Speaker 1: Welcome to the Draft Kings Collab. I think everybody's been
Speaker 1: waiting on this, I know since we started our show.
Speaker 1: This is something that I was interested in doing. No
Speaker 1: two men. I respect for the way that they live life,
Speaker 1: for the way that they played the game more than
Speaker 1: Stack and Matt, obviously Chan and Freddie Tea, but more importantly,
Speaker 1: what they're doing post career, I think is a step above.
Speaker 1: Like so many people want to get into the business
Speaker 1: of broadcast of media, I don't think everybody can figure
Speaker 1: out how to do it and continue to remain their
Speaker 1: authentic selves. I think both of these brothers have done that,
Speaker 1: and they've done it in a way where they can
Speaker 1: go into any office building and do business right. But
Speaker 1: they can also walk into any hood and have conversations
Speaker 1: with the same people that look like them. I think
Speaker 1: that's the important part about what we do, is being
Speaker 1: able to bring this right into the buildings of people
Speaker 1: that don't look like us.
Speaker 2: Why are you talking about them like we ain't we
Speaker 2: ain't no good every day?
Speaker 3: Let us give.
Speaker 4: Sometimes.
Speaker 5: Y'all know, these two.
Speaker 2: Brothers doing so well that damn I'm doing well too.
Speaker 3: But let us return to fame.
Speaker 6: Okay, Okay, first off, we honored to be here with
Speaker 6: y'all and we can say the same things. I think
Speaker 6: just from watching all all your careers and we know
Speaker 6: what it takes to be in this space, and we
Speaker 6: know how hard we get critiqued. Athletes who's actually done
Speaker 6: it right, they'll go to a hospital and that a
Speaker 6: doctor tell him I need to cut you up and
Speaker 6: do this, and they'll be like, Okay, but we actually
Speaker 6: did the sport and are the experts.
Speaker 3: Edit. But when we talk about it, we get critiqued.
Speaker 6: So I respect how y'all handle at I respect how
Speaker 6: y'all support each other.
Speaker 3: You know, I say many shows.
Speaker 6: And I was just talking about it about how we
Speaker 6: know he always real humbed. Don't say too much, but
Speaker 6: y'all kep giving him his flowers and like, bro, be
Speaker 6: proud of yourself.
Speaker 3: You've really done some great shit.
Speaker 6: So I appreciate that, and I love seeing brothers give
Speaker 6: each other they flowers daily and also went it together.
Speaker 3: So so salute you out too.
Speaker 7: Appreciate and also too, I just think, you know, Ryan
Speaker 7: and your crew, you guys have kind of set the
Speaker 7: standard for what it's supposed to be. Like, you know
Speaker 7: what I mean, and I think both both sides. I mean,
Speaker 7: we've done it from a basketball standpoint. You guys have
Speaker 7: done it from a football standpoint, but also understanding that
Speaker 7: the platform that we were given, we've also understood that
Speaker 7: that's gonna lead to other opportunities individually and collectively. And
Speaker 7: I think that's what you know, you love to see
Speaker 7: is you know, you on ESPN, me on ESPN, you
Speaker 7: guys doing other individual things that have stemmed from coming
Speaker 7: together and fellowship and and really just talking shit and
Speaker 7: have a good time, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 7: to be able to be paid like we are still
Speaker 7: athletes too, is another blessing.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 8: I mean, I'm a man of like this many words,
Speaker 8: but no, that's.
Speaker 5: Love, man.
Speaker 8: And we try to lead with positivity, you know, like
Speaker 8: we know we have a lot to offer and our experiences,
Speaker 8: but really we feel like we have a bigger agenda,
Speaker 8: you know, and just really giving back to our community
Speaker 8: and doing it the right way. So I think from
Speaker 8: all of our experiences and just trying to bridge the gap,
Speaker 8: it makes it worthwhile, you know, to come here. I know,
Speaker 8: I'm not sure how you guys do it, but we're
Speaker 8: we're on the flight every week. We grinding, we hustle,
Speaker 8: were trying to make it happen. And once we you know,
Speaker 8: decided to do this, we said we got to do
Speaker 8: it none stop.
Speaker 5: And that's what the ultimate pivot is.
Speaker 8: So everything you see of us give y'all were doing
Speaker 8: it out of our hearts.
Speaker 1: The question I would have for y'all, though, is like
Speaker 1: the way, like everybody who plays a sport ain't tough, right,
Speaker 1: like you you know, cats that are athletic, cats that
Speaker 1: are talented, and their job was to go play the sport.
Speaker 1: And then there were other people who had a different
Speaker 1: sort of grind in a way they approached it. Both
Speaker 1: of you guys being guys that kept it real on
Speaker 1: the court right that played physically, played the game with skill,
Speaker 1: with technique, but also seemed like y'all were always ready
Speaker 1: to be whatever you had to be to help a
Speaker 1: team win. And now you move into this this other
Speaker 1: realm of life, this other part of media where people
Speaker 1: expect you to be button up, people expect you to
Speaker 1: speak a certain way, act a certain way, sort of
Speaker 1: retreated to yourselves. How have you maintained the exact people
Speaker 1: you are growing up? And now flipped it into the
Speaker 1: second career.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 7: I mean, I just think what has allowed us to
Speaker 7: have success hosts NBA is just authenticity. I think you know,
Speaker 7: what you see is what you get with us. Never perfect,
Speaker 7: but always real. I think through our career we understood
Speaker 7: the assignment.
Speaker 9: We both didn't.
Speaker 7: We both got drafted but didn't make our first run
Speaker 7: at the NBA, so we had to take different journeys
Speaker 7: to get to where we are. To both end up
Speaker 7: winning the NBA championships to both respect we played fifteen
Speaker 7: and fourteen years in the league is through who we
Speaker 7: really are. So I mean, I think that drive as
Speaker 7: an athlete one thing we talked to Cod about. We
Speaker 7: did Cod's last interview, and you know, he told us,
Speaker 7: you know, as athletes were disciplined, were structured, were thinkers,
Speaker 7: all those things transfer over to business and I think,
Speaker 7: you know, everyone handles those qualities different but as long
Speaker 7: as you stay true to yourself and transfer and put
Speaker 7: the working because a lot of people think, oh man,
Speaker 7: I can do a podcast. Shit ain't easy, like they said,
Speaker 7: were on flights every single week, tracking people down, doing
Speaker 7: our homework, doing our homework for our other shows, being fathers,
Speaker 7: being businessmen, being partners, there's a lot of stuff that
Speaker 7: goes into this, so we treat this as if this
Speaker 7: is our next app Although we're not physically on the
Speaker 7: field of the court, this is our next act.
Speaker 9: We treat it as if we are still on the
Speaker 9: field of the court.
Speaker 6: And I just think I've always had the attitude to
Speaker 6: I appreciate everything. So my attitude in the game was
Speaker 6: I got to prove myself constantly. I wasn't Kobe, or
Speaker 6: wasn't none of them, but I was. I was a
Speaker 6: player that competed with everybody. So I always played with
Speaker 6: a passion and played the game like I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: So coming into this space, I tell my team, I
Speaker 6: tell him every day, Bro, I appreciate you, because there's
Speaker 6: so many people that especially retired athletes, that don't have
Speaker 6: nothing going on. I don't get the opportunity that the
Speaker 6: opportunities that we get in after sports. So I tell
Speaker 6: my team all time, I appreciate them, and we worked
Speaker 6: so hard, like this our last show, we won't have
Speaker 6: another show. We appreciate everything we get, and I think
Speaker 6: that's why we win it. And we appreciate our fans too,
Speaker 6: because we constantly show the people that support us that
Speaker 6: we appreciate them. That's why we always out in the community.
Speaker 6: That's why we talk to people and engage on social
Speaker 6: media because we don't want we've we've never been the
Speaker 6: type that get the success from my fans but don't
Speaker 6: relate with them or interact with you know, I'm saying,
Speaker 6: I've always been somebody that that's always in the streets
Speaker 6: and like to be around the people because that the
Speaker 6: people that make us always made us.
Speaker 3: They gave us the.
Speaker 6: Motivation to make it being in the hoods with so
Speaker 6: many people saying you can't, so many people that didn't
Speaker 6: make it, that's the motivation we get to make it.
Speaker 6: So just appreciating my people around me, appreciating the gift
Speaker 6: and the opportunity to be in this podcast space, that's
Speaker 6: what keep me going and this space.
Speaker 2: And it's funny y'all both talking about the transition, the
Speaker 2: transition out of sports and this space that we're in.
Speaker 2: I don't think you can chase money, because that was
Speaker 2: the one thing I do local radio on South Florida.
