Speaker 1: That crabs in a barrel mentality, blah blah blah. Nah man,
Speaker 1: we showing something different, you know. First take, I've been
Speaker 1: blessed and fortunate enough throwing shade on nobody. We've been
Speaker 1: number one for twelve years. Were gonna be number one
Speaker 1: for thirteen. It's just that simple in fourteen, and damn it,
Speaker 1: if I do it for fifteen, gonna be fifteen. That's
Speaker 1: the way it's gonna be. That's how my mentality is.
Speaker 1: And I don't root for anybody to fail. I just
Speaker 1: root to be the best, right And there's a difference.
Speaker 1: And as far as I'm concerned, anybody that's with me,
Speaker 1: we the best.
Speaker 2: All my life, grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle bag
Speaker 2: the price, one slice, got the brother of Geist swap
Speaker 2: all my life. I've been grinding all my life all
Speaker 2: my life, been grinding all my life, and sacrifice hustle
Speaker 2: bag to price is one slight, not the brother dieyst.
Speaker 1: The swap all my life.
Speaker 2: I've been grinding all my life.
Speaker 3: Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Shane Shae. I
Speaker 3: am your hole Shannon Sharp, but also the pro private
Speaker 3: club Shap Shape And for my first partmership with the volume.
Speaker 3: I knew I had to land someone big. He's not big,
Speaker 3: he's huge. He's genormous. He's a legendary sports journalist, a
Speaker 3: feature commentator, premier analyst, famed host, veterman, reporter, podcast actor, writer,
Speaker 3: executive producer, businessman, New York Times best selling author, one
Speaker 3: of the most recognizable on their personalities not just sports
Speaker 3: personality personalities on television, a cultural icon, and he's also
Speaker 3: HBC you a lum Steven a smill.
Speaker 4: Bro, we're here, we're here, but you.
Speaker 5: Keep not bracelet. I would get over the time.
Speaker 1: Ain't know I could break anything on you.
Speaker 5: Right there?
Speaker 3: Yeah, Bro, I mean I don't if I'm gonna be
Speaker 3: able to keep this one, because every time I hug
Speaker 3: somebody comes up.
Speaker 5: Bro, how you doing?
Speaker 1: It's good to see bro, How you doing? Be here?
Speaker 5: I'm here.
Speaker 3: I need you to tell the people what you went
Speaker 3: through because you promised me this, because we've been trying
Speaker 3: to get this thing together for a little six week
Speaker 3: night and I said, Stephen, and can you do Tuesday
Speaker 3: at noon?
Speaker 5: And you said, I do it.
Speaker 3: But I want you to tell the people the lengths
Speaker 3: in what you went through to get here.
Speaker 5: At Nowton.
Speaker 1: Well, what happened is is that my pastor for the
Speaker 1: Christian Cultural Center in New York City, past the air Arbernard,
Speaker 1: had a fundraising event at a golf tournament in Long Island, right,
Speaker 1: and so they were honoring me the night before I
Speaker 1: came here and I had to play some golf, which
Speaker 1: I don't play, so obviously I have to embarrass myself
Speaker 1: for a few hours. For every one s nothing I know,
Speaker 1: nothing I know, but for every one good shot I hit,
Speaker 1: I hit about about five to ten bad shots or whatever.
Speaker 1: But then after I did that, I promised you I
Speaker 1: was gonna get here in time. So I had to
Speaker 1: take the private jet get up here in time, and
Speaker 1: I flew here last night, got here about two in
Speaker 1: the morning, woke up at four point thirty the prep
Speaker 1: for first take, and then did first take, and here
Speaker 1: I am bro that's love. I really appreciate that.
Speaker 3: I know you talk about your pastor, but everybody that
Speaker 3: comes on you don't have my own line of cognact.
Speaker 3: That's right, And I need to get you a bottle
Speaker 3: and you will leave here with a bottle.
Speaker 1: Around with that, I mean, he know, I could get
Speaker 1: out of you you're just giving nothing in excess, nothing else.
Speaker 3: What I want to told you, Bro, because you paid
Speaker 3: the way for a lot of guys. You made it
Speaker 3: not just athlete, and I want to give you your flowers.
Speaker 1: Bro. Appreciate appreciate you man, Thank you so much. Man.
Speaker 1: Coming from an HBCU obviously is a very very big deal.
Speaker 1: That's something that's near and dear to my heart. I've
Speaker 1: been an ambassador for HBCU week since around two thy
Speaker 1: and nineteen or so, and in that span we've generated
Speaker 1: over what was about sixty five million in scholarships for
Speaker 1: over you know, three thousand students, and so I'm really
Speaker 1: really proud of that. And HBCU is always near and
Speaker 1: dear to my heart. And the basketball coach Clarence big
Speaker 1: House Games, who helped the late great John McClinton and
Speaker 1: integrating the sport of basketball. They were both HBCU icons,
Speaker 1: and both of them were big time mentors of mind
Speaker 1: and they knew I didn't have the game that was
Speaker 1: would take me to the next level, but they knew
Speaker 1: I had the mindset of the tenacity to do what
Speaker 1: I could to help HBCUs. And all he ever said
Speaker 1: to me was when I said, what can I do
Speaker 1: for all that you've done for me? He said, don't
Speaker 1: forget HBCUs. You make sure that you help any chance
Speaker 1: you get. And that's what I've been doing.
Speaker 3: What I tell people Stephne is that when I went
Speaker 3: to an HBO, when I went to Savannah State, I
Speaker 3: had no idea of the importance or the magnitude of
Speaker 3: what was going on at the time. It wasn't until
Speaker 3: much much later that I realized that I had done
Speaker 3: something special. So when you're going when you're matriculating at
Speaker 3: Winston Saber, did you understand what was going on at
Speaker 3: the time and how big of a deal it was
Speaker 3: going to be later?
Speaker 6: No, I did it.
Speaker 1: Man. All I was trying to do is get my
Speaker 1: degree and to make sure that I positioned myself to
Speaker 1: have a career instead of a job. When I'm giving speeches,
Speaker 1: I constantly say to kids, there's a difference between a
Speaker 1: job and a career. A job is doing what you
Speaker 1: have to do to maintain or elevate your quality life.
Speaker 1: A career is doing what you want to do. It
Speaker 1: just so happens to do those things. Yes, and so
Speaker 1: for me, if you don't have an education, the chances
Speaker 1: of you being able to pull that off, even with
Speaker 1: the advent of social media and the opportunities that present themselves.
Speaker 1: I think it's a misnomer to think that you don't
Speaker 1: have to have any kind of education whatsoever and you're
Speaker 1: going to succeed from a normal perspective. There are abnormal examples,
Speaker 1: of course, there's always somebody that breaks the code, but
Speaker 1: for the most part, you got to go through that terrain,
Speaker 1: you gotta go through that grind, and for me, it
Speaker 1: was always understanding that. So when I was at Winster Salem,
Speaker 1: it was really about getting that degree and getting practical experiences.
Speaker 1: I did an internship at the Winster Salem Journal, I
Speaker 1: did an internship at the Atlanta Journal Constitutions, then I
Speaker 1: came back into another internship at the Greensborough News Record,
Speaker 1: then back to the Winston Salem Journal before I even graduated.
Speaker 1: And so for me that was incredibly important establishing that
Speaker 1: resume and really really showing that I was a worthy individual,
Speaker 1: because if I didn't have those internships something to prove
Speaker 1: that I was really really committed by acquiring that level
Speaker 1: of practical experience, then it was going to be my
Speaker 1: resume against somebody from a p w I and if
Speaker 1: you're somebody from a predominantly white institution, chances are you're
Speaker 1: gonna get the nod over somebody in an HBCU.
Speaker 6: So I understood the climb.
Speaker 1: I understood the obstacles that I had to that I
Speaker 1: had to fight off. And that's what I went about
Speaker 1: the business to do.
Speaker 3: Did you always want to go to an HBCU or
Speaker 3: it just it just happened.
Speaker 6: Bro it just happened.
Speaker 1: I didn't even know what an HBCU was until they
Speaker 1: came to offer me a scholarship. I had no clue.
Speaker 3: I heard about the United Negro College Funds, That's what
Speaker 3: they ain't never mentioned Savannah State.
Speaker 5: That's what I'm like. All I knew it was the
Speaker 5: big with the grander than the Southern.
Speaker 1: Universe, Robinson, but that was about it. Because the fact
Speaker 1: is that when you took at HBCUs, I mean, there's
Speaker 1: some up north, like Bowie Stage in the Maryland area,
Speaker 1: what have you. But for the most but for the
Speaker 1: most part, they down south, south, correct the West. They
Speaker 1: ain't in the Midwest. They damn sure ain't on the
Speaker 1: East coast. So if you're living in those places, you
Speaker 1: simply don't know right.
Speaker 3: And you know what, I caught a lot of criticism
Speaker 3: because I was one of the top prospects in the
Speaker 3: state of Georgia when I was coming out, and I
Speaker 3: said an HBCU wasn't my first choice. Had I made,
Speaker 3: had I not been prop forty eight, I mean I
Speaker 3: had Georgia, I had Texas, I had Nebraska, I had
Speaker 3: all the big schools recruiting me, and more times than not,
Speaker 3: I'm like, but the best thing that I did steven
Speaker 3: eight is when my former coach dress is Sold, Bill
Speaker 3: Davis came down.
Speaker 1: He said, son, if you good, they'll find you. He said.
Speaker 3: If I was drafting, he said, I'll take you no
Speaker 3: more on overall.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 3: He convinced me. And when I had an opportunity to
Speaker 3: transfer and go to a p W.
Speaker 1: I well, I will tell you this, it's like and
Speaker 1: a lot of and I've said this to a lot
Speaker 1: of my white brothers and sisters, I'm like, love ain't
Speaker 1: nothing like being surrounded by your own and then.
Speaker 5: The pageantry then home comes.
Speaker 1: God just don't understand. They just don't understand. I mean,
Speaker 1: you know, the bands, the pep I mean, Lord.
Speaker 3: That band played the whole game. It ain't know where
Speaker 3: they got the ball. You gotta be quiet. The band
Speaker 3: plays the entire game, whether we got the ball or
Speaker 3: they got the ball. And then you got the step
Speaker 3: show that you got the saw Rob, you got the frats,
Speaker 3: and you got the park.
Speaker 5: And everybody's coming back from twenty.
Speaker 3: Years, thirty years, ten years, fifteen years to stop.
Speaker 6: Just bring back memories.
Speaker 1: He's bring They tell you something, Man, I listen, you've
Speaker 1: heard me. Listen. People see me on TV. You hear
Speaker 1: me can play about a lot of things like you
Speaker 1: ain't never heard me complaining about going to HBC. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1: It's the greatest experience I've ever had in my life.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something right now. I had a
Speaker 1: mentor of mine. God wrested soul, mister Robert Devaughan. He
Speaker 1: was a telecommunications director at Winston Salem State. Loved him daily.
Speaker 1: He had to convince me to graduate on time. I
Speaker 1: wanted to do internships to delay and postpone situation. Well
Speaker 1: that's how that's how much I was living the life
Speaker 1: at w's the Salem you're just saying. I mean, it
Speaker 1: was like and then everybody's like, well you know what
Speaker 1: you being disingenuous because you went and you did an
Speaker 1: internship in Atlanta. I was like, uh, have you ever
Speaker 1: heard of spell?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 1: I have, yes, I mean right down the blood, that's
Speaker 1: right down the block.
Speaker 3: Okay, literally just started. And look, Atlanta has always been Atlanta.
Speaker 6: That's right.
Speaker 1: It just exploded in.
Speaker 3: The last twenty but Atlanta was back Atlanta back in
Speaker 3: the seventies.
Speaker 5: In the eighties, Atlanta was.
Speaker 1: Like that, how about that? And then on top of
Speaker 1: it all, check this out. So you gotta take a route.
Speaker 1: If you're going down, you're going I eighty five, you're
Speaker 1: coming up, You're going eighty five, I eighty five north right,
Speaker 1: you're passing HBCUs. Yes. So it's like, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: Wister Salem, but I'm stopping Johnson's c. Smith.
Speaker 5: You got john.
Speaker 1: You got Bennett Collegeborough or girls? How there is its beautiful? Yeah,
Speaker 1: your tea is like love. I mean I used to
Speaker 1: take a long rock because you know you could cut
Speaker 1: through and get the whistles centl State. I used to
Speaker 1: take the long rock because you have to pass through
Speaker 1: all of them things to get to whistle to sell them.
Speaker 1: I was like, why would I want to rush? Why
Speaker 1: would I want to do that.
Speaker 3: I tell a lot of people, I tell my white counterparts.
Speaker 3: I think I think everybody should have to experience one
Speaker 3: semester that hubc to get the field, to get the
Speaker 3: ambiance of what it's actually like, and to have some
Speaker 3: of those teachers because the professors Stephen that I believe
Speaker 3: this sincerely, cared about your shark.
Speaker 1: I remember going to a class and his name was
Speaker 1: Haines Walton and.
Speaker 3: Stephen, and he come to class with a piece of chalk,
Speaker 3: this fig in his pocket, and he started writing on
Speaker 3: the board.
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, take the notes and everything. And
Speaker 1: he said, on this page such and such, and in this.
Speaker 5: Chapter such and such.
Speaker 1: What damn how he know all of that?
Speaker 3: Every day for like three weeks. So I got the text.
Speaker 3: I said, I'm gonna find out how he knows so
Speaker 3: much what? I started reading text by Haines Walton.
Speaker 1: Yep, he wrote them, not him.
Speaker 5: You know everything here.
Speaker 3: From that point on, every every I felt that every
Speaker 3: class that I went to, every professor doctor they could
Speaker 3: teach me something. And I was attentive. Now it didn't
Speaker 3: hurt that, you know, they were in class tool. So
Speaker 3: I said in front of.
Speaker 5: The class had.
Speaker 3: I had on you know, on Friday, I had hard
Speaker 3: bottom shoes on, slack, had me a nice blazer, pretending
Speaker 3: like I'm gonna be something one day.
Speaker 5: Y'all need to go on and get on on shape.
Speaker 1: That's right, ain't no question. And listen, they cared, They
Speaker 1: held you accountable. They did. They felt like they were
Speaker 1: an extension of the family that you departed from. And
Speaker 1: they made you feel like if you disappointed, if you
Speaker 1: ended up being a disappointment, you disappointed them. Yes, you
Speaker 1: disappointed yourself, you disappointed your family, you disappointed your community.
Speaker 1: It was the level of accountability. And not only that,
Speaker 1: they highlighted the obstacles, yes, that were waiting for you.
Speaker 1: So it was like, listen, we've been here, we did it.
Speaker 1: This was waiting for you. What you're gonna do about it?
Speaker 1: And there's a sense of pride that kicks it. But
Speaker 1: more importantly, when you go to an HBCU, I think
Speaker 1: this is the most important people, most important thing for
Speaker 1: folks to understand, particularly is it pertains to black folks.
Speaker 1: Usually in every walk of society, we are alone in
Speaker 1: certain respects. Yes, when you go to an HBCU, you
Speaker 1: got company. Yes, people who look like you, who share
Speaker 1: your cultural identity, who share your trials and tribulations, the obstacles,
Speaker 1: the pitfalls, everything. You literally are looking at people, hanging
Speaker 1: with people, and talking to people every day, where your
Speaker 1: experiences are not foreign to them. They all know it,
Speaker 1: and so they gonna lift you up unless you don't
Speaker 1: want to be. Right, when you don't want to be,
Speaker 1: they know to leave you to the science. You ain't
Speaker 1: about it, right, we gonna stick with you with people
Speaker 1: who's about something, and that self accountability elevates everybody.
Speaker 3: I think back stephen A, one of our I started off.
Speaker 3: I was prop forty eight, so I had to start
Speaker 3: off in developmental studies.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: Developmental studies is remedial, right, So in other word, all
Speaker 3: you're taking is classes that doesn't go towards graduation, right,
Speaker 3: Doctor George mac with more. I'll never forget. I had
Speaker 3: a reading class and after two days she called me up.
Speaker 3: She always called me mister sharp. To this day, when
Speaker 3: I go back and see her to matter of state,
Speaker 3: she called me mister sharp.
Speaker 1: She said, mister sharp, I don't want to see you
Speaker 1: in next quarter. Yes, they all say that.
Speaker 3: She said, you're too smart. She said, you have no
Speaker 3: business being in this class. Now, mister sharp, I don't
Speaker 3: want to see you next quarter. She told the story everybody,
Speaker 3: because back that time, I ended up graduating, got my
Speaker 3: degree in playing in the NFL. She said, y'all see
Speaker 3: that young young man on television. He was in this
Speaker 3: very class, but he worked his tail off to get out,
Speaker 3: and I did. A lot of my teammates were embarrassed
Speaker 3: because you know, it wasn't a regular class, steven A.
Speaker 3: It was a trailer and you know it's right next
Speaker 3: to Peacock Hall while we're I would go eat breakfast
Speaker 3: and walk right up in a just a proud because
Speaker 3: I wasn't ashamed because I put myself in that situation. See,
Speaker 3: you shouldn't be ashamed of something that you put yourself in.
Speaker 3: I put myself in that seat.
Speaker 1: A lot of times people don't see themselves are putting
Speaker 1: themselves in that situation because they're not willing to absorb
Speaker 1: and accept the accountability. See, the beauty of being involved
Speaker 1: with athletics is that you're surrounded by people who make
Speaker 1: you accountable for yourself. It's like a human mirror. You
Speaker 1: know when you didn't work hard, you know when you
Speaker 1: didn't put in the work. You know, when you didn't
Speaker 1: listen to your coach, you know when you didn't do
Speaker 1: all of these things, so that transitions to other forms.
