Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John And this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do it? Good do they's
Speaker 1: getting down to do it? Good do it. We asked
Speaker 1: the questions you always want to know, but no one
Speaker 1: ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then we're about to let you know. It's all. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is this is just a banter. So
Speaker 1: it's not a big dummy. No, it's not a big dummy.
Speaker 1: It ain't fair to give the dog a big dumb.
Speaker 1: What's up, g Good afternoon, Smitty. How are you? I'm
Speaker 1: good man. How do you you feel like I'm getting interrogated
Speaker 1: right now? No, run, I don't really like that. I
Speaker 1: don't want to interrogate you. That ain't that ain't mine.
Speaker 1: That ain't my deal. And I appreciate it. Well, let
Speaker 1: me tell you what happened to me the other day,
Speaker 1: which enlighten me. I wouldn't hit the straights and I
Speaker 1: went shopping just because I struggle at times with getting
Speaker 1: online stuff. And then it does not match. The picture
Speaker 1: does not match because what you thought you ordered yeah,
Speaker 1: or like the colors a little bit off, and then
Speaker 1: you're the that's down. That's why. That's why generically I'm
Speaker 1: not a online shopper because of that reason, but I
Speaker 1: will like my go to spots always go to like Northstroom's,
Speaker 1: NeiMa Marcus and Bloomdal's. You can never go wrong. Is
Speaker 1: what you see is what you get. Right, So going
Speaker 1: to do shopping. Wife call and said, hey, you know Tiga.
Speaker 1: Tiga is my dog is a Belgium mount of She's
Speaker 1: about three years old. Lover her. She's a house dog.
Speaker 1: We love her to death. Right. Started Monday, she wasn't
Speaker 1: fell and good. She she threw up something. She'd be
Speaker 1: eating a lot of grass and and and leaves and
Speaker 1: so grasses helps so it helps settle their stomach and
Speaker 1: so they hack it up and they're all good. Tega
Speaker 1: didn't poop and she was starting to look a little bloated.
Speaker 1: So that was Monday. Bro By Tuesday she threw up
Speaker 1: again and we have to take her to to the vet.
Speaker 1: So it took her to the vet, White dropped her off.
Speaker 1: I asked some stuff we were recording, lo and behold
Speaker 1: the vet is like, well, she isn't you know. We
Speaker 1: took X rays and did some scans and looking in
Speaker 1: there and stuff not moving. She usually using the bathroom.
Speaker 1: She isn't drinking, so I was like, let's just take
Speaker 1: her to the vet. So she's at the vet. Come
Speaker 1: about six thirty, they tell us, hey, we think she
Speaker 1: should go to the emergency room. I'm like, okay, because
Speaker 1: she still her her she's still not drinking and she's
Speaker 1: starting to get nick put her to a I vy
Speaker 1: now she's getting bigger and she's not Yes, so get
Speaker 1: her to the vet, take her to the take her
Speaker 1: to the emergency and so they said they're gonna observe her.
Speaker 1: But they believe that she has some things in her
Speaker 1: that she's been eating. Do you know what they could be? No?
Speaker 1: I could not know what they does she eat? Sucks? Eat?
Speaker 1: Does she you know? Underwear? Does she know we watch her?
Speaker 1: We don't just let her galivant through the house, you know,
Speaker 1: So you know you're ready. So she goes under the knife.
Speaker 1: They're gonna do emergency surgery and remove items from her stomach.
Speaker 1: Do you want to know what items? They removed? Some
Speaker 1: leaves and twigs. They said she ate as many leaves.
Speaker 1: It'd be equivalent to a small tree. My little doggie eight,
Speaker 1: my three year old Belgian malinoir eight. And I waited.
Speaker 1: I waited because it's in a zip black bag. I
Speaker 1: put it on the waist scale. You know how much
Speaker 1: do you know how small and light leaves are? She
Speaker 1: ate four ounces of leaves that they removed from They
Speaker 1: cut her open, removed four ounces of leaves. I'm like why,
Speaker 1: doctor told me they believe it possibly was a dead
Speaker 1: animal that was in the leaves, and so she enjoyed
Speaker 1: the leaves because she was getting a little bit of
Speaker 1: that that you know that came on My dog then
Speaker 1: got sliced up about sliced up and remove four ounces
Speaker 1: of leaves in her and twigs to get the tweegs. Now,
Speaker 1: the part that sucks is them. So I take Doocey
Speaker 1: and Doucey's daddy, can I say, body Tika before and
Speaker 1: I'm sitting there going if something happened to this dog,
Speaker 1: So before I take her, after we take it to
Speaker 1: the vet, you gotta take it to the emergency and
Speaker 1: they and so they called us. They did m basically
Speaker 1: emergency surgery because they couldn't she couldn't pass. It wasn't drinking.
Speaker 1: They did surgery like three in the morning, and so
Speaker 1: that I added, like sign the paperwork resuscitation. If she
Speaker 1: goes on, I'm like, I don't want to, Like why
Speaker 1: do I have to answer this question? Like yes, I
Speaker 1: want you to say my dog, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: sleep thinking what happens if you can't say it's like
Speaker 1: a human in the emergency, the same type of questioning.
Speaker 1: It's like, so, yeah, that's that's so I had to
Speaker 1: stop one too, some time out of your schedule. It
Speaker 1: was like two days. So we got her and then
Speaker 1: she wasn't even in the morning doing surgery. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: was pretty bad man. So so funny story in that
Speaker 1: the vet was telling us that they had some other
Speaker 1: procedures where and this is a funny story where they
Speaker 1: had a family whose dog ate a G string. And
Speaker 1: first of all, I don't know why the doctor's telling
Speaker 1: me and my wife, but she tells us this picking
Speaker 1: up conversation, she goes, well, yeah, we had a patient
Speaker 1: whose dog ate a G string. And I asked the
Speaker 1: I asked them the the mom of your of your
Speaker 1: little doggie, do you wear g strings? Ye? Say, how
Speaker 1: do we connect? Are you ready? Mom didn't wear G string? Yes.
Speaker 1: The plot thickens and she goes, here's how to vet asked,
Speaker 1: did your daughter wear g strings? No? Because their daughter,
Speaker 1: I guess, was too young to wear strings. It was
Speaker 1: getting chicy. Oh yeah, this is like has been got
Speaker 1: in trouble. They're dogs, father, They're dogs ate another woman's
Speaker 1: G string shenanigans. So this is K nine Jerry Springer.
Speaker 1: Will you hang around the doggy parks? Yea? Here all
Speaker 1: kinds of stores you might and you might get fleeing. Hey,
Speaker 1: what do we have to day? On the podcast? And
Speaker 1: cut to it? Coming up on the cut to a podcast,
Speaker 1: We've got Muggsy Bowls and he's not just the shortest
Speaker 1: player to ever play in the NBA, he's a fourteen
Speaker 1: year veteran, most notably with the Charlotte Hornets, first time
Speaker 1: all a cec A Wake Forest and overall great and
Speaker 1: iconic legend in the NBA. Muggsy Bowls on the cut
Speaker 1: to a podcast, Oh, thanks for having man. I appreciate
Speaker 1: it well. Our first segment that we do is our icebreaker.