Speaker 2: I was working for I think was twenty seven grand
Speaker 2: a year. It wasn't about to check. It was about
Speaker 2: the experience of work. And communicating and all that stuff,
Speaker 2: And did y'all ever have that time when it was
Speaker 2: like it couldn't be about money because you weren't making
Speaker 2: no money once you transition. And I think a lot
Speaker 2: of I would say and take it deeper. I think
Speaker 2: a lot of athletes struggle from making those millions whatever
Speaker 2: it is, and then why am I gonna work hard
Speaker 2: to make forty grand y'all see what I'm saying, y'all?
Speaker 4: Was it ever time like that with y'all? Any of y'all?
Speaker 9: I think it's just understanding we got to pay our
Speaker 9: dues now.
Speaker 7: You know, as former athletes, sometimes we get tossed to
Speaker 7: the top of the totem pole or sometimes we get
Speaker 7: tossed to the bottom. So depending on every situation is
Speaker 7: you know how you maneuver and how you react. So
Speaker 7: as you said, you know, jumping into Fox at first
Speaker 7: and then ESPN and understanding it's not a ton of money,
Speaker 7: it's not what I'm used to making, but I understanding
Speaker 7: it's a hell of a platform to have my face
Speaker 7: on ESPN, have my face on Fox, to have my
Speaker 7: face on NBCB area, have my face on Showtime. So
Speaker 7: my whole thing now is in this next act. My
Speaker 7: initial plan was to have my face on as many
Speaker 7: quality platforms as possible until one of them that I
Speaker 7: really really want to do can take over all of them.
Speaker 6: Let me ask you a question, rn you know, I've
Speaker 6: I fell into a big space with George Floyd and
Speaker 6: becoming with a lot of say are speaking for the culture,
Speaker 6: and I think you you fell into that space, and
Speaker 6: I'm honored to say that. And even with sports and
Speaker 6: the culture, having that role, knowing eyes are always on you,
Speaker 6: knowing that that people are expecting your opinion to be
Speaker 6: what they want you to say, and it's not that
Speaker 6: all the time. How do you handle that with being
Speaker 6: on TV and and being you know, out with the people,
Speaker 6: because everybody gonna agree with everything you say.
Speaker 1: So I think y'all said it. I think y'all said
Speaker 1: it right at the beginning. Though if you authentic, it
Speaker 1: don't matter, right, Like I always say, it's easier for
Speaker 1: me to tell the truth because lives are hard to remember, right.
Speaker 1: So if I'm the same every time, that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: you have to agree with me. Because what normally happens
Speaker 1: is if there's something that you speak out on and
Speaker 1: a mass majority of people will agree with you. They
Speaker 1: feel like they want to agree with you all the time.
Speaker 1: But now I'm talking for you, I'm not talking for me.
Speaker 1: And I think the other piece of it is too
Speaker 1: like every fight ain't my fight. You know, you you
Speaker 1: had a connection to George Floyd. You had a passion
Speaker 1: for that, and so you not only put your time
Speaker 1: into it and your money into it, but you put
Speaker 1: your face on it.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: It's different when people see you and they connect you
Speaker 1: to something because now forever you were connected to that.
Speaker 1: And I think for me it was just like, right's right,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And I get it all
Speaker 1: the time now, right, Like if I even say anything
Speaker 1: that has to do with race or culture, it's because
Speaker 1: that's the new the new keyword, right is race vader Right.
Speaker 1: That word was created through this tumultuous time because they
Speaker 1: needed something that could discredit the truth, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And so the people that use that word,
Speaker 1: they say, Okay, if we use this, this immediately turns
Speaker 1: the people who follow us to make this person feel
Speaker 1: or feel like this person is something else. But if
Speaker 1: I'm me, I don't give a damn no way, right,
Speaker 1: And that was the thing you know. And I tell
Speaker 1: this story all the time. I've told them in twenty
Speaker 1: and sixteen, twenty seventeen, during Kaepernick, they stopped putting me
Speaker 1: on TV. Right. They would come in the production meeting
Speaker 1: and be like, well, the President said this, how do
Speaker 1: you feel about this? Or the President said this about athletes?
Speaker 1: How do you feel about this? And I'd give my answer.
Speaker 1: Y'all know how productions work. You do the show before
Speaker 1: you do the show, and then they go are you
Speaker 1: gonna say that on TV?
Speaker 10: And I'd be like, hell yeah, and they be like, well,
Speaker 10: we're not gonna ask you, right. And in some of
Speaker 10: that and some of that, I respect them because it's
Speaker 10: some of that. At that time they were saving me
Speaker 10: from yourself, right, because if I go out there and
Speaker 10: I say that, now I'm viewed a certain way. But
Speaker 10: then let's fast forward to twenty twenty when you were
Speaker 10: a big part of it.
Speaker 1: Now I'm on daze off, I'm at the house not
Speaker 1: doing nothing. Hey man, can you come on TV today?
Speaker 1: Your voice is so needed. The people want to hear
Speaker 1: from you. And the thing I always say about that
Speaker 1: was I was able to say I never switched up, right.
Speaker 1: I was able to say I didn't change up because
Speaker 1: they wouldn't put me on TV, right, I stayed myself.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what's important, because even if they
Speaker 1: don't agree with me, they know I'm not doing it
Speaker 1: for anybody else. That's truly what I feel.
Speaker 7: And also, I think, too is something that's important is
Speaker 7: that you don't always We don't always were not always
Speaker 7: gonna agree with each other. We always gonna have different viewpoints.
Speaker 7: But I think in Jackson's All the time, you can
Speaker 7: disagree without disrespect. And I think now when people don't
Speaker 7: agree with you, they want to attack your person, your character,
Speaker 7: your family, and we all ready to fight it at
Speaker 7: any given time, you know what I mean. So that's
Speaker 7: why we really got to be careful. But I think
Speaker 7: there's ways for me to disagree with Fred, or me
Speaker 7: to disagree with Channing or even Stack, but still have
Speaker 7: a conversation with respect, because again, at the end of
Speaker 7: the day, we're all learning, we're all evolving, and I
Speaker 7: think some people get so set in their ways that
Speaker 7: they block something that could truly help them, or sometimes
Speaker 7: they'll kill the message because they don't like the messenger,
Speaker 7: you know what I mean. So I just think we
Speaker 7: have to really be more open minded and understand there's
Speaker 7: always going to be another opinion. There's always going to
Speaker 7: be another point of view that you don't necessarily have
Speaker 7: to agree with.
Speaker 1: But hear it out if that's the space you're in,
Speaker 1: Freddy T And I give him this because, like me,
Speaker 1: I'm like, when I hear it, I'm ready to Like,
Speaker 1: we realized we had to start protecting each other in public.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: You probably calculated us.
Speaker 1: Yeah, He's always thinking he's always the one that's measured,
Speaker 1: and he'll be like, okay, RC, Like nah, I don't
Speaker 1: do this, RC, I don't know about that. And that's
Speaker 1: how I know, Like when he it calms me down
Speaker 1: because I'm like, hell, if fred pissed off, we all got.
Speaker 2: You be chilling man now.
Speaker 8: But seriously, I think you know just the reason why
Speaker 8: we're here Draft Kings obviously, and I guess this is
Speaker 8: for everybody. Have you guys on your platform and then
Speaker 8: channel and Ryan, how do you use draft Kings platform
Speaker 8: to foster certain connections you know and be able to
Speaker 8: get certain messages out.
Speaker 7: I think that DraftKings comes with a different demographic for
Speaker 7: us and for you guys.
Speaker 9: You know what I mean.
Speaker 7: So it's always a new opportunity to meet new people,
Speaker 7: shake new hands, and hear new points of views, but
Speaker 7: also get our point of view across to a whole
Speaker 7: new audience game fans, and sometimes they won't like what
Speaker 7: to be saying and possibly lose them. But at the
Speaker 7: same time, to me, it's about again, like I said earlier,
Speaker 7: my goal with being on different platforms, I'm speaking to
Speaker 7: some similar audience, but sometimes all these networks I'm talking
Speaker 7: to have different audiences that are in love with that
Speaker 7: particular network. So for me to be on four different
Speaker 7: mainstream networks is the opportunity to meet new people and
Speaker 7: it foster new relationships and be brought into new situations
Speaker 7: and a lot of things with athletes too, is we're
Speaker 7: talking at the business side and the tech side.
Speaker 9: You know, we're able to get into stuff.
Speaker 7: Sometimes you got to put money in, but sometimes just
Speaker 7: your likeness alone is enough for these brands to build
Speaker 7: something around you or give you a piece of what
Speaker 7: they have because they like what you stand for, the
Speaker 7: way you carry yourself and the way you could educate
Speaker 7: you know, Uh, what's the word I'm looking for when
Speaker 7: I'm trying to sound smart, eloquently speak or you know, uh,
Speaker 7: you know, really speak to eloquently.
Speaker 9: That's what it is, speak on the matter at hand.
Speaker 7: So again, I just think it is we're always looking
Speaker 7: because especially you know with Jack and I, we were
Speaker 7: the bad guys. You know, he got in one of
Speaker 7: the biggest fights in NBA history and lost the whole season.
