because you're talking about he never supported me.
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying. I know you gave more.
Speaker 2: I know you gave money to HBCUs. I respect that.
Speaker 2: I know the economy is looking good before COVID. I
Speaker 2: know that you know, proclaimed to do certain things for
Speaker 2: black folks, and unemployment rate in the black community was
Speaker 2: was was low. I get all of that, But the
Speaker 2: flip side to it, I'm looking at your Supreme Court justices.
Speaker 2: I'm looking at them rolling back certain things. I'm looking
Speaker 2: at people who are fantasized about a time that once
Speaker 2: was meaning pre seventies, into the sixties, into the fifties,
Speaker 2: and you down with that, and what do I take
Speaker 2: into account from that. I'm looking at the white population
Speaker 2: that was once in the high eighties, then it doing
Speaker 2: them to the seventies. Now it says sixty and sliding.
Speaker 2: And they're looking at legal immigrants coming into the country,
Speaker 2: and white folks are worried about themselves not being the
Speaker 2: majority any longer.
Speaker 3: You catering all that fear, you feeding into.
Speaker 2: It, which is why crowd boys and all of these
Speaker 2: other folks coming into it. So now it's hard for
Speaker 2: me to look at your politics when I'm worried about
Speaker 2: life and death situations for black folks throughout this country
Speaker 2: and for other minorities in this country, because I'm not
Speaker 2: accusing you of fomenting it on anything like that. Like
Speaker 2: folks try to lame him for the insurrection. Do I
Speaker 2: think he was provocative? Yes?
Speaker 3: Do I think he instigated shit?
Speaker 2: Yes? Do I believe that he called the vice You know,
Speaker 2: you sat up there and they were talking about hanging
Speaker 2: Mike Pence and you didn't do anything about it. Yes,
Speaker 2: But I also don't believe you should be arrested for
Speaker 2: it and stuff like that, because I believe all them
Speaker 2: damn people out there were adults. They want children, They
Speaker 2: were grown ass adults who knew not to cross those
Speaker 2: barriers at the US Capitol, and if they were stupid
Speaker 2: enough to do it, hell with them. Okay, And that's true,
Speaker 2: But I'm looking at you, and I'm wondering. I know
Speaker 2: people talking about politicis we want a better economy, we
Speaker 2: want this, we want we want safer streets. I'm down
Speaker 2: for that, but if you the kind of do that
Speaker 2: would foster and provoke divisiveness. We ain't got time to
Speaker 2: worry about all of that stuff when we worried about
Speaker 2: our lives. You see what I'm saying, And that's the
Speaker 2: message that I'm trying to do. His politics. I would
Speaker 2: love for his politics to be debated against Biden's politics,
Speaker 2: who I think has been a prisoner to the progressive left,
Speaker 2: the extreme left, because that woke stuff. Come on, y'all,
Speaker 2: you know what. Listen, we brothers here, brothers and sisters, Blacks, Latinos,
Speaker 2: all of us are in here. We know how we
Speaker 2: were raised. I said it to Patrick bed David the
Speaker 2: other day. I said, my mother voted Democrat, but she.
Speaker 3: Was of a publican home. I said, she was a
Speaker 3: conservative at a conservative home. Is don't give a shit
Speaker 3: about the laws.
Speaker 2: This is the law.
Speaker 3: You will listen to. What the hell I have.
Speaker 2: She ain't got no rights, he negotiated. This is my house,
Speaker 2: and this is what you will do or else. You understanding,
Speaker 2: We understand that now everything's in negotiation, everything's to be understood. Well,
Speaker 2: you know what, my daughter, I got two daughters, Oh
Speaker 2: my daughter. You know there's nothing wrong with your daughter
Speaker 2: being in the same bathroom with a person that identifies
Speaker 2: themselves as a woman, even though they were born a man.
Speaker 3: Oh, yes to hell it is. Yes to hell it is.
Speaker 2: I don't give a deal what anybody says now again,
Speaker 2: transgender whatever, I support gay rights, transgender right or yo,
Speaker 2: live and let live, live and let live. I don't
Speaker 2: support nobody bothering them, violating the civil rights, the civil liberties.
Speaker 2: But here's our problem in our society that I think
Speaker 2: the progressive left has contributed greatly to. They want you
Speaker 2: to like it like yo, y'all. No, I ain't going
Speaker 2: to no gay club. I'm not gay, But guess where
Speaker 2: else I'm not going. I'm not going to some pooring
Speaker 2: shop either. I'm not trying to hang out with poorn
Speaker 2: stars or prostitutes either who are heterosexual.
Speaker 3: I'm not trying to do that.
Speaker 2: Everybody got a right to like what they like, have
Speaker 2: their own flavor, and not to not to and for
Speaker 2: you to try to impose that on other people, I
Speaker 2: can't accuse conservatives of doing that. It's the progressive left
Speaker 2: that's doing that. So again, Biden safer because we do
Speaker 2: have an economy that is doing well, even though inflation
Speaker 2: is bad. But when I look at the legal immigration,
Speaker 2: when I look at the violence in the streets, and
Speaker 2: me being from Hollis Queen's taking the F train of
Speaker 2: the E train every day and all of this sudden shit,
Speaker 2: and I'm seeing the National Guard in the subways, I
Speaker 2: can't definitively tell you now, I can't vote for Trump.
Speaker 2: Damn it. I just can't because I think that he's
Speaker 2: too divisive. And if I saw him, I tell him
Speaker 2: to his face. And I can say that because remember
Speaker 2: before Trump became president, I was the curst person he
Speaker 2: called when he was trying.
Speaker 3: To buy the Buffalo bill.
Speaker 2: Remember he called me directly, called me directly, and he said,
Speaker 2: I'm trying to and I tell the story. I've told
Speaker 2: the story on first Take, I've told the story on
Speaker 2: my podcast steven A. Smith Show, on YouTube. I told
Speaker 2: her everywhere. Trump called me in twenty fourteen. He said, Yo,
Speaker 2: stephen A, I want to buy the Buffalo bills. He said,
Speaker 2: these bastards look like they're going to get in my way.
Speaker 3: Quote.
Speaker 2: If them motherfuckers get in my way his exact words
Speaker 2: are not cussing them, quoting, then motherfucker's getting my way.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna get them all. I'm gonna run for president.
Speaker 2: Those were his exact words, and sure enough he did
Speaker 2: it and one and so what I'm saying is so
Speaker 2: what I'm saying is I remember all of these things.
Speaker 2: I remember all of these things, and I look at
Speaker 2: things a little bit differently. You got black folks looking
Speaker 2: at Trump as racist. I remember when Trump, I remember
Speaker 2: when Trump. I remember when this first time time. I
Speaker 2: remember when Trump was throwing sporting events, tyson fights and
Speaker 2: other things at Trump Plaza. All of us were there.