Speaker 1: It could be the classroom, it could be anything else.
Speaker 1: I remember, even before I got to college, seventh grade
Speaker 1: has sent my book Straight Shooter. My seventh grade teacher,
Speaker 1: mister Caravan, looked my mother dead in the face and
Speaker 1: she said, your son is not a dummy. She said.
Speaker 1: He doesn't listen with things he's not interested in.
Speaker 5: He drifts.
Speaker 1: So what happens is you think he doesn't know what
Speaker 1: he didn't understand, he never heard him. He will literally
Speaker 1: drift and he doesn't hear anybody anywhere. He said, but
Speaker 1: when you find out what he's passionate about, you'll have
Speaker 1: a star on your hands.
Speaker 6: Right, And that's what you said.
Speaker 1: And that came in handy because years later, when I
Speaker 1: was a beat writer, especially when I was covering the
Speaker 1: seventy six and stuff like that, I have this uncanny ability.
Speaker 1: I'm not say saying it's a gift, but I have
Speaker 1: this uncannyability. I have been in an arena with twenty
Speaker 1: thousand people and I didn't hear a word. I didn't
Speaker 1: hear anything like I'm on deadline. I got an article
Speaker 1: to write, I got twenty minutes to drive to write
Speaker 1: eight hundred words, and.
Speaker 3: I literally have the ability to block out all the noise.
Speaker 1: And it reminded me of what Professor Caravan said to
Speaker 1: my mother about drifting. I drifted to a different place,
Speaker 1: except this time I saw the positive in it, because
Speaker 1: a lot of times, if you're hearing that noise, you
Speaker 1: can't focus, you can't sure, you can't get the job done.
Speaker 1: I could because I could lock in and I could
Speaker 1: tune out the noise.
Speaker 5: You sound like an athlete.
Speaker 3: If you've heard athletes say it, say it's like everything
Speaker 3: slows down, everything is moving in slow motion. I don't
Speaker 3: hear not one of those eighty five thousand or those
Speaker 3: thirty thousand things you're screaming.
Speaker 1: I hear nothing. Everything is just hush yeah.
Speaker 3: And I can actually hear my heart beat, that's how
Speaker 3: quiet it is, even though I'm in a state with
Speaker 3: eighty thousand.
Speaker 1: And those are the great ones as an athlete, those
Speaker 1: are the great ones, because the ones who hear all
Speaker 1: the noise are the ones who succumb to it, and
Speaker 1: they panic, They sweating a little bit at palm, sweaty,
Speaker 1: backsides tight. They can't really handle the pressure. They fold
Speaker 1: under the pressure. But when you can, when you can
Speaker 1: be composed and poised under pressure, particularly on the field
Speaker 1: of the letter says, whether it's the quarter play, the field,
Speaker 1: the play, or whatever the case may be, you gotta
Speaker 1: start your hands. That wasn't me. That was me when
Speaker 1: it came to my job. I could tune out all
Speaker 1: of that noise. What people have is pressure. It's like
Speaker 1: you said, we do television every day. I'm in front
Speaker 1: of the camera, bro, I worry about nothing. I'm not phased.
Speaker 1: I don't care who's in front of me. I don't
Speaker 1: care what noise people are saying on the outside. I
Speaker 1: don't care about the camera folks. I don't care about
Speaker 1: the producers in the control room, I don't care about
Speaker 1: the bosses of this whatever. When the camera is in
Speaker 1: front of me, I believe I own it right and
Speaker 1: I'm not phased by anything. It just doesn't phase me.
Speaker 1: But I've seen people who have been reporters, for example,
Speaker 1: and you put them in front of the camera, brother,
Speaker 1: they sweating bullets, They nervous as hell, they're stuttering, they
Speaker 1: don't know what to say. They're trying to gather their doors.
Speaker 1: They're trying to be ultra careful. They don't know what
Speaker 1: to think, what to say, or whatever the case. And
Speaker 1: I'm like this, they have no chance. They have, But
Speaker 1: people think it's easy.
Speaker 3: Everybody can't talk on camera, everybody can't speak in front
Speaker 3: of us, in front of an audience. We've seen some
Speaker 3: of the greatest players not be able to do what
Speaker 3: you and I do on the regular, and people just like, well,
Speaker 3: how do you do it? You just do it, you
Speaker 3: just do it. I don't I don't see you, I
Speaker 3: don't hear. All I hear is my own voice.
Speaker 1: You. I'm a little different than that. I think that
Speaker 1: you and I would be a little bit different than
Speaker 1: that because that's your gift. And that's cool me as
Speaker 1: anybody producer, anybody would tell you when I'm on the air,
Speaker 1: that's why they named me the executive producer. First take.
Speaker 1: I ain't asked for the job. I didn't need another job.
Speaker 1: The last thing I needed another job. Bro It ain't
Speaker 1: like they throwing extra money my way for this, you know.
Speaker 1: But they came to me and I'm like this, They're like, why,
Speaker 1: they say you're producing the damn show anyway. On the set,
Speaker 1: you're looking at the camera. I know this camera is on,
Speaker 1: I know this camera is off. I'm imagining what the
Speaker 1: audience is doing because I have a connection with the audience.
Speaker 1: This is what they want to hear. This is what
Speaker 1: they don't want to hear. This is who they want
Speaker 1: to hear from at this particular moment in time. This
Speaker 1: is who they want to hear what this particular moment time.
Speaker 1: All right, Steve, it's time to jump in a Steve
Speaker 1: is time to lay back, because the objective is the show.
Speaker 1: It's not me, it's not you, it's the show. And
Speaker 1: the objective is to make sure that the people on
Speaker 1: camera are maximizing their potential in terms of their presentation
Speaker 1: to the audience, to grab them and the real amen.
Speaker 1: That's how I'm thinking, right and or now that it
Speaker 1: wasn't at the beginning. At the beginning, I was a
Speaker 1: lot like that. But as time went on, you're just
Speaker 1: seeing it. You're saying, well, wait a minute, why did
Speaker 1: you the quarterback this person I've always That's what I say.
Speaker 3: See for me, I got look, I know what everybody's
Speaker 3: supposed to do, but I focus on them on my job. Now,
Speaker 3: if I need to tell somebody a route or they
Speaker 3: need to pay this, blitz you high or you got
Speaker 3: a block, Well you.
Speaker 1: Show the world that what you wanted on Twitter. Then
Speaker 1: you like, yeah, that's what you're going to do. That's
Speaker 1: that's that to me is my job.
Speaker 3: Let me ask you a question, like when you say
Speaker 3: like these viral and people ask like when do you
Speaker 3: know what you're gonna say a lot of times when
Speaker 3: stuff goes viral, I had no idea because I don't
Speaker 3: know what he's gonna say, right, you don't know what
Speaker 3: everybody's gonna say. But sometimes he just it just happens.
Speaker 3: A moment happens. How much is just reactionary or because
Speaker 3: like I said, you have a lot of different You
Speaker 3: have mad Dog, you have Ryan Clark, you have d O,
Speaker 3: you have swag Goo.
Speaker 5: You have so many different people.
Speaker 3: So it's hard to get a beat or rhythm to
Speaker 3: what they're gonna say if.
Speaker 1: You don't know them, okay, and if you don't know
Speaker 1: the audience okay. And so what happens is I know
Speaker 1: what the audience wants from Ryan Clark, I know what
Speaker 1: it wants from swag Oul. I know what it wants
Speaker 1: from Molly. I know what it wants from Mad Dog.
Speaker 1: I know what it was from Latsky. I know what
Speaker 1: it wants from Shannon Sharp for the purposes of that show.
Speaker 1: And so I'm looking at Shannon Sharp and I'm like,
Speaker 1: and three times Super Bowl champion. That's one of the
Speaker 1: greatest tight ends in NFL history. That's a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: And damn it, he laughed, and he's boisterous. He gonna
Speaker 1: come right at you and all of this other stuff. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is what they want, and this is what they're
Speaker 1: going to get right now. You don't want to give
Speaker 1: it to them too much all in one bowl, right,
Speaker 1: Want spread it out, he says, want s freaking it out.
Speaker 1: You want a little bit here, a little bit there.
Speaker 1: All right, it's ten, ten fifteen o'clock. Boom, ten fifteen,
Speaker 1: Here we come. Do Momentum is swelling all of a sudden.
Speaker 1: That might be a little bit too much. Might want
Speaker 1: dollar back a little bit because we're coming at eleven.
Speaker 1: Men might come in at eleven fifteen. Help, we're coming
Speaker 1: at eleven thirty. See That's how I'm thinking. So it's like, okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want you to shine, and I want you to.
Speaker 1: I want you to beat you because I'm gonna beat me, right,
Speaker 1: And so here we come and the audience is watching.
Speaker 1: How do you know that because you paid attention to
Speaker 1: the audience, You're not sitting up there manipulating them. You're
Speaker 1: not disrespecting them. You're showing them you appreciate them because
Speaker 1: you're paying attention to what they're telling you and showing
Speaker 1: you they want a lot of times you have talent
Speaker 1: and it's like, listen, this is my lane and there's
Speaker 1: something to be said about that where you know who
Speaker 1: you are and you know what you bring. That's not
Speaker 1: to be disrespected, that's to be appreciated. Okay, here's his strength.
Speaker 1: Well if I have a different strength, how do I
Speaker 1: get to compliment that so he can shine while we shine?
Speaker 1: That is the objective when you're trying to win, and
Speaker 1: it's applicable on a football field, on a quarter play,
Speaker 1: or on a television set. But how many people are
Speaker 1: thinking like that? I'll tell you who. The winners think
Speaker 1: like that, the losers don't. It's very simple.
Speaker 5: You know what.
Speaker 3: I want to address some comments that you said, because
Speaker 3: you said condolence is in advance yep, he's the modern
Speaker 3: day black hole.
Speaker 5: He's not used to getting beat down. Welcome to the
Speaker 5: beat down.
Speaker 1: Well, let me tell you, let me elaborate. First of all,
Speaker 1: obviously I was abou physically. I got no shot. I
Speaker 1: got no shot. I mean, let's get that out the
Speaker 1: way right now. Let's get that out of the way
Speaker 1: right now. Saying let's get that out of the way
Speaker 1: right now. I will not talk about back. I got
Speaker 1: no shot whatsoever. But you know, I've seen you. I've
Speaker 1: seen you debate quite all. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I'm
Speaker 1: you could do your thing. But you know you ain't
Speaker 1: never been up against me. You say this little a
Speaker 1: little different going up against me. You see what happens
Speaker 1: is you got people that are trying to win the debate,
Speaker 1: to be right, false. It's about your perspective up against mine,
Speaker 1: and who can convince the audience their perspective is better
Speaker 1: than the next. That's what it's about. You see a
Speaker 1: lot of times somebody get like somebody that is a
Speaker 1: mistake to argue with Shannon's shop about the facts of football.
Speaker 1: You don't do that, not if you didn't play Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, please,
Speaker 1: you got no shot. But you can't go like she
Speaker 1: knows something.
Speaker 6: I was really nice.
Speaker 1: I heard what you said, but you see you said
Speaker 1: this two weeks ago. That not consistent with what I
Speaker 1: just heard. You saw this game right there? Now, I'm
Speaker 1: not you, but damn it, I got two eyes. I
Speaker 1: saw that.
Speaker 5: Are you telling me what I saw was a lot? Really?
Speaker 1: You're sure about that? What did you say this a
Speaker 1: year ago? You see? These are the kind of things
Speaker 1: like you know you obviously you know you love yourself
Speaker 1: some Lebron James. Yeah, yeah, he's not. I just got
Speaker 1: the foll with them JA to remind hung up on that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the blastph for me coming out of your mouth. Right,
Speaker 1: It's okay, you can believe that. You can believe that,
Speaker 1: but we'll do.
Speaker 3: I'm sure you know what the first Lebron topic, right,
Speaker 3: don't need to be nobody.
Speaker 1: Here's what's gonna hurt you. Here's what's gonna hurt you
Speaker 1: because you see when you're talking like that, people but
Speaker 1: that No, I'm gonna sit back and let you do,
Speaker 1: and then I'm gonna say you finish, are you figuring sure? No?
Speaker 1: And you're gonna be like nah, And I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: you gotta wait now because I waited. Here I come,
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have to deal with the tsunami that
Speaker 1: I'm gonna bring. I'm gonna rain down upon you when
Speaker 1: it comes, especially to that up here, and that's what's it,
Speaker 1: and that'she You're gonna have to listen, Lebron, Listen. I
Speaker 1: got this man. The game was started in nineteen forty seven.
Speaker 1: I got Lebron James. The thousands of players that have
Speaker 1: played in the NBA, I got him number two all time.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got people walking around like that's disrespect it is.
Speaker 1: I got a number. See see that's the motion.
Speaker 5: That's a much right there.
Speaker 1: Listen, let me tell you that right now, I personally
Speaker 1: believe a legitimate argument could be made that I'm sitting
Speaker 1: in front of the greatest tight end in the history
Speaker 1: of football. Some people bring in Gronk, Tony Gonzalez, other
Speaker 1: players them in Travis kelf course, but you're in the
Speaker 1: conversation yourself, and you know because you're breathren. I mean,
Speaker 1: they give you my love and respect, right, I can
Speaker 1: say that. But my point to you is is that
Speaker 1: if somebody said you weren't number one, you don't feeling
Speaker 1: so so why you got to be insult to the
Speaker 1: buildings because that's the motion.
Speaker 3: But go see, you told me your storm was coming.
Speaker 3: See your storm happened for nine years, then took two
Speaker 3: years off, and it happened for three years and took
Speaker 3: another three years off, and then it kind of just
Speaker 3: was like drizzling my thought storm being going for twenty
Speaker 3: one years raining.
Speaker 1: You could say that that my retort to that would
Speaker 1: be six NBA Finals losses, six final losses, six finals losses.
Speaker 3: I just want you to tell me one thing, and
Speaker 3: were going to make this sure, tell me the team
Speaker 3: that he faced that was the twenty seventeen or the
Speaker 3: twenty eighteen Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: What you mean, I don't want to say your question
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan.
Speaker 5: Tell me the team with Michael Jordans.
Speaker 3: I want you to tell me the team that Michael
Speaker 3: Jordan faced that was the equivalent of the seventeen eighteen.
Speaker 1: No one can I respond to that? Sure?
Speaker 6: Can I say why?
Speaker 1: No? One? Do you know why? Because none?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 1: That's exactly what okay, cee cee. See that's the ultimate
Speaker 1: equalizer or usurper picked whichever one you want to. You
Speaker 1: want to pick. You understand that Jordan is six and
Speaker 1: ohe NBA frontals. You understand that Jordan was m v
Speaker 1: P O six NBA frontal. Do you understand that Jordan
Speaker 1: never even allowed a final series to go seven games?
Speaker 1: Said it never win seven game?
Speaker 3: Also, I also know he just started going to the finals
Speaker 3: because I burned back excusually.
Speaker 1: Ten time NBA scoring Champion, nine time All Defensive Player,
Speaker 1: All the Defensive First Team. You do know that, right? Yeah? So,
Speaker 1: so in other words, it was Lebron on both sides
Speaker 1: of ball? Was he that dominant? Oh?
Speaker 6: He was?
Speaker 5: You know he should have won it?
Speaker 1: You know he should want you are you kidding me?
Speaker 1: I give me this?
Speaker 3: You know, Goodwell, Lebron James should have one defensive Player
Speaker 3: of the year. How do how does margins All, who's
Speaker 3: the second team All Defensive player, be defensive Player of
Speaker 3: the Year.
Speaker 6: I agree with that.
Speaker 1: I agree with that. But the flip side to it
Speaker 1: is that as we watched Lebron James, even with his
Speaker 1: greatness at one point in time as a defensive player,
Speaker 1: we never looked at him and said, oh my god,
Speaker 1: that's that dude. Defensively you had you had no Lebron
Speaker 1: is universally respected and revered. Mj was feared. You know
Speaker 1: the difference. You know the difference because there are people
Speaker 1: who have feared you. You know the difference better than me.
Speaker 1: You know the difference between reverence and fear.
Speaker 5: Look, you know this. You like John Wick.
Speaker 1: I like James John can I have jameson, but you
Speaker 1: could be John Wacke. I preferred James Bond.
Speaker 3: John shot up the whole place, kill everybody. Okay, James
Speaker 3: Bond killed a few people, but got the ladies.
Speaker 1: They do the same. That's right. Was walking talking out
Speaker 1: the ocean and he said, magnificent Deale. Remember that this
Speaker 1: smaller and that was where you know that that's that's
Speaker 1: stuff and stuff like Pierce Bronston. But you know Daniel
Speaker 1: Craig of course, Sean Connery demand Okay, I mean I'm
Speaker 1: trying to say the versatility of James Bond is with
Speaker 1: Jans and you could say that, but could.
Speaker 5: Guard one through five. You seen him do it.
Speaker 1: I'm not denying that park on one end and at
Speaker 1: last five minutes I got timmy. I also saw him
Speaker 1: get checked when Jason Terry was guarding him in the post.
Speaker 1: And his finals against Dallas you going to deny that. No, Okay, then,
Speaker 1: so that's your question. Has there ever been a time
Speaker 1: when Michael Jordan showed up in an NBA finals and
Speaker 1: you literally looked at him and said, yo, he show up.