Speaker 7: I fought off the court and everyone knows the reason.
Speaker 9: I but it's you.
Speaker 1: Know, you.
Speaker 2: Can ask me whatever you want.
Speaker 7: I see, but I think people see a snapshot of
Speaker 7: you and give you a label. Well that's who Jacks
Speaker 7: of thugs because he went in the stands and protected
Speaker 7: his teammate. Or I'm a bad guy because I had
Speaker 7: to do some ship that I had to do. But again,
Speaker 7: it's it's always it's a small snapshot, and we really
Speaker 7: enjoy kind of changing changing ideals of those people.
Speaker 2: What you gotta say, I asked this crowd, like and
Speaker 2: I asked this question like, no, no, we're talking about transition.
Speaker 2: How the fuck you drive for twenty hours? Mad thinking
Speaker 2: like hour, one hour, two hour, three hour, four, Like
Speaker 2: you gotta sit back soon, lady.
Speaker 7: That was so, that was that was the urban legend
Speaker 7: because Kanye rapped about it.
Speaker 9: I really only drove fifteen minutes.
Speaker 2: Oh okay, that makes well. I was like quick trip
Speaker 2: because I know that I'm about to say, like I know,
Speaker 2: us life skilled fellas, like we won't be mad that
Speaker 2: long like I was.
Speaker 7: I was, I was back in the house firing one
Speaker 7: up in like forty five minutes.
Speaker 11: Quick round trip. That makes a lot of sit Yeah,
Speaker 11: uick round trip. Easy to stay mad that long? Yeah,
Speaker 11: fifteen yeah. I think though, like to the other space
Speaker 11: that I love.
Speaker 1: What Matt's talking about, though, is actually using the platforms
Speaker 1: because there's only so long your name truly stays hot,
Speaker 1: right that there's a time when you're a player and
Speaker 1: you're you know, y'all mention it like you mentioned not
Speaker 1: being cold, and those like those guys are going to
Speaker 1: get first DIBs at a lot of things, right, And
Speaker 1: so when you do get your opportunities. I say this
Speaker 1: all the time. Every day is an interview. Every hand
Speaker 1: you shake, every conversation you have, somebody's looking at you
Speaker 1: and trying to critique you and figure out what can
Speaker 1: they use you for. And so while people are using
Speaker 1: us to give them that face or to give them
Speaker 1: that voice, we have to be using that platform as
Speaker 1: well for the next step, for that step or for
Speaker 1: the next hand we get to shake where we walk
Speaker 1: into a different room.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I was gonna say, like to the point
Speaker 2: of why why this works and like the drafting connection
Speaker 2: and the podcasting because podcasting blew up the tech like
Speaker 2: the tech side blew up and all. No gonna talk
Speaker 2: about that. But I always say it as like people
Speaker 2: aren't used to seeing five alpha males sit down and
Speaker 2: not fight to what you said, like we disagree, Oh now.
Speaker 4: We gotta fight. No, we ain't gotta fight.
Speaker 2: We disagree and we respect each other. And I really
Speaker 2: believe is if this podcasting space, especially with ex athletes,
Speaker 2: it's like, oh, these are males that run there I
Speaker 2: call I call dudes, like not myself. These four ecosystems,
Speaker 2: like ecosystem are people that employ people and like everybody's
Speaker 2: making money off you just being alive.
Speaker 4: And a lot of people don't know that.
Speaker 2: And I've I've been around, I know, I hang with
Speaker 2: a lot of these ecosystems.
Speaker 4: I call them lions, and people aren't used to.
Speaker 2: So somebody that's really not a lion that sees five
Speaker 2: lions sitting around and just vibing and we disagree.
Speaker 5: We good to disagree, we cool to disagree.
Speaker 2: I think that might calm their little inside fire and
Speaker 2: what not. Well, fuck you buddy, So why you'ments are
Speaker 2: there because that's usually dude that get real hot to
Speaker 2: fuck you, fuck you money dude be But that's but
Speaker 2: that's why I really think this works. As I go
Speaker 2: through it and I go on pause, and I sit around
Speaker 2: with my two g's, you know, weekly and then just
Speaker 2: watching y'all from afar, like saying like these are lions,
Speaker 2: these are men. This is a dude that's sit in
Speaker 2: the car and be hot for twenty hours.
Speaker 4: That was in my mind, man, I thought you were.
Speaker 1: When I tell the story going forward, it's still twenty hours.
Speaker 3: And then I saw this man better.
Speaker 2: I saw this man throw a punch from here from him.
Speaker 4: Damn you wanted to fuck him up.
Speaker 6: So what a lot of y'all don't know is when
Speaker 6: I grabbed run, another beer was thrown in his face
Speaker 6: and he tried to throw the beer and get away.
Speaker 3: So I couldn't let this lie.
Speaker 9: I couldn't let that.
Speaker 7: But also too, I want to say, you know, look
Speaker 7: how far we've come in and really shout out to
Speaker 7: DraftKings because none of us, as we said, none of us,
Speaker 7: with all due respect, we're superstars in our sport. We're
Speaker 7: all with role players and got the job done. But
Speaker 7: for us to be one of the talking heads for
Speaker 7: such a big company, and not just Draftings, we're all
Speaker 7: affiliated with other companies. But look how far we've come,
Speaker 7: and it's because we've been able to articulate our point
Speaker 7: of view. Everyone's always told our stories, and with all
Speaker 7: due respect, most of the time it's white people trying
Speaker 7: to tell our stories. And sometimes they do a good job,
Speaker 7: and sometimes they misshit that we see. Other people may
Speaker 7: not see, but we see it. But I think we've
Speaker 7: been able to transition now to be able to obviously
Speaker 7: tell our own stories, give our brothers and sisters opportunity
Speaker 7: tell our own stories, but then also encourage others. I
Speaker 7: can't tell you how many times people from the league
Speaker 7: have come like, yo, we've started our show because of
Speaker 7: all the smoke, or we want to be this version
Speaker 7: of all the smoke. And when we started this, it
Speaker 7: wasn't necessariity to inspire is the greatest human acting There
Speaker 7: wasn't necessarily first on top of our mind. But once
Speaker 7: we kind of got into it and we started getting
Speaker 7: that feedback, we took that as a badge of honor
Speaker 7: because we are opening these doors. And Ryan said before
Speaker 7: we got on camera, it's athlete driven. Now media is
Speaker 7: athlete driven when we're talking about sports in particular. I
Speaker 7: know you guys would rather hear from with with our
Speaker 7: brother Steven A.
Speaker 3: Smith.
Speaker 7: As great as he is, he doesn't know what it's
Speaker 7: like to have to knock down the free throw to
Speaker 7: send the game into overtime, or to get it make
Speaker 7: a big play, or get get across the goal line
Speaker 7: for a touchdown. So although he's great at what he does,
Speaker 7: when it comes from the people who really did it,
Speaker 7: I think he obviously carries more weight and respect.
Speaker 8: Hey, Matt, you talk about, you know, the evolution, right
Speaker 8: starting from about having your struggles then going up the
Speaker 8: three of you arec was undrafted. You know, you guys
Speaker 8: had your early challenges, but the three of you won championships.
Speaker 8: Channing and I we're on the outside.
Speaker 2: I love it, guys.
Speaker 8: By the way, I just want to say.
Speaker 1: Every show when I'm joined by other champions, there are
Speaker 1: certain things we can talk about that Fred or Channing
Speaker 1: cannot you know.
Speaker 4: This is when Matt was mentioned in.
Speaker 3: You know, some of those moments.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, I know I was feeling because y'all are
Speaker 2: intelligent people.
Speaker 4: I'm in a different round, but man, fuck you.
Speaker 8: One I'm trying to make and I'm trying to make
Speaker 8: a crossover, right. I want to talk about like you guys' career,
Speaker 8: it's sort of like what we have here with technology
Speaker 8: and what the message we're trying to get across from
Speaker 8: getting technology just evolves over time, pretty much like your careers,
Speaker 8: and then but you don't know what it's gonna give you.
Speaker 8: There's been plenty times where I try to log into
Speaker 8: my DraftKings account to get that one o'clock parlay, I'm like, fuck,
Speaker 8: the Wi Fi fucked up. I can't get my play in.
Speaker 8: But eventually it happens, and then it's a beautiful thing
Speaker 8: because I'm here, but I'm able to play the games
Speaker 8: all across the world, and that is the beauty on
Speaker 8: the flip side of technology, pretty much like your related
Speaker 8: like your careers.
Speaker 5: It was some struggles.
Speaker 8: Early on, but at the end of the day, those
Speaker 8: championships have, you know, have to mean something. So from
Speaker 8: you guys, perspectives, what's that feeling like? Because I wasn't
Speaker 8: able to feel it. I really want to know what's that.