Speaker 1: It's called get Iced Up. It's random questions Smitty has
Speaker 1: compiled might be a follow up, might not be a
Speaker 1: follow up. Who knows. Just be ready for anything. Muggs anything,
Speaker 1: go and so Smitty go ahead and give him the
Speaker 1: first get iced up questions. Alright, which habit are you
Speaker 1: proudest of breaking? Which habit I'm proudest of breaking? Ah? Gosh?
Speaker 1: Is there so many? It's I don't have many bad habits.
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to figure out which is one that
Speaker 1: comes to mind? Kinda right, are you comfortable with telling
Speaker 1: on yourself? No? No, that's what I'm trying to make
Speaker 1: sure I don't not not now happened? Plate right, I'm
Speaker 1: proud of habited. The most proud is habit I'm proud of,
Speaker 1: ah man, I guess what I gave up? Did I
Speaker 1: give up anything I should have? It? Gave up my
Speaker 1: jet food. I'm not trying to figure. Let me be
Speaker 1: Steve Harvey. Let's pass on that come back. So, if
Speaker 1: you were at a Super Bowl party and you've seen
Speaker 1: another guest double dip in the saucer, do you a
Speaker 1: say something to that individual? Or be you don't say
Speaker 1: anything and you keep it to yourself. Oh, I'm hey,
Speaker 1: I'm saying something. You're gonna exp Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're double dippering, especially if I got to go, if
Speaker 1: I got to go behind you that. I mean that
Speaker 1: just lets you know that. Hey man, you know we
Speaker 1: got other folks here, you know, gonna be sharing the
Speaker 1: same sauce. You can't be double dipping. Yeah, I just
Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure I'm gonna say something. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna be the last I'm gonna paint double dipping the sauce.
Speaker 1: That's a no no. Yeah, well some people are double dippers.
Speaker 1: I'm particularly not. But I just want to know what
Speaker 1: you're gonna say something, or just you know, be selfish
Speaker 1: and just not go to the sauce you got. You
Speaker 1: gotta throw the flag on that one. Yeah, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: going I'm going right at them. I gotta let them
Speaker 1: know and call them out. I might not be you know,
Speaker 1: loud about it, but you're gonna the person gonna know
Speaker 1: they can't be double with it. But you're gonna call
Speaker 1: it out. Are you? Are you going to the individual?
Speaker 1: Are you telling the house or Super Bowl host? You
Speaker 1: gonna see? But I'm gonna do first. I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go to the individual because I don't want to
Speaker 1: just blast them like that. I'm just gonna go to
Speaker 1: the individual and let them know that you know, you
Speaker 1: shouldn't be doing this. You know, you got other people.
Speaker 1: Then if I catch them again or that person again,
Speaker 1: I'm definitely gonna go to the host, and then the
Speaker 1: host is not gonna into our Is this host you
Speaker 1: know generally a dude that a female or guy? You know,
Speaker 1: you got to make sure I guess say everybody. Generally
Speaker 1: people have host parties. They don't randomly just do it
Speaker 1: once it's there. They're repeated traditional party, a repeated party planner.
Speaker 1: That's what we do. That's what we do. And so
Speaker 1: you know if you go to the host, they will
Speaker 1: not and they ain't invite. Yeah. Well, I mean that's
Speaker 1: where that that's where the double dip twice come in.
Speaker 1: That when you do it twice, you know, once and
Speaker 1: I can you know, and I and I approach you
Speaker 1: and then you go do it again, I mean that's
Speaker 1: disrespecting a person's home and you don't care about anyone
Speaker 1: beside yourself, so you may not need to be invited back.
Speaker 1: And then all right, so I'm throwing I'm sliding another
Speaker 1: one in there. What if the it's the party host.
Speaker 1: But then a party host and I'm saying, oh him,
Speaker 1: I heard that. But and I'm like, why are you
Speaker 1: serving this among your guests? And you got ahead double
Speaker 1: dip and then if I'm gonna approach you, then he
Speaker 1: whatever explanation they give me, if they didn't mean to
Speaker 1: do it, then they say, hey, you know, there's no thing.
Speaker 1: If it's a normal thing with them, then I gotta
Speaker 1: be careful what I do around them. Yeah, that it
Speaker 1: was a lot about the care that. Let's me know,
Speaker 1: I'm not going back to the court questions. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I just raised my hand, um cast I know what
Speaker 1: what do you mean? I mean, what do you mean
Speaker 1: you act? How do you accidentally double them? Because if
Speaker 1: you double that, you're like that think half dip it
Speaker 1: right back in that right, Yeah, you know, because it
Speaker 1: all has to be a you know something that you
Speaker 1: constantly do it. But you know, you give them the
Speaker 1: benefit of that doubt because you got people around you,
Speaker 1: like you tell your body think I ain't need to
Speaker 1: get the back then real quickly and you catch yourself.
Speaker 1: But you know, so that's the one time you may
Speaker 1: give them that make that little pass. But I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: You know, once you see it again, you know it
Speaker 1: ain't no dad, no, no act that that's that's part
Speaker 1: of that. Then that's are you a morning person or
Speaker 1: an evening person? I'm I think I'm a morning person,
Speaker 1: believe it, and that I'm a morning person because the
Speaker 1: same I've seen, though, I want to get up and
Speaker 1: stop my day off a lot, a lot sooner these days.
Speaker 1: Six hours, six hours is enough for me. Now is
Speaker 1: the world travel? He got places to be? Yeah? Not now, No,
Speaker 1: not right now, that's very true. All right, So this
Speaker 1: is a twofold question. Uh my, my, my journalistic coach
Speaker 1: would tell me a double barrel question is not ever allowed. However,
Speaker 1: this is my podcast. She's not on it, so she'll
Speaker 1: probably texts me later when she listens to him. Anyway,
Speaker 1: So what's your favorite season? And do you know how
Speaker 1: many seasons there are? Well? I believe there are four. Okay, Hey,
Speaker 1: I gotta ask because we we have had some questionable
Speaker 1: we've had some money like you know, so I just
Speaker 1: gotta gotta make sure, especially in today's society, you know,
Speaker 1: everything is you know, I seemed like as a given.
Speaker 1: And it depends on where you're living, you know, so
Speaker 1: that's part of the you know, the environment all year around.
Speaker 1: But now I believe in season. And my favorite season,
Speaker 1: of course, is always gonna be the summertime. Why is that?
Speaker 1: He was reminiscent He had a moment jazz Jeff video
Speaker 1: a little bit like yeah, summertime. Yeah, a lot of
Speaker 1: things popped the mind for a second. But I know
Speaker 1: what that that happened. The summer's back in Baltimore. He
Speaker 1: went back. But it's the one for me, you know.
Speaker 1: It's the warmth, that warm weather. So that that's where
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm you know, my hanging to for me. Well,
Speaker 1: let's move up before we get before we get you
Speaker 1: and died and all Severn stop it all right, We
Speaker 1: really appreciate you, take your time, and just we're gonna
Speaker 1: get down. This is an open book test. There is
Speaker 1: no questions. The only questions we're asking is about you.
Speaker 1: We want to know all about Muggsie. You know, who
Speaker 1: is Muggsy? What makes Muggsy tick? And so here we go.