Speaker 3: Playing nobody. Let me ask your question. I'm gonna do
Speaker 3: you like this here? Tell me the guy that he
Speaker 3: faced that deal were the equivalent of Kevin Durant and Jordan.
Speaker 1: Well, I was. I wouldn't say. I wouldn't say the
Speaker 1: equivalent of of Kevin Durant. But let's go down the list.
Speaker 1: He beat Magic for his first time back.
Speaker 5: What's seventy three?
Speaker 1: Okay, I find I'm going I'm going down the list
Speaker 1: the list. I didn't hear you say that when Magic
Speaker 1: was here, but we're talking about you.
Speaker 5: Didn't say that.
Speaker 1: What Magic was.
Speaker 5: The man on the ninth nine.
Speaker 1: Finals And I feel you on that. And by the
Speaker 1: way he took wasn't Kareem and worthy, but.
Speaker 3: You saw what he did. But joined in the first
Speaker 3: game put a triple double on in the head and
Speaker 3: put on it. That's cool, Okay, say he backed them
Speaker 3: made look like Kareem Tom Will Jones fit.
Speaker 1: That's fair. Michael Joe, I'm sorry Magic Johnson, the first title,
Speaker 1: Clyde Drexler and the Crew, the second title, Charles Barkley,
Speaker 1: Kevin Johnson, don't ignore that, Damn Mally and them. The
Speaker 1: third Okay, okay, Peyton the Glove with Sean Camp and
Speaker 1: also you've got call Malone John Stockton, and you have
Speaker 1: an NBA game that was considerably tougher at that particular
Speaker 1: moment in time than today's NBA game is in terms
Speaker 1: of physicality and what's allowed.
Speaker 5: Yes, so you can appreciate this. You can. I appreciate
Speaker 5: that before you could.
Speaker 1: Put your when you could put your four onmre people,
Speaker 1: when you can hand check them, when you can do
Speaker 1: a lot of things you can't do now right now
Speaker 1: you get caught for passing gas.
Speaker 5: You will, But it's a different game now, Okay, what you.
Speaker 3: And the Old school Guard have equated physicality with talent
Speaker 3: and skill, the gathering the game more skilled.
Speaker 1: I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1: But you would know this better than me because you
Speaker 1: were an all world player. Even though the game of
Speaker 1: the NFL has evolved significantly. You know good and damn
Speaker 1: well that if you were playing in this time, Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: you would have adapted. Yes, you played in that time,
Speaker 1: you adapted the game in the sixties and seventies, you
Speaker 1: would have adapted to no time. So what I'm trying
Speaker 1: to say to you is this, Michael Jordan was what
Speaker 1: he needed to be. If he was playing today, he
Speaker 1: would be what he needed to be in order to
Speaker 1: be successful today. That's all I'm trying to say. When
Speaker 1: you see greatness on that level, you have to concede
Speaker 1: that that's the case.
Speaker 3: But see all they asked Michael do with the cook
Speaker 3: Lebron had to cook, he had to clean, he had
Speaker 3: to wait tables to take order.
Speaker 1: Well, you could say that, But what I'm saying that
Speaker 1: if the brother's doing it on both sides of the Florida,
Speaker 1: then obviously he's doing more than one thing.
Speaker 5: He's doing that too.
Speaker 3: But how many guys you know that on top five
Speaker 3: and Top five?
Speaker 1: How about this? How about once you Quille O'Neil with
Speaker 1: Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson, three D, Dennis Scott and those boys, Yeah,
Speaker 1: going Orlando, right, how about the fact that they could
Speaker 1: even get the ball pass half court because Scottie Pippen
Speaker 1: and Michael Jordan had him on locket.
Speaker 5: Yeah, with full Corp press.
Speaker 1: We end never see Lebron do that.
Speaker 5: We never see Lebron do that.
Speaker 1: Bron that you stop it. He never did it. You remember,
Speaker 1: he never did it.
Speaker 5: You remember with d Rose with the MVP, y'all voted
Speaker 5: d Roll the m v P. What do.
Speaker 1: Excuse me? Excuse me, d Rose? What kind of team
Speaker 1: did ye? You come? Tell me know? Whing those boys wasppoint?
Speaker 5: They did enough to get the number one seed. That
Speaker 5: so what you're a.
Speaker 1: I voted him in VP and still picked Miami to
Speaker 1: win that series. I knew they want to go be
Speaker 1: Miami in the Best of seventh. The playoffs are different,
Speaker 1: all right, But that don't mean Lebron deserve the MVP.
Speaker 1: I know. By the way, I don't even knock Lebron
Speaker 1: James for not getting the MVP, because when you're that great,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna put all your efforts in over eighty
Speaker 1: two games. You're playing for April Man and ju So
Speaker 1: this is entirely plausible. I'm very fair of Lebron jaf
Speaker 1: your dollars sometimes most times, most times, actually I say
Speaker 1: all it's just that I call it like I see it.
Speaker 6: I'm not emotional like you.
Speaker 3: No no, I I like, you know what, I got
Speaker 3: a call to day for one Michael Jordan.
Speaker 5: He rolled up on me in a black ass uva
Speaker 5: the winter.
Speaker 1: That's true, that's true. Yeah, I was scary. I thought
Speaker 1: he was. I thought I thought it was a drive
Speaker 1: it was in them drive by. Scared of living hell
Speaker 1: out of me. You still say that, mean that's that,
Speaker 1: That's an absolutely true story. But at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, all I'm trying to say is that Lebron
Speaker 1: is phenomenal. He's great. We should throw no shade on him.
Speaker 1: One of the greatest ever Top B top three, you
Speaker 1: say it, one of pH He will never be greater
Speaker 1: than Jordan to me. But more importantly, let's go to
Speaker 1: Koreem Nineteen time All Star, six time league MVP champion
Speaker 1: on the high school left champion, champion in the NBA. Okay,
Speaker 1: good lord at Merka Fall, time leading scorer before Lebron's
Speaker 1: had passed him, all of that stuff happened. I'm just saying,
Speaker 1: come on now, the resume is better, But I still
Speaker 1: don't believe he was the player that Lebron James is.
Speaker 1: All right, But what I hold, and I'll say this
Speaker 1: to you, I'll tell you something that I've very really said.
Speaker 1: If you took Lebron james career from twenty twelve to now,
Speaker 1: and that was his history from his first title to
Speaker 1: what he is now, and you wanted to make an
Speaker 1: argument against Jordan, I'm listening. The problem is we don't
Speaker 1: get to ignore those first seven or eight years where
Speaker 1: there were a couple of occasions where one he was
Speaker 1: accused of quitting and number and I don't believe that.
Speaker 1: By no, I don't believe that you are drunkard. No no, no,
Speaker 1: no no, I'm talking about this. God, I got you,
Speaker 1: but I feel you. But it's true, but it's still
Speaker 1: excusing drunken. But the point is against Boston, I don't
Speaker 1: believe that it was a lot of stuff going on
Speaker 1: in Braun. That's none of our business. That people they
Speaker 1: were totally unfair to him, including his damn teammates. But
Speaker 1: that's a different story for another day. I never held
Speaker 1: that against him. But when you got four games against
Speaker 1: the Dallas Mavericks in which people looked at you and said, choke,
Speaker 1: you know what you cannot get past I can't.
Speaker 3: I can't argue that I can't.
Speaker 1: And that to me, that to me sealed the deal
Speaker 1: about the MJ Lebron companion.
Speaker 3: So what what what if he were to win a
Speaker 3: title this year, thirty nine years of.
Speaker 1: Age, So so that going to race Jordan?
Speaker 3: That interesting that you go see, that's the argument that
Speaker 3: people have when I was talking about Tom Brady not
Speaker 3: playing well, I'm not trying to take away with Jordan's accomplished.
Speaker 3: I agree, he got those rings, he got six finals MVP,
Speaker 3: he has six championship, he has five.
Speaker 1: Regular season MVP.
Speaker 3: Right if Lebron gets another title stephen A, I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna raise what Jordan did, but he already he already
Speaker 3: here from me. Okay, all he doing is just.
Speaker 1: But but what I'm saying to you is I already
Speaker 1: talked about the Dallas thing, and I talked about moments
Speaker 1: which you can appreciate. What I'm trying to say to
Speaker 1: you is that when you are that dude, that doesn't
Speaker 1: happen to you often that happened to Magic when they
Speaker 1: called them tragic, because yeah, four you get all of
Speaker 1: that under sad I'm saying, but for the most part,
Speaker 1: that doesn't happen. And this is the kind of thing
Speaker 1: that you also have to pay attention to as well.
Speaker 1: Not only do you not get to say that about Jordan,
Speaker 1: but when you look at Lebron, think about this. You
Speaker 1: want me to tell you what I hold against him,
Speaker 1: just as much as I held against the Dallas before me.
Speaker 1: What the following year with the All Star Game, you
Speaker 1: got the ball in your hands. It's an exhibition. It's
Speaker 1: an exhibition. It doesn't count. It's all in fun. Kobe
Speaker 1: claps his hand, God Rest his soul. He's like, yo, listen,
Speaker 1: come on, wait, you got d Wade on the court,
Speaker 1: you got Mellow in the corner, and he threw the
Speaker 1: past and all three of them, along with Kobe, descended
Speaker 1: on Lebron and said, yo, what's up what you're doing?
Speaker 1: Because they knew he was psyched out, he was messed up.
Speaker 1: And what I'm saying to you is that Kobe wasn't
Speaker 1: like that. MJ wasn't like that. It's d Wade wasn't
Speaker 1: like that. In his first NBA Finals appearance, they down
Speaker 1: owe to the Dallas. E Wade goes berserk, averages thirty
Speaker 1: seven in the last four games. I'm just saying this
Speaker 1: stuff like that. It's not that you look at Lebron
Speaker 1: and you diminish him. It's just that you can't elevate
Speaker 1: him above somebody like MJ. When I got that evidence
Speaker 1: to support my argument, that's all, and that's why I
Speaker 1: got him number two author on God strike me down.
Speaker 1: I mean, my lord, I mean what it is. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, the number two all time in the history
Speaker 1: of the game. And it's an insult.
Speaker 4: Only you and Rich Paul and people like that feel
Speaker 4: that way, most of us saying individuals know better.
Speaker 5: No, let me ask you this.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you and I have conversation, and people like, well,
Speaker 3: how closely you're Stephen there? I said, I met him
Speaker 3: in twenty fourteen when I came on the show. I said,
Speaker 3: we've talked over the here, we exchanged numbers, and we've
Speaker 3: talked over the years. But I said, over the last
Speaker 3: year and a half or so, I was going through
Speaker 3: some things and he was the one guy that was
Speaker 3: in this business that I felt I could talk to.
Speaker 3: It would stay between us, but he would give me
Speaker 3: sound advice. And so now you have your thing with
Speaker 3: First Take. You you are the voice, you are the
Speaker 3: face of First Take, You're the first face of ESPN.
Speaker 5: What made you reach out say, bro, I want.
Speaker 1: You because I got love for you, bro, and' that's
Speaker 1: just me being a man and speaking his two brothers.
Speaker 1: You know, you know our former boss at first Take,
Speaker 1: Jamie Hardwiz, who was over brought you over that first
Speaker 1: one and all of that, and he knows my history,
Speaker 1: he knows what I stand for. I remember when I
Speaker 1: first You can ask him. I remember when I first
Speaker 1: arrived on first Take and I rolled up in there
Speaker 1: and I saw a bunch of white folks, and I said, Yo,
Speaker 1: we're the brothers and the sisters that you don't think
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be sitting here working with a bunch of
Speaker 1: white folks, do you? I don't mind white folks. I
Speaker 1: ain't got nothing against y'all. God bless you. You understand saying
Speaker 1: we all brothers and sisters the eyes of God. When
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, dumb but you ain't gonna just
Speaker 1: have me surrounded by a bunch of lily white folks.
Speaker 1: You better sprinkle sprinkle some in. And so you know,
Speaker 1: he brought one. And then the next thing, you know,
Speaker 1: I picked two or three others and made sure to
Speaker 1: diversify that staff. And then one of the things that
Speaker 1: I did when I came in there. I knew Skip
Speaker 1: was going to want to debate me and whatever, but
Speaker 1: I was talking about subject matters that we needed to
Speaker 1: broach because it was still his show. But he respected
Speaker 1: me enough to get my opinion, and I was like, look,
Speaker 1: we need all of these other people because I want voices,
Speaker 1: and I'm just I'm built. What I mean by that
Speaker 1: is there's no shade on you, on anybody else. But
Speaker 1: I don't believe anybody's knocking me off my perch. I
Speaker 1: will knock me off my perch. You know, corporate stuff,
Speaker 1: bureaucratic stuff, that's stuff you can't you know. But I'm
Speaker 1: talking about in terms of my own air performance, my
Speaker 1: job performance. I don't worry about it. You know what
Speaker 1: I worry about the day that I want to leave.
Speaker 1: And I haven't done anything to create opportunities for us
Speaker 1: to continue. And so for me, it's like I look
Speaker 1: at you, I think that you're smart, You're obviously incredibly accomplished.
Speaker 1: You ain't gonna never hear me say no disrespect to anybody,
Speaker 1: not to bring up nothing. Ain't gonna never hear me
Speaker 1: say three super Bowl championships, a Hall of Fame status
Speaker 1: don't mean nothing. I don't roll like that. That's not
Speaker 1: who I am. I'm the kind of person that I
Speaker 1: argue with you about football, but I want the audience
Speaker 1: to know, Yo, you the football expert, right, not me.
Speaker 1: I'm the reporter that walks in and I'm like, this
Speaker 1: what I saw, and tell me I'm wrong. This is
Speaker 1: what I'm seeing. Tell me I'm row. This is where
Speaker 1: I'm comforting. Just like me and you talking about that.
Speaker 1: I know you. I don't give damn how much basketball.
Speaker 1: You know, you'll know no more of basketball than me.
Speaker 1: I've been coming. I learned from living legends and all
Speaker 1: this stuff. But I still want to hear what you
Speaker 1: have to say. If you can listen to me talk
Speaker 1: to football, why the hell can I listen to you
Speaker 1: talk about basketball? And so all of that and then
Speaker 1: your heart being conscientious brother, caring about the issues that
Speaker 1: you're caring about, speaking about the issues that you speak about. Now, brothers,
Speaker 1: iron sharpens iron, and yeah, I got mad Dog Russo
Speaker 1: that's white. I got Dan Olofski. That's a white dude.
Speaker 1: You see what I'm saying. You know, Jeff Saturday, at
Speaker 1: one time he was on the show That's a white Man.
Speaker 1: But the bottom line is I want it all. I
Speaker 1: want to make sure there's brothers, the sisters, black and white, ethnic,
Speaker 1: you know, Hispanics, Asian. I don't give damn who it is.
Speaker 1: I want to make sure we're representing America and we
Speaker 1: make sure that everybody that looks at our show says
Speaker 1: I can identify with what they're saying. But in the end,
Speaker 1: when it comes to me personally, you know whether it's
Speaker 1: Ryan Clark, it's Marcus Spears, all right, it's Damian Woody,
Speaker 1: it's Lewis Riddick, the list goes on, and nor my brother,
Speaker 1: Michael Irvin. That's now Aver, That's that's one key, Shawn Johnson.
Speaker 1: These are my boys. I go back decades with these,
Speaker 1: These are my brothers.
Speaker 6: You know what I'm saying. They will tell you.
Speaker 1: You ask anybody that knows me. I'm about getting you paid,
Speaker 1: I'm about helping you become successful. I'm about letting you shine.
Speaker 1: I'm not threatened by anybody's appearance. It's my obligation.
Speaker 5: But you've heard it, you do it. You've heard the comments.
Speaker 3: Yes, man, Stephen a man, he's strong will he bragged
Speaker 3: blah blah blah, like Shannon strong Will.
Speaker 5: Blah blah blah. How is that gonna work?
Speaker 1: They don't know. They don't tell people.
Speaker 3: I'm say, two people that strong will can absolutely get
Speaker 3: along as long as there's respect. Absolutely, the moment one
Speaker 3: disrespects the other, the other losers respect for the one
Speaker 3: that disrespected him.
Speaker 1: Right, So now it's just a matter of time exactly.
Speaker 1: And that's not gonna happen because I don't roll like that.
Speaker 1: It's like, Yo, I'm gonna argue with you about your points,
Speaker 1: but you know what, we gonna agree. We gonna disagree,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, we brothers, and
Speaker 1: we gonna sit up there and try to do what
Speaker 1: we can to make our product shine. That's our responsibility
Speaker 1: because if we do, if we do otherwise, all we're
Speaker 1: doing is inhibiting the other success. Right, we're getting in
Speaker 1: the way of what we're trying to do. That makes
Speaker 1: no sense whatsoever. And not only that, that's setting a
Speaker 1: bad example of our community. If I really need to
Speaker 1: get deep about it, because what happens is is that
Speaker 1: always so they can't chill, they can't sit up there
Speaker 1: and do a show together. They can't get along. You
Speaker 1: see that crabs in the barrel mentality. Blah blah blah,
Speaker 1: nah man, we showing something different, you know, first take,
Speaker 1: I've been blessed and fortunate enough throwing shade on nobody.
Speaker 1: We've been number one for twelve years. We gonna be
Speaker 1: number one for thirteen. It's just that simple. In fourteen
Speaker 1: and damn it, if I do it for fifteen, gonna
Speaker 1: be fifteen. That's the way that's gonna be. That's how
Speaker 1: my mentality is. And I don't root for anybody to fail.