Speaker 1: I think the one thing too, that I want to
Speaker 1: say about you, because you won't say it, is.
Speaker 2: Our careers were very similar.
Speaker 1: This was not you know what.
Speaker 4: I didn't want to I didn't want to check man.
Speaker 6: Person, I'm a huge for you that I did some
Speaker 6: Hall of fame.
Speaker 11: You got it.
Speaker 8: Saying that what bun Bet I told bun b I
Speaker 8: love him to death.
Speaker 5: I love his music. I used to text them testing
Speaker 5: he did.
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 1: I think that's the other thing though, And like even
Speaker 1: as it pertains to like the content and the way
Speaker 1: technology works, it's also understanding. I think when you have
Speaker 1: a certain career, it makes your grind different. Like I'm
Speaker 1: just a worker, you know what I'm.
Speaker 2: Saying, Like you know it, like Chad knows it.
Speaker 1: Like when we go in to a show man, like
Speaker 1: I don't I barely talk because like I got my
Speaker 1: notebook out, I got my phone out or wherever I
Speaker 1: got taking notes. Right, I'm trying to tell them, Okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do this. We're gonna do this, Like if
Speaker 1: they say this, like my thing is always being prepared.
Speaker 1: And the reason I'm like that was, like I knew
Speaker 1: most days ain't nothing I could do with Randy Moss anyway, Right,
Speaker 1: But if I prepare enough, there may be that one
Speaker 1: play I can anticipate. There may be the one hit
Speaker 1: I can make that changed the game. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: change it constantly. I'm not gonna do what he does
Speaker 1: because I wasn't that blessed talent wise, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I think now when you switch up and
Speaker 1: you get into this, like that's the other thing is people.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to not say this like a bad way,
Speaker 1: but there aren't a lot of guys who were superstars
Speaker 1: who end up being good at this part of right, right,
Speaker 1: because there is so much work in it and there
Speaker 1: is like there's some shit you gotta shovel sometimes, right,
Speaker 1: Like like you gotta be able to deal with some
Speaker 1: things where you aren't the superstar. You know, like when
Speaker 1: you walk out there with stephen A. Stephen A, that's
Speaker 1: his world, right, you know what I'm saying, Like they
Speaker 1: gonna cater to him more than they gonna cater to me, right,
Speaker 1: So you got to figure out how I'm gonna work
Speaker 1: and how I'm gonna get to a point though, to
Speaker 1: where that flips like my thing was like like just
Speaker 1: like in ball, my thing is now on TV. Is
Speaker 1: like even though y'all my dogs and I'm working with y'all,
Speaker 1: when I'm finished, I want people to be like one
Speaker 1: of them things is not the same and it's him different.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 7: And also too, I think what makes you guys work
Speaker 7: and us work is being a star in your role.
Speaker 7: So whatever that role is like, and I say with
Speaker 7: all respect, like I'm the quarterback on our team. And Jack,
Speaker 7: Jack was the one that told me that, like, hey,
Speaker 7: you're in charge when you cause I do the business side.
Speaker 9: When you're in the meetings, I know I'm in the mood.
Speaker 9: I'm in the room with you.
Speaker 7: So when you got people you love and trust and
Speaker 7: you can fall into your role. I remember one of
Speaker 7: the things that Doc Rivers told me what the Clippers was.
Speaker 7: You know, we got Blake Griffin, we got Chris Paul.
Speaker 7: Those are superstars. Everyone else can still be a star
Speaker 7: in their role. And when you buy into what your
Speaker 7: role is, you can do whatever you want and be prosperous.
Speaker 7: And and and one thing too is when you're in
Speaker 7: your own lane. There's never traffic. Like we all feel.
Speaker 7: There's a ton of podcasts out here right now, but
Speaker 7: I don't feel like none of us are in competition
Speaker 7: with me and Stack because we bring a different dynamic.
Speaker 7: And on the flip side, there's a ton of podcasts
Speaker 7: in their space, and I don't feel like none of
Speaker 7: them are in a competition with the Pivot because they
Speaker 7: move a certain way and do different shit. Yeah we
Speaker 7: might be similar because we have the same past, but
Speaker 7: we move way different now. So being a star in
Speaker 7: your role and that's not just in that's in life,
Speaker 7: in business, in your family, in your home, there's just
Speaker 7: fine what that role is. And although you could you
Speaker 7: can possibly wear multiple hats, master what that role is
Speaker 7: and then you can branch out and do some other things.
Speaker 1: I know you're about to take it. But the one
Speaker 1: thing you said, though, that's powerful is that he told
Speaker 1: you that. Yeah, right, it's it's different, like you could
Speaker 1: feel it. But if he feels it too, like that's
Speaker 1: the synergy.
Speaker 2: It's funny, I call it. It's what we do.
Speaker 3: We do that.
Speaker 2: He'll be like, r C. You're gonna start it. You
Speaker 2: you're an orator, you speak beautifully, and you say every
Speaker 2: fucking letter in all your words started out, Freddy, you're
Speaker 2: gonna give people flowers like we literally like as y'all
Speaker 2: see the shows, y'all y'all see, and y'all y'all get
Speaker 2: the uncle vibe, you get you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 2: we get the vibe and people don't hit us a lot.
Speaker 2: But as y'all talk, we'll talk and be like and
Speaker 2: even r C afreda throw me stuff and be like chaying,
Speaker 2: it's some wild ship something I didn't even see with
Speaker 2: my research, and they'd be like, yeah, like, hey, it.
Speaker 1: Was Bobby Swerder. And I had read that the little chick.
Speaker 4: That the man made his penis bleeding.
Speaker 3: I said. I.
Speaker 4: It was like, RC, that's not your place like that.
Speaker 1: I gave it to y'all, said, he.
Speaker 4: Said, r C.
Speaker 2: He showed me the story and I read in the
Speaker 2: car and I was like, I got you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can ask I can ask him with that country.
Speaker 3: Damn what happened with that?
Speaker 1: Arm said?
Speaker 4: I knew the story already, but I could do that.
Speaker 4: She said, somehow see your little man, and now we're
Speaker 4: gonna get the story.
Speaker 2: And that's what we like. We throw it off each other.
Speaker 2: Even though I see something with fred and I'm like,
Speaker 2: fred this, dude, this this, this, this, this this charity
Speaker 2: wise yep, Like nobody looks at me to tell you
Speaker 2: about no charities, Like what the fuck are you talking about?
Speaker 2: You help us? I'd be like Freddy, this dude. Game
Speaker 2: seventy five thousand last in this week. So we we
Speaker 2: like and you say the point guard, but we got
Speaker 2: three and y'all got two. But we we really do
Speaker 2: the same thing. But it's really winning. It's all about winning.
Speaker 2: It's all about the come and goal, and everybody wants
Speaker 2: to win.
Speaker 7: Yeah, And I think what's good too, is like you said,
Speaker 7: when you know your role in your space, I feel
Speaker 7: like we can all ask the same questions to you
Speaker 7: get five different answers because of the way we frame it,
Speaker 7: or the because of the way he can relate to
Speaker 7: giving back, and he can throw some shit in there
Speaker 7: that we may not know.
Speaker 9: Or when you're talking about little Dick's bleeding, you might
Speaker 9: be able to.
Speaker 7: Throw some stuff in there that bit I want to
Speaker 7: talk about you I'm talking about so I don't know
Speaker 7: nothing about that, but I'm just saying no. I say
Speaker 7: all that to say It's just like when you when
Speaker 7: you know your lane, relate and you can put a
Speaker 7: little bit more personality and and and personal experience behind
Speaker 7: the question and get more out of the person because
Speaker 7: you are We're coming from the right angles with the questions.
Speaker 1: Stack for you, right. Like what I love about y'all
Speaker 1: shows when is where people sit down with y'all, you
Speaker 1: see a different side of right And I think part
Speaker 1: of it is being able to relate through the player vibe.
Speaker 1: But the other part is like, hey, man, like I
Speaker 1: know you are a real one for you, how do
Speaker 1: you use that though to draw people in but then
Speaker 1: get them to open up to you about things they
Speaker 1: don't do with other people.
Speaker 6: I think for us, as everything we've been through in
Speaker 6: our life has been in the media, I've been on
Speaker 6: out and open. We why emotions on our sleeve, and
Speaker 6: I think we want that.
Speaker 3: We want to come off as super vulnerable.
Speaker 6: We want to come off as as not knowing everything
Speaker 6: because a lot of times, when I guess come on,
Speaker 6: we learning from our guests, We learning who they are
Speaker 6: at the same time. But a lot of times the
Speaker 6: way to soften up your guests by to wake them
Speaker 6: make them be more comfortable with you. It is about
Speaker 6: telling your own experience so you know that they can
Speaker 6: relate to you.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 6: So I think a lot of times with me and Matt,
Speaker 6: like even with the brawl you talk about, the driving,
Speaker 6: with the Derek Fisher stuff, everything we've been through, but
Speaker 6: even with me calling off my wedding, you know, the
Speaker 6: George Floyd stuff, like a lot most of our life
Speaker 6: has been out there for everybody to see, and we
Speaker 6: embrace it. We don't run from it. We embrace it
Speaker 6: because that's who made us. So we've learned how to
Speaker 6: make love to the bad times just like we make
Speaker 6: love to the good times, right, and that's what keeps
Speaker 6: us going.