Speaker 1: Who is Muggsie? Well, I laid back here, you know,
Speaker 1: grew up in innocent of Baltimore. You know, he kind
Speaker 1: of you know, found his way in terms of trying
Speaker 1: to pursue a dream. And uh, he started off as
Speaker 1: Tyrone playing the game and as a kid still on
Speaker 1: the ball. And at the time, we had a show
Speaker 1: we used to come on every Saturday called The Bowery Boys,
Speaker 1: and one of the character names his name was Muggsy.
Speaker 1: He was kind of a little small lead of his
Speaker 1: kind of crew, and I kind of had a little
Speaker 1: crew that we kind of grew up with growing up.
Speaker 1: But playing basketball, my boy Dwayne Woods, he saw me
Speaker 1: still on the ball and he kept saying that he
Speaker 1: getting everybody. Then he kind of tied the character muggy
Speaker 1: and mugging, and all of a sudden I was Muggy
Speaker 1: and actually hated too because I thought they were talking
Speaker 1: about my mug and uh, you know, I'm like manner
Speaker 1: that muggy man, you know. So but it grew on me,
Speaker 1: you know, and then the vcame Muggy every since. Where
Speaker 1: are you from in the place you call your hometown? Well,
Speaker 1: I'm from Baltimore, Baltimore grew up in like say, in
Speaker 1: the city of Baltimore. And when you say you say
Speaker 1: the in the city, you know I was. I was
Speaker 1: out there. So and you've got a lot of people
Speaker 1: that listen and followed you give us a area of
Speaker 1: Baltimore because a lot of people are you know, a
Speaker 1: lot of people have known the wire and ravings and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. But there, as I learned, there are
Speaker 1: so many areas, so many um places that you love
Speaker 1: to go during the day, and there's some place you
Speaker 1: don't stop to ball some more during the night. And
Speaker 1: it changes over quickly, I mean it changes quickly, but
Speaker 1: well on that path of how Baltimore changes geographically. But
Speaker 1: you know where exactly in Baltimore, because a lot of
Speaker 1: Baltimore is not known how beautiful, how widespread, how much food,
Speaker 1: how much culture it has there. That is true. And
Speaker 1: I grew up then, as you say, right five minutes
Speaker 1: from where you guys were playing and law Fier Projects,
Speaker 1: which is off a Gate street and it's right two
Speaker 1: minutes from the in the harbor um. Yeah, and right
Speaker 1: around that your great street. So that's where I grew up.
Speaker 1: Of course we now we imploded there are it's pleasant. God.
Speaker 1: Now that's where a lot of kids get opportunity to
Speaker 1: go and play in the rec center where Under Armed
Speaker 1: now has a recreation center that they revitalized there. Um
Speaker 1: so that's that's the rat that I grew up in.
Speaker 1: And when you mentioned the wire, you know that was
Speaker 1: the atmosphere. You know, that's what the atmosphere that we
Speaker 1: grew up in. And um, the guys and you know,
Speaker 1: but for us back then, we had the people more
Speaker 1: or less kind of keeping us away from the things
Speaker 1: that took place in the neighborhood. And but again, you've
Speaker 1: got some great posts of Baltimore that you would love
Speaker 1: to visit. It's a lot of places that you know,
Speaker 1: again you'd be cautious to visit as well. We have
Speaker 1: to take a break and the morning thing, we gotta
Speaker 1: pay some bills. You got checks. I love cut to
Speaker 1: It and I love it even more when you download
Speaker 1: us and subscribe, and you can follow us on social
Speaker 1: media too, Smithie, where where at that's at? Cut to
Speaker 1: It on Instagram? What about twitter? At? Cut to It Facebook?
Speaker 1: Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online?
Speaker 1: And you can follow us it cut to It podcast
Speaker 1: dot com where you can buy merch and you can
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got
Speaker 1: all my answers questions, Um, yeah, I got all my
Speaker 1: questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother cut
Speaker 1: to a podcast dot com. You know, for a very
Speaker 1: long time, Um, you know, I idolized Muggsy bowls. I
Speaker 1: even had when I was in I was ninety six.
Speaker 1: I think one of those years, when I turned sixteen
Speaker 1: years old, I got a Charlotte purple jersey. Our research
Speaker 1: department pulled up that texture too, so I've seen it
Speaker 1: and I and the picture is probably up. And I
Speaker 1: was at six Flags Magic Mountain with some airpennies on phones.
Speaker 1: The phones pitive. I was stunting. I think I have
Speaker 1: I think I have some gene shorts though, so that
Speaker 1: kind of threw it off. So you had that was backwards,
Speaker 1: that was prior to Brace's so t you've had a
Speaker 1: lot of space in them. Um. But man, you know,
Speaker 1: just growing up there and and seeing the impact, um,
Speaker 1: you know that you've had on a lot of people,
Speaker 1: including myself. So for me, it's an honor to have
Speaker 1: you on here is living here in Charlotte. I remember
Speaker 1: playing at the you uhould be called the sisky Y
Speaker 1: m c A. But if times I got the opportunity
Speaker 1: to play uh pick up basketball with us, I was terrible,
Speaker 1: but it didn't matter. I was playing with Muggsy boats um.
Speaker 1: But I never told you, Bro. It was when we
Speaker 1: played a few times at the at the at the
Speaker 1: time it's called Bryce, Now it's called Sisky m M.
Speaker 1: I was at all of playing basket ball and just
Speaker 1: being in the same building with Muggy Bowls definitely chilled
Speaker 1: because you know, I really when I first met Steve,
Speaker 1: you know again, when we was at the wine and
Speaker 1: playing because you know football, he was a panther. He
Speaker 1: was small, but he was so aggressive and I used
Speaker 1: to always and men LJ was to sit around and
Speaker 1: talk about how you know, impactful he was. But when
Speaker 1: we was playing at the why you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: realize how high he can jump. And you don't want
Speaker 1: to remember this, Steve. But when I think when we
Speaker 1: was playing, I don't know if I tried to give
Speaker 1: your alley you. I thought to you, you got up
Speaker 1: so freaking high, but you you missed the dunk. And
Speaker 1: I was like, I cannot freaking believe that. I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to display. I said, man, this boy
Speaker 1: get up so high. Man, it's unfreaking even hot. How
Speaker 1: you just how you just get off and speak so
Speaker 1: lightly I'm always you know, I just ob used to
Speaker 1: tell him about that and when we was up at
Speaker 1: the wide, but now it's the brace. But you know, man,
Speaker 1: I really appreciate that. But you again, you know, you
Speaker 1: know how it is when we're small, when we're growing up,
Speaker 1: when folks are telling you that you can't do something,
Speaker 1: we just want to show them that we're capable of
Speaker 1: doing anything. And basketball for me was that thing. And
Speaker 1: you know, knowing that I wasn't gonna get much taller,
Speaker 1: should I need that, you know, especially you know Multiball,
Speaker 1: that was the place that kind of gave me that
Speaker 1: that grit and that that that that thing that I
Speaker 1: needed to go elsewhere to become who I was. So
Speaker 1: um but you know, the belief and uh and names
Speaker 1: that I was carrying around in my head, you know,
Speaker 1: nothing's gonna stop me. I'm glad you said that because
Speaker 1: my son is over here and they you know, they
Speaker 1: sometimes get on me right about playing sports on yourself.