Speaker 2: We didn't think he was that dead. We didn't think
Speaker 2: he was that when we watched the Apprentice. We didn't
Speaker 2: think he was that when he was when he was
Speaker 2: at sporting events. But suddenly we think this. Here's what
Speaker 2: I think about Trump. Trump is a win at all
Speaker 2: courts kind of do. And if I got white supremacists,
Speaker 2: two women to to black folks who are conservative and
Speaker 2: everything in between, if that's what's gonna get me to win,
Speaker 2: I'll deal with the consequences late I'm trying to get
Speaker 2: an office. He's I think he's that dude that it's
Speaker 2: no moral or principled compass. It's whatever it takes to win.
Speaker 2: And if that's where the most votes are gonna come from,
Speaker 2: I'm willing to do that. Now, other people say, well, damn,
Speaker 2: if he's willing to allow all of that, doesn't that
Speaker 2: make him racist? Well, that depends on how you look
Speaker 2: at how important winning is to somebody, you know. So
Speaker 2: I don't look at it that way. I think Biden
Speaker 2: is safer for the country, but I don't know if
Speaker 2: it's better because of what he has allowed to transpire.
Speaker 2: And I will say this, I can, well, Biden, let's
Speaker 2: let's be, let's let's go. Biden's wrecking on the street again.
Speaker 2: I'm no official hold on, hold on, because I'm going
Speaker 2: where you're going. I ain't officionado, but I ain't stupid,
Speaker 2: and I'm kind of decently read, you know, I saying
Speaker 2: not well read, but decently read. I do remember Joe
Speaker 2: Biden with the crime Bill in the nineties. I do
Speaker 2: remember how that led to mass incarceration for black people. Now,
Speaker 2: I do remember the Congressional Black Caucus, the one that
Speaker 2: was pushing people like him and others to push those
Speaker 2: bills through. But I also remember Biden bragging that it
Speaker 2: was his and so when I look at that, along
Speaker 2: with various other things that he's done, I understand dealing
Speaker 2: with segregationists. It was a different time seventies eighties. You know,
Speaker 2: you had to work with everybody and go across the
Speaker 2: ale and all of that other stuff. But did you
Speaker 2: have to have those smiles on your face when you
Speaker 2: did it? Did you have to look and seem so comfortable?
Speaker 2: Did you have to, you know, speak so faciferously on
Speaker 2: the behalf of them and others where you talk about racism.
Speaker 2: I hate when our community, specifically the black community, calls
Speaker 2: out Republicans for being racist without calling out Dems. Last
Speaker 2: time I checked, there was a senator that died at
Speaker 2: the age of ninety seven. His name was Robert Bird
Speaker 2: out of West Virginia. He's a member and the leader
Speaker 2: in the kou Klux Klan. He was a Democrat. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you going back to the Jim Crow. So when you
Speaker 2: see stuff like that, I understand times have changed, But
Speaker 2: you're still asking me when you identify the conservative right
Speaker 2: as racist, to.
Speaker 3: Assume you're not. Who the hell are you to tell
Speaker 3: me you're not. Let me be the judge of that.
Speaker 2: What do you do? What do you foster? What level
Speaker 2: of dependency? Now we talk about black leaders throughout history
Speaker 2: in this country. You understand, from Marcus Garvey to Tomrroin,
Speaker 2: Luther King and beyond always preaching about economic empowerment. The
Speaker 2: Democratic Party preaches about government dependency. The government, the government,
Speaker 2: the government, here we are, we'll look out for you,
Speaker 2: blah blah blah blah blah. So I'm mindful of that,
Speaker 2: and I pay attention to that. And the challenge for me,
Speaker 2: and I explained this the other day on that podcast
Speaker 2: that I was on. The reason why you don't see
Speaker 2: me so definitive and finite about those things is because
Speaker 2: I don't know. I could be in front of a
Speaker 2: Democrat and give him these facts and this is their position,
Speaker 2: and give the same identical facts to somebody on the
Speaker 2: conservative side five minutes later, and they have two different
Speaker 2: spins and neither are wrong.
Speaker 3: That's very confusing to.
Speaker 2: A sports guy that gets to look at a champion
Speaker 2: compared to a wannabe, the chance to look at a
Speaker 2: champion compare to a contender. I have finite results to
Speaker 2: lean on. When I talk about Lebron against MJ, I
Speaker 2: got results. When I talk about d Wade compared to
Speaker 2: Kobe and somebody, finite results. When I talk about Ray
Speaker 2: Allen versus Steph Curry and others, finite results.
Speaker 3: Politics doesn't grant me that.
Speaker 2: So when I speak, I speak with caution because what
Speaker 2: I'm saying is this is how it looks. But I
Speaker 2: could be wrong. I don't know, but let me tell
Speaker 2: my community what I think based on this evidence. When
Speaker 2: I see the Attorney General as sister Lea Tisha James
Speaker 2: in New York City going after Trump, Yeah, you're going
Speaker 2: after Trump. I got that. Yeah, he a real estate
Speaker 2: agent that you know, bloated his earnings and his valuation.
Speaker 2: You know, all of that stuff happens. Then I turn
Speaker 2: it on CNN and I see a real estate dude
Speaker 2: saying we do that all the time. He said, I
Speaker 2: do it, everyone does it. What is she talking about?
Speaker 2: I'm like, well, damn, I don't know, because I'm not
Speaker 2: a real estate dot god, you're not real estate mogul.
Speaker 2: You see what I'm saying. So, in other words, you
Speaker 2: find these nuggets, and I'm one of those dudes. I
Speaker 2: read the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, La Times, New
Speaker 2: York Daily News, New York Times.
Speaker 3: I go online. I read Political and the Drudge Report.
Speaker 2: I watch Fox News, MSNBC, CNN News Nation with Cuomo
Speaker 2: Hell after Quomo Nation, Quomo News Nation. Want me to
Speaker 2: know seeing them want me next week? Sean Hannedy and
Speaker 2: I've known each other for twenty years. Twenty years, you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying. So I'm like, I'm getting all
Speaker 2: of this, and sometimes people are looking at me and
Speaker 2: I'm looking at cats, and they go on these podcasts
Speaker 2: so they got this shit to say, and I'm like this, yeah,
Speaker 2: you would think that about me. Your ass ain't talking
Speaker 2: to nobody. I talk to everybody. So I'm getting information
Speaker 2: from all sides. You're saying, we just just today there
Speaker 2: was news in the paper Minnesota Timberwolves a rod and
Speaker 2: ownership and the deal has fallen apart right all of
Speaker 2: this other stuff. Know it hasn't you reading reports. I'm
Speaker 2: on the phone with somebody reading me the contract. There's
Speaker 2: levels to this. I'm sitting there like.
Speaker 3: I'm sitting there like, wait a minute.
Speaker 2: They backed out New York Post rights, there's no deal.