Speaker 3: And when people see that, I think we more relatable
Speaker 3: that way.
Speaker 7: And I also think to creating a safe space. You know,
Speaker 7: all of us have been through the bullshit, the way
Speaker 7: the media could twist your words or you say something
Speaker 7: that we use this much and put the rest of
Speaker 7: bullshit on it. So we've created a space where everybody
Speaker 7: knows through.
Speaker 9: Who we are and what we're about. That we're not
Speaker 9: trying to get trick you into saying no dumb shit.
Speaker 7: We're not trying to get We're trying to go viral
Speaker 7: because we had a deep conversation.
Speaker 9: We're not trying to go viral for you trying to
Speaker 9: say dumb shit.
Speaker 7: And also do be able to create an environment where
Speaker 7: they feel comfortable. And you know, with our environment, when
Speaker 7: you come on All the Smoke set, we got music playing,
Speaker 7: We got food. If you choose to indulge in cannabis,
Speaker 7: we got plenty of that for you. If you choose
Speaker 7: if you want some wine or some alcohol, we got that.
Speaker 9: So we want to kick it and talk before the
Speaker 9: show starts.
Speaker 7: So when you get on set, Like my whole idea
Speaker 7: when I came up with All the Smoker is everyone
Speaker 7: can relate. I feel like, ladies, wherever your best conversation
Speaker 7: are the nail shop or wherever the man cave is
Speaker 7: where we have our best conversations, and I wanted to
Speaker 7: put a.
Speaker 9: Camera on that.
Speaker 7: You know, no matter who you are, the best conversation
Speaker 7: or kicking back watching the game, So how do you
Speaker 7: capture that and package it up and put it on TV?
Speaker 7: So that's what we felt like we've been able to
Speaker 7: do is just create an authentic environment where we can
Speaker 7: humanize our guests, like you know, rest in peace.
Speaker 9: We keep saying his name. You know why.
Speaker 7: Kobe was great hooping, but you didn't know like Kobe
Speaker 7: told us, like I don't want no one to remember
Speaker 7: me from my first twenty years. I'm like, mother fucker,
Speaker 7: You're Kobe Bryant, five time champion, one of the greatest
Speaker 7: players ever. He's like, no, bro, this next twenty years
Speaker 7: in business, you know what I mean. So it's just
Speaker 7: the opportunity to give people that safe space where.
Speaker 9: They can come and find out and really tell people.
Speaker 7: I think my favorite thing on our show is when
Speaker 7: we talk to whoever man I've never told nobody this.
Speaker 7: I love that, and we like, hell yeah, because they
Speaker 7: feel comfortable enough to share their authentic feelings that we know.
Speaker 7: On the flip side, that's what you guys really want
Speaker 7: to hear, is the real shit from these some of
Speaker 7: your favorite people.
Speaker 8: But even with that, Matt, he stat be careful saying
Speaker 8: love around this boy.
Speaker 5: He can get Lucy crazy as hell.
Speaker 2: But I said bad love, good love. You just able
Speaker 2: to make love. You said bad love, good love.
Speaker 4: You just making love.
Speaker 6: I'm able to make love to the bad times.
Speaker 3: Yes, just just be careful, be careful.
Speaker 5: You never know what takes.
Speaker 8: We take details up right, what jumped out and Matt,
Speaker 8: when you were speaking, what jumped out was you said
Speaker 8: safe space, environment and media, and immediately in my mind
Speaker 8: jumped out being minority owned. You know, that's pretty important
Speaker 8: where you can talk to your ship and pretty much
Speaker 8: direct the conversations to where the culture can get it
Speaker 8: and they can understand.
Speaker 5: How important is that to you guys?
Speaker 6: Well, I mean for me, that's my whole reason for
Speaker 6: being right, That's why people love me because I'm hood,
Speaker 6: because I've never changed because from basketball and all the
Speaker 6: smoke I've been Stephen Jackson that's all right, and me
Speaker 6: being my authentic self, me saying things that most people
Speaker 6: won't say, me jumping in front of things that might
Speaker 6: not benefit me, but me just having a big heart.
Speaker 3: All those things make me who I am. So I
Speaker 3: think the way we.
Speaker 6: Talk and and and and being honest with ourselves, people
Speaker 6: want that like they want that. But at the same time,
Speaker 6: if if me saying that I'm a silent person, if
Speaker 6: me saying that there's nothing in my in my closet
Speaker 6: that you can bring out today to say I embarrass myself,
Speaker 6: do I did anything? And and I stand on that,
Speaker 6: then I have to speak that I have to live that.
Speaker 3: I can't.
Speaker 6: I can't just be living one way and to come
Speaker 6: on the show and be a whole different person, because that's.
Speaker 4: Not what our culture is.
Speaker 6: Right If our coach has been watered down and been
Speaker 6: shown one way for so long, that's why we always
Speaker 6: looking at TV like, that's not us, that's not our culture.
Speaker 6: But now we're controlling our own narrative. Now we've shown
Speaker 6: up in sweats suit's dress how we're supposed to show up, right.
Speaker 6: So that's why I think that that's why we went
Speaker 6: in and that's why we got to be ourselves, because
Speaker 6: we can be successful and when looking like us, it's
Speaker 6: no dress code, it's no playbook. We create our own
Speaker 6: playbook and that's what we show on the world.
Speaker 9: And I think too.
Speaker 7: On the flip side, for someone like me and Ryan,
Speaker 7: we can talk that side, but we can also put
Speaker 7: a student time and go on to ESPN and talk
Speaker 7: that other shit toack, you know what I mean, and
Speaker 7: be able to give you that Disney side of a
Speaker 7: real take, because obviously, like said Ryan, said Ryan, they
Speaker 7: were holding him out back in the Kapernick did because
Speaker 7: he was too real for the platform he was on
Speaker 7: at that time. But on the flip side, if he
Speaker 7: would have had his pod at that time, he would
Speaker 7: have came and really kind of gave you that. So
Speaker 7: the versatility, we're all very versatile and we can all speak,
Speaker 7: you know, to different topics.
Speaker 2: Did y'all y'all see this motherfucker that drug me on
Speaker 2: inside the NFL? He said, what you drugged me on
Speaker 2: inside the NFL?
Speaker 4: You know, he didn't drag me.
Speaker 2: The opportunity was there because Ryan did what he did,
Speaker 2: and now I gotta wear a suit and now I
Speaker 2: gotta do it right. I have no problem with that
Speaker 2: because I can switch over now. And that's what I think.
Speaker 2: Just the teaching part of this is that being able
Speaker 2: to be that's not your platform, but this is your platform,
Speaker 2: so you can do what you want here. People saw
Speaker 2: me here so long for three years, almost four years,
Speaker 2: and then now I jump on inside the NFL, and
Speaker 2: I'm getting tweets and text like, bro, you ain't cussing, Bro,
Speaker 2: you ain't doing this.
Speaker 4: I'm like, I'm not allowed to cuss.
Speaker 2: But I am multi facetted to where I can be
Speaker 2: like y'all too. Y'all never had gave me the opportunity
Speaker 2: because I'm a college dropout and I talked.
Speaker 8: Crazy all what you just say, you are what, I'm
Speaker 8: multi faceted, multi fast somebody.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to teach this other light skinned brother some
Speaker 4: big words.
Speaker 5: I'm gonna say this that I'm gonna thought that way.
Speaker 8: Somebody say they made you, but I digress and it
Speaker 8: wasn't our sea.
Speaker 5: You're amazing, brother. I just want to say you are amazing.
Speaker 5: You will tell you.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I don't want him to get mad.
Speaker 11: That's a whole different thing.
Speaker 8: But you know that's that's just in this conversation and
Speaker 8: what we're here for. You talk about being able to
Speaker 8: he's missed the tech mister TikTok that's what the kids call.
Speaker 8: And we're walking to the airport. That's the TikTok guy,
Speaker 8: and he's.
Speaker 2: Going to any of us.
Speaker 5: To me, he always goes M.
Speaker 8: But that's the beauty of technology. Just taking it back there,
Speaker 8: like everybody got this device in their hands so they
Speaker 8: can see this guy. We laying together, We fly together.
Speaker 8: They running channing first.
Speaker 5: Our c's on.
Speaker 8: ESPN almost every day on inside the NFL Tuesday nights,
Speaker 8: and but everybody runs the channing because.
Speaker 2: The most attractive one on the stage is me right now.