Speaker 1: So I'm glad Muggsy who's witnessed it, because now when
Speaker 1: I played them, I own danna believe you had them.
Speaker 1: Now they like, right now he isn't even looking at me.
Speaker 1: He busy on his laptop. But how do that feel?
Speaker 1: You almost got an alley from Muggsy Bowls, like you know,
Speaker 1: except part is I don't even remember that part. All
Speaker 1: I remember is I was on the court of Muslim.
Speaker 1: They end up playing and kept going, but I just
Speaker 1: sat and watched and just watched Muggsy play, like because
Speaker 1: I just remember that was a guy that identified with
Speaker 1: Because when you you said something that, let's let's let's
Speaker 1: unpack that is you talk about size. People almost talk
Speaker 1: about our size as if it's a deficiency, deficiency, like
Speaker 1: it's a deformity, like, oh, you're short, so you got
Speaker 1: when you I hear people even now you talk about
Speaker 1: I studied so much ball, always like, oh Steve has
Speaker 1: that chip on show he got the short man and drown.
Speaker 1: Oh it's I mean on forty one, I'm short, But
Speaker 1: me being short has nothing to do with me analyzing
Speaker 1: the guy. If the dude can catch, if you do
Speaker 1: kids throw, what is my lack of how you have
Speaker 1: to do with his inability to do his job? They're like, oh,
Speaker 1: short man syndrome all that what? I have always been short,
Speaker 1: flash and too because you know that you're short, I too,
Speaker 1: am short collecting three Nina. But yeah, that's that's already
Speaker 1: out there. So why do we need to be label
Speaker 1: on the short that you're he has a chip on
Speaker 1: the show that the chip is not has nothing to
Speaker 1: do with my height. Then you has to do with
Speaker 1: the the machine or the instrument that you cannot measure,
Speaker 1: which is a man and woman's heart. And Jeerys have
Speaker 1: to show more effort because the guy who looks the
Speaker 1: part that walks through the door that looks like Tarzan
Speaker 1: but sometimes whereas more makeup than Jane sometimes And and
Speaker 1: it's like, so, you know, growing up in Baltimore, how
Speaker 1: did your I'm using the word deformity in your lack
Speaker 1: of the traditional size of a point guard of one
Speaker 1: or two? How did that impact you internally playing ball?
Speaker 1: And see for with us, you know, and put another
Speaker 1: thing with folks don't realize is the i Q level
Speaker 1: that we under that we had. And that's why we
Speaker 1: can analyze and see things, you know, even before it
Speaker 1: happened and and kind of critique it in a way
Speaker 1: because the fundamental aspects of the game, you never get
Speaker 1: away from it, you know. And then once we understand
Speaker 1: that fundamental aspect of it, the natural ability that we
Speaker 1: was gifted with. It takes over, you know, And I
Speaker 1: understood that as a kid, you know, playing the game
Speaker 1: as a small player, you know, knowing that I wasn't
Speaker 1: gonna get much taller, and knowing that we had tall
Speaker 1: guys that played the game, because back then everybody wanted
Speaker 1: did God's big gods bid goud? And for me, I
Speaker 1: knew the game, but I knew how to impact the
Speaker 1: game from my perspective, and to think about studying the
Speaker 1: game understanding what that position called for. You know, as
Speaker 1: a point guard, your main objective is to get your
Speaker 1: team into his offense or get your team set up,
Speaker 1: and if you can disrupt that guy, that person on
Speaker 1: the offensive defense, then then you've done your job. And
Speaker 1: I understood that on the defensive as back of it,
Speaker 1: and on the office and the point of it. You know,
Speaker 1: learn how to drop or learn how to create space,
Speaker 1: learn how to make guys better, you know, learn how
Speaker 1: to get your shot off of taller players. You know.
Speaker 1: That became an understanding that I know how to do.
Speaker 1: And then just to being able to play against the best,
Speaker 1: that was the understanding I felt like about play against
Speaker 1: the best if I have some sense against the best,
Speaker 1: then I need to be included with the best. And
Speaker 1: taking that mindset every time I took the court allowed
Speaker 1: me to keep climbing up the ladders them, you know,
Speaker 1: playing with some of the best around, especially in my neighborhood.
Speaker 1: And then that's what it was, you know, law yes,
Speaker 1: against Masks and against bent Low. You know, we had
Speaker 1: some talent to players around there, and you know, when
Speaker 1: I got the dumb ball, fortunate enough for us, we
Speaker 1: had guys that just was toun enough to you know,
Speaker 1: to take their lane, to take their game to you know,
Speaker 1: to the highest level, you know, with David Wingate the Lake,
Speaker 1: Reggie and Reggie Lors and uh and Reggie Whams. So
Speaker 1: you know, it just you know, as we know, being small,
Speaker 1: we just understood out. For me, I understood how to
Speaker 1: impact that game and not even why about the height differentials,
Speaker 1: because I knew, if I can impact it at this size,
Speaker 1: just gotta find, you know, coaches that understand the game
Speaker 1: of basketball. And for me, I was around some good
Speaker 1: coaches that understood the game of basketball that allow you know,
Speaker 1: my talent. The showcase. You've mentioned Baltimore so many times,
Speaker 1: it's Baltimore really as bad as it's it portrayed or
Speaker 1: is it just those are just stereotypes from things like
Speaker 1: Steve said the wire or just house portrayed in media. Well,
Speaker 1: I got shot when I was five, you know. So
Speaker 1: I got shot when I was five years old. You know,
Speaker 1: I was got out, you know, snug out the house.
Speaker 1: You know, I wasn't supposed to be out there. A
Speaker 1: little fight took place, and when all things that happened,
Speaker 1: and Old man Chester you know, manning his ship and
Speaker 1: pulled I was a double barrel shotgun. Of course, all
Speaker 1: the kids, you know, we ran and I've been uh
Speaker 1: you know. Of course I was unfortunate. I was one
Speaker 1: of one of the true kids that got hit with
Speaker 1: all the buckshots. The bullet missed me, but all the
Speaker 1: pellets that went in my arms in my leg and
Speaker 1: next thing I knew, I woke up in the hospital.
Speaker 1: You know. But that's just the way it was. You know,
Speaker 1: we had that type of atmosphere outside of your neighborhood.
Speaker 1: You know, a lot of drugs in festive you know, uh,
Speaker 1: fights or things that just you know, one you know
Speaker 1: that just happened out to outside of you. But again,
Speaker 1: that was that was the that was the way of
Speaker 1: growing up. But you know, we felt like you know,
Speaker 1: Baltimore again, they said that a village takes to raise
Speaker 1: the kid. We had some older adults in there that
Speaker 1: really looked out for us that you know, also kept
Speaker 1: in the in the right path. I want to I
Speaker 1: don't know if I should crack a joke, but I
Speaker 1: was thinking the same thing. I wouldn't go And they fighting. Also,
Speaker 1: you ain't you wasn't really average five year old inside, No, no,
Speaker 1: I wasn't. But the thing about it that, you know,
Speaker 1: that was the advantage I was. Yeah, and I wasn't
Speaker 1: a typical you know, you grew up a little older
Speaker 1: ashod but you still you still that's true, you know,
Speaker 1: And it's just being outside. You know. My dad, my
Speaker 1: dad was you know, of course you know he was serious.