Speaker 1: I just root to be the best, right, And there's
Speaker 1: a difference. And as far as I'm concerned, anybody that's
Speaker 1: with me, we the best. This is what we're gonna do.
Speaker 1: So now it's we. It ain't stephen they it's weak.
Speaker 1: And when you come to first take, because you ain't
Speaker 1: start yet, you're gonna see it's a family. You gonna
Speaker 1: see we get along. It ain't fake. We rolled with
Speaker 1: one another, We vibe for one another, We watch one
Speaker 1: another's back. It has always been that way under my
Speaker 1: stewardship of the show. And I can say my stewardship
Speaker 1: of the show because the show was handed to me.
Speaker 1: They ain't come to me, and I just took the
Speaker 1: title and off. No, they came to me and said
Speaker 1: it's yours. You're responsible for it. If I didn't want
Speaker 1: share this shop at first take show and be a
Speaker 1: first take how I roll, no question. But I had
Speaker 1: to come out that day because with all that you
Speaker 1: were behind.
Speaker 3: See what you're saying now is that you told me
Speaker 3: month in advance, because you were telling me things that
Speaker 3: were going on at Park Hell, I didn't know it.
Speaker 5: I'm like, hold on, I drive this building every day.
Speaker 5: How the hell you know what?
Speaker 3: I don't know you and you telling me, Bro, it's
Speaker 3: going down like this, it's happening.
Speaker 5: Like this, and I'm just scratching my head.
Speaker 3: I'm like, I'm at this building every day and everybody cheezing?
Speaker 1: Reason? Was I right?
Speaker 5: You was absolutely spot on?
Speaker 1: And tell you I was right, you know. And by
Speaker 1: the way, it wasn't because a fox. It's because I
Speaker 1: know the business, right. I've been here for thirty years.
Speaker 1: I can see them all away, you know. I can
Speaker 1: see the hand writing on the wall. I knew when
Speaker 1: it was over for you, Bro. I'm gonna be real
Speaker 1: with you. I knew when it was over, and I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm here, you see what I'm saying, because because.
Speaker 6: I knew what was gonna happen.
Speaker 1: What happens is when you got noise and we gonna
Speaker 1: call it like liten. I'm gonna call it like I
Speaker 1: see it. You don't want to do this, let me
Speaker 1: do it, all right, because I've been in the business
Speaker 1: long enough. When you're black and you have the kind
Speaker 1: of evident apparent meaning public situations like that, we don't win.
Speaker 1: Everybody circling. The Sharks are circling. Now it's not one
Speaker 1: person and it's not you know, the collusion going on. Instinctually,
Speaker 1: people tend to believe this belief. Disbelieved that and the
Speaker 1: Sharks are circling. And that's why I came out. You
Speaker 1: know the number one reason I came out, even before
Speaker 1: first tape was even on my mind. You know the
Speaker 1: number one reason I came out, Shannon Sharp and I said,
Speaker 1: I want Shanna Shop on first tape because I wanted
Speaker 1: the world to know that you will want it. That
Speaker 1: was the most important thing to me. I wanted the world.
Speaker 1: I didn't want you to be in a situation where
Speaker 1: the sports world looked at you and said, what do
Speaker 1: you do?
Speaker 6: He must have done something persona round blah blah.
Speaker 1: Blah blah blah. So I said, I said, if he
Speaker 1: ends up, he ends up here.
Speaker 6: The Hanchos know I want him.
Speaker 1: But more importantly than that, this is a brother that
Speaker 1: I think has done a lot of good work on
Speaker 1: television that has helped our community. And as a result,
Speaker 1: it's incumbing upon me because of the perch that I
Speaker 1: sit on.
Speaker 6: To let them know he's.
Speaker 1: Wanted, right, don't cut him off, because that's what they
Speaker 1: did to me in two thousand and nine.
Speaker 6: They cut me off and left me for dead.
Speaker 1: Bro. And I'm not talking about ESPN. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: the industry. They cut me off and left me for dead.
Speaker 1: They thought I was done. They were write my epitaph
Speaker 1: and I knew it, and I said, I was blessed
Speaker 1: and fortunate enough to have enough connections and to do
Speaker 1: what I do to overcome it. I don't know if
Speaker 1: this brother does, so let me let the world know
Speaker 1: he has me and we'll go from there.
Speaker 5: That happened.
Speaker 3: That absolutely happened like that because you and I was
Speaker 3: talking and you was like, Bro, I got this, but
Speaker 3: soon as I get out of this meeting, I'll hit
Speaker 3: you back. And we were talking twenty minutes, thirty minutes
Speaker 3: an hour, and you took every last one of my calls.
Speaker 3: And I'm thinking to myself, and I remember getting on
Speaker 3: the phone calling my sister and I said, like, maybe
Speaker 3: it's probably gonna happen. I say, because it's not coming
Speaker 3: from inside, it's coming from somebody that I knows the business.
Speaker 3: And he wouldn't bullegize me, but he told me that
Speaker 3: it's a ninety five percent chance that is going to happen,
Speaker 3: and he wants me on his show.
Speaker 5: And I'm like, I don't want. I think I'm good
Speaker 5: at what I do.
Speaker 3: And for him, it did my heart good because I
Speaker 3: know what you represent in this industry to say I
Speaker 3: want him on my show. Whatever it is, I don't
Speaker 3: believe nothing. Look you go back and from when I
Speaker 3: was with the Broncos for twelve ten years, went to
Speaker 3: Baltimore for two, back to the Broncos for two CBS
Speaker 3: for a decade.
Speaker 5: I would fall for six years.
Speaker 1: Now.
Speaker 3: One person ever said anything bad about show that you're
Speaker 3: difficult to work with. He did this that my greatest
Speaker 3: compliment from players is guys that were on my team
Speaker 3: said shouting, show off.
Speaker 5: The greatest team I'd ever had.
Speaker 3: He's my favorite teammate, the way he approached it, the
Speaker 3: way he was. And so for you to come to
Speaker 3: me and to say what you said when you didn't
Speaker 3: have to do any of it, and nobody would have
Speaker 3: held that against you, because, like you said, that's what
Speaker 3: would have happened.
Speaker 1: And I heard it.
Speaker 3: Man, he must have did no, showed up every day
Speaker 3: on time and did a hell of a job. I
Speaker 3: remember when Jamie Horwitz, who we were talking about, came
Speaker 3: to recruit me in twenty sixteen in April at the
Speaker 3: w Hotel. He said, you're gonna be a star. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I said, I said, James, I know what he said.
Speaker 5: Trust me. He says, I know, Tavern.
Speaker 1: It goes deeper than that, because you see Jamie. Whether
Speaker 1: he wants to tell you this or not, I knew
Speaker 1: back then Skip was auditioned in you because whenever I
Speaker 1: took off, you would be there. Yes, And what Jamie
Speaker 1: wouldn't tell anybody is that there were extra days that
Speaker 1: I would take off just so Skip could bring you on.
Speaker 1: Because again, if you're not creating opportunities for other people,
Speaker 1: what good are you?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 1: My pastor says that I'm not the most religious person
Speaker 1: in the world. I mean, as promiscuous as I've been
Speaker 1: in my lifetime, at least for the person I mean.
Speaker 1: I mean, I am in no position. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: a lot better now over the last over the last decade.
Speaker 1: And so, but Lord, I have my issues, no question
Speaker 1: about it. And and and you know, my pastor would
Speaker 1: say all the time, there's no success without a successor.
Speaker 1: And so when I look at you know, for me,
Speaker 1: all the brothers that are on the show. One of
Speaker 1: my proudest moments was when Michael Irvin came last year.
Speaker 1: And the reason why it was proud because I loved
Speaker 1: the playmaker. He and I are very very tight with brothers,
Speaker 1: and I know what his name brings and the stature
Speaker 1: that it holds. And so you're thinking that he comes
Speaker 1: and others are gonna feel alienated, But if you watched
Speaker 1: him when he was on the show with us, it
Speaker 1: was a brotherhood. You see what I'm saying. It was
Speaker 1: a brotherhood. You know how great he is exactly. But
Speaker 1: it's like all of these all I mean, or Lobsky
Speaker 1: and are C and everybody's regular They wanted to be
Speaker 1: on the air with him, right, And so my point
Speaker 1: is is that.
Speaker 5: That's how it's supposed to be.
Speaker 6: It's like, wait a minute.
Speaker 1: It the NFL constantly talks about what a brotherhood exists.
Speaker 1: Well guess what first take is a platform for brotherhood.
Speaker 1: So when Shannon comes on, yeah, you're gonna be on
Speaker 1: the air with me, but guess what them brothers gonna
Speaker 1: slide up in there. Y'all need to be with each other.
Speaker 1: You need to be next to each other. You need
Speaker 1: to be, you know, verbally knocking somebody like me upside
Speaker 1: the head when I'm coming at y'all like, ye, I'm
Speaker 1: not a new journalist. I saw this, look at it,
Speaker 1: and y'all like, look at this guy right here. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I mean, and we're laughing and
Speaker 1: having a blast. It's entertainment, bro, But it's information, right, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's perspective. It's serious stuff that needs to be addressed.
Speaker 1: It's the whole gamut. And think about it. We got
Speaker 1: the national airwaves for the worldwide leader available to us
Speaker 1: to disseminate and display our message. I believe, our culture,
Speaker 1: our perspectives and put them all on display for everybody
Speaker 1: to see to come back or to breaks. But the
Speaker 1: point is, at the end of the day, you ain't
Speaker 1: gonna fill alone. You gonna be there and we gonna
Speaker 1: be together. Why Because I'm gonna have your back, That's why,
Speaker 1: and they gonna have your back. And that's the way
Speaker 1: it's gonna be. You know, people ask me it's gonna be?
Speaker 1: Will people ask me? Stephen A is like, bro, how
Speaker 1: do you say? What you say?
Speaker 3: And then Chuchelle, you go to the game. You might
Speaker 3: be bumping into some of these guys, say, how do
Speaker 3: you handle that situation? I say, if I see them
Speaker 3: out now, they acknowledge me, I acknowledge them back.
Speaker 1: If they don't, I keep it moving, keep it moving.
Speaker 3: I don't make it personal because I don't know these
Speaker 3: guys well enough to make it personal. I'm talking about
Speaker 3: a given situation. You didn't play good.
Speaker 5: And last night.
Speaker 3: It doesn't diminish anything that you accomplished before last night.
Speaker 3: It doesn't diminish anything that you might accomplish moving forward.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about a specific set of events that happened
Speaker 3: last night.
Speaker 5: How do you handle that? Stepen day?
Speaker 3: Because I know see most of times they look at me,
Speaker 3: they do a double take. They're like, nah, I'm gonna
Speaker 3: let that go.
Speaker 1: They don't want that's person.
Speaker 5: But with you, I'm thinking it, like, man, why you
Speaker 5: say that?
Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, first of all, I respect any of them
Speaker 1: who comes up to me, man to man in confront. Yes,
Speaker 1: because if you want to have a conversation. Here's where
Speaker 1: I'm big on. If I said something publicly and I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna correct it publicly, thank you. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: do something publicly and then apologize privately right now. If
Speaker 1: I'm wrong, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it publicly.
Speaker 1: I'm a man up because that's the kind of man
Speaker 1: that I am. That's how my mama raised me to be.
Speaker 1: The other thing that I'm gonna do. But if I'm right,
Speaker 1: I'm not budgeing. You ain't gonna scare me, You ain't
Speaker 1: gonna intimidate me, you ain't gonna phaze me. Let's get
Speaker 1: it on. Like I tell people all the time, figurarely
Speaker 1: or otherwise, it's not about getting your ass kicked. It's
Speaker 1: about what you're.
Speaker 6: Willing to take an ass kicking for.
Speaker 1: You gotta be principled, and you gotta be somebody that's
Speaker 1: willing to stand on something and I'm the kind of
Speaker 1: person THAT'SI understand on something. I'm not trying to get personal.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about your game, right Listen. I've seen players
Speaker 1: do some stuff behind the scenes. Man, I'm walking out
Speaker 1: of a hotel room whatever, I see whatever, and I'm
Speaker 1: like this. It ain't a legal or nothing like that.
Speaker 1: But I'm just going like this, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you talking about. I keep it moving. You know, my
Speaker 1: business my business some means. But when you shoot two
Speaker 1: for twenty h that's my business. Where you losing gage,
Speaker 1: that's my business. When you sticking up the.
Speaker 5: Joint, that's my business.
Speaker 1: Wen, you're not showing up in practice, that's my business.
Speaker 1: When you're sitting there bitching and want and wan in
Speaker 1: the morning about your money but you ain't earning it,
Speaker 1: that's my business because that's your career that you've decided
Speaker 1: to put on public displays.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 1: That's the difference with your personal business.
Speaker 6: Man.
Speaker 1: I always got you covered with that. As long as
Speaker 1: you know, don't ask me to assist in breaking any
Speaker 1: laws or anything like that, because I ain't going to
Speaker 1: jail for your ass it ain't gonna happen. But outside
Speaker 1: of that, I mean, ain't none of my business.
Speaker 5: I keep it moving football.
Speaker 3: You love your team, I'm thinking you like all things
Speaker 3: New York Stealers.
Speaker 1: You the Steelers got gonna die hard Steelers face because
Speaker 1: the first date, the first game I ever saw was
Speaker 1: the Immaculate Reception, Wow, when I was six years old,
Speaker 1: my dad the Immacular reception Franko Harris against the Raiders,
Speaker 1: and I fell in love with the Black and Gold.
Speaker 1: Ever since, I still haven't given Neil o'donald for that interception.
Speaker 1: Through the Lag Brown and Super Bowl. I still am
Speaker 1: recovering from that. I still have given Ike Taylor for
Speaker 1: given up a damn touchdown passes the Maarius Thomas that
Speaker 1: t Bow threw. Don't get me.
Speaker 3: That might have been the worst moment of your own
Speaker 3: that career. That might have been the worst ones either.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 6: Listen, man, I had Oh my.
Speaker 1: God, I was. I was with a girl I was
Speaker 1: dating at the time, you know, her fond self and everything,
Speaker 1: and I had my mind on other things and t
Speaker 1: Bow connected that pass. I collapsed face first on her
Speaker 1: living room rug and laid there for two hours. Didn't
Speaker 1: do nothing at night. Totally ruined my night. Yeah, totally
Speaker 1: ruined to do nothing. I didn't want anything. It was
Speaker 1: I was so damned depressed of all people. And I
Speaker 1: love him deally, he's my friend. But that non throwing
Speaker 1: Tim Tebow throws eighty yard touchdown Pad, I could not
Speaker 1: believe to save my life that that happened. And I
Speaker 1: couldn't recover that night, Bro. I was depressed.
Speaker 6: But those two moments are my worst as a Steeler speed.
Speaker 3: So obviously, if you're a Steelers fan, you have to
Speaker 3: hate the Cowboys because when the seventies, they always met
Speaker 3: in the Super Bowl, and the Steelers always beat.
Speaker 4: Him the right, the right, Roger Starbuck and Drew Drew, Tony,
Speaker 4: Joe ass out of here come in and Stealers took
Speaker 4: him out. Yes, Bradshaw, Swan, Stalwarts, even Franco Harris Well,
Speaker 4: I really didn't like that much as a running back,
Speaker 4: you understand. I like Rocky Blant more than I like
Speaker 4: Franko Harrison.
Speaker 1: He was a full back. But the Steelers and the
Speaker 1: steel Curtain me and Joe Green L C. Green with
Speaker 1: Jack Lambert, Jack Han Melt blunting. I like, Lord, this
Speaker 1: is what's all about? Yeah, steel Yes, I couldn't root
Speaker 1: for no New York teas they didn't win any It
Speaker 1: was terrible. They're terrible. They're terrible, terrible.
Speaker 3: So now you basketball, that's your thing. What's what's steven
Speaker 3: A's favorite sport?
Speaker 1: It's basketball. But I've grown to really really love footballs
Speaker 1: because because football has been established as an event.
Speaker 6: So that's Sundays.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, when you come to New
Speaker 1: York one the time and bring you by the crib
Speaker 1: and bring you you the crib. You know saying, I
Speaker 1: got I got the main cave, just set up. It's
Speaker 1: set up.
Speaker 5: Now you know we're gonna watch the game together.
Speaker 1: They're right, They're right. We can do that. We do
Speaker 1: that with Ryan Clark, Barcus spills all they talk about
Speaker 1: coming one time. I was just invite you all over
Speaker 1: to make sure I got some catered food. Yeah, hell no,
Speaker 1: hell no. I cooked some lasagna, cook some stek Hell yes.
Speaker 5: We do alf here.
Speaker 1: You might not eat the lasagna, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: knowing you you're watching the cabs and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: but with some of us gonna eat it. But I
Speaker 1: will tell you this, I ain't cooking for a bunch
Speaker 1: of men. That ain't happening. But I'll tell you if
Speaker 1: I tell you this right here, I tell you this
Speaker 1: right here, right now, you know you're gonna go. Football
Speaker 1: has established itself as an event. But really the two
Speaker 1: things I love most, it's basketball, and nothing beats a
Speaker 1: big time boxing event. Oh yeah, Like when I was
Speaker 1: at Ero Spence, I saw you right, It broke my
Speaker 1: I picked Corfort to win.
Speaker 6: I ain't know even win like that.