Speaker 9: Second, but go ahead, well.
Speaker 1: You know the other the other thing is too And
Speaker 1: I think I always make the confidence. I always take
Speaker 1: the conversation from fun. I know, I'm sorry, that's all
Speaker 1: I think. But Matt brings up a point that brings
Speaker 1: me to something else. You take what what I dealt
Speaker 1: with this week. Right, So I'm on TV and I
Speaker 1: got my suit on and were talking football, and nothing
Speaker 1: in football brings me to anything that is about our culture.
Speaker 1: I'm not asking those questions they want me to talk.
Speaker 1: They're asking me about the games. This is whatever it is.
Speaker 1: But on our platform, I addressed Brady Quinn attacking Deshaun
Speaker 1: Watson's character, Brady Quinn making the joke the first time,
Speaker 1: even not his first time, but I say that. And
Speaker 1: then you have people like Marcellus Wiley, right, and he
Speaker 1: comes out and what he says about me is because
Speaker 1: he's he's pandering to his crowd. Well, I know he
Speaker 1: doesn't talk about this as much on ESPN, but on
Speaker 1: his own platform, you can see that he doesn't like
Speaker 1: white people. Right, That's what he said. And then I
Speaker 1: was like, well, first off, I just say anything about that.
Speaker 9: I said.
Speaker 1: What I'm doing is I said, if I feel like
Speaker 1: there is something that affects our culture on my platform
Speaker 1: that I own, I will talk about it. I will
Speaker 1: address it. And if it's asked of me on their platform,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna say the exact same thing, and they're gonna
Speaker 1: have to figure out do they want me to address
Speaker 1: it on theirs? Right, it's not about like to me,
Speaker 1: it's not about the importance. Isn't about being able to
Speaker 1: switch up and do both because I could be one
Speaker 1: hundred sit hours. All five of us can do that.
Speaker 1: You can sit around and talk about every motion and
Speaker 1: every movement on an office in basketball court, right, you
Speaker 1: can sit around and tell them, okay, gonna play the
Speaker 1: man and man like this, or if we're gonna drop
Speaker 1: his zone. You could do that if that's what you
Speaker 1: wanted to do. Fred could do the same thing, like
Speaker 1: we could do those things. You don't switch in any
Speaker 1: way to do that is that we don't control what's
Speaker 1: talked about on those We control this. I own this.
Speaker 1: You're not gonna tell me what I'm gonna talk about here,
Speaker 1: because what I'm gonna talk about here is gonna affect
Speaker 1: us right, and I don't think. I think what's what's
Speaker 1: happened culturally is they feel like if I'm for us,
Speaker 1: I gotta be against them, and that's not the truth.
Speaker 6: It's a way to be black and proud without the
Speaker 6: meaning another race.
Speaker 3: And that's what a lot of people don't get. That's
Speaker 3: what a lot of people get.
Speaker 6: I tell stories all the time about people from other
Speaker 6: races who I know love me more than some people
Speaker 6: my own color, and they've showed it in real time.
Speaker 3: So I don't I don't get caught up in that.
Speaker 6: I don't get caught up in that because, just like
Speaker 6: it said, people want you to say certain things, but
Speaker 6: if you affect it by they not come and say so.
Speaker 6: The best thing is is do best for you and
Speaker 6: worry about the people that's around your immediate family and
Speaker 6: the people that care about you, the people that you support,
Speaker 6: the people that rely on you. A lot of people,
Speaker 6: when they have opinions, they don't have nothing, nobody depending
Speaker 6: on them, you know what I'm saying. They don't have
Speaker 6: no responsibilities, and it's easy to say things to the
Speaker 6: meaning next person when you don't have nothing going on.
Speaker 7: How do you guys handle the response talking to the
Speaker 7: Pivot crew. The responsibility of known that you guys are
Speaker 7: trusted in the community and they lean on your words
Speaker 7: and live by your words, and they're motivated by your
Speaker 7: words and encouraged by your words.
Speaker 9: Like, how do you handle that's a responsibility.
Speaker 7: It's something that happened with Jack too when he was
Speaker 7: going through the George floydschit. I'm like, it's one thing
Speaker 7: being a leader on the basketball court, but now the world.
Speaker 9: Is looking at you. You let the biggest protests.
Speaker 1: In the history.
Speaker 7: You know, your whole United States was sixteen countries eighteen,
Speaker 7: like eighteen countries. That's a whole other responsibility when people
Speaker 7: are looking to you for life, not just sports.
Speaker 9: So how do you guys handle that responsibility?
Speaker 8: Just being yourself? You gotta be authentic self. I think
Speaker 8: we said it earlier.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 8: I always go back to something I say all the time.
Speaker 8: Exposure leads to expansion, you know, and you just speak
Speaker 8: to your experiences in life. You can't be phony. They'll
Speaker 8: see through that, you know. Every time I see you,
Speaker 8: Jack stat you like you speak from the heart.
Speaker 5: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8: No matter what, you'll get on your ig, get on
Speaker 8: your life and you just speak from the heart. You
Speaker 8: show love, you get love, you get hate, but you
Speaker 8: always have know how to go back and pivot and
Speaker 8: communicate to that. But you stand firm, and I think
Speaker 8: once you do that, people will say, all right, this
Speaker 8: dude's solid. You know what I'm saying. I can't see
Speaker 8: through him. Ain't no bs that come with him, So
Speaker 8: I'm gonna rock with him. So I think the pivot
Speaker 8: has done a good job back. They know what RC
Speaker 8: brings to the table. You know what I'm saying. For
Speaker 8: everybody that try to say, oh, ESPN has you doing
Speaker 8: this way?
Speaker 4: Nah, RC has a way to leverage that.
Speaker 8: But he speaks COmON sense. And the same with Channing.
Speaker 8: They know Tenning gonna always be Tanning and speak from
Speaker 8: the heart. And myself, I'm very observant and I'm calculated
Speaker 8: and I see how things is going, but I'm always
Speaker 8: give you me at the very end of the day.
Speaker 8: So for us, it's simple, and that's the very reason
Speaker 8: we love our platform because we get to do that.
Speaker 8: We own our platform, We get to do that and
Speaker 8: nobody else can dictateor tell us.
Speaker 1: What to do.
Speaker 8: We control post editing. You know what I'm saying, so
Speaker 8: this month's Alisha. What she does is beautiful and she
Speaker 8: on the same shit we on.
Speaker 2: I think the one thing I think, and we all
Speaker 2: said it like be yourself. You can't.
Speaker 4: You can't paint nothing.
Speaker 2: You can't paint no pictures like you're saying, I think
Speaker 2: we grew up that way. Like I think it's in you.
Speaker 5: We can do that.
Speaker 2: But the one thing I think that we do, and
Speaker 2: I've seen that people try to do. I don't know
Speaker 2: if y'all seen it, is that people try to tell
Speaker 2: you about him and him about you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you can't do that.
Speaker 4: Hey, what does stat saying? Hey, when Matt said this?
Speaker 2: What you think?
Speaker 3: Bro?
Speaker 2: We've mentioned so many things when people come up to
Speaker 2: me and be like, hey, man, Ryan did this, and
Speaker 2: I'd be like, I got Ryan here every time, here,
Speaker 2: every time, I'm like and.
Speaker 4: They're like, but what do you think about?
Speaker 2: What you feel about it?
Speaker 6: Sad?
Speaker 2: You can say whatever you want right now, I'm gonna
Speaker 2: take his side here, I'm gonna take I'm gonna take
Speaker 2: Freddy's side.
Speaker 6: That's the That's the quickest way for me to know
Speaker 6: I need I don't need to be around you because
Speaker 6: I'm not going against him for.
Speaker 2: Nobody, and that I think that's it's funny that y'all
Speaker 2: have that, because we've talked about it before. Where that
Speaker 2: we have that where I can I almost say I
Speaker 2: don't agree with either of them, But if you ask
Speaker 2: me about him, there's no way I'm even leaning.
Speaker 1: Your way, I said. I tell him all the time,
Speaker 1: I'm with you when you're right, and I'm with you
Speaker 1: when you're wrong in public.
Speaker 7: But I'm gonna tell you when you're wrong, though I
Speaker 7: have to say off to the side, and I think
Speaker 7: too not to cut you off right because Jack is
Speaker 7: again you you guys can see, he's emotional, he's real.
Speaker 9: Words is hard on the sleeve.
Speaker 7: But sometimes he wants to do and say stuff that
Speaker 7: is real from the heart.
Speaker 9: But also could be affect our platform.
Speaker 7: So he'll be like, bro, what you think about me
Speaker 7: saying this?
Speaker 3: I love it because I know I can hurt us.
Speaker 7: I think I think there's a place for it, but
Speaker 7: maybe not right now, you know what I mean, or
Speaker 7: maybe not this way you know what I mean, and
Speaker 7: vice versa.
Speaker 9: So I think too to be able.