Speaker 2: It's over Mark. Glorie has backed out and he doesn't
Speaker 2: want to work with a Rod. But the fine language
Speaker 2: said they signed on to acquire sixty percent the majority
Speaker 2: stake of the franchise for one point five million, billion,
Speaker 2: billion billion, I about to have billion. They've already given
Speaker 2: six hundred million. They don't get it back. They owe
Speaker 2: another three hundred million, which they had to give a
Speaker 2: Wednesday night. Right, Logically, you walking away after you gave
Speaker 2: up six hundred million dollars that you can't get back
Speaker 2: when all you owe is another three And by the way,
Speaker 2: you made the deal for one point five billion, but
Speaker 2: the franchise is now worth three billion. Probably next week
Speaker 2: when they come out with their list's gonna be worth
Speaker 2: three billion dollars, which makes your nine hundred billion dollar
Speaker 2: investment worth one point eight billion. You walking away from that?
Speaker 2: That report don't make no sense, right, Well, it does
Speaker 2: make sense to them because they didn't have the contract.
Speaker 2: I have the contract. That's the difference. So when I'm
Speaker 2: watching cats talking, I'm just sitting there and I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: I'm like, you know, keep talking, keep talking, because once again,
Speaker 2: it's got to be about receipts. When we're talking about politics.
Speaker 2: All right, We're fine. Did you get a call from
Speaker 2: the White House before you get a call from former
Speaker 2: presidents and senators and congress president senators and congressmen. I did.
Speaker 2: I do follow all of this. So all of this,
Speaker 2: I'm sitting there and I'm like, I'm watching I'm watching people.
Speaker 2: I'm watching people talk, and I'm like, so that's what
Speaker 2: we're gonna do. Now, We're gonna ignore the fact that
Speaker 2: I've been around for thirty years and I kind of
Speaker 2: know this shit. I'm not talking about when we talk
Speaker 2: about the nuance of politics and stuff.
Speaker 3: Like that, I'm talking about people.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about people who know where the information is,
Speaker 2: who have the information, who give you the information? Do
Speaker 2: they do that I do? And that's the difference.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say one thing and we're gonna get back
Speaker 1: to quick Thomas Slaes and I'm I'm gonna relate this
Speaker 1: to the most simplest I got about fifteen minutes simplistic
Speaker 1: form there is. I don't know politics. I'm asking you.
Speaker 1: That's why I don't know if you notice something like
Speaker 1: to create this as you as you're talking, Chris, I
Speaker 1: feel like I know you say you're not an expert,
Speaker 1: but you you have experts breakdowns.
Speaker 3: If we was to go to war with Kim johng,
Speaker 3: you what was that? No Kim Jong should go? Who
Speaker 3: is scary to me? Is he should be scary and
Speaker 3: he dictatedor should be scary? He's scary to me, And
Speaker 3: I gotta pick Joe or Trump. I feel like Trump
Speaker 3: is gonna be like funk Let's.
Speaker 2: Crew, wol.
Speaker 4: I agree, Well, I was coming out Trump is actually
Speaker 4: anti war act but let me But with.
Speaker 2: Joe Biden, I feel like he's staying home.
Speaker 3: He's like.
Speaker 2: But here's the problem. When it comes to the presidency.
Speaker 2: You can't just look at the individual. You have to
Speaker 2: look at who they're surrounding themselves. Yeah, the cabinet, and
Speaker 2: that cabinet is very, very important because when I think
Speaker 2: about Joe Biden, I think about people like Obama and
Speaker 2: others behind the scenes impacting decisions. So in that regard
Speaker 2: I trusted a little bit more. Whereas Trump, I do
Speaker 2: believe he has the advantage with the fear factor. He's
Speaker 2: a wild card, and because you know your wild card,
Speaker 2: he might he scares you a bit more.
Speaker 3: If you're the opposition, I'll give him that.
Speaker 2: But does that mean he'll make the best decision, because
Speaker 2: I don't know, you.
Speaker 1: Said, Petty, that's kind of like wow. I like him
Speaker 1: because he would go at Kim Jong you and rose
Speaker 1: you o Donald the same day.
Speaker 2: True, I will tell you this, on an international stage,
Speaker 2: your rhetoric matters almost as much as your actions, because
Speaker 2: rhetoric provokes action and for example, something you may not
Speaker 2: have known. I remember when I saw Pierce Morgan. He
Speaker 2: was on the Breakfast Club with Charlemagne and DJMV and
Speaker 2: he said, did you know that Barack Obama deported more
Speaker 2: immigrants than Trump?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 3: I did not know that. He did did by a
Speaker 3: significant margin.
Speaker 2: He just did advertising. He just did it.
Speaker 3: If Trump would have did it him like, I'll send
Speaker 3: him back there.
Speaker 2: If Trump had done it, you would have had riots
Speaker 2: going on all over the place and what have you,
Speaker 2: because people would have leaned on him, challenging his racial
Speaker 2: sensitivity or lack thereof, because of the way he talks.
Speaker 2: And I'm saying to you, we can't sit idly by
Speaker 2: and ignored that from the president. That's why for me,
Speaker 2: character matters at the presidency. I'm the kind of person
Speaker 2: I don't want one party to have any rule because
Speaker 2: I don't trust either side.
Speaker 3: That's why I'm a registered independent.
Speaker 2: But what I would do is whatever parties in the presidency,
Speaker 2: I would want a vast majority in the House or
Speaker 2: the Senate.
Speaker 3: We got to have checks and balances.
Speaker 2: I don't want the Democrats having a White House to
Speaker 2: Senate and the Congress. I don't want Republicans having the
Speaker 2: White House to Senate and the Congress. One of them,
Speaker 2: if not both of them, got to be able to
Speaker 2: stop your ass. That's me.
Speaker 3: If Trump could come back, can Obama come back?
Speaker 2: I will tell you this though. I will tell you
Speaker 2: this though, and I want to pause for say, use
Speaker 2: the bathroom. But Michelle Obama was smoking. But she would
Speaker 2: win in my opinion. In my opinion, she would win,
Speaker 2: hands down. But I'm at a point right now where
Speaker 2: I believe she's the only one who would win. And
Speaker 2: when I look at the Democratic Party, here's what, and
Speaker 2: I've said this many times, they are in absolute embarrassment.
Speaker 2: When you saw Joe bid Then show up at the
Speaker 2: State of the Union address, ladies and gentlemen, he is
Speaker 2: eighty one years old, and we had a bunch of
Speaker 2: people in there chanting four more years. They ain't chant
Speaker 2: four more years for people in his sixties, but they
Speaker 2: chant four more years for a dude that's going to
Speaker 2: be eighty two when we go to the polls in November.
Speaker 3: Talking about four more years. That is disgraceful.
Speaker 2: I understand he could pass away ultimately, and that Kamala
Speaker 2: Harris ultimately would be inserted into that.
Speaker 3: I get that part. I don't want to and.
Speaker 2: Stop giggling and stop giggling. Where they asked you tough questions, Kamala,
Speaker 2: I respect our vice president, I respect the education Howard
Speaker 2: University grad HBC. You much love to you.
Speaker 3: I know she's an intelligent woman.