Speaker 5: Ye, it broke my heart to see Ero.
Speaker 1: Spence get whipped like that. It really really did.
Speaker 6: I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 1: I might be at Canilo versus Charlo o'challo and it,
Speaker 1: but se, my problem is that Charlo's moving up to
Speaker 1: weight classes. I'm scared for him now. He got mad
Speaker 1: skills and he got hard and he walks around looking
Speaker 1: like the bigger guy. But he ain't been in the
Speaker 1: ring with somebody that's punching him from one hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty eight pounds r in a real fight, And so
Speaker 1: that's my concern. His brother got some issues that he
Speaker 1: got to resolve, that's what they say. But he's the
Speaker 1: natural super middleweight, so he was the one who's, in
Speaker 1: my opinion, should have been fighting Charlo. I'm sorry for
Speaker 1: the Canilo rather than this guy. But those big Tom
Speaker 1: boxing events in Vegas, I mean, nothing beats it.
Speaker 3: I mean, this Dispense fight was really big. But it's
Speaker 3: been a while since you had those. I remember going
Speaker 3: to the Mike Tyson and the Mayweather. It was an event.
Speaker 1: Now you Mayweather Pacia, Mayweather Canilo Hoyer. Yes, that was
Speaker 1: a big event too. But I will tell you nothing
Speaker 1: was really bigger than Mayweather Pacquia. We had waited so long, yeah,
Speaker 1: and want it was five years too late late, But
Speaker 1: we didn't know until after the fight that it was
Speaker 1: five years too late, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: leading up to the event, oh my god, it didn't
Speaker 1: get any bigger.
Speaker 3: But you know the thing is everybody that Mayweather fought,
Speaker 3: he made him look like it was five years too late, right,
Speaker 3: And that's how the great that's the greatness of him.
Speaker 5: Yes, everybody that he fought, they like what he beat. Sugar,
Speaker 5: he beat Sugar, Sugar.
Speaker 1: Jane mostly he'd beat Sugar Shane mos second round. Yeah,
Speaker 1: almost heart up as dropped him.
Speaker 3: But you look at you look at the champions that
Speaker 3: this man beat and made them look mundane and beating them.
Speaker 1: You talk about Mayweather I would say the same about Jordan.
Speaker 1: But that's the difference. Oh you know, I'm glad that
Speaker 1: you heard that about what I'm talking about. That's what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, you know, because Jordan will make you look
Speaker 1: like you're less than what you're all like before Scotty
Speaker 1: Lebron fos Scotty and Lebron will beat you, I know
Speaker 1: he but mj would make you.
Speaker 5: Look like less than what you are.
Speaker 3: I know Scott Scotty, I know Scott is gonna don't
Speaker 3: call list and don't invite what's transpired and everything, you know, But.
Speaker 5: That Scott is fault.
Speaker 1: Scotty was wrong.
Speaker 6: Scotty was wrong.
Speaker 5: Oh yeats. But no, no, no, no, no, no. Let me
Speaker 5: tell you how it started.
Speaker 3: Okay, you know it started in the Last Dance, because
Speaker 3: the Last Dance was supposed to be about Jordan's last dance.
Speaker 3: Why are you putting Scotty Pippen in there for an
Speaker 3: event that you weren't even on the team.
Speaker 1: Let the journalist in me correct you go ahead. The
Speaker 1: last dance it was about the last season for the
Speaker 1: Chicago Okay, the last season. Yes, So what happened is
Speaker 1: is that they all on their way out so you're
Speaker 1: telling different stories about them and their careers with the
Speaker 1: Bulls while they're fading into the twilight. Yeah, so that
Speaker 1: kind of stuff does make it relevant.
Speaker 5: But you know you're gonna make Scotty look bad.
Speaker 1: Well, Scotty deserved to look bad.
Speaker 5: But you don't have to tell it. There are a
Speaker 5: lot of times.
Speaker 1: Steven A wait a minute. Now, it ain't like he said, Yo, man,
Speaker 1: this is the woman he was messing with her something. No,
Speaker 1: he said, Yo, you've passed up this contract.
Speaker 5: You wanted more Miami.
Speaker 1: Damn this public information. You Ryan Stork, don't sign this
Speaker 1: deal because if you sign this deal, you can't come
Speaker 1: back to me because I'm not gonna renegotiate your deal.
Speaker 1: I mean, damn, Michael Jordan's gone. You want to be
Speaker 1: that dude, and then you're gonna sit up there and
Speaker 1: refuse to enter the game because of Tony kok coach.
Speaker 1: I mean, that happened in front of millions of people watching.
Speaker 3: It did.
Speaker 1: Come on, man, I.
Speaker 5: Tell you the story.
Speaker 1: Why not part of the story. But Dan, let me
Speaker 1: ask you tell we weren't around me. Excuse me, excuse me.
Speaker 1: Jordan was still around. He was coming to visit the
Speaker 1: team Scottie, people wearing the sneakers, kicking his feet up.
Speaker 1: Look at the bottom of the soles of the shooter. Jordan,
Speaker 1: come on back, come on back, all that other stuff. Hell, yo, Jordan,
Speaker 1: wasn't there that You didn't say nothing about that. By
Speaker 1: the way, where did you play? Did you play different?
Speaker 5: Yes?
Speaker 1: Did you play in Baltimore? Yes, So we shouldn't talk
Speaker 1: about that. Yeah, we should talk. We should talk whatever
Speaker 1: having to Baltimore. We need to be, we need to
Speaker 1: get we need to be.
Speaker 5: Keep that quiet. But here's the thing. It's a part
Speaker 5: of your story. But here's the thing.
Speaker 3: Just the way I look at it, I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: tell an event that I wasn't a part of. So
Speaker 3: anything that happened in Baltimore from two thousand and two
Speaker 3: thousand and one, if I tell it in my story,
Speaker 3: I can tell it in my story because I was
Speaker 3: there when Ray went through what he went through in Atlanta.
Speaker 3: I was there. I was picking him up from the courthouse.
Speaker 3: He was living with me in my basement. So if
Speaker 3: I want to tell my story, that I should.
Speaker 5: Be able to include.
Speaker 1: But that's a far that's a far different angle. The
Speaker 1: man was accused of a crime. It was off the
Speaker 1: field is very personal and even though you were involved,
Speaker 1: that's his personal business. There's nothing about Scotty Pippen turning
Speaker 1: down a contract for Scotty Pippen refusing to enter a
Speaker 1: playoff game. That's personal.
Speaker 5: No, but he's saying light.
Speaker 3: But he said when Scotty was talking about having the
Speaker 3: back surgery and he wanted a contract, and Jordan said
Speaker 3: he's being selfish. Even though I might agree with, I
Speaker 3: ain't saying nobody's gonna be selfie because I want everybody
Speaker 3: to get as much money as they can, right, So
Speaker 3: I'm not gonna say that. But I'm just saying I'm
Speaker 3: not saying George. I just think that Scotty was surprised
Speaker 3: that Jordan took the stance that he took and said
Speaker 3: what he says.
Speaker 1: That's fair. But I will tell you this, Jordan wasn't
Speaker 1: only the start to show. He was also an executive.
Speaker 1: So we all know that that's number one. He is
Speaker 1: an important component to bring up number two. And more importantly,
Speaker 1: you gotta remember that was in the aftermath of him
Speaker 1: turning down the contract and then being bitter about it.
Speaker 1: I'm sorry taking the money rather being a bit about it, right,
Speaker 1: and so you took the money that Jordan and Ryan
Speaker 1: Stoff essentially advised you not to take. You ended up
Speaker 1: being bitter about it, and that was willing to let
Speaker 1: the team suffer because you got to remember where it's
Speaker 1: personal for Jordan. If you're a tight end, which you
Speaker 1: were and your quarterback, you say it, yo, bro, don't
Speaker 1: take this money because you're gonna be bitter about the contract.
Speaker 1: He doesn't listen to you. He takes the money anyway,
Speaker 1: then he's bitter about it later on and refuse to
Speaker 1: step on the field with you. Leave you out there
Speaker 1: hanging by yourself. You don't have something to say.
Speaker 5: Whoa you mean to tell me? Jordan and went on
Speaker 5: them jabs buy himself.
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, no, no, no no, I'm talking about this.
Speaker 1: At the time, he complaint. Oh no, at the time,
Speaker 1: he complaint. At the time he was complaining about Scotty
Speaker 1: being selfish. He was on the court without him. But
Speaker 1: he was like, come on, you're leaving me out here
Speaker 1: because of the decision I told you not to make,
Speaker 1: but you didn't listen and you made it anymore.
Speaker 3: But I think you will agree that hurts Scotty more
Speaker 3: than anything to hear Jordan's say that.
Speaker 6: Okay, fair enough.
Speaker 1: Are we sure that that's all that's hurting guys?
Speaker 5: No, there's some other thing that's going on behind this.
Speaker 5: There you go. There's never just always.
Speaker 1: I didn't say what, and I ain't gonna say what.
Speaker 1: I just asked you a relatively rhetorical question that I
Speaker 1: know you know the answer to. I think it's safe
Speaker 1: to say that we all know.
Speaker 6: Yes, this other thing, Scott is a little enough said
Speaker 6: about it?
Speaker 5: Yes, okay, okay? You and what is it with you?
Speaker 3: Like every time you say something, you say my sources
Speaker 3: say this right, And it seem like players go out
Speaker 3: of their way to try to refute what you said
Speaker 3: on there.
Speaker 1: Well, first of all, when your voice is potent and
Speaker 1: it's gonna go viral, right, and it's gonna resonate, and
Speaker 1: they think it's gonna compromise their brand, that's what they're
Speaker 1: gonna do.
Speaker 6: I understand that.
Speaker 1: I remember, I tell you a story one time I
Speaker 1: had a coach go up in front of reporters. Stephen
Speaker 1: A's wrong. He don't know what the hell he's talking about.
Speaker 1: I can't believe they even let him report on the team,
Speaker 1: blah blah blah blah blah, and then walk by me
Speaker 1: and winked because he did it because he didn't want
Speaker 1: people to know he was the one who gave me
Speaker 1: the story. I've been a journalist for thirty years. I
Speaker 1: got sources all over the sports world, right, every single
Speaker 1: segment of every single show, I get text messages. It's
Speaker 1: a player, it's a coach, it's an executive, it's a
Speaker 1: player person or director. In my case, sometimes it's owners,
Speaker 1: cause I know quite a few, right, Okay, And so
Speaker 1: I have sources all over the place. Does that mean
Speaker 1: I'm always right? Absolutely not. What happens though, is I
Speaker 1: never said I was. I said this is what I
Speaker 1: was told old. And when you make that judgment call,
Speaker 1: what do you making a judgment call about.
Speaker 6: I ain't making a call about your personal life.
Speaker 1: I ain't making a call about something ultra and dacive
Speaker 1: or whatever. You know. The other day, when I made
Speaker 1: the news about Lonzo, I'm like this, they said, Yo,
Speaker 1: Stephen ame. They said, sometimes it's like it's hard for
Speaker 1: him to stand to stand up from the position in
Speaker 1: the chair. All right. I'd heard the same thing on
Speaker 1: several occasions well, two years ago, you missed forty two games.
Speaker 1: Do the injury. The next season, missed the entire season.
Speaker 1: This season is coming up, the team announced. Think about this.
Speaker 1: The team announced the June that he would be available
Speaker 1: before the new year. Think about that. So I'm going
Speaker 1: like this, you gonna literally sit pool side and hop
Speaker 1: up and down in a chair from a seating position
Speaker 1: when you done missed forty eight percent of your games
Speaker 1: and just your fourth or fifth year your career. Brother,
Speaker 1: you clearly are not healthy. Okay, you wanna get literal
Speaker 1: with it. Maybe I shouldn't said or whatever. That's what
Speaker 1: they say, but you ain't exactly. So I'm like, really,
Speaker 1: that's what you want to refuse. And I like Lonzo
Speaker 1: not nothing against them. I hav done against his daddy,
Speaker 1: whatever the case may be. But I would say to you,
Speaker 1: go back to the days when I've covered I was
Speaker 1: a beat writer for the felth in seventy six ers,
Speaker 1: and I'm covering Alan and Iverson and beyond. I've been
Speaker 1: a journalist for thirty years. I was a beat writer
Speaker 1: for ten. I was a general sports columnist for another
Speaker 1: seven or eight. I've been around and so there's been
Speaker 1: plenty of times when people have refuted what I've said
Speaker 1: and then years later come to find out I was
Speaker 1: telling the truth all along. You go ahead and you
Speaker 1: denied that. I remember one time I had a player.
Speaker 1: I'm in Saint Thomas is where my family's from. And
Speaker 1: if you go to Saint Thomas's spot called red Hook,
Speaker 1: and Red Hook is where you're going. You take the
Speaker 1: boat from Saint Thomas to Saint John's. It's only a
Speaker 1: fifteen minute boat rocket and I'm literally docking away from
Speaker 1: Red Hook going into the ocean. I get a call
Speaker 1: up one out and it's saying I'm lying. I'm like,
Speaker 1: what the hell are you care? You already told them
Speaker 1: you leaving. It's hurting my brand. And you realize how
Speaker 1: a lot of cats are thinking. They're thinking about their
Speaker 1: social media following. They're thinking about the connections that they have,
Speaker 1: They're thinking about how that's gonna be parlayed in a
Speaker 1: monetary value for themselves down the line, and how I
Speaker 1: could be compromised. And so when you see these denials,
Speaker 1: let's say, you say, all right, it makes sense, I
Speaker 1: got it.
Speaker 6: I leave it alone.
Speaker 1: But my attitude is I'm not giving you a death sentence,
Speaker 1: And I'm not talking about your personal business, right, I'm
Speaker 1: talking about relatively obvious stuff. Calm the hell down and
Speaker 1: stop making it bigger than what it is and you'll
Speaker 1: be fine.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 3: The conversation that I saw a little bit of it
Speaker 3: about well, Steph Curry, I think on gilb with Arenas
Speaker 3: Agent Zeros podcast saying.
Speaker 5: He's the greatest point guard. You agreed or disagree.
Speaker 1: I agreed, but I was mistaken. And the reason why
Speaker 1: I say I was mistaken is because what I wanted
Speaker 1: to elaborate on is when you're talking about a typical,
Speaker 1: quintessential point god, you're talking about a facilitator. Magic Johnson's
Speaker 1: the greatest ever. Yeah, there's no question. What I was
Speaker 1: talking about was impact from the position, and to me,
Speaker 1: Steph Curry's marksmanship, combined with his ability to move without
Speaker 1: the ball, puts a defense's head on a swivel. And
Speaker 1: as a result of that, because of the panic he
Speaker 1: creates because of his extraordinary marksmanship, you have to pay
Speaker 1: rapt attention to him. You can't afford to Billy pay
Speaker 1: attention to anybody else. And that, to me, is a
Speaker 1: similar impact to Magic Johnson's ability to get to the
Speaker 1: basket throw, no look passes, and especially Magic Johnson in
Speaker 1: the open court in a fast break. But if you
Speaker 1: put Magic Johnson in a half court setting, he backs
Speaker 1: you down, he throws the ball to Kareem abdu Jabal.
Speaker 1: Open court is worthy? Is Byron Scott's cooper. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, This stuff like that, pick your poison.
Speaker 6: I was talking about impact.
Speaker 1: I wasn't talking about a quintessential facilitator.
Speaker 6: That's the point guard.
Speaker 1: Steph Curry is clearly not that.
Speaker 5: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I don't really look. I look at Steph as a
Speaker 1: two right. I understand that because.
Speaker 3: All of you got new age guys, Dame Lillard, Steph Current,
Speaker 3: all these guys are two guards masquerading. They just they're
Speaker 3: not the point guard. I'm looking at point guard like
Speaker 3: Magic John, Stockton, Jason Kidd, Mark Jackson. When I think
Speaker 3: point guard, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1: I got you. We agree, we agree, we agree. I mean, listen,
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson is so phenomenal. And Michael Jordan has been
Speaker 1: arguing on me about this forever because Magic John's the
Speaker 1: greatest in his eyes as well. So you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, it's one of those and changing that dudes
Speaker 1: man changing antal changeing Michael George's you ain't got no
Speaker 1: snowball chance in Helifloria. But but but but he's right,
Speaker 1: And and Eddie Johnson does NBA radio, He's absolutely right.
Speaker 1: He was talking about a mad Dog Russo and his
Speaker 1: story and he was talking about he was absolutely right.
Speaker 1: We know that as a pure pass that Magic Johnson
Speaker 1: is the greatest facilitator the game has ever seen. But
Speaker 1: I'm saying as an impact, you could talk about Steph
Speaker 1: Curry being the two guard, but I would tell you
Speaker 1: he has the ball in the hands enough the offense
Speaker 1: runs through him, and the impact his marksmanship creates creates
Speaker 1: just as much habit as Magic Johnson situated. And that's
Speaker 1: all I was trying to say, which is why, even
Speaker 1: though if you're taught them about a prototypical point guard,
Speaker 1: you would pick others before him, if you're talking about impact,
Speaker 1: it's him and Magic Johnson.
Speaker 3: Yeah, oh we do, no question, there's no denying that.
Speaker 3: Exactly when you look at Lebron. Let's take Lebron and you.
Speaker 3: You were covering the NBA when Lebron got in, yep,
Speaker 3: I said Lebron is overachieved because no matter what you
Speaker 3: thought he might be, ain't nowhere in hell you thought
Speaker 3: he would be this good Steve to day.