Speaker 6: To taking that, okay, right, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 6: I put it no.
Speaker 4: Pride in that we just did. It was the tour thing.
Speaker 2: Ye, well, he said too, it looked like a stripper
Speaker 2: from what he say to it like a stripper from
Speaker 2: and I took it as you disrespected strippers. But what
Speaker 2: I say ain't no mention.
Speaker 4: That looked like he said something. And when it flew
Speaker 4: up we got only Oh. I was like, I was like, bro,
Speaker 4: you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: People kidding me because I live at the Median MINDI like, bro,
Speaker 2: I got you. But that was too far And he
Speaker 2: was like, bro, I'm gonna figure it out. And then
Speaker 2: he called me and I don't want to tell exactly
Speaker 2: you know what I'm saying. All the backworks out.
Speaker 7: He was like, yeah, bro, well because everyone can't say
Speaker 7: that to him, but he loves and respect you until
Speaker 7: he's gonna listen to you.
Speaker 2: It was a a bunch of the conversations that we
Speaker 2: have to have with it.
Speaker 4: But that's but it's really the respect of it.
Speaker 1: You know why he could be like that because we
Speaker 1: had to start with him on.
Speaker 8: The flip side the same room from this that coming.
Speaker 2: About that, man, you know what, I throssed my legros
Speaker 2: my leg, my knees I'm about to go in.
Speaker 1: You know, he'd have had an HR to for the pivot,
Speaker 1: so HR anything, I get it. I get it that
Speaker 1: he didn't had an HR. The thing to man that
Speaker 1: like I love about these two is like they didn't
Speaker 1: change with the responsibility. I think that's the hardest part, right,
Speaker 1: I think you know, the way that you continue to
Speaker 1: nurture the relationship is the same way you earned it, right,
Speaker 1: you know, you know how it is, man Like, if
Speaker 1: y'all became friends because of a certain thing and he
Speaker 1: switched that up, that's gonna affect your friendship lit bit, right,
Speaker 1: that's gonna affect your relationship. And don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1: You know, like we had Michael Beasley and we didn't
Speaker 1: We didn't expect that, right, it just happened. And in
Speaker 1: the moment when it happened, that's when the pivot became
Speaker 1: the pivot. But then we all of a sudden, we
Speaker 1: did all of a sudden become for the people. And
Speaker 1: so now, don't get me wrong, like anytime we're thinking
Speaker 1: about expanding the brand reaching you know, other audiences, people
Speaker 1: look at us funny because it's like you for us
Speaker 1: right now, you've gone and done that and there isn't
Speaker 1: that sort of grace of like, but we do understand
Speaker 1: that there are other stories that are important. There are
Speaker 1: the things, and we're gonna always be rooted and that's
Speaker 1: gonna be our foundation. But y'all grabbed us in five shows.
Speaker 1: We didn't know what the hell we was, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? And so like that's the things that
Speaker 1: you just continue to do, man, and like like this
Speaker 1: for us, we obviously just wanted to do a show
Speaker 1: with y'all period, At some point get an opportunity to
Speaker 1: sit with y'all. But I do think it's a testament
Speaker 1: that it happens this way that platform about to say
Speaker 1: a platform like Draft King says, we respect you, we
Speaker 1: respect them, you know.
Speaker 5: What I mean.
Speaker 1: Let's let's that's muse.
Speaker 7: But that's huge, that's huge, you know, for again for
Speaker 7: these big corporations to come to us to get the
Speaker 7: message across, you know what I mean. And again it's
Speaker 7: a testament to what we've shown and how authentic and
Speaker 7: real we've been and the way we've been able to
Speaker 7: utilize our platforms and expand from that and then like
Speaker 7: you said, not being able to put us in the box.
Speaker 7: We took a ton of ship because we did will
Speaker 7: Will Smith's first interview after he slapped Chris that's not.
Speaker 9: Your space, that's not your space and.
Speaker 1: Can you get my guy back on and just ask
Speaker 1: them how you doing? Can you doing wellness?
Speaker 5: Check well?
Speaker 9: Because we did Jada after that.
Speaker 7: We did Jada before she dropped her book, and I
Speaker 7: never seen someone someone gets someone.
Speaker 9: It was it was bad, you know what I mean.
Speaker 9: But I say all this like me because Jaya.
Speaker 4: I was looking at data like Jason's lyrics like.
Speaker 8: Dun Tail.
Speaker 3: Always look.
Speaker 9: The lift, but it was mutual energy. I was in
Speaker 9: the middle, but the energy was flowing like this, and
Speaker 9: I felt.
Speaker 1: It some ways.
Speaker 9: I felt it, you know.
Speaker 7: But I say all that to say is like obviously,
Speaker 7: you know we came up in a certain way, and yeah,
Speaker 7: we speak for this, but at the same time, you
Speaker 7: can't put us in the box anymore because we can
Speaker 7: step outside it and speak to other things and other lanes.
Speaker 9: It's about our culture as well.
Speaker 1: I know we're taking up a lot of times, but
Speaker 1: we wanted to open it up for questions. If anybody
Speaker 1: has the questions, I don't know how we're supposed to.
Speaker 1: Are they gonna walk up to that microphone.
Speaker 12: I had a quick question for you. How do you
Speaker 12: all think about going into corporate partnerships? Are there different
Speaker 12: metrics or different things that going you all and a
Speaker 12: checklist on partner with this brand, don't partner with this brand.
Speaker 12: This brand isn't aligned with our brand. This brain is
Speaker 12: in the line. Just talk to me about how y'all go.
Speaker 7: I think what you said at the end is we've
Speaker 7: all fortunate enough now to think about it to turn
Speaker 7: down deals that don't align with what we believe in,
Speaker 7: what we represent, regardless of the money. Because again, like
Speaker 7: I said, for us to be real and authentic and
Speaker 7: then align ourselves with a brand that contradicts ourselves, no
Speaker 7: matter what the money is, we're gonna take that hitting.
Speaker 9: It's not worth it.
Speaker 7: So I think I know when I speak for Jack
Speaker 7: and and all the smoke, when we align with the brand.
Speaker 7: As funny as it may be, if we have to
Speaker 7: talk about manscape and shaving ourselves like it's shit that
Speaker 7: we fuck with, you know what I mean, it's brands
Speaker 7: that we can align it and really use. So I
Speaker 7: throw the money out the window, and do I really
Speaker 7: align with the qualities of what this brand represents.
Speaker 1: That's the answer, ferial.
Speaker 2: And if they want to control your content on how
Speaker 2: you do yeah, you can't say no, you can't.
Speaker 9: Can't do it, you can't do it, We're gone.
Speaker 6: You want to cut it.
Speaker 8: But it goes back to the quality of what you
Speaker 8: put out. You know, we look at what we put
Speaker 8: out and we've heard from a lot of people that
Speaker 8: we got top notch production right and at Lasha, she's
Speaker 8: won thirteen Emmys and she always comes back. She always
Speaker 8: if you got to put this here, she if you
Speaker 8: got to put this here and this here, and it
Speaker 8: takes away from the quality riper. So we looked at deals,
Speaker 8: well we've turned down, especially in the first couple of months.
Speaker 5: We were turning.
Speaker 8: Down six figures early on and looking at each other
Speaker 8: like what we just do, but were like, fuck it,
Speaker 8: let's do it, and let's better on ourselves at least the.
Speaker 5: Quality of our content.
Speaker 8: It'll grow and then we'll be able to get it
Speaker 8: on the back end.
Speaker 7: So an you turned down that six figures for that
Speaker 7: eight or nine figure down the road because you're staying
Speaker 7: true and all believe it.
Speaker 1: And also to the other thing like when when you
Speaker 1: listen to people answer questions like you got to have
Speaker 1: their backstory as well, Like we didn't get into this
Speaker 1: part of our careers broke right, Like like we aren't.
Speaker 1: We aren't trying to take care of our families off
Speaker 1: of the first offer, right, we could play the longer
Speaker 1: game because we had ourselves set up in a different way, right,
Speaker 1: Like you can only you can only turn down what
Speaker 1: you can afford to turn down. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like if it's gonna nobody.
Speaker 2: On this stage is worried about what they eating Wednesday night. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And that's the difference. So as we speak, like you
Speaker 2: know what I'm saying, we can approach things differently because
Speaker 2: we're building a brand after we've already had a brand.
Speaker 2: And that's why I'm trying to speak. A lot of
Speaker 2: young podcasts come to me and they asked me similar questions,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, you have to see what fred Freddy.
Speaker 4: RC and myself where we were when we started.
Speaker 2: So like yeah, hey, honey, thousand and it's a lot
Speaker 2: of money, but it's like you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 2: we can look further, we can look beyond, but it's
Speaker 2: there's different tiers where you live and there's different areas
Speaker 2: where people are trying.
Speaker 4: To grow, and we we had we had a.