Speaker 2: She's the former attorney general in the state of California
Speaker 2: and obviously San Francisco before that, even though you were
Speaker 2: putting a bunch of brothers away from clients. I get
Speaker 2: all of that. I understand it. But here's the point.
Speaker 2: Stop giggling all the damn time when they ask you
Speaker 2: a tough question, because it's an evasive tactic that turns
Speaker 2: people off because we think you're not sure of the answer.
Speaker 3: You're trying to buy time. That is not attractive, period.
Speaker 2: But getting back to what my point was, when you
Speaker 2: talk about Biden or you talk about the Democratic Party.
Speaker 2: By chancing four more years, all you've done is say
Speaker 2: we have no one we believe can beat Trump. All
Speaker 2: this law fare, all these lawsuits in everybody, you don't
Speaker 2: have anybody that could beat them. You had since twenty sixteen,
Speaker 2: you had eight years, and you still can't beat him.
Speaker 2: He had four indictments ninety one counts. He's been impeached twice. Okay,
Speaker 2: he had a four hundred and fifty four million dollar
Speaker 2: judgment leveled against them.
Speaker 3: You got more cases coming down the pike.
Speaker 2: What are they doing? They going after him for paying
Speaker 2: hush money. They'll form a poor starf So I got
Speaker 2: some ass and I don't want to tell nobody. So
Speaker 2: I gave you hush money. That's why they're going after
Speaker 2: the presumptive GOP nominee. This is what we're talking about.
Speaker 2: And so when I look at stuff like that, I'm like, damn,
Speaker 2: what are you doing? Can you beat him or can't you?
Speaker 2: I want somebody who can beat him. I would love
Speaker 2: for Kamala Harris to be able to beat him. She
Speaker 2: can't beat Trump in an election. I would love for
Speaker 2: Gavin Newsom to be able to be govern California. You
Speaker 2: can't do it.
Speaker 3: You can't do it. How about Corey, you can't do.
Speaker 4: You know what?
Speaker 3: He doesn't resonate.
Speaker 2: I respect that man, I respect his knowledge, I respect
Speaker 2: his knowledge, I respect everything about him. But he cannot
Speaker 2: he cannot beat Trump in an election. And so I'm
Speaker 2: looking at it from that standpoint, and I'm like, all
Speaker 2: the stuff you've been telling us, you got nobody to
Speaker 2: beat this man?
Speaker 3: What have you been doing for eight years? What have
Speaker 3: you been doing? Think about?
Speaker 2: I got people that are rolling up on me asking
Speaker 2: me they run, You're running twenty twenty eight? Like never,
Speaker 2: I like my life. Hell, I want to message this
Speaker 2: got no interest. I don't know why the hell would
Speaker 2: they would come to me. I ain't qualified for it.
Speaker 2: But then again, the other was he in a lot of.
Speaker 3: People's but I have.
Speaker 2: I have now. I respect the hell out of DL
Speaker 2: het Bright the way, But I think that that you know,
Speaker 2: you got to know how to smile and laugh and
Speaker 2: have a good time. You know, you got to bring
Speaker 2: that comedic side out of you if you d L. Hugle,
Speaker 2: because right now he's become such an activist that that
Speaker 2: that that you know, you you might have wife for
Speaker 2: going like this. He'll get in no office and forget
Speaker 2: about us. You know, you think about us, and that's
Speaker 2: the problem with DL. But I respect him, he's very knowledgeable.
Speaker 2: Or respect the hell out of him. But I would
Speaker 2: tell you for me personally, I've joked that I would
Speaker 2: want to debate Trump. And the reason why we want
Speaker 2: to debate Trump is because when he's debating you, he
Speaker 2: ain't talking about nothing substantive.
Speaker 3: He's too busy trying to throw insults. And I'd be
Speaker 3: ready for that. But wait, you don't think that it's
Speaker 3: such a joke right now?
Speaker 4: Because both parties serve the same interest they're just making
Speaker 4: us all think.
Speaker 2: I don't think.
Speaker 3: I don't think they serve the same.
Speaker 2: I think they have different lobbyists and different interests they
Speaker 2: are serving, and we're all being utilized as pawns.
Speaker 3: That's the commonality. We're pawns.
Speaker 2: But we but here's but here's where black folks, this
Speaker 2: is where we have to hold ourselves accountable.
Speaker 3: Since Lyndon B.
Speaker 2: Johnson in sixty four, the Democratic Party has received over
Speaker 2: ninety percent of our vote.
Speaker 3: Understand what that means.
Speaker 2: On one side, you're saying you got us we gonna
Speaker 2: support you no matter what, so they don't have.
Speaker 3: To take care of us. They just give us lip
Speaker 3: service every four years.
Speaker 2: On the other side, you got a Republican party who
Speaker 2: not only knows you're not gonna support them, but resent
Speaker 2: you for it because you they believe you're not giving
Speaker 2: them they just do. And the role that they played
Speaker 2: to bring in civil rights legislation to the desk of
Speaker 2: the Democratic incumbent. So as a result, they look at folks,
Speaker 2: you're not well read, you don't know your history, you're
Speaker 2: supporting the wrong party. This is just some ignorant stuff
Speaker 2: that you're doing. And so when I've when I've spoken
Speaker 2: at speeches, I've said it half jokingly, but I said,
Speaker 2: my dream is for one election, maybe not this one,
Speaker 2: but for one election for everybody, every black person in
Speaker 2: America to vote Republican.
Speaker 3: And they said what, what Why would you say that?
Speaker 2: I said, because it will send the message that I
Speaker 2: vote is not you have. It is for sale. It's
Speaker 2: not that you can't take it for granted. Flatter me
Speaker 2: what you're gonna do for me. When I'm going to
Speaker 2: buy a house, I ain't just buying. I want to
Speaker 2: be listen I'm thinking about being to Miami. Bro, No
Speaker 2: state didn't come to tax just what I'm thinking about it, right.
Speaker 2: I am not buying a house without looking at the
Speaker 2: damn house multiple times. I'm not buying a call without
Speaker 2: test driving. I'm not buying clothes without trying it on
Speaker 2: and seeing how it looks on me. Inspect the merchandise
Speaker 2: before you commit. We do it every day, except for
Speaker 2: when it comes to politics, we don't do it, and
Speaker 2: as a result, we pigeonholed ourselves because we've ensured that
Speaker 2: we will be a disenfranchised community, devoid of representation because
Speaker 2: one party is given upless service and somebody saying screw
Speaker 2: y'all because y'all should be more supportive of us and
Speaker 2: you're not. Therefore, nobody's fighting on our behalf. Do you
Speaker 2: realize that right now with the immigration crisis, the Hispanics
Speaker 2: in this country get more attention than us. Xenophobia is
Speaker 2: more popular than racism, Homophobia is more popular than racism.
Speaker 2: Transphobia has become or is becoming more popular than racism.