Speaker 1: No, I didn't. That's why I got him number two.
Speaker 1: Old time. Lebron James is one of the greatest ever.
Speaker 1: Do it and listen, we're gonna miss him.
Speaker 6: When he's going.
Speaker 1: I can sit up there and I can have my
Speaker 1: basketball decisions as if Michael Jordan won him two. But
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you, man, I got so much love
Speaker 1: and respect for Lebron, and a lot of people they misconstrue.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean by that when I say
Speaker 1: I got love for a brother that I barely know,
Speaker 1: because it's not like I talk to him every day
Speaker 1: or whatever.
Speaker 6: Even though we accord you to one another in the whole.
Speaker 1: Nine, I'm saying, I appreciate who you are and what
Speaker 1: you've meant. Yes to our community, to basketball, to young men,
Speaker 1: particularly young black men everywhere the student is phenomenal. Man.
Speaker 1: And And to be a guy that was on the
Speaker 1: cover of Sports Illustrated and the only blemish in his
Speaker 1: entire career is that I'm taking my talents to South Beach.
Speaker 1: That is literally the only staying on his career.
Speaker 5: And he raised money for the boys and Glad.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's ridiculous. A businessman, extraordinary actor, he did
Speaker 1: a great job and everything. Think I'm joking when I
Speaker 1: put the tick of him great actor, great because because
Speaker 1: you know, we so sens of develolebron Jas actually had
Speaker 1: a ticker creator for first take great actor, great business man.
Speaker 1: Don't be there for you, it's no be there when
Speaker 1: you bring about saying, I said, can we get it
Speaker 1: out of the way, because I want to make sure
Speaker 1: he knows I recognize all the greatness about him. Listen
Speaker 1: to the movie Trade Wreckord. You see what he did.
Speaker 1: He was great, He was great. He did a great
Speaker 1: job you know with Amy Schulman. Believe I mean, he
Speaker 1: was fantastic.
Speaker 5: You know, I got it.
Speaker 1: But the point is that the dude is phenomenal on
Speaker 1: a multitude of levels. And when he has done for
Speaker 1: us as black people in this nation in terms of
Speaker 1: his business acumen, his commitment to excellence. You know, this
Speaker 1: brother takes care of his body. He's always in shape.
Speaker 1: I mean I looked at He's the reason that I
Speaker 1: got mad at Anthony Davis last.
Speaker 6: Year because I'm looking at Anthony Davis.
Speaker 1: You know this brother vouched for you, right, you know
Speaker 1: this brother his name on the line for you, right,
Speaker 1: I know you. I know you got him the ring
Speaker 1: in the bubble, but you understand that.
Speaker 6: Don't stop there?
Speaker 1: Right? How is he in better shape than you? How
Speaker 1: is he more focused and dedicated than you? Could you
Speaker 1: take your ass over his house and and mimic his workout,
Speaker 1: use his trainer, use his nutritionness, do something, and you
Speaker 1: under saying I'm saying, I'm like, it's like, come on now,
Speaker 1: look man, I'm the star. First day he tell you
Speaker 1: some shin shaw, I'm gonna do some more pushups. Bro'ess
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I'm gonna change my diet even more.
Speaker 1: I ain't gonna let you down, bro, I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna be there. I got shinning and Ron RC
Speaker 1: sitting across from me with him with his sitting this
Speaker 1: facility in Louisiana and all of this.
Speaker 4: Other stuff, And I'm gonna roll around with a belly.
Speaker 1: And looking all shit. Oh no, no, no, it ain't
Speaker 1: going down like that. It ain't going down like that.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be in shape, bro, I've been getting the
Speaker 1: shape I already lost some pounds. I really do it.
Speaker 1: My body fat and half. I did all that. But
Speaker 1: what I'm I'll never be the black Hawk, but you are.
Speaker 1: I ain't trying to do that. But you ain't gonna
Speaker 1: look at me and go like this. Damn he needed
Speaker 1: to get the Jimmy ain't in shape. I ain't gonna
Speaker 1: do that. I ain't gonna do Homa bring it that.
Speaker 1: You got Molly sitting in the middle and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: You sitting across from me. I'm like, and I'm looking Chabby, Nah,
Speaker 1: it ain't going down like that. And I'm looking at
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis like, ain't there's nothing inside of you that said,
Speaker 1: you know, I need to be in shape. You gonna
Speaker 1: drop forty one game and eleven and next Come on, bro,
Speaker 1: come on bro. You know it's like you looking at
Speaker 1: Lebron and I literally almost went on the air.
Speaker 6: It was like, you know, Lebron, I'm.
Speaker 1: Sorry I felt that bad for you because I'm like,
Speaker 1: in his twentieth year in the league, he's in better shape,
Speaker 1: and he the best player, and he actually don't want
Speaker 1: to be He actually wishes you were in better shape.
Speaker 1: He actually wishes you were the better player which you
Speaker 1: are where you bring your a game, but it's sporadic
Speaker 1: because of a lack of dedication. In my opinion, I
Speaker 1: don't know that, but I'm like, wouldn't you think that
Speaker 1: if you were Lebron, Like, wait a minute, when something missing?
Speaker 1: You ain't doing sun right.
Speaker 5: I'm almost ten years more in the league with more
Speaker 5: wear and tears.
Speaker 1: Come on, man, come on, man, and you in l
Speaker 1: A and you know this because you've been out here,
Speaker 1: live out here now a different flavor. You know you
Speaker 1: got to be disciplined to be out here. You can't
Speaker 1: you you you can't easily locate the distract I mean
Speaker 1: they are easy to find. Distractions.
Speaker 3: Well, that's the thing with discipline. It requires you to
Speaker 3: do your best with no one. You think, no one
Speaker 3: is watched. There you go, there you go. You know
Speaker 3: what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Listen. When I'm in l A, Bro, I don't come
Speaker 1: outside until I finish my work out. Other than the
Speaker 1: first take, I don't come outside until I finish my
Speaker 1: workout because I know once I get outside there's gonna
Speaker 1: be a wild before I get back.
Speaker 3: I'm just not gonna put You're gonna.
Speaker 1: Be because I'm just I'm just not gonna want to.
Speaker 1: I'm just like, you know what I'm saying. You know
Speaker 1: that's right.
Speaker 5: We're gonna be We're gonna be in the gym together, in.
Speaker 1: Gym that I'm not listen, you wanted you want to
Speaker 1: meme that people will be laughing at me for the
Speaker 1: next two decades have me in the gym with sharing
Speaker 1: his shop. Come on, man, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: That's like, that's like the rock standing next to Snoop Dog.
Speaker 1: We ain't doing that. We're the snupids my job. You
Speaker 1: know you know I love you, baby, You know I
Speaker 1: love you. Know what I mean? Come on now, I
Speaker 1: ain't doing that. I'm not getting in the gym with you.
Speaker 5: You won't work out, huh, just won't work out.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna work out every listen, I work out. You
Speaker 1: know what I might do that I might I'm gonna
Speaker 1: wait a few months, though, I'm gonna wait a few months.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do that just yet.
Speaker 5: Okay, Dame yea man and James Harden situation.
Speaker 3: Yes, shir Dame is you know he looks he saw
Speaker 3: James Harden get fined one hundred thousand for calling Daryl
Speaker 3: Mourray a liar. He's like, I ain't trying to, you know,
Speaker 3: lose any of my money. So what's what's your take
Speaker 3: on those situations?
Speaker 1: Well, when I think about Dame, it's more sensitive to
Speaker 1: me because Dame could have demanded out several occasions and
Speaker 1: he never did. And it's Portland. It ain't like he
Speaker 1: didn't demand out of La on my end, right, he
Speaker 1: didn't demand out a poor right, okay, and he was
Speaker 1: never gonna get anybody to come to pot he was gonna.
Speaker 1: So now that he's been there a decade and he's like,
Speaker 1: it's time look out for the brother now. Now, should
Speaker 1: he have handled it a tab bit differently in terms
Speaker 1: of all right, I shouldn't have said, just Miami, try
Speaker 1: to work behind the scenes to get this done. Maybe
Speaker 1: he shouldn't have done that, right, But the bottom line
Speaker 1: is he's given Portland everything he's had, right, and you know,
Speaker 1: you moving in a different direction, you drop your number.
Speaker 1: The third overall pick is your school. Henderson's play your position.
Speaker 1: Come on, y'all, get it done, you know. And so
Speaker 1: that's how I feel. I support Dame on that. James
Speaker 1: Hard is a different animal, and I like James, but
Speaker 1: James gotta be more accountable. You got everything you want.
Speaker 1: They gave you everything but a Pacify and a BIB
Speaker 1: in Houston. Whatever you wanted they gave They did everything, money,
Speaker 1: helicopter rods, massad, therapist suits, hang out, the strip club
Speaker 1: or whenever you want to everything, you want to Vegas,
Speaker 1: whenever you want me. They gave you everything, and Darryl
Speaker 1: Moury took care of you to the point where Mike
Speaker 1: d'antonia didn't even show negative players at James Harder. When
Speaker 1: James Harden was in the film room, he showed about
Speaker 1: everybody else wouldn't even show home in the film room.
Speaker 1: This is me covering the NBA. I'm telling you what
Speaker 1: I know. Then you force your way out. You want
Speaker 1: to go to Philly because you want to go with
Speaker 1: Darryl Moore. You want to follow him there, but they
Speaker 1: say no, So you want to go to Brooklyn. They
Speaker 1: tell you no. Initially, you show up the camp out
Speaker 1: of shape. You make it very very clear that you
Speaker 1: ain't trying to do anything because you're trying to get
Speaker 1: the hell out of town. So they ultimately trade you
Speaker 1: to Brooklyn. You get in Brooklyn, they you force your
Speaker 1: way out of it because you want to go with
Speaker 1: Daryl Morey and Philly, which is where you wanted to
Speaker 1: go all along. Now, although we can't absolve Darryl Morey,
Speaker 1: if you lied to the man, you lied to me,
Speaker 1: ain't nobody giving, ain't nobody blaming, right, you know, if
Speaker 1: you told him that, you owe him that correct fit period.
Speaker 1: But why is anybody gonna be sympathetic to James Harden
Speaker 1: with what James Harden has done on three separate occasions,
Speaker 1: and now you're doing it a fourth And you gotta
Speaker 1: remember when he was in Houston. I want Dwight Howard.
Speaker 1: I don't want Dwhight Howard. I want Carmelo Anthony, don't
Speaker 1: want Carmelo Anthony. I want CP three. I don't want
Speaker 1: CP three. I want Russ. I don't want Russ. And
Speaker 1: now one single championship to show for it. It ain't
Speaker 1: like you are champion making these demands. You getting paid.
Speaker 1: You're a show stopper, we get it, but you have
Speaker 1: no championships to show for any of your efforts. At
Speaker 1: some point in time, somebody got to be willing to
Speaker 1: say to you, yo, can you give me a little
Speaker 1: bit more? Oh? By the way, don't get me started
Speaker 1: with close out games in the playoffs. We just saw
Speaker 1: what you did in the Game seven nine points, three
Speaker 1: and eleven shooting, and a Game seven close out game
Speaker 1: against Boston. You had him for Game six, you were
Speaker 1: up three to two on your home turf in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: and look what happened. Those are the kind of things
Speaker 1: that I'm talking about. And so when something like that happens, man,
Speaker 1: I can't support that, right can. I can like him
Speaker 1: and be cool with him, but I can't support those
Speaker 1: decisions that he's can't do it. What's Katy's legacy going
Speaker 1: to be? What's Kevin Durant's legacy gonna do?
Speaker 3: I think, Stephen A. He was up three to one
Speaker 3: on the Golden State Warriors. He's up three to one
Speaker 3: on a seventy three win team, lose Game five, lose
Speaker 3: Game six, lose Game seven, and in games five and
Speaker 3: six and seven of games five and six, he shot
Speaker 3: the ball terrible.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I will tell you this. I think that Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant is one of the greatest players that I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: But when I saw how things materialized in Brooklyn and
Speaker 1: then he went to Phoenix and got bounced out in
Speaker 1: the second round of Denver. What I said was, I
Speaker 1: can't put him above Lebron. I used to look at
Speaker 1: him and his offensive arsenal and think that, But what
Speaker 1: I realized is that I'm not showing enough respect and
Speaker 1: appreciation to the leadership that Lebron has exerted and exhibited.
Speaker 1: Lebron has been the face of every franchise he's been on,
Speaker 1: even though d Wade was that leader in Miami. And
Speaker 1: when you look at Lebron, what he had to deal
Speaker 1: with with Kyrie, you know, what he had to deal
Speaker 1: with when he arrived in LA what he had to
Speaker 1: deal with with all the vitriol aimed in his direction
Speaker 1: in Miami and stuff like that. Mental toughness, ultimately leadership accountability.
Speaker 1: You know, of course his he is in Cleveland. Of course,
Speaker 1: when you look at all of these things, he showed
Speaker 1: an ability to deal with things. Kevin Durant did not right.
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant is a phenom. I'm player, a good brother,
Speaker 1: really authentic in a lot of ways. I got a
Speaker 1: lot of love for him. He is a two time champion,
Speaker 1: in two time NBA Finals MVP. We can't tell I
Speaker 1: don't care that he's playing with the Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 1: He averaged thirty five, he was the MVP. He balled out,
Speaker 1: you know, he showed his greatness. But the problem that
Speaker 1: I would tell you that was really put on display
Speaker 1: in Brooklyn. He needed to be a leader. But he
Speaker 1: doesn't want that. He's already told you that, And that's
Speaker 1: the difference. Lebron wants it. Lebron wants to be the leader.
Speaker 1: Lebron accepts it.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 1: You know, Kyrie is Kyrie, and you know I'm not
Speaker 1: here to I'm not gonna throw no shade. Me and
Speaker 1: Kyrie have had our issues. That stuff has been resolved.
Speaker 1: But the point is is that at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, Kyrie, that is somebody that Kevin Durant, if
Speaker 1: he were that leader.
Speaker 6: Had to reel in right by simply saying, man.
Speaker 1: Bump all this. We trying to win the chip. Kyrie
Speaker 1: doesn't hurt his ankle against Milwaukee in the playoffs, Brooklyn
Speaker 1: might have won it all right, because I think they
Speaker 1: win that series against Milwaukee, and I think they could
Speaker 1: have beaten Phoenix. I mean, it's just that simple to me.
Speaker 1: And so when I'm looking at it from that perspective,
Speaker 1: I'm just saying to myself, you, Kevin Durant, it's about
Speaker 1: living and let living, and I'll do my job now.
Speaker 1: It's about making sure that the ultimate job is to
Speaker 1: try to win the chip and letting nothing stand in
Speaker 1: the way of that. If you're on a football field,
Speaker 1: Ray Lewis might have been the leader.
Speaker 5: You ain't gonna be quiet.
Speaker 1: If you see cats blowing your opportunity to win the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Championship, You're gonna be like yo. And I
Speaker 1: remember when Isaiah Thomas, the Great Isaiah Thomas, two time Champion,
Speaker 1: Hall of Famale Isaiah Thomas was arguing, will be one
Speaker 1: time about Kyrie And I said to him it was
Speaker 1: over the back seat thing, and I said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: end this conversation right now, Zeke by one simple question.
Speaker 1: If a member of the Detroit Pistons that was such
Speaker 1: an integral part of your champion your ship hopes, took
Speaker 1: that position, what would you have done? Isaiah started laughing.
Speaker 1: He said, as a team, we had have snatched his
Speaker 1: ass up, we had sat him down, tied them up,
Speaker 1: and we had ejected the shitting. To myself, he said,
Speaker 1: now you might have been mad at us.
Speaker 5: You might have been mad at us, right, but we would.
Speaker 1: Have done it, I said, I rest my case. All
Speaker 1: I'm saying is that at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: were trying to win and anything that gets in a
Speaker 1: way of that is secondary right to that actually being
Speaker 1: the priority. It's all I'm saying. And I think Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant should have had that attitude, and I don't think
Speaker 1: he didn't.
Speaker 3: You look at the West, the Nuggets won the championships.
Speaker 3: I like Nicola Yokich. I think he's one of the
Speaker 3: two best players in all of basketball. You got Phoenix
Speaker 3: this is a year book and Katie together, Brandley Bill joined.
Speaker 3: You got the Warriors CP three. What's gonna be his
Speaker 3: role in that situation? The Lakers if Anthony Davis is healthy,
Speaker 3: I like that. They they have depth. Austin Reeves I
Speaker 3: like him.
Speaker 1: I like him.
Speaker 5: What's how's the westcot shaking?
Speaker 1: First of all, we always root for the Lakers because
Speaker 1: they're stuff to colorfor. I mean, you know, if you
Speaker 1: ask me, do I want to go to San Francisco
Speaker 1: or La is l a all day every day twice
Speaker 1: for Sundays, so so just for my own personal preferences,
Speaker 1: it's always La La Miami is my dream scenario. That's
Speaker 1: why I was so miserable doing COVID because the one
Speaker 1: time I wanted to get my dreams in the bubble,
Speaker 1: I was so depressed. I was so depressed. But I'll
Speaker 1: tell you this, I don't believe in Anthony Davis in
Speaker 1: terms of his availability. I'm not talking about his skill set.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about whether he cares or not. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about injury prone, sporadic. There's something going on with
Speaker 1: him where instead of talking about me getting in the gym,
Speaker 1: you need to be jogging in him to get in
Speaker 1: the gym, because it's just up and down. It's like
Speaker 1: it's like it's like this brother sat up there, ate
Speaker 1: healthy meal one day and then ate a bag of
Speaker 1: skittles the next, and it's this plumbing.