Speaker 1: Of course my mom and all that was too. But Pops,
Speaker 1: you know, he had that street life, you know, so
Speaker 1: you know when his son gets shot, you know, that
Speaker 1: was that was a different mental, different mentality he had
Speaker 1: that where he wanted to go, you know, take care
Speaker 1: of matters in his own hands. But you know, lucky
Speaker 1: that we was able to they was able to keep
Speaker 1: him from doing it, you know, but he woind up
Speaker 1: going to jail. Anyway, when I was twelve, How many
Speaker 1: siblings did you have and what was growing up with them?
Speaker 1: I have four siblings, had two older brothers and my
Speaker 1: sister you know who passed away in tw That was
Speaker 1: my girl Charad, you know she actually she was pretty
Speaker 1: well known in Baltimore too. She ran all the youth
Speaker 1: basketball programs as well as the football programs back then
Speaker 1: and uh in the city of Baltimore. Um. And then
Speaker 1: I had my older brother Chucky, who's uh he was
Speaker 1: down here with me and Charlotte. Then I got another
Speaker 1: brother who uh Anthony. His name was Stoe. We call
Speaker 1: him up in Baltimore. So I had it was a
Speaker 1: toiler for But your sister was your sister was huge
Speaker 1: in Baltimore. Yeah, she was what she was well known
Speaker 1: and well respected um in Baltimore. You know. It's it's
Speaker 1: interesting as we were doing as as the research, my
Speaker 1: research departners give me a lot of information. That was
Speaker 1: one of the cool things that I love doing about
Speaker 1: this podcast is I tried to wait to look at
Speaker 1: some of the research because even oh, you know, knowing
Speaker 1: guys are you know, watching them or playing against them.
Speaker 1: There's so many intimate moments that I don't know. And
Speaker 1: I remember when I was first in Baltimore, Um, when
Speaker 1: your sister had passed, was I believe like the first
Speaker 1: year and the year and a half that I was
Speaker 1: in Baltimore and I was coming back and I was
Speaker 1: one of Freddie Gray. Stuff was going on, and so
Speaker 1: you were going up there for your sister passing, but
Speaker 1: then also everything going on, and I was going up
Speaker 1: there to go back and forth for work. And it's
Speaker 1: pretty interesting to just to see how many guys are
Speaker 1: from Baltimore that you don't even realize, right, Muggsy Bowls
Speaker 1: Carmelo and I want to hear a guy that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: like a guy that is from Baltimore. Just recite, just
Speaker 1: go off all these names of players. And I'm not
Speaker 1: talking about players have even people that we don't know
Speaker 1: yet all the well known, but I'm just talking about
Speaker 1: players that the icon from the icons that are from Baltimore,
Speaker 1: like guys that didn't even actually get to that point
Speaker 1: but was so talented. And it started off with guys
Speaker 1: by the name of Skipping Honey did Wise, you know
Speaker 1: skip Wise who was one of the first that made it.
Speaker 1: You know, he played with go to State Wars and
Speaker 1: then you know went on with the bottle ball clause
Speaker 1: before the Pholder and Skips set has set a tone.
Speaker 1: You know, we had guys like l Gibson, Dick Richardson, uh,
Speaker 1: and then you know Ernie Graham. I know, you go
Speaker 1: from the Kevin Grahams and um all the way down
Speaker 1: to the Dwayne Woods, the Kachher which we call them,
Speaker 1: co Kevin Bush, Steve Wallace. We then had Hot Doug.
Speaker 1: I mean, you had so many players, and then from
Speaker 1: the older Devil, the older generation. Then you bring it
Speaker 1: down from from myself and the Reggie Wallams, the David
Speaker 1: Wayne Gate, the late Reggie Lords. We had guys and
Speaker 1: then the same Pisell and Camelo Anthony, the Rudy Gave
Speaker 1: and you got. U mean, it's so many more that
Speaker 1: I'm just leaving out because the Mecca Basketball was so
Speaker 1: huge down in the city. Then we had little guys
Speaker 1: that was coming up and we've had called the crime stopped,
Speaker 1: the Lord killed car who weren't able to uh, you know,
Speaker 1: fulfill his dream all the way. But you know and
Speaker 1: Josh Shelby, those players like that, um My Lord Nestrey
Speaker 1: was one of nariol bows that we call them naughty.
Speaker 1: We had so many times of players in the city
Speaker 1: of Baltimore, man that's still representing the city and well
Speaker 1: and then you know in the Moore uh the Montgomery area,
Speaker 1: you know with k D and it was guy you
Speaker 1: know so PJ County. So it goes around that earlier man. Um.
Speaker 1: But had so many legends that played the game. And
Speaker 1: you know, you can't be missed by saying, you know,
Speaker 1: but we're mentioning Coach way you know, Coach way Head
Speaker 1: a lot of those guys that came through his organization,
Speaker 1: his program, and he mentored those people. I'm meant to
Speaker 1: those kids who said that as father figures, we did
Speaker 1: a lot of good to the area. Um. So we
Speaker 1: had guys that really you know played Keith Lord u uh,
Speaker 1: I forgot a little Michael Lord, had Michael Brown. H
Speaker 1: then of course to the young kid that played with
Speaker 1: the Schicrugo keep Booth who hadn't made it, Um, I
Speaker 1: go ahead and give him a little shine, you know
Speaker 1: some stuff. But that uh, we just had a lot
Speaker 1: of players that came through that early and you know,
Speaker 1: got pop telling in Mark Wilson, Darrel Awards, Marty Johnson,
Speaker 1: Terry mo Terry Holsley, Keith Harmon, Eddie, Oliver, Mark Mathis,
Speaker 1: I mean, Maven Mathis. I mean, I could keep going
Speaker 1: on Tellers. I mean, that's the That's how I was
Speaker 1: back in that all right. And in Baltimore you've mentioned
Speaker 1: the dumb Bar High School. Four out of five years
Speaker 1: in the starting line up, David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Reggi Lewis,
Speaker 1: and yourself all went to the NBA undefeated. You guys
Speaker 1: go undefeated junior and senior years. And yeah, there's even
Speaker 1: a thirty for thirty documentary Baltimore Boys on you guys.
Speaker 1: It almost sounds like you guys were on the front
Speaker 1: end of all the a stuff you talk about now,
Speaker 1: like Chris Paul's team and how they went undefeated and
Speaker 1: and all that stuff. But really, how how did that
Speaker 1: experience shape you and start that trajectory of you going
Speaker 1: to play college basketball and eventually to the NBA. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we was, you know, we was fortunate up to be
Speaker 1: what fifty nine and no my two years that Dunbar um.
Speaker 1: We had some talented players. I mean Reggie Laws, you know,
Speaker 1: he was our sixth man. Believe it or not, we
Speaker 1: had a gentleman by the name but Tim Dawson and
Speaker 1: Mike Brown who kind of started. But Red Red could
Speaker 1: have easily started, but that would just coach way of
Speaker 1: having another explosive player coming off the bench and where
Speaker 1: will be no letdown. Um. But that you know, playing
Speaker 1: with that type of team really propelled you for college. Um.