Speaker 2: Black folks been here forever, and we at the bottom
Speaker 2: of the freaking food chain treated the worst, getting treated,
Speaker 2: getting disregarded, basically because we haven't created an environment that
Speaker 2: insists upon representation, because we've been too transparent. I might
Speaker 2: know who I'm going to vote for, but I'll always
Speaker 2: leave open the possibility to change my mind, just so
Speaker 2: you could give me the effort to get my vote
Speaker 2: before I decide which direction I'm going to go in,
Speaker 2: just so I don't be transparent.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm trying to figure out how I'm gonna take
Speaker 1: you there, Okay, Colin Kaepernick, Yes, sir, I always see
Speaker 1: you say that you like we establishing this whole time,
Speaker 1: that you have a lot of inside information.
Speaker 3: A lot of folks is not privy that information.
Speaker 1: Right, So is it true that it was a workout
Speaker 1: that was called and he went an hour away, hour.
Speaker 3: And twenty minutes. Why stupid?
Speaker 2: That's why.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 2: And look when I was I showed up to a
Speaker 2: radio show one o five I believe one or five
Speaker 2: point three in New York City and some cat rolled
Speaker 2: up on me and I didn't even notice that there
Speaker 2: was a slew of them there wearing.
Speaker 3: Kaepernick shirts supporting them.
Speaker 2: And I'm not going to tell you the brother disrespected
Speaker 2: me because I was extended my hand to shake his hand,
Speaker 2: and he shook my hand and he said, but I'm
Speaker 2: not feeling you dog. He said, we got a problem
Speaker 2: with you in your position on Kaepernick, I said, who
Speaker 2: got a problem with me? And his fiance was sitting right,
Speaker 2: sitting right in that room. It's like standing there kneeling
Speaker 2: over whatever. He was like, So you know, you know,
Speaker 2: I mean, if you feel the way you feel, you
Speaker 2: willing to come talk to her. I said, right now,
Speaker 2: let's go, And just so you know, for the record,
Speaker 2: that's who I am. You know what I'm saying. You
Speaker 2: got a problem with me, tell me when in I'll
Speaker 2: show up. That's how I roll. If I'm wrong, I'll
Speaker 2: say I'm wrong, and if I'm right, I ain't budget.
Speaker 2: It's just that simple. So we went in there and
Speaker 2: we were talking that she had her position, and I say, yeah,
Speaker 2: that's what you say, but the league says something else.
Speaker 3: She said, but we know the facts.
Speaker 2: It's us. I said, well, it's about them too, And
Speaker 2: they got THEMN facts and we cover the league and
Speaker 2: all I see is Kaepernick, Hayden behind you, you here
Speaker 2: where he at? He didn't talk at he didn't talk.
Speaker 2: I said, his woman's bigger for him. I said, I'm
Speaker 2: sorry where I'm from, it don't work like that, I said.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what I'll.
Speaker 3: Do from this day forward. You have my number, that's real.
Speaker 3: You could text me anything that you text to me
Speaker 3: that you want me to say.
Speaker 2: I will say verbatim over national television, even if I
Speaker 2: had to read the damn quote myself.
Speaker 3: You have my word.
Speaker 2: You have my word. So over time we were talking, communicating,
Speaker 2: and they wanted me my help in helping him get
Speaker 2: back into the league. I had been on the record
Speaker 2: he had been black balled. It's unfair and ain't right,
Speaker 2: But in the same breath, you got to know who
Speaker 2: you're dealing with. It's the NFL, and it's thirty two
Speaker 2: different owners of the billionaires, and theyin't gonna let you
Speaker 2: mess with their paper. So one of the smartest thing
Speaker 2: in the world. I'm not saying you were wrong, it's
Speaker 2: just wanted smart if you really really wanted to be
Speaker 2: in the league, because they're gonna do what they can
Speaker 2: to get you out of there. So I go on
Speaker 2: the air because we find out about that workout that
Speaker 2: the NFL had conducted, and the NFL conducted the workout
Speaker 2: because no individual team wanted to because they were scared
Speaker 2: if he worked out for them and then it didn't
Speaker 2: work out, they.
Speaker 3: Were he would accuse them of being racist.
Speaker 2: So the league, at the behest of jay Z and others,
Speaker 2: he took the position, we will conduct the rent workout,
Speaker 2: which they don't do. Which they don't do. The league
Speaker 2: never conducts an individual workout for a player. And at
Speaker 2: that time I was told by sources directly related to
Speaker 2: the negotiations, he'll have to throw.
Speaker 3: The ball into the stands to not have a job
Speaker 3: in two weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, and his lady and him, remember, had been asking
Speaker 2: me to help him get a tryout with one team.
Speaker 2: I said.
Speaker 3: They were reporting initially his three teams.
Speaker 2: And stell like that. I said, now I'm being told
Speaker 2: twenty two to twenty four teams gonna show up, and
Speaker 2: it ended up being twenty six. I'm being told that
Speaker 2: most of the dudes showing up are in the player
Speaker 2: of personnel departments for NFL teams and the African Americans.
Speaker 2: So you're gonna have brothers looking at you, at least
Speaker 2: eighteen to nineteen of them, and Ny Hamden hard And
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, I wasn't getting no return texts.
Speaker 2: He switched the workout to I wasn't getting any return
Speaker 2: texts suddenly, and they you know, I was on the
Speaker 2: air with one of my the opposite of me was
Speaker 2: Max Kellerman at the time, and you know, he getting
Speaker 2: a text message from them showing the waiver that the
Speaker 2: NFL had drawn up. I said, I don't blame him
Speaker 2: for one bit for not doing this, blah blah blah.
Speaker 2: I said, well, damn it, I do, because you ain't
Speaker 2: the only one that got the waiver. I got it too.
Speaker 2: And oh, by the way, were you on the phone
Speaker 2: with general counsel for the NFL thirty minutes ago? Because
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 3: I was, and they said, quote us.
Speaker 2: Wasn't off the records? Shit, they quote us.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we changed the language.
Speaker 2: And the waiver because we've never done an individual workout
Speaker 2: for a player before and he had just sued us. Okay,
Speaker 2: we just settled the case, so why do we not
Speaker 2: protect ourselves. Of course, we did to change the language
Speaker 2: to make sure he can't sue us if he doesn't
Speaker 2: get better, because nobody wants him, but we're willing to
Speaker 2: give him the workout at an NFL professional facility, which
Speaker 2: was that of the Atlanta Falcons. And on top of
Speaker 2: it all, we'll give him the tape so he could
Speaker 2: circulate the tapes to other teams anytime he wants. This
Speaker 2: brother did show up and a couple of hours before
Speaker 2: the workout, moved the damn workout an hour and twenty
Speaker 2: minutes away to our high school football stadium outside of Atlanta.
Speaker 2: I said, I'm done. I'm done with y'all. I say,
Speaker 2: you don't want to play. You want to be a martyr.