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I don't understand it, and I can't have faith in that.
Speaker 1: I think they'll make the playoffs. I think they'll be formidable.
Speaker 1: I dismissed the Clippers because I just don't believe that
Speaker 1: Kawhi Lennard will ever be healthy. I just don't believe that.
Speaker 5: Well U Paul George's miss Damn.
Speaker 1: There's much time I agree with you. That's totally totally true, Troy.
Speaker 1: I remember I just saw the numbers recently. I think
Speaker 1: Paul George misses about thirty eight percent of his game
Speaker 1: in Kauhi is at forty eight percent. So I think
Speaker 1: it's around that. Paul George talking about he gonna play
Speaker 1: bully ball and all that. We'll see, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Especially Hen talking to him and Devin Book
Speaker 1: was going back and forth. I got to see that
Speaker 1: right because I know Devin Book is coming that dude,
Speaker 1: de Book. Devin Book is real and I'm talking about
Speaker 1: his mentality. He ain't scared of nothing. He coming for you.
Speaker 1: So I definitely respect that. And we're gonna see what
Speaker 1: Bill and kd do together as well. Phoenix, to me,
Speaker 1: should be the favorites. You look at Denver, uh, They're
Speaker 1: obviously formidable and you got that cohesive missile. I would
Speaker 1: tell you a rematch between Denver and Phoenix and all
Speaker 1: likelihood the conference finals as opposed to the divisional playoff
Speaker 1: round semifinals. Rather, we'll see that, but that's what comes
Speaker 1: to my mind. I don't expect much from Dallas, even
Speaker 1: though Anthony Edwards is on the rise, I don't expect
Speaker 1: much from Minnesota. I don't expect much from Minnesota. I
Speaker 1: think that was to me they don't have the person out.
Speaker 3: Do you think do you think Minnesota should not run
Speaker 3: the team through Anthony Edwards as opposed to Cat Yes, yeah,
Speaker 3: I agree.
Speaker 1: I agree totally. I think that Anthony Edwards is one
Speaker 1: of those dudes. He's one of those dudes. He's coming
Speaker 1: and I feel that way. But I definitely think that
Speaker 1: when you look at the two teams, I would look
Speaker 1: at Phoenix and Denver, and then I would look at
Speaker 1: the Lakers and Clippers on the outside on the come up, right.
Speaker 1: That's how I view the West. You didn't mention the Grizzlies,
Speaker 1: obviously the Josh situation. Hopefully, I think they're people should
Speaker 1: have mentioned the Grizzlies.
Speaker 3: They're appealing his twenty five game suspension, so I'm under
Speaker 3: the assumption that it's gonna stick. Let's just say, for
Speaker 3: the sake for this argument, it's going to stick.
Speaker 1: It's gonna stick.
Speaker 3: You've been outspoken yet, I've been very outspoken, and I
Speaker 3: don't know jall, but if I could sit down, I
Speaker 3: just think he was I just thought he was moving
Speaker 3: in a direction that wasn't conducing to accomplish what he
Speaker 3: really really wanted to accomplish. That's been an outstanding basketball player,
Speaker 3: be a brand the job, brand being one of the
Speaker 3: faces of the NBA. I agree with you, what if
Speaker 3: there's some advice you could give him. I don't know
Speaker 3: how well you know.
Speaker 6: It's dad, I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't.
Speaker 6: I've met him both at once.
Speaker 1: John's a great player.
Speaker 5: Jo's phenomenal.
Speaker 1: And I think that Jah is gonna come back with
Speaker 1: a vengeance. You know, I really really believe he's gonna
Speaker 1: come back with a vengeance. He's gonna recavoc. And I
Speaker 1: love the acquisition of Marcus Smart I got bossed by
Speaker 1: the way as my favorite overall.
Speaker 5: Really yes, I do.
Speaker 1: Wow. I think porzingis at seven to three with the
Speaker 1: ability to step away from the basket and shoot, combined
Speaker 1: with Tatum and Brown still keeping Al Horford okay and
Speaker 1: Robert Williams in the mix with a Derek with a
Speaker 1: Derek White, with a Malcolm Brogdon the range and sixth
Speaker 1: man of the year. I think when you look at
Speaker 1: their depth, athleticism and perimeter shooting, their ability to defend
Speaker 1: the fact that was Zula has a year under his
Speaker 1: belt coach and the team. I think all of those
Speaker 1: things bowled well for Boston. They been knocking on the
Speaker 1: door long enough. You Jalen Brown, you just signed three
Speaker 1: hundred million dollars, You damn well better show up. And
Speaker 1: if you and if you Jason Tatum, who's in line
Speaker 1: for about three hundred and sixty million, you damn well
Speaker 1: better show up. And so I'm gonna assume that they will.
Speaker 1: But I think Mark is smart. Losing him it'll be
Speaker 1: felt to some degree, but I definitely think it's gonna
Speaker 1: help Memphis immensely, right, And I think that, you know
Speaker 1: a and I think that.
Speaker 5: And you get Steven Adams back Stan Clark.
Speaker 1: And people don't realize Adams and Clark being gone. Lakers
Speaker 1: don't beat them like that. If Adams and Clark are healthy,
Speaker 1: that just doesn't happen, cause Adams and Clark are no joke.
Speaker 6: And so I take that into consideration as well.
Speaker 1: Having said all of that, I'm not sure. And they're
Speaker 1: shooting collectively, right, okay, So that concerns me. I think
Speaker 1: they're sporadic defensively, that concerns me. I think they're coaching
Speaker 1: concerns me to some degree, So I look at Memphis.
Speaker 1: But in terms of my advice to Joe, it's this, man,
Speaker 1: some people you gotta leave behind. And I don't mean
Speaker 1: cut them off like you don't know them. I don't
Speaker 1: mean cut them off like you can't be with them.
Speaker 1: But I'll give you a perfect example. I got brothers
Speaker 1: that I grew up with in Queens, New York. Half
Speaker 1: of them are dead cause you know, the drug game
Speaker 1: was real prevalent then, and I was blessed that I
Speaker 1: was never a part of it, but most of my
Speaker 1: friends were. And you know, I got a couple of
Speaker 1: I got a couple of brothers that you know, did
Speaker 1: some time, and I'll always look out for them. I'll
Speaker 1: always have love for them, Shannon, they can't hang with me. No,
Speaker 1: they can't hang with me. You're not coming to work
Speaker 1: with me. You're not coming to a game with me.
Speaker 1: That's not happening. I see a neighborhood. What's uff?
Speaker 6: How you doing? You need me for anything?
Speaker 1: What's so? What you need? I can help you. I'm
Speaker 1: more happy to do that. So I'm not told about ostracizing.
Speaker 1: But the NBA is your business. What happened with Ja
Speaker 1: Moran cast him about sixty million ounces. Sixty million ounce,
Speaker 1: You ain't getting that back, no matter how much money
Speaker 1: you get, you ain't getting that back. And so for me,
Speaker 1: you know, with his dad, Look, I'm a father, you're
Speaker 1: a father. Here's the deal. I know you can't tell
Speaker 1: your son, literally tell him what to do. He's a
Speaker 1: grown up, right, but certain things he don't need to
Speaker 1: be doing it right in front of you. Correct you
Speaker 1: the grown up, you dad, and you are not supposed
Speaker 1: to be trying to live the life he live in.
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Y'all made it and you're gonna make it even more.
Speaker 5: And so it's not to cast.
Speaker 1: Dispersions, assault them, detegrate them in any way. Who wouldn't
Speaker 1: root for Ja Moran? Who ain't rooting for him to succeed.
Speaker 1: I don't know anybody that they I know I'm rooting
Speaker 1: for him. I know you're rooting for them. But how
Speaker 1: are we helping you? If we see you doing stuff
Speaker 1: that we know could potentially lead to your downfall and
Speaker 1: we say nothing, are we really trying to help you?
Speaker 1: If we say nothing, No, we're not trying to help you.
Speaker 1: And that's why we say something, because we want you
Speaker 1: to correct the errors so you could rise and prosper
Speaker 1: and live your life.
Speaker 3: I don't know what you feel about this, but I
Speaker 3: said this at the time the seventy fifth anniversary. I
Speaker 3: said Anthony Davis shouldn't have made it over to White Howard.
Speaker 3: Stan Van Gundy said, you can't make a case to
Speaker 3: say is Anthony Davis's career has been better than the
Speaker 3: White Howard.
Speaker 5: What's your take on that?
Speaker 6: I kind of agree.
Speaker 1: Anthony Davis was a prolific scorer, but at the end
Speaker 1: of the day, he wasn't relevant until he arrived to
Speaker 1: the Lakers with Lebron correct Dwight Howard was a three
Speaker 1: time Defensive Player of the Year, extraordinary shot blocker and eraser.
Speaker 1: Was never the offensive player that Anthony Davis know us,
Speaker 1: but certainly was just as impactful, yes, and morel because
Speaker 1: he was on the squad that Anthony Davis won a
Speaker 1: championship with as a reserve, right, which means he's got
Speaker 1: a ring too, right, And so you offset that and
Speaker 1: now look at their careers. Even though the talent that
Speaker 1: is Anthony Davis I consider to be better than the
Speaker 1: White Howard, right, the impact of your career is not
Speaker 1: greater than that of the right Howard.
Speaker 3: D White Howard took the team to the NBA finals. Yes,
Speaker 3: he did in his prime. He's one of the five
Speaker 3: best players.
Speaker 5: In the NBA.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, absolutely, So I can't disagree with that. I can't.
Speaker 1: I can say Anthony Davis is a better talent, yes,
Speaker 1: but it also highlights what you must not be doing
Speaker 1: because a lesser talent, that is Dwhite Howard was more
Speaker 1: impactful than you were. Right.
Speaker 3: Players under twenty five, you got Luca JT, Trey Young, Zion,
Speaker 3: Anthony Edwards. You know what, Zion, because you've been very
Speaker 3: I've been very outspoken, Steven that you know, I'm a
Speaker 3: nutritional guy. Guy, I'm in the b and I said
Speaker 3: that he just do me. I said, y'all a chief,
Speaker 3: Oh Shaddy, you don't know what's going on. I say, bro,
Speaker 3: the man is three hundred plus. I can tell he's
Speaker 3: not eating the way he should in order to maximize burgers.
Speaker 3: But you know, you you know in New Orleans eating
Speaker 3: gumbo and you say and Jumbaliah everything.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So what Joa?
Speaker 3: How do we how do we get Zion to understand
Speaker 3: because I think the greatest person that he needs to
Speaker 3: sit down and have an hour long conversation with is
Speaker 3: Charles Barkley. He's a more athletic Charles Barkley.
Speaker 1: I just gotta be honest. I don't think he cares enough. Wow,
Speaker 1: I don't think he cares enough. I'm not saying he
Speaker 1: doesn't care. I'm not talking about caring. I'm talking about
Speaker 1: that fire passion that it's the end all beyond, because
Speaker 1: I believe he's in a market he don't want to
Speaker 1: be in. That said, I believe if he was in
Speaker 1: New York or someplace where he really really wanted to be,
Speaker 1: we see a more dedicated zion to his physicality. And
Speaker 1: the point is is that I don't know that to
Speaker 1: be sure. But you can't walk around as big as
Speaker 1: he is. No, and tell me you dedicated, right, You can't.
Speaker 1: You can't because even when you're when you're restricted in
Speaker 1: terms of your mobility, you know what you'll do. You'll
Speaker 1: eat less and you'll eat better because you'll fear bloating,
Speaker 1: you'll fear blowing up and not being ready when called upon.
Speaker 1: Once you here, that hasn't been the case.
Speaker 3: Because if you eating bad while you're active in running
Speaker 3: up and down the court. What the hell you think
Speaker 3: you're gonna eat when you can't run up and down
Speaker 3: the court, that's right. So now the thirty pound that
Speaker 3: you took off because you was healthy and athletic and
Speaker 3: running up and down the court, you better put fifty back.
Speaker 1: Home, exactly. And that's exactly how I feel. And because
Speaker 1: of that, again, I love Zion's game. I believe he's
Speaker 1: a potential superstar in this league.
Speaker 6: He's something to behold.
Speaker 1: But I think it's fair to question his commitment to
Speaker 1: his conditioning, right. And if you're questioning somebody's commissions, you know,
Speaker 1: commitment to conditioning, you're questioning whether or not they care.
Speaker 6: And that's really what it comes down to.
Speaker 5: The right.
Speaker 3: We've talked about players under twenty five, Luca, Jason Tatum,
Speaker 3: Trey Young, Zion, Anthony Edwards, LaMelo Chake, Gil just D Fox,
Speaker 3: or Jordan Poole. I'm gonna give you one guy of
Speaker 3: those guys I mentioned, who you taking.
Speaker 1: A lot of people would say Luca, I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: Jason Tatum. Jason Tatum sixty nine, jaseon to shoot the three.
Speaker 1: I saw Jason Tatum drop forty six in a close
Speaker 1: out playoff Game six in Milwaukee's I saw Jason Tatum
Speaker 1: handle his business in the game seven. I've seen a
Speaker 1: young Jason Tatum, who ain't even twenty seven years of
Speaker 1: age yet be a primary option on a team that's
Speaker 1: going to five conference championship game, a championship series, in
Speaker 1: an NBA Finals. I just look at him and I say,
Speaker 1: and not only that, we just talked about conditioning. There
Speaker 1: have been times when we looked at Luker and we've
Speaker 1: said he ain't in shape. He's getting in shape right
Speaker 1: the season progresses, correct, we.
Speaker 6: Look at Jason Tatum from day one and say.
Speaker 1: He's in shape right.
Speaker 6: That matters to me.
Speaker 1: I would go with Jason Tatum.
Speaker 3: Andre Agodalad says, the player with the mentality is closest
Speaker 3: to Kobe Bryant is Jimmy Butler.
Speaker 5: You agree with that.
Speaker 1: Closest to Kobe Bryant is Jimmy Butler. As far as mentality,
Speaker 1: you could say that I would beg to differ who
Speaker 1: you like.
Speaker 6: Devin Booker, Jimmy Butler works.
Speaker 1: But the difference between Jimmy Butler and Devin Booker is
Speaker 1: Jimmy Butler doesn't care that much about offense until the
Speaker 1: postseason arrived. Right, Kobe cared about it all the time. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And Devin Booker cares about it.
Speaker 6: All the time.
Speaker 1: Right. They coming out looking for their shot from opening
Speaker 1: to off. Jimmy Butler sometimes you literally feel like you
Speaker 1: gotta throw something at him just to make him shoot
Speaker 1: the basketball he does. It's not a priority for him.
Speaker 6: And that is why I would say no on that
Speaker 6: Kobe comparison.
Speaker 3: Not much as known about Steven H's private life. Yep,
Speaker 3: You like myself, are very very private.
Speaker 1: Yep. How have you been able to maintain that level
Speaker 1: of privacy? Number one, I'm quick to sell somebody to
Speaker 1: mind that damn business, you know. And that's a kind
Speaker 1: way of putting it. And I will cancel a woman
Speaker 1: in a heartbeat that talks about my business. She utters
Speaker 1: my name, what publicly about us? She gone, I wouldn't
Speaker 1: have happy for us better?
Speaker 6: I don't care. I don't care, you.
Speaker 1: Know why, because I want you to know who my
Speaker 1: woman is when she's missus Smith. I'm talking about publicly.
Speaker 1: I'm not talking about you know, shann ain't gonna Shannon
Speaker 1: go beat my girl.
Speaker 6: You know, Jamie's Matt. I'm not talking about that.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about announcing that you see us and people talk.
Speaker 1: Oh no, let them talk. You better not talk.
Speaker 6: I will cancel you quick.
Speaker 5: And can't so she can't post none on I G
Speaker 5: Never I would.
Speaker 1: She wouldn't. She wouldn't make it to my crib. I'm
Speaker 1: telling you, I'm not joking. She wouldn't make it to
Speaker 1: my crib. She can live five minutes away, she'd be
Speaker 1: going by five five minutes. I don't play that because
Speaker 1: here's the thing. I'm in the public eye. Let me
Speaker 1: tell you what to test what I detest. And I've
Speaker 1: never done this to another man. It makes me cringe
Speaker 1: when this happens to a man. I can't get over
Speaker 1: how these stars be messing with somebody and then you
Speaker 1: with somebody else. But that's who he used to mess with. Nah, yeah,
Speaker 1: no nothing, I mean you talking about it could be
Speaker 1: an ex. I'd be like, what are you talking about?
Speaker 6: That's a friend. I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 5: Step you messed with her?
Speaker 6: Who ain't you mess with?
Speaker 5: I don't know what you're talking.
Speaker 6: Ain't none of your business. I'm not doing that.
Speaker 1: You know when she missus Smith, you'll know who she
Speaker 1: is until that time, I might have messed with her.
Speaker 1: I might not have messed with her. You'll never know.
Speaker 1: I don't do that. And I can't stand when we
Speaker 1: see people out here like sharing their information and you
Speaker 1: know it's on Instagram and Twitter. We've grown ass men
Speaker 1: and women. When did everybody? When did your business become
Speaker 1: everybody else's business? Don't I don't vibe with that. I
Speaker 1: have no patience with that. And anybody who knows it,
Speaker 1: and I mean anybody who knows me, they'll tell you
Speaker 1: right now. I live in La five minutes from where
Speaker 1: we are. They wouldn't make it to my crib being
Speaker 1: my woman. If I saw something on social media that
Speaker 1: was initiated by them about me, they out.