Speaker 1: For me, you know, always made it a point that
Speaker 1: when the scouts came in to look at other coaches,
Speaker 1: I mean other players and practice, because mainly a lot
Speaker 1: of our scouts when they was recruiting us, they came
Speaker 1: to our practice. You know, they weren't like going to
Speaker 1: a game. They came down practice to pretty much you know,
Speaker 1: recruit us because our second team was just as good
Speaker 1: as anybody else's team out there, you know, their first team.
Speaker 1: So but I made a point where, like all the
Speaker 1: coaches came into me and to look at the other players,
Speaker 1: that I made sure that they had they been talking
Speaker 1: about me on the way out, you know, So whatever
Speaker 1: that happened in practice, I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: I stood out and let them know that, hey, you
Speaker 1: may become to look at him, but I'm gonna be
Speaker 1: on your art as well. So you know that was
Speaker 1: part of my way of letting, you know, get myself
Speaker 1: being recruited and put myself in that way because we
Speaker 1: had a lot of a lot of scouts you know,
Speaker 1: coming know now coming to our practice to watch them.
Speaker 1: But guys, you know, to participate my senior year, that's
Speaker 1: when it really you know, start the heat up a
Speaker 1: little more. Um. You know, I had an invitation, had
Speaker 1: scouts from UH Seaton Hall was recruiting me, had Virginie
Speaker 1: was recruiting me. I had seen how some so I
Speaker 1: had some Boston University was recruiting me. And when wake
Speaker 1: Fast came in, you know, I took my visit and
Speaker 1: then ship that. Once I took the visit and they
Speaker 1: offered the scholarship, and once I saw my mom, you know,
Speaker 1: you know we could watch TV. They can watch the
Speaker 1: games every Saturday and they ain't got to worry about
Speaker 1: you know, getting in and go watch that baby play.
Speaker 1: And then a sec for me, it was it was
Speaker 1: the toughest conference. And I feel like if I, if
Speaker 1: I go ahead and do this, you know, this thing
Speaker 1: could put me in a good situation, you know, one
Speaker 1: way or another. If it worked out on the court
Speaker 1: or not. I think it's about that time, just so
Speaker 1: I'll take a little breather. Good, let's get down to
Speaker 1: do it. Hey, Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? Oh? Yes,
Speaker 1: I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys
Speaker 1: at seven or fourth shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. It's crazy you get the twelve overall
Speaker 1: pick eight to seven drafted to the Washington Bullets. That's
Speaker 1: a forty five minute drive, no traffic. Well you go
Speaker 1: Baltimore about leave Baltimore about after nine fifteen and forty
Speaker 1: five minutes back. Was it a gift for the curse
Speaker 1: being drafted by the Bullets? But I always said always
Speaker 1: gonna be a gift for me because that's you know,
Speaker 1: I wanted to do it, just like everybody else you
Speaker 1: know did it. You know, all the big guys. Everybody
Speaker 1: goes into it. You know. Unfortunate, you know, Spud one
Speaker 1: able to walk across. You know, as small guys, we
Speaker 1: weren't able to represent the draft the way that we know.
Speaker 1: We feel like we need to be part of it
Speaker 1: as well. And having that opportunity, you know, being selected
Speaker 1: twelve overall and then going to play right in your backyard,
Speaker 1: which is uh D c Up Street from Baltimore, I mean,
Speaker 1: that was another ultimate. It felt like the way that
Speaker 1: the world was lifted off my shoulders that night. But
Speaker 1: you know, playing in your hometown can be occurs you know,
Speaker 1: of course you got to have I had had about
Speaker 1: a hunted tickets every game, and at the time, I
Speaker 1: think the situation of the organization was kind of going
Speaker 1: in different directions. At one point, I felt like, you know,
Speaker 1: West Unslandon was really committed to changeing because we had
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that was on the tell end
Speaker 1: of their career. You know, the late Mos of Malone
Speaker 1: made rest in peace, my guy Bernard Keen, had Darrel
Speaker 1: walk or Jeff my Own. You know, guys was pretty
Speaker 1: much you know, double digits in their career, was pretty
Speaker 1: much on their way out. And we had a couple
Speaker 1: of young players, John Williams particular, who had two years
Speaker 1: in the league, and they felt like, okay, bringing me
Speaker 1: and they was gonna now kind of sent around the
Speaker 1: younger guys. But after the playoff and after my exit meeting,
Speaker 1: and Smithy you might know about exit meetings, of course
Speaker 1: you do. Um having a conversation with the coach of
Speaker 1: the Gymlaze, they said, well, mugs, you know we were
Speaker 1: gonna we're gonna get rid of some of these guys
Speaker 1: because you know, we want to go into different directionion
Speaker 1: want to get more up tempo game and so forth.
Speaker 1: So by the time I got back to my my condo,
Speaker 1: I get a phone call from my agent, Sam muggs,
Speaker 1: how you doing. You're sitting down. I said, yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: sitting down. He said, well, I just got off the
Speaker 1: phone with the bullets. I said, well, what do you mean,
Speaker 1: you just got a phone But yeah, I just left
Speaker 1: them because I have my exit meeting. I was just there,
Speaker 1: just just talked to him, and they said that you know,
Speaker 1: we're about to go a deef the direction and and
Speaker 1: we're going to kind of you know, bringing some younger players.
Speaker 1: He said, it's I said, uh, that's what I told me.
Speaker 1: And he said, okay, well I just at home. He said, well,
Speaker 1: I could have got out the phone with him too,
Speaker 1: and uh, and I honest, And they just made a
Speaker 1: decision that they were gonna let you go to Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Charlotte Hornets. They called and they expressed interest in you,
Speaker 1: and they decided to go ahead and let you, you know,
Speaker 1: go through to be part of the expansion draft. And
Speaker 1: I said, hi, I said, what should talking about? I said,
Speaker 1: I just left West and I said, well, he said,
Speaker 1: we'll welcome to the NBA. You know, this is the
Speaker 1: way business is conducted. And they decided to not protect
Speaker 1: you and they're gonna let you go to Charlotte. So
Speaker 1: I like, man, I was so pissed at the time,
Speaker 1: and not know what direction. I'm like, what I mean here,
Speaker 1: y'all just draft me twelve and we and y'all you
Speaker 1: just had a meeting and you said you're going to
Speaker 1: direction and then know what I'm saying, you send me away.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, what the Oh, well, welcome to the NBA.
Speaker 1: What was that process? Like? What was that process like too?
Speaker 1: Because Charlotte as an expansion team, so it's a it's
Speaker 1: a brand new team in the NBA, Cordans, and you're
Speaker 1: in the expansion draft. Yeah, as you, I mean, you
Speaker 1: were trying to work through the process, but how does
Speaker 1: that even work? Talked over? Right? He just got drafted.
Speaker 1: It's still clear. Is this real? It's still clear? It
Speaker 1: ain't process. Yeah, it's still ain't clear. But yeah, they
Speaker 1: got it. But you know it was tough, man. You
Speaker 1: know when you when you drafted that high and you
Speaker 1: felt like, you know, you you had an organization that
Speaker 1: wants and then what I'm said, they said that they don't,
Speaker 1: and I start feeling some stuff doing the season, you know,
Speaker 1: because they had me and manut you know, they had
Speaker 1: to till and the short of it. So you know,
Speaker 1: there was kind of you know DC, you know how
Speaker 1: DC could be in the media when things ain't going.