Speaker 2: You want to be a marty if you want to
Speaker 2: play football. You at that workout, twenty six NFL teams,
Speaker 2: eighteen of them African American showing up with all the
Speaker 2: technological equipment that an NFL team has to dissect and
Speaker 2: pick a part what you bring to the table, and
Speaker 2: you don't show up, I'm done with you. You don't
Speaker 2: want to play, you want to be a martyr. Fine,
Speaker 2: be a martyr. We appreciate you taking the knee, We
Speaker 2: appreciate you fighting on behalf of African American, black and
Speaker 2: brown people everywhere because relice brutality is a real thing.
Speaker 2: Brutality on the part of some police officers. What I
Speaker 2: call him was got brothers and sisters on the police
Speaker 2: force that are black and brown that ain't doing that.
Speaker 2: So I'm not gonna say all police officers, but some
Speaker 2: of them are. So I'm looking at all of that
Speaker 2: and I'm like, I appreciate that, but this ain't about that.
Speaker 2: This is about you saying you wanted to play and
Speaker 2: galvanizing folks to support you playing.
Speaker 3: You ain't playing.
Speaker 2: Years they want to see you work out, and you
Speaker 2: didn't show up. I'm done and I've been done with
Speaker 2: that story ever since.
Speaker 1: So I'm not going to ask you about Russell Westport
Speaker 1: and y'all a little back of Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 2: I ain't a back and forward Russell Well Russell Westbrook.
Speaker 1: But it wasn't Russell Westbrook's on the Lakers.
Speaker 2: He said, you just.
Speaker 1: Game?
Speaker 3: Did I downplayed this game?
Speaker 1: Oh?
Speaker 2: Okay, okay, Well, that to me is not you know,
Speaker 2: I get that in the back and forth. Look, Russell
Speaker 2: Westbrook is a real one. Brother is a real one.
Speaker 2: And what I mean by that is he is a
Speaker 2: brother to the core, loves his people, does so much
Speaker 2: great work in the community, the whole nine.
Speaker 3: I got mad love and respect. He's a real he
Speaker 3: ain't no fake cat. I don't like you. You don't
Speaker 3: know you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: He really liked that. I respect the hell out of him.
Speaker 2: He's one of my favorite people. But he can't shoot,
Speaker 2: and damn it, that's what I said. I said it
Speaker 2: then I'm telling you now I want him taking it
Speaker 2: to the rack. I don't want him shooting twenty five
Speaker 2: feet jump. No, is that a crime? That's not a crime.
Speaker 4: Not.
Speaker 3: Me and Kyrie were different. Kyrie. There was some personal
Speaker 3: ship that's between he and I where I looked out.
Speaker 2: And he forgot. And that's why when he went on
Speaker 2: Twitter last year and he was talking his shit, I
Speaker 2: was like, how about me, me and me and you
Speaker 2: meet one on one for the public to spot your
Speaker 2: truth against my truth and see how that works out
Speaker 2: for you.
Speaker 3: I'll never tell, but pumped your brakes.
Speaker 2: But he was right. Went too far because I got
Speaker 2: mad respect and love for the brother, and it got
Speaker 2: to a point where me and his father was getting
Speaker 2: into it, and his father his father jumped in tweets
Speaker 2: while not tweet but the text messages to my private
Speaker 2: phone all this other stuff. And it was my fault
Speaker 2: because I took it a little too far with it
Speaker 2: Pops not on public. But I took a bit too
Speaker 2: person with Pops, and so Kyrie rolled up and like,
Speaker 2: it ain't even about me at this point, it's about you, Pops,
Speaker 2: And I said, you know what you right.
Speaker 3: I immediately picked up the phone with his father.
Speaker 2: His father and I met in New York City, made
Speaker 2: a man's be cool to this day, I apologize, he apologized.
Speaker 3: We've grown ass man.
Speaker 2: We good. But in terms of Kyrie, marvelous, magician, other
Speaker 2: thro others, just all world, all I ever wanted from
Speaker 2: Kyrie is to be on the damn court because he's spectacular.
Speaker 2: He's spectacular, You uns, I'm saying, one of the greatest
Speaker 2: talented game has ever seen. It's not about taking the vaccine.
Speaker 2: It was about every time there was always a damn
Speaker 2: excuse for something. There's an injury, this one, it's something
Speaker 2: with your religion. This way, it's the vaccine here, damn it.
Speaker 2: Get on the court. You're too great for us to
Speaker 2: be hearing about. Listen, I appreciate the fact that you
Speaker 2: put the supplied the Palestinians with a bunch of water. Okay,
Speaker 2: this is before all of this stuff that's been going
Speaker 2: on lately. I appreciate the stuff that you've done for
Speaker 2: the WNBA. He's very philanthropic, He's very charitable. Kyrie's a
Speaker 2: good brother. I even went on the air when we
Speaker 2: were button hands and I said, Yo, y'all that's between
Speaker 2: me and him. That doesn't mean he's not a good brother.
Speaker 2: He is a good brother. We just don't like each
Speaker 2: other right now. That happens, But please understand, I know
Speaker 2: he's a good brother. Russell Westbrook, don't f with the media.
Speaker 2: You're in a sense saying, but if he honest, I've
Speaker 2: always been feared to us. You know, I said, we
Speaker 2: ain't friends, we gonna be friends because you don't like
Speaker 2: the media that way. Lebron gonna feel the way he
Speaker 2: gonna feel plenty of other players, but most players in
Speaker 2: all professional sports, I'm very cool with. The ones that
Speaker 2: have a problem with me are the ones that don't
Speaker 2: talk to me, because if you talk to me, you
Speaker 2: ain't gonna have no problem. Because guess what, I'm either
Speaker 2: gonna be right or I'm gonna be wrong. And if
Speaker 2: I'm wrong, I'm gonna admit it, not privately, publicly. I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna say something to you about you publicly and
Speaker 2: I'm wrong, and then privately I'm about it. Nah, y'all
Speaker 2: see me do it. I'll go on to air my bad.
Speaker 2: I was wrong. You see what I'm saying. But if
Speaker 2: I'm right, I ain't bunch. This is where I stand.
Speaker 2: And so if you one of those cats, you got
Speaker 2: a lot of brothers. They chirp, they talk, and it's real,
Speaker 2: real easy to talk shit about me when you're talking
Speaker 2: to somebody else, but when you talking in front of
Speaker 2: my face and I get a chance to respond with
Speaker 2: my truth. I asked one simple question. Have you encountered
Speaker 2: any of them that have said they're willing to do that?
Speaker 2: You ain't seeing neary one of them because they know
Speaker 2: they know.
Speaker 1: I think that's the reason why you and Michael Jordan
Speaker 1: get it loong, is because y'all both don't accept betrayal.
Speaker 1: Like as soon as someone kind of like I feel
Speaker 1: like I feel like I feel like y'are are the
Speaker 1: same like when it comes to that.
Speaker 3: That's the reason why I.
Speaker 2: Don't think so. I don't think so. I don't think
Speaker 2: I don't think I don't think that's it. I think
Speaker 2: that again, it's like your brother, I'm not a black man.