Speaker 2: Head start, I guess with what we did and where
Speaker 2: where we where we came from.
Speaker 8: Appreciate one last thing really quick. We didn't get into
Speaker 8: it thinking about We didn't get into it thinking about
Speaker 8: the money. Seriously, we got into it. We didn't know
Speaker 8: exactly how much money.
Speaker 9: Could be made.
Speaker 8: We just got into it and we we kept going.
Speaker 8: Channing and I we we were trying to prove a
Speaker 8: point and we had to pivot. And that's where the
Speaker 8: pivot comes from. And we couldn't have got a perfect
Speaker 8: more perfect.
Speaker 2: There we go. That's it.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 2: Next, so it was good ship, that's carried away.
Speaker 4: Look, that's it.
Speaker 13: That's yeah, what's up with it? Both you guys? Podcasts
Speaker 13: are rocket ships right now? What's the what's the goal
Speaker 13: for you guys? Where do you guys want to see
Speaker 13: this kind of end up and not even just end up.
Speaker 13: Where do you guys want to see it go in
Speaker 13: the coming years to come?
Speaker 1: That's a oh, that's a great question. I can be honest.
Speaker 1: When they called me, When chan called me and we
Speaker 1: FaceTime for an hour and a half, I didn't know
Speaker 1: where it was going to be honest, like, I thought
Speaker 1: it'd be a dope opportunity. I think for me, it's
Speaker 1: about creating something that has a legacy, you know, because
Speaker 1: you're gonna if you do really well, you're gonna make money.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: If you do really well, we might get to a
Speaker 1: point to where we could sell it if we feel
Speaker 1: like selling it at that point makes the most sense
Speaker 1: for us. But in owning my own platform, I want
Speaker 1: this to like I come from a sports background, right, Like,
Speaker 1: the same way he talks about Kobe, That's how I
Speaker 1: want people to talk about us, right. I want people
Speaker 1: to say when something else is made, when three other
Speaker 1: young brothers or three young young other young podcasters make
Speaker 1: a pot and they start taking off, I want people
Speaker 1: to be like, man, this is this reminds me of
Speaker 1: the Pivot, right, Like, like you could tell that they watched,
Speaker 1: Like that's what it is. That's what it's about for me, man,
Speaker 1: Like I want to create the dopest content. I want
Speaker 1: to have the best space. But I want people and
Speaker 1: I'm sure they do too, like and I could be honest, like,
Speaker 1: I look at what they do because because they were
Speaker 1: in it before I got in it right, Like, I
Speaker 1: look at what they do. Okay, this is how they
Speaker 1: set it up, Like this is how people get comfortable.
Speaker 1: These are the stories they tell, right, Because I gotta
Speaker 1: look at that to say, this is what people gravitate to. Now,
Speaker 1: how does Ryan Clark put his spin on that? And
Speaker 1: like at the end of it, I want people to
Speaker 1: be like, man, this is the dopest thing we ever saw.
Speaker 1: And it continued to evolve and like everything has a
Speaker 1: shelf life, Like at some point it's gonna be some
Speaker 1: other group of people they want to hear more than us,
Speaker 1: but at two of them. Man, I want to always
Speaker 1: be doing this. I never want to be here because
Speaker 1: once we get here, we die quickly.
Speaker 2: And this is a very I guess it's a hippieist
Speaker 2: approach to things. I've been saying. What's my saying? Everything
Speaker 2: always gonna work out? When we started and we ain't
Speaker 2: making no money, and we grinding, and we in Vegas
Speaker 2: for a week and we're going to we're going to
Speaker 2: them little bullshit little young boy basketball games, and were
Speaker 2: going to clubs and like we walking up to people
Speaker 2: and being like, hey, bro, you wanna jump in the
Speaker 2: pod And we're like grinding to do it and things
Speaker 2: will go down and somebody will canceled on us.
Speaker 4: And things that happened.
Speaker 2: And I said to everybody, like, listen, everything always works
Speaker 2: out how it's supposed to. And I told them that
Speaker 2: for years. So my thing, that's your question. I don't
Speaker 2: know where it's going, but I know we have something
Speaker 2: special and it's gonna be exactly where God wants it
Speaker 2: to be in six months, twelve months, eighteen months. And
Speaker 2: I really honestly have my wife's over here, my attorneys
Speaker 2: at like they know I feel that way. Like everything
Speaker 2: happens exactly the fucking way it's supposed to happen.
Speaker 4: Just work real hard.
Speaker 2: And I've been saying that for years, and that's my thing,
Speaker 2: and I know it's hippous and.
Speaker 1: It's annoying as hell in the moment when you're trying
Speaker 1: to get him to do something.
Speaker 4: Though, where where yet, bron God damn we in the cup.
Speaker 2: Everything gonna work out with me. I'll be down there
Speaker 2: by twenty.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it for real, y'all. Uh.
Speaker 14: First off, y'all, voices are so important, Like you give
Speaker 14: man the ability to share their feelings and be open
Speaker 14: about it, and I appreciate that legitimate.
Speaker 3: I appreciate that.
Speaker 14: Have any of you thought about loaning your voices to
Speaker 14: ownership in your respective sports, like we would love to
Speaker 14: see more black men in these rooms making these decisions
Speaker 14: and helping these teams out. Like have any of y'all
Speaker 14: thought about joining ownership ranks?
Speaker 1: I for sure have, Like that's you know, I have.
Speaker 1: I have this ten urre plan, which is why this
Speaker 1: is gonna have to end at some point. You know,
Speaker 1: first of all, I want to be a general manager
Speaker 1: though right, Like I want to I want to make decisions.
Speaker 1: I want to be in a position to control who
Speaker 1: gets what opportunities. And I think so many times we
Speaker 1: look at the top opportunity, right, and we're saying that
Speaker 1: we don't have head coach, or like you said, we
Speaker 1: don't have ownership and all of those things. A lot
Speaker 1: of the reasons we don't have those things is because
Speaker 1: we also don't get the entry level opportunities as well. Right,
Speaker 1: Those go to those go to the cousin, right, or
Speaker 1: to Bill Belichick's son. Right, Those go to the person
Speaker 1: that John Gruden can call Mike McCarthy and say, look,
Speaker 1: I can't hire him because they know he's in my family,
Speaker 1: but won't you put him on for me?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 1: We don't have people that are looking down the pipeline
Speaker 1: to make sure that it's equal opportunity. Na, don't get
Speaker 1: me wrong. I'm not just hiring you. I don't I want.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna just put people in position based on
Speaker 1: how they look. I'm gonna hire the best people. But
Speaker 1: what I want to do is to be able to
Speaker 1: develop the best people on an equal playing field. And
Speaker 1: so like that's definitely for me. Like that's the next
Speaker 1: step of what I want to do, is get it
Speaker 1: to being an executive, be a general manager, and my
Speaker 1: final the final thing I want to do, I want
Speaker 1: to be an athletic director at HBCU. So that's my
Speaker 1: last job when I'm done working and I'm done grinding,
Speaker 1: and I want to sit somewhere and be there for
Speaker 1: a while. It's getting an opportunity to give the game
Speaker 1: that we learned a lot of times the hard way
Speaker 1: that young brothers and young sisters feel like it's not
Speaker 1: worth learning because nobody will teach you. Right, have somebody
Speaker 1: say no, I look like you, but I also understand
Speaker 1: in order to be what you want to be. You
Speaker 1: have to navigate the entire world. Right, this little microcosm
Speaker 1: of the world, isn't the whole thing?
Speaker 2: Tell this whole rest of his whole fucking life. And
Speaker 2: when I get married, I want to get buried in
Speaker 2: New Orleans because my daddy and my grandmama in New Orleans.
Speaker 11: God damn man, we got a whole lot of motherfucker's
Speaker 11: waiting minute.
Speaker 3: I'm not.
Speaker 1: Every show, every show.
Speaker 15: So I love one of the things that you said
Speaker 15: about success doesn't have a dress code. I think that
Speaker 15: that's important for everybody in this room to really understand
Speaker 15: and embrace. But what is another key attribute that someone
Speaker 15: who is successful you believe they should have.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean it's just confidence.
Speaker 6: At the end of the day, when you wake up
Speaker 6: in the morning, you have everything you need to be great.
Speaker 6: I think that we we have we have poisoned to
Speaker 6: you to have them thinking that they have to go
Speaker 6: to social media to get validation of who they are
Speaker 6: and how great they can be.
Speaker 3: Right, if you wake.
Speaker 6: Up every every day in the morning, look in the
Speaker 6: mirror and believe in yourself and have confident in yourself,
Speaker 6: that's enough, right there. So we I've always been super confident.
Speaker 6: I come from a small town. I used to piss
Speaker 6: in the bed, right, he was like thirteen. I used
Speaker 6: to pis I used to piss in the.
Speaker 7: Bed, games and games games.
Speaker 2: I was, y, don