Speaker 1: So they was trying to make a well they're just
Speaker 1: trying to sell tickets. It's a novelty act. Um. UH
Speaker 1: fans didn't want to show up. We still have a
Speaker 1: line about ten thousands twelve thousands at the at the
Speaker 1: games because we was at the uh and one, the
Speaker 1: m C I Center, the Capital Center them, um so
Speaker 1: you know back then, so they decided, h d C.
Speaker 1: They was getting a lot of pressure organization. They decided
Speaker 1: to let me go, which I'm happy they did. I'm
Speaker 1: grateful that they did that because you know, coming down here,
Speaker 1: I had to regroup my mindset and get a different
Speaker 1: frame of mind. And and the good thing that we
Speaker 1: had I had del here because you know, Dell was
Speaker 1: young and j and Rex was young in terms of
Speaker 1: the team the players that we had, even though we
Speaker 1: had some older guys and Kelly Trapuka and Rex, I mean,
Speaker 1: and then Kirk Rambis and Earl Kurtin and those guys. Um.
Speaker 1: But the funny thing about is that our coach dig Harder,
Speaker 1: Dick was one of the funniest guys that you can
Speaker 1: ever have as a coach. I'm gonna give you example.
Speaker 1: At one of the games we're playing the Lakers, and
Speaker 1: the Lakers you know, magic and um they pretty much
Speaker 1: having that having doing having that way with us. Showtime.
Speaker 1: It was up by like about twenty at halftime. So
Speaker 1: Dick Harder comes in the halftime. He just comes in
Speaker 1: and start going off. He just started start off with
Speaker 1: with a couple of guys like Kelley Chropruker, kellet Dropruker.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you, son, we brought you here for
Speaker 1: a reason. One reason. Over put some boats from points
Speaker 1: on the board, son, and that what you're doing, He's saying,
Speaker 1: fucking Dell Curry ship in order your man to help us.
Speaker 1: You gotta give us thirty because your man is going
Speaker 1: to get thirty. He said, let me tell you, son,
Speaker 1: assist on me. Shipn't his leave, son, and don't mean nothing,
Speaker 1: he said. He went always down the crowd, he said,
Speaker 1: Dave Hopkins, he looked at him and just said, after you, man,
Speaker 1: He said, guys, do you realize you're a bunch of
Speaker 1: guys Nobody wanted y'all bunch Nobody wanted. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: dealing with right now. A bunch of guys. Nobody wanted.
Speaker 1: How the hell are we gonna go out there and
Speaker 1: the Lakers. We haven't dealing with a bunch of guys
Speaker 1: that teams didn't want it. Want you guys and go
Speaker 1: out there and run through the freak wall. And we
Speaker 1: had a guy by the name of Stewart Gray, a
Speaker 1: teammate he got. He was really pumped after the speech
Speaker 1: and we went out and third quarter he decided he
Speaker 1: wanted to pick a fight with James Worthy, and lord
Speaker 1: knows he was in the fight, all boy stuffing. Don't
Speaker 1: we left? It was crazy to where it happened, because
Speaker 1: it was that's Muzzy got into. We got shot, but
Speaker 1: it was a different time, different teammates. We proaly came
Speaker 1: in helping, but it was still great and he still great.
Speaker 1: Was trying to make a point for Dick Harder at time,
Speaker 1: so we're like, ain't a black going out? Brown used
Speaker 1: the brown nose out the group? Yeah, yeah, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was trying to get some brownie point after the season
Speaker 1: two didn't. Yeah, but that was tough time. Man, when
Speaker 1: you get traded, I mean, when you know happened that,
Speaker 1: when you get traded like that. But again, like I said,
Speaker 1: it was a match man to heaven for me because
Speaker 1: come down to Charlotte really allowed me to you know,
Speaker 1: to elevate my career and take it to that next level.
Speaker 1: So you're in one of the most iconic sports movie,
Speaker 1: Space Jam. It's being released. There's a sequel coming out
Speaker 1: being uh Spirit headed by Lebron James. What was it
Speaker 1: like filming that movie? Lebron James? What was it? What
Speaker 1: was it like filming that movie? And then what's your
Speaker 1: thoughts on a sequel? Oh? Boy, we had a blast
Speaker 1: fhem of Space Jam. I tell you, man, we was
Speaker 1: up there for two weeks and believe it or not,
Speaker 1: I had surgery a couple of weeks afterwards, and I
Speaker 1: didn't think I was gonna be able to, uh to
Speaker 1: do my scene, but they was created enough that they
Speaker 1: had a dollar when I was reading my lines and
Speaker 1: they pulled me on my dollar, so I was like
Speaker 1: I was moving my shoulders like I was walking. So
Speaker 1: we was able to do that. But it was a blast, man,
Speaker 1: And you know, just working with the people who on
Speaker 1: the set um not knowing that it was gonna turn
Speaker 1: out be such an iconic classic movie that it wound
Speaker 1: up band you know, MJ didn't an amazing John, working
Speaker 1: with the Looney Champs and with the computers and the
Speaker 1: improps and all that stuff. Uh, and knowing that you're
Speaker 1: about to have a space jam two. I want to
Speaker 1: know what they're gonna save. You know, we saved the planet,
Speaker 1: so you know, I'm extry to see what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1: You know, it's our time, man. We we played the university, everybody, Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you got one more. Y'all save the world. So
Speaker 1: now it's got to be something about the university. M M, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what it's gonna be. I'm christ something. Probably they
Speaker 1: got that about knowing Lebron and balls probably is about
Speaker 1: the university. All right, Well, we're getting ready to close
Speaker 1: you out. But one last segment that we have is
Speaker 1: called the Deep three. And and really what we try
Speaker 1: to do in this segment is ask you questions that
Speaker 1: go beyond you being a basketball player, beyond your jersey.
Speaker 1: So Smitty give him the first question of the Deep three.
Speaker 1: What is the biggest lesson? Your brother? Chucky taught you
Speaker 1: that I don't drink. That's the biggest lesson I can
Speaker 1: learn from him. Don't drink. He is one of the
Speaker 1: luscious drinkers. Eye's ever. That's the whole screw right there,
Speaker 1: lush from six from from six from six in the
Speaker 1: morning to don down't even done for sixty seven years?
Speaker 1: What What do people not know about mugsy boats? What
Speaker 1: do they not know? People don't well that I've I
Speaker 1: have caught, I have I have went deep seat fishing
Speaker 1: one time and I called them all. He didn't call
Speaker 1: an animal bigger than holding about? Hey, all right, So
Speaker 1: I mean, last one, what has the basketball court allowed
Speaker 1: you two unplugged from that's really made you either very
Speaker 1: sad or feel lonely. That a lot of fans don't
Speaker 1: realize that had what's going on in your life outside
Speaker 1: of the basketball court as a human being worship. That
Speaker 1: was my safe haven. Now once I got on the court,
Speaker 1: I was able to escape. No, I mean the world
Speaker 1: was gone and that was became That was one of
Speaker 1: the where I was able to escape, you know, and
Speaker 1: it was you You're very priceless. You know, you can't
Speaker 1: put the value on that. You know, once you get
Speaker 1: out there in that zone and you're thinking nothing about
Speaker 1: the sport and the joy of the sport and the
Speaker 1: passion of the sport within itself, and the rest of
Speaker 1: the world doesn't even exist. I mean where we came from.