Speaker 2: I'm a brother. I love my people, you know. And
Speaker 2: when I think about you know, listen, I'm not anti anything.
Speaker 2: I'm not anti white. But when I think about immigrants,
Speaker 2: when I think about Latinos, Hispanics in this country and
Speaker 2: black folks, to me, we all the same. We're brothers,
Speaker 2: We in the same plight, you know. And I'm always
Speaker 2: look out. But sometimes looking out ain't telling you what
Speaker 2: you want to hear. It's telling you what you need
Speaker 2: to hear. And you got cats that because of that,
Speaker 2: they try to paint a picture and create this imagery
Speaker 2: about you so others will see you in a certain way.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, that's jacked up. That's really messed up.
Speaker 2: But it's okay. Keep doing what you're doing because it's
Speaker 2: sooner or it's later. You're gonna have to deal with
Speaker 2: me because I'm not going away. And that's how I
Speaker 2: roll with it. It's like you're not gonna I remember everything.
Speaker 2: And like I told you at the beginning, you got
Speaker 2: cats in the league, yo. Bro. They they talking about me,
Speaker 2: I'm talking about corporate America, talking about Hollywood, I'm talking
Speaker 2: about Madison Avenue or they talking a lot of shit
Speaker 2: and they don't know who I know and how it
Speaker 2: gets back to me. But it all gets back to me.
Speaker 1: I'm waiting for the steven A movie and the documentary.
Speaker 1: But let me just yes, it's still quick. Thomas Nae,
Speaker 1: Rihanna or Beyonce.
Speaker 2: Beyonce all day listen Navy of Blue Navy. First of
Speaker 2: I didn't even know what the hell blue Navy was
Speaker 2: n't til last year. Okay, let me get that straight. Secondly,
Speaker 2: I want to emphasize this. I love me some.
Speaker 3: I love Rihanna.
Speaker 2: I buy her music. I paid for it. Ain't get
Speaker 2: shit for free, but I paid for it the whole bit.
Speaker 2: She's phenomenal. Okay, I love her. I appreciated a whole bit.
Speaker 2: And when I compared her to Beyonce on the Sherry
Speaker 2: Sheppard Show, that pissed a few people. All Oh no,
Speaker 2: what happened was is that I was promoting my book.
Speaker 2: As Sherry Shepard said, we need you to come on here.
Speaker 2: We want to create a first take atmosphere, so we
Speaker 2: want to create a debate. And I know that you
Speaker 2: are a support of Beyonce, so feel free to bring
Speaker 2: that up. And then they talked about Reread performing at
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl and I'm like, yo, you you saw
Speaker 2: it Beyonce did you got to measure up? Because this
Speaker 2: is Beyonce. Now, let me be very very clear. I
Speaker 2: went to the Taylor Swift consent. She was off the
Speaker 2: chain two thousand dollars. Both my daughters promise their ten
Speaker 2: friends twenty thousand dollars and turn down. I need a drink.
Speaker 2: But you enjoyed yourself, Yo, bro, I couldn't. I could
Speaker 2: not believe how much fun I had. I said, tell
Speaker 2: Swift off the change. She did. She did. She did
Speaker 2: that that I mean she got She told me she
Speaker 2: can we calm down the breaks. There's only one Beyonce.
Speaker 3: You had to say. Nobody in the planet of Stephen A.
Speaker 2: Smith.
Speaker 3: There is no female artist ever that has. And I
Speaker 3: love to me some Janey Jackson control, rhythm.
Speaker 2: Control and rhythm nation me please, I love you, frankly,
Speaker 2: I mean listen the Queen, Mary j Queen. Come on, Nobody, Nobody,
Speaker 2: yess Keys Whitney. Whitney's phenomenal.
Speaker 3: I mean coming with nobody to me.
Speaker 2: I'm talking about to me, nobody, right, that's that far,
Speaker 2: that's fair, comes before Beyonce. So it's just an example
Speaker 2: of what I'm talking about so you did behind you
Speaker 2: because like like, but let me tell you, let me
Speaker 2: tell you this. You under said, I ain't a quote
Speaker 2: unquote member want to be hot, but if I was
Speaker 2: going to.
Speaker 3: Be a member of AHA, it would be be.
Speaker 2: Beyonce. Beyonce is so bad as in great, I wouldn't
Speaker 2: mind them calling me Stephen B. Smith. I mean, this
Speaker 2: ship ain't nobody, Ain't nobody beyond me, Ain't nobody Beyonce, Steve.
Speaker 3: Let me just say thank you so much.
Speaker 1: We gotta do everything that I thought you would be
Speaker 1: and more superceeded my expectations.
Speaker 3: You are exactly who you are, and.
Speaker 1: Like I said, I can speak to you all day
Speaker 1: like this, I'm just running for the seventeen hour.
Speaker 2: Bro let me get you look at your problem.
Speaker 1: I wanted to stay on you, you know why, because
Speaker 1: this is this should be a promoted more like you know,
Speaker 1: us just bigging up each other. You great, whether you
Speaker 1: came in the drink cans or not. You great, one
Speaker 1: of you know, one of the greatest out there. I
Speaker 1: wanted to thank you.
Speaker 3: I'm wanted to.
Speaker 1: I was so impressed, so happy that when we finally
Speaker 1: booked you, I was like, what I couldn't sleep last night.
Speaker 1: I was just like I was cause because I always
Speaker 1: want to give you your props. I always want to
Speaker 1: tell you how how dope you are, how ill it is.
Speaker 1: And I ended with this one story you gave. You
Speaker 1: gave me one of the most humblest pies ever.
Speaker 2: Hm.
Speaker 1: We was in complex con I walked through and I
Speaker 1: watched you so much that I thought I met you
Speaker 1: before and I had never met you.
Speaker 2: And I walked in with Stephen Dale was a calm down.
Speaker 3: We were were in the environment.
Speaker 1: I don't even want to say the people that was there,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a lot of big, big dogs
Speaker 1: there and I you you made my fans make sense.
Speaker 3: Now let me make that make sense for years for.
Speaker 1: I've been famous twenty five years, twenty three of them,
Speaker 1: which been great. But fans will come up to me
Speaker 1: and they'll talk to me. And what I realized is
Speaker 1: they thought they knew me and talk to you like
Speaker 1: they knew you.
Speaker 2: And I did that to you.
Speaker 3: You you you almost was looking out for me. You
Speaker 3: was like you little too grouping out.
Speaker 1: No you saying that was like But I would never
Speaker 1: take that moment back because I meant it a minute then,
Speaker 1: and I mean it now.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Takes nothing away from me as a man. Tell you
Speaker 1: how great you are to your motherfucking face and mean it.
Speaker 1: It does not take away from me as a fan.
Speaker 1: I want you to continue to do what you do
Speaker 1: if you ever need us. I appreciate that any show
Speaker 1: you got fifteen thousand shows and you produce it shows
Speaker 1: you're being an executive producer and producing shows.