Speaker 6: I wouldn't hesitate.
Speaker 1: I have been that way my entire adult life and
Speaker 1: I will never change When in that regard, I could
Speaker 1: be getting ready to getting married, wedding called off. So
Speaker 1: it was all the way game with me. So it
Speaker 1: was all the way game with me.
Speaker 3: It was always your It was always says once you
Speaker 3: got into the public eye, was to be private.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's not everybody's business. It's not everybody's business. Look,
Speaker 1: I know people business. You see me I'm on TV.
Speaker 1: I'm a professional journalist. I challenge anybody to talk about
Speaker 1: stephen A talking about their personal private business. Now, if
Speaker 1: you're walking on public and putting everything on display and
Speaker 1: all of that, all right, that's fine, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I just talked about Megan good to find
Speaker 1: that stuff the other day. Okay, I get it, you
Speaker 1: understand me, says an late that I mentioned you. She's
Speaker 1: been fine for you.
Speaker 6: You know what I mean.
Speaker 1: I got it your stuff like that. But you don't
Speaker 1: hear me talking about people's private business. I don't do it.
Speaker 1: I don't and I never ever will.
Speaker 3: I read where your daughters don't like when people come
Speaker 3: up to you and ask for autograph when they're in
Speaker 3: your presence.
Speaker 6: Oh oh my lord, listen man.
Speaker 5: Do they have a social media presence a little bit?
Speaker 1: But I try to monitor it, and you know, I
Speaker 1: lead that to their mom. But I will tell you
Speaker 1: this for me, Oh my god, being a dad for daughters,
Speaker 1: it's the greatest blessing and the worst curse. Because the
Speaker 1: blessing is you didn't know what love is until they
Speaker 1: You thought you knew what love was then.
Speaker 6: They came along.
Speaker 1: The curse is you didn't know what love is until
Speaker 1: they came along. So you're never at piece. You're always worried,
Speaker 1: worried about everything, worry about everything. And they did Daddy's
Speaker 1: you know, daughters. So they like me from the standpoint like,
Speaker 1: first of all, I'm not that special, I'm just dad.
Speaker 1: What is so big about you? I mean, please, why
Speaker 1: all you do is talk on television? I mean you cares?
Speaker 1: Oh lord o, can we hurry up? Please? What do
Speaker 1: they want your or to grab four? I mean, but
Speaker 1: then they get attitude, cause it's like they're taking our time,
Speaker 1: hurry upright, like literally, and it's like and I knew.
Speaker 6: I knew from the time my.
Speaker 1: Daughters was like seven, eight years old. I came home
Speaker 1: and I had to do I had to get to Dallas.
Speaker 1: I was supposed to go from La straight to Dallas.
Speaker 1: I literally flew home on the Red Eye just to
Speaker 1: take them to school and to give them a hug
Speaker 1: and a kiss.
Speaker 6: And I took them to school.
Speaker 1: They were all happy and bouncing around and all that stuff.
Speaker 1: And the children school and I said, Okay, Daddy gotta go.
Speaker 1: They're like what And I was like this, I probably
Speaker 1: they gotta go to work. Right in Dallas, and the
Speaker 1: teachers like just go just go right, and I get
Speaker 1: on get on the road. I'm going to the airport
Speaker 1: and I call the schools speak to and they like,
Speaker 1: could you call back later?
Speaker 6: They don't want to talk to you.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, this is seventy eight years old, right,
Speaker 1: It's like and I knew then my life's over. It
Speaker 1: belongs to them.
Speaker 6: They run my life. So I squeeze in things for.
Speaker 1: Me, right, But they're the generals. That's how it goes.
Speaker 5: Do your kids watch your kids?
Speaker 1: Are?
Speaker 5: They are at the age now they understand what you're fourteen?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so they understand what you do. Yes, they know
Speaker 3: who they know who Diad is.
Speaker 1: That's right, that's right. And they see me lied on
Speaker 1: a lot because a lot of times I've been accused
Speaker 1: of saying something or doing something that they didn't know better,
Speaker 1: or I was accused of being someplace like that and
Speaker 1: you was with us, you know. But but it's like
Speaker 1: it is what it is. They understand it. And I
Speaker 1: tell them it's about tough skin. You can't overreact to everything.
Speaker 1: You out to understand when you and the public eye,
Speaker 1: people gonna lie you all the time. They're gonna invade
Speaker 1: your privacy, they're gonna instigate stuff, they're willing to looking
Speaker 1: to provoke a reaction. And I can't give it to
Speaker 1: them because if I do, then I take debate and
Speaker 1: it can jeopardize what I'm trying to build. And so
Speaker 1: you explain those things to them and you hope that
Speaker 1: they understand.
Speaker 3: What advice would you give a young journalist, because you know,
Speaker 3: the newspaper business is not what it was when you
Speaker 3: got into it. Everybody gets there, you know, because it's
Speaker 3: so instantaneous, not stephen A. You got social media. So
Speaker 3: now ain't nobody just sitting there watching the six o'clock news,
Speaker 3: and ain't nobody just just reading the newspaper?
Speaker 5: So what advice would you give young journalists?
Speaker 1: First of all, understand that everything feeds off of information.
Speaker 1: You've got to be about the business of acquiring intel
Speaker 1: and information because that means you have something to talk about,
Speaker 1: you have something to write about, you have something express
Speaker 1: opinions about, whether it be via radio, television, podcast, newspaper, magazines,
Speaker 1: dot com, whatever, whatever content is. King content will never
Speaker 1: go anywhere. How people are receiving that content is what
Speaker 1: has changed linear television was once here. Now it's dissipating
Speaker 1: before our very eyes. There's some people that are projecting
Speaker 1: within the next decade, YouTube will be more popular than
Speaker 1: some of the networks, if not already, and so you
Speaker 1: have to take that into consideration. That's point number one.
Speaker 1: Point number two is that you're trying to build something,
Speaker 1: build a brand. Know who you are, know what you
Speaker 1: stand for, Recognize what gravitates folks towards you and what doesn't.
Speaker 1: And that's how you go about the business of building something.
Speaker 1: Number three, Master your business. You gotta know what you're
Speaker 1: talking about. You gotta know what you want to do.
Speaker 1: A lot of people want to podcast, Well, do you
Speaker 1: know what comes with the podcast? It ain't just a
Speaker 1: microphone and a camera. There's a production team that gets
Speaker 1: that's behind the scenes. There's a sales and marketing angle.
Speaker 1: There's a sales angle that comes with it, a marketing
Speaker 1: angle that comes with it, a technological angle that comes
Speaker 1: with it. These people operating these cameras, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: these microphones, making sure the audio is right. Except so,
Speaker 1: how much is that gonna cost? Okay? What level of
Speaker 1: course comes with it? Okay? One of the things that
Speaker 1: I would give advice to a lot of students want
Speaker 1: to come up no matter what major you take, minor
Speaker 1: in business, because everything comes down to business. Now you've
Speaker 1: got to be about the business of knowing what your
Speaker 1: business entails. That way, you know how to do business.
Speaker 1: You know what you're negotiating, you have an idea what
Speaker 1: it entails. You know when you've made mistakes and how
Speaker 1: to pick up on it. I started my own podcast
Speaker 1: months ago. I've made a lot of mistakes. Why because
Speaker 1: I never had a podcast before.
Speaker 6: I had to learn through osmosis.
Speaker 1: But I put myself through that fire initially on purpose,
Speaker 1: so when it grew as it's been growing that I'm
Speaker 1: in a position to now make the proper decisions because
Speaker 1: I use, you know, that infancy period to really learn
Speaker 1: and gain knowledge about the industry.
Speaker 6: How much is going.
Speaker 1: To cost, what my losses and my profits look like,
Speaker 1: et cetera, et cetera. All of those things the things
Speaker 1: that you have to know because the business itself that
Speaker 1: used to exist is no longer. Now they're looking for
Speaker 1: you to bring your.
Speaker 5: Business to them.
Speaker 1: Shannon Sharp, you own your own podcast club Shayshay over
Speaker 1: a million followers doing your thing. Proud of you, my brother,
Speaker 1: keep doing your thing, no doubt. You got to keep
Speaker 1: doing that. You own and operate your business, and there's
Speaker 1: people around you that's working for you. So you're going
Speaker 1: to be attractive because you're bringing a business to a
Speaker 1: potential network to buy to least two et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker 5: They don't want to.
Speaker 1: Just employ people anymore. They don't want to deal with
Speaker 1: that overhead. They don't want to deal with the expenses
Speaker 1: that come with the overhead.
Speaker 5: They want you to deal with that.
Speaker 1: Now, got McAfee the deal he just signed with me.
Speaker 1: You got so many people hating on him. Shut up,
Speaker 1: all of y'all.
Speaker 5: Shut up.
Speaker 1: The man had his own business. He spent years developing
Speaker 1: his own business, betting on himself, just like you bet
Speaker 1: on yourself, Just like I'm betting on myself. I just
Speaker 1: started betting on myself because I was hindered contractually and
Speaker 1: I had a lot of obstacles to overcome in my
Speaker 1: career before I could get to this point. Although this
Speaker 1: was always the vision, I had to start late. This
Speaker 1: is what comes with it. When you know those things,
Speaker 1: you become a business. And as jay Z would say,
Speaker 1: I'm not a business man. I'm a business man and
Speaker 1: that's what people want to see.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna get you out of here on this one.
Speaker 5: Yet we both work with Skip.
Speaker 3: You work with him, I think a little longer than
Speaker 3: I have, and we both have given him credit for
Speaker 3: opening up his platform and allowing us to be who
Speaker 3: we are, and we could grow our own platforms, become
Speaker 3: as you mentioned earlier, businesses of myself.
Speaker 5: What's for the people?
Speaker 3: I don't know how many people have heard, And I'm
Speaker 3: gonna follow up after you, Skip, what's.
Speaker 5: He really like?
Speaker 3: Because I think the thing is, if you've never met him,
Speaker 3: you just see him on television, you say, Okay, that's
Speaker 3: himming who he is.
Speaker 1: Skip's a different beast. I don't.
Speaker 6: I don't know.
Speaker 1: If you can just describe him in one simple way
Speaker 1: you can you can't. This dude's definition of advice is
Speaker 1: dieing mountain dude. This dude was in the sixties and
Speaker 1: in the seventies, running anywhere for five to eight miles
Speaker 1: a day, eating the same meals for breakfast, lunch, at dinner,
Speaker 1: introducing himself to his now wife and their first date.
Speaker 1: You will never be more important than my job. Get
Speaker 1: over that from now or don't bother. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: his definition of turning her on. I guess. So I'm
Speaker 1: just like that's he's a different animal, you know, And
Speaker 1: there are highs and lows that come with him. Correct.
Speaker 1: He knows that there's highs and lows that come with me.
Speaker 1: There's highs and lows that come with you and everybody,
Speaker 1: and that's the way it goes. But you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a man first, and it's about a core decency of appreciation.
Speaker 1: The reality is is that no matter how problematic, and
Speaker 1: he can be problematic at times, no matter how problematic
Speaker 1: he can be, the reality is is that I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be where I am today if he didn't give me
Speaker 1: that opportunity on first take. And so for me to
Speaker 1: be where I am and to know that it's spring
Speaker 1: its springboards off of something that he was directly involved
Speaker 1: in making happen. For me to insult him in any
Speaker 1: ways just disrespectful. It's wrong and it's something that I
Speaker 1: would never do. Now. That don't mean I can't disagree
Speaker 1: with him absolutely. That doesn't mean that I can't feel
Speaker 1: that he's wrong. And anybody like a Jamie hard with
Speaker 1: yourself and others who know me have gotten to know me.
Speaker 1: In your case, you know, I would tell him he's
Speaker 1: wrong to his face. Right, he knows where I stand,
Speaker 1: But it doesn't take away my love and appreciation for
Speaker 1: him and the fact that he will always be a
Speaker 1: brother from another mother to me. Yes, So I've always
Speaker 1: made that clear with everybody.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not often that someone can give you that opportunity.
Speaker 3: And I I I and I've said this several times.
Speaker 3: For me, I cannot let six months ruin six and
Speaker 3: a half good years, because sometimes people are willing to
Speaker 3: throw everything away for one mistake, a one bad comment,
Speaker 3: or one something like this. And even though that was
Speaker 3: all we were supposed to get. My sister tells me
Speaker 3: this all the time, says Shannon, this was all we're
Speaker 3: supposed to get. About four months ago, I had Tabitha
Speaker 3: Brown sitting great.
Speaker 1: I've interviewed her before. She's fantastic. Stephen A.
Speaker 5: She had no idea this was going on.
Speaker 3: So we wrapped the interview and I'm gonna end it
Speaker 3: on this one and I'm taking off my microphone.
Speaker 5: She says, is a mix off.
Speaker 3: I said, well, I'm taking my mic off, you can
Speaker 3: take yours off. We took our mics off and she
Speaker 3: leans in close to me. She said, I had a
Speaker 3: dream last night. God told me it's gonna be okay,
Speaker 3: and for you to go ahead and do what you
Speaker 3: need to do, she says, it's gonna be different, but
Speaker 3: you need to go on your own now. God told
Speaker 3: me that, she said. Now you do what you want
Speaker 3: to do with it. But God just she says, And
Speaker 3: when I get dreams like this, and I'm ever in
Speaker 3: the person's presence, it's my duty to tell.
Speaker 5: Them a month later.
Speaker 3: Yeah, And I'm like, and when she's telling me to
Speaker 3: Steven day, you see how you looking at me.
Speaker 5: I'm looking at her. Now you know what's going on.
Speaker 3: She said, God told me this last night. And it's
Speaker 3: funny that I'm sitting here doing this interview. Did this
Speaker 3: interview with you? And I needed to tell you this
Speaker 3: once she told me that I was at peace because
Speaker 3: I'm racking my brain. I'm like, what did I do?
Speaker 3: Did I say something that I fend somebody? I mean,
Speaker 3: I just I think I'm doing a great job.
Speaker 1: She said, be at peace with it. Yeah, and that's
Speaker 1: what I told you. You did, That's what I told
Speaker 1: you because the reality of the situation is is that
Speaker 1: you know, I'm not going to apologize. Listen, I got
Speaker 1: a lot of friends over there, all right, We all
Speaker 1: know that I know a lot of people. But that
Speaker 1: don't mean that what happened to you is fair play
Speaker 1: and simple. Okay, that ain't the end of the world, Nope,
Speaker 1: but it is what it is.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 1: So you know, to me, it was just important for
Speaker 1: us in this industry to stand up and say, yo,
Speaker 1: he's one of us. You can't get them go out
Speaker 1: like this, And that was it for me. It was
Speaker 1: like it was just that simple. You go wherever you want.
Speaker 1: You want to come first take, fine, you want to
Speaker 1: go somewhere else, fine, because I got my crew here,
Speaker 1: first take. And I'm not trying to get rid of
Speaker 1: anybody saying because I'm not gonna do this forever. And
Speaker 1: when it's my time to cost, my time to go right,
Speaker 1: and it's time for somebody else to step up. But
Speaker 1: as long as I'm here, my attitude was gonna be. Listen,
Speaker 1: the people that have been a treasure and attribute to
Speaker 1: this industry are the people that I'm going to do
Speaker 1: all that I can to remind folks this is what
Speaker 1: they do. I don't want to be one of those
Speaker 1: dudes that I got these platforms first take, and I
Speaker 1: got my podcast, and I'm doing the NBA Countdown and
Speaker 1: I got more stuff coming down the line and everything
Speaker 1: like that, And all I'm talking about is what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: That's my job to highlight where everybody else is doing.
Speaker 3: You you wanted to few stephen A because I know
Speaker 3: a lot of people that have could have opportunities to
Speaker 3: help somebody, but they want to be the only ninja
Speaker 3: with money.
Speaker 6: No, I don't want that.
Speaker 1: And I told you this, and I tell the audience
Speaker 1: that I told you this. I said you might be
Speaker 1: a first take for one year, you might be a
Speaker 1: first take for years to come. It's my responsibility, and
Speaker 1: I'm dead serious, it's a heart attack. It's my responsibility
Speaker 1: to make sure that you are more successful with me
Speaker 1: than you were before you arrived. That's what you told me.
Speaker 1: That's my responsibility, and I'm gonna make sure it happens.
Speaker 1: Come Hell of higher water. We ain't going down, brother,
Speaker 1: we only don't.
Speaker 5: You know that.
Speaker 1: That's just the way.
Speaker 5: It's gonna go. Man, coming HBCU is the takeover.
Speaker 1: I ain't trying to lose I'm never about that. Anybody
Speaker 1: that knows me an't about that. I don't mean no
Speaker 1: disrespect to nobody.
Speaker 5: Y'all heard it. But I got here. M as good
Speaker 5: as it gets right here. Steven A. Smell, Monday, September four,
Speaker 5: No death, Grinding.
Speaker 2: All my life, sacrifice, hustle, pay the price. Wanta slice?
Speaker 2: Got to brow the dice, the squad all my life.
Speaker 2: I've been grinding all my life. Look all my life
Speaker 2: and grinning all my life. Sacrifice, hustle, pay the price,
Speaker 2: Want a slice?
Speaker 1: Got to brow the dice, the squad all my life.
Speaker 2: I've been grinding all my life.
Speaker 1: Yeah,