Speaker 1: I mean we wanted, you know, exclude as much as
Speaker 1: we possibly can, you know, and I had to focus
Speaker 1: on the thing that was, you know, was surrounding us.
Speaker 1: So that's became now safe haven, and it became and
Speaker 1: allowed me to become who I am because without that,
Speaker 1: without being able to have that place to escape, no
Speaker 1: telling where Monkey would have been or where Tyrone Curtis
Speaker 1: Bogs would have been, you know, no telling um that
Speaker 1: And like I said, you can't put a price tag
Speaker 1: on that because it allowed me to get away for
Speaker 1: so many things. That was happening in my life. Uh,
Speaker 1: take away so many negative thoughts just a half So
Speaker 1: I thought that was I didn't supposed to be there.
Speaker 1: It just it just did all of that, and it
Speaker 1: allowed me to forget about negativity or even though if
Speaker 1: people even talking about how short you are, you know,
Speaker 1: I'll still you out there competing. And then when you're
Speaker 1: competing in those lines, you know, you ain't thinking about
Speaker 1: that type of all right drama that's going on in life.
Speaker 1: You know, you just out there thinking about passed that hand.
Speaker 1: So that's an excellent question that you know that pretty much. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, you can't put a price
Speaker 1: tag on what that became to me. You know, like
Speaker 1: I said, it was my safe haven. Thank you for
Speaker 1: the opportunity to talk to my childhood heroe, a guy
Speaker 1: that um I looked up to, um my guy that
Speaker 1: UM I remember my mom and dad. You know, they
Speaker 1: worked a lot of a lot of hours to be
Speaker 1: able to give me that jersey. And it was really
Speaker 1: cool to be able to talk to a guy that
Speaker 1: I remember. Was it now twenty some years ago to
Speaker 1: that opportunity to shoot hoops with and sitting there marvel
Speaker 1: So it's pretty cool. I got to talk to Muggsy
Speaker 1: Bowls on my podcast, but really I'm talking to my
Speaker 1: hero man. So thank you for forgiving me that time.
Speaker 1: And man, it touch me, big fellow, Thank you man.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you guys have me and Steve you you
Speaker 1: know what you mean to me, Big Feller. You mean
Speaker 1: you mean that you've done for the Center, for this
Speaker 1: city and all you've done for me and my family.
Speaker 1: And any time I you know, actually you know, to
Speaker 1: call on you, to ask you to, you know, take
Speaker 1: part of anything. Man, you don't hesitate, you come on,
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate that. My brother, Man, thanks for
Speaker 1: having me on your show. Man, it's it really humbles me,
Speaker 1: you know you guys and it's like, and you know,
Speaker 1: allow me to come on and take part of you guys.
Speaker 1: Shall I appreciate that The theme of escape came up
Speaker 1: a couple of times. What are the top three things
Speaker 1: you were escaping from on the field? Our producer Meredith
Speaker 1: makes you think, you know, it's it's funny, it's the question.
Speaker 1: Is the question. The answer you're gonna get is probably
Speaker 1: not the answer that she thought. I love the chaos
Speaker 1: of football. I've heard you said that before. I did
Speaker 1: not want to escape anything. I thrive. I thrived in
Speaker 1: the chaos two minutes was the best disfunctional operation that
Speaker 1: is known as mankind of football. And I loved it.
Speaker 1: So I wasn't trying to escape anything. It was exactly
Speaker 1: what I needed. I've heard from you saying that. Another
Speaker 1: guy I've been around, Stephen Jackson, he had a quote
Speaker 1: one time that was very along those same lines when
Speaker 1: talking about pressure. He said, I make love to pressure.
Speaker 1: And I know that that's a kind of a weird quote,
Speaker 1: but in the same sense, like most people would shy
Speaker 1: away from, Oh, I have to take this shot after this,
Speaker 1: But you're saying I'm running towards it. I want the chaos.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm running right towards that. That's what I walked
Speaker 1: because it was how I grew up. So for me,
Speaker 1: how I grew up, it was exactly what I needed.
Speaker 1: It was a place of familiarity. It was comfortable. I
Speaker 1: just thrived in. And when I say I thrived in
Speaker 1: the meaning I knew how to manipulate the defense. I
Speaker 1: would jog off to be able to make the corner,
Speaker 1: drop off onto the corners and catch the hitch or
Speaker 1: I would go really fast to make the corner commit
Speaker 1: to me or commit to the other guys. So two
Speaker 1: minute for me was a place of comfort. It was
Speaker 1: a place where all the chaos was going on, everybody
Speaker 1: was ripping and around and get the ball to the
Speaker 1: rapt I was just in my little crazy cocoon right
Speaker 1: off to the side of the other field, and the
Speaker 1: only thing I needed. Just give me the number, bro,
Speaker 1: I don't care what all bullshit y'all got going on.
Speaker 1: Just give me my order and let me give you
Speaker 1: your meal exactly right. And if you ain't hungry, too bad,
Speaker 1: because you don't. And I just I loved it. Now
Speaker 1: as I got older, I didn't like too manute because
Speaker 1: it was a place where like, I can't keep I
Speaker 1: can't keep running with my head cut off all the time.
Speaker 1: But more strategic, yeah, more strategic, but I still thrived
Speaker 1: in it. But it was just a less It was
Speaker 1: less of a I needed it and I and I
Speaker 1: and I was comfortable in it until I started to
Speaker 1: realize that always having chaos was not comfortable. That is
Speaker 1: not normal for people. That is not a place where
Speaker 1: you could thrive and be healthy. So for me, as
Speaker 1: for a long time, I thrived in it. And then
Speaker 1: as I got older and I got and I feel
Speaker 1: like I got healthier, and I realized that I don't
Speaker 1: always need chaos in my life as a form of
Speaker 1: a measuring stick of where I am right. So that's why, Um,
Speaker 1: I never needed a place they escaped the place that
Speaker 1: people thought they escaped for football. For me, that was
Speaker 1: that was that was life. Wow. So that is how
Speaker 1: you butting up podcast? We should do this for a living, hey,
Speaker 1: I think so let's keep it going. You are a
Speaker 1: unique person, you are well worth it, you are competent,
Speaker 1: and most of all, your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Senior,
Speaker 1: I'm Gerald Little John and this is cut to It.
Speaker 1: Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me
Speaker 1: is a production of Cut to It, LLC ball Told
Speaker 1: Creative Media, The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcast from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart
Speaker 1: Radio app, app podcast, or wherever you listen to your
Speaker 1: favorite shows. From Cut to It executive producer Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: singer co host Gerard Little John, talent in booking manager
Speaker 1: Joe Fusci, social media manager Payton Smith from Balto Creative Media.
Speaker 1: Cut to It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter,
Speaker 1: with production assistance by Alex Lebrec, Production manager Sarah Pollock.
Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: You ain't heard about it, then, we're about to let
Speaker 1: you know. It's all