Speaker 3: That shit is so dope. Man, we appreciate you just superseded.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 2: Listen, man, let me say. Let me say this man,
Speaker 2: first of all, minted to be on the show, I
Speaker 2: think y'all do a great job. I love the fact
Speaker 2: that y'all been celebrated. You've been doing this for eight years.
Speaker 2: You've been very very successful at it. You know, you
Speaker 2: set the stage. You set the stage for a lot
Speaker 2: of people, and you're giving a lot of people an
Speaker 2: opportunity to really really do their thing, making them feel comfortable,
Speaker 2: asking the right questions and doing all of that stuff.
Speaker 2: And the biggest thing that y'are preaching about is togetherness.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: Listen, when I've heard Kendrick and.
Speaker 2: Drake and j Cole, I went on my pocket and
Speaker 2: I'm like yo, as long as it's non violent, go
Speaker 2: ahead with the lyrics. That's part of the business, the
Speaker 2: whole bit. But as long as it's not, just keep
Speaker 2: it safe and the whole bit. There's money to be
Speaker 2: made out here for all of us. Some gonna make
Speaker 2: more than others, but that ain't the point. The point
Speaker 2: is we could all live well, we could always make
Speaker 2: it happen. And for me personally, you know, one of
Speaker 2: the things that I do religiously is I go on
Speaker 2: a lot of these podcasts because me being in the
Speaker 2: position that I'm in, I know when people invite me,
Speaker 2: a lot of times they think I won't show up.
Speaker 2: But guess what cats did it for me when I
Speaker 2: brought up Isaiah and others, and they did it for me.
Speaker 2: And the least I can do is do my part
Speaker 2: to help and let the world know. You see these
Speaker 2: brothers out here doing this stuff. I support them. You know,
Speaker 2: my style is different from other people. I'm a product
Speaker 2: of corporate America who's venturing out on my own. But
Speaker 2: one of the things y'all got to remember to give
Speaker 2: y'all selves credit for. And I'm not talking about just y'all,
Speaker 2: but so many others who are doing this. See the
Speaker 2: athletes are different. You had your money and then you
Speaker 2: did it. I'm different because I had ESPN and my
Speaker 2: career at Fox and newspaper business all this stuff before
Speaker 2: I did it. You got a whole bunch of cats
Speaker 2: that bet on themselves and go out there and did it.
Speaker 2: And what I'm saying is there's a level of courage
Speaker 2: that you showed, this belief in yourself that you could
Speaker 2: do what you're supposed to be doing. And as a
Speaker 2: result of that. Never forget that, because there's a lot
Speaker 2: of people who got a lot of ability but don't
Speaker 2: have courage, and you're looking at one of them who
Speaker 2: spent year not having courage. I was raised by a
Speaker 2: mom that punched the clock as a registered nurse and
Speaker 2: believe in putting your head down and going to work
Speaker 2: and coming home and all that other stuff. It wasn't
Speaker 2: until later on in my life, in my mid forties
Speaker 2: and stuff like that, that I had an entrepreneurial spirit.
Speaker 2: But it still took me a while to get to
Speaker 2: that point because I was an employee and they got
Speaker 2: you under contract and they can restrict your rights and
Speaker 2: all of this other stuff because of y'all. People like y'all,
Speaker 2: people like me, even in my fifties, are gaining more
Speaker 2: courage than I ever had in my life.
Speaker 3: And so it ain't resent. It's gratefulness.
Speaker 2: It's gratitude that I feel for y'all, that I feel
Speaker 2: for so many people in this space that's doing so
Speaker 2: much of what y'all doing. I'm gonna get mine, I'm
Speaker 2: aa strive to get mine, but I'll be damned if
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna help it. Every opportunity to help others
Speaker 2: along the way get theirs, and y'all a two of
Speaker 2: those people this team are definitely so anytime y'all want
Speaker 2: me on, I'm happy to come back home.
Speaker 1: It's you said something that was one of the most
Speaker 1: prolific things I ever heard. You said, sometimes all of
Speaker 1: us don't got to be equal. You're only promised. We're
Speaker 1: only for opportunity, deserving of equal opportunity, deserving.
Speaker 3: Of ego opportunity. Yes, that shit blew my mind.
Speaker 1: It's the truth, and most of us do have the
Speaker 1: same ego opportunities. We don't capitalize off, we don't deserve
Speaker 1: the same equal results you.
Speaker 2: All of us work with people, work for people, or
Speaker 2: have people under us who either work better and produce
Speaker 2: more or work worse and produce less. People who produce
Speaker 2: less and don't work as hard as me don't deserve
Speaker 2: what I deserve. Okay, you know, everybody that's poor don't
Speaker 2: deserve to be poor, but some of them do. Everybody
Speaker 2: that's rich don't just be rich, but some people don't
Speaker 2: deserve to be rich. You see what I'm saying. It's like,
Speaker 2: that's the way it is. And when you accept that,
Speaker 2: what you do is attach a level of accountability to
Speaker 2: those that are trying to make things happen. Are you
Speaker 2: really trying to make it happen? Are you really exhausting
Speaker 2: yourself doing all that you need to do in order
Speaker 2: to achieve what you have to If you're doing all
Speaker 2: of that, God bless you.
Speaker 3: More power to you. What help do you need? If
Speaker 3: you're a lazy ass person, don't come in my direction.
Speaker 3: I got no use for you.
Speaker 2: I got family members who lazy as hell. They ain't
Speaker 2: employed by me. The people are employed by me or
Speaker 2: people I know gonna work. And by the way, if
Speaker 2: I see them and they being lazy, they gonna get fired. Period.
Speaker 3: It's about production.
Speaker 2: It's about getting the job done, because if they don't
Speaker 2: get the job done, they inhibit your ability to get
Speaker 2: the job done.
Speaker 3: And you're the one that's gonna suffer.
Speaker 1: You.
Speaker 2: Do not let somebody bring you down. You can't bring
Speaker 2: everybody with you. Some people you got to lead their
Speaker 2: ass home. Look at them, you supplement them, all right.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna look out for you a little bit, try
Speaker 2: to give you an edge up here. You go and
Speaker 2: inspire them as much as you can. But you can't
Speaker 2: roll with me because if I believe I'm here and
Speaker 2: I believe this is what is required, I can't have
Speaker 2: you here, especially you gonna bring me down.
Speaker 3: Yep, I gotta go fast.
Speaker 4: Drink Champs is a Drink Champs LLC production hosts and
Speaker 4: executive producers n O r E and dj e FN.
Speaker 2: Listen to Drink.
Speaker 4: Champs on Apple Podcast, Amazon Music, Spotify, or wherever you
Speaker 4: get your podcasts. Thanks for joining us for another episode
Speaker 4: of Drink Champs hosted by Yours truly, DJ e FN
Speaker 4: and n O r E. Please make sure to follow
Speaker 4: us on all our socials that's at drink Champs across
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Speaker 2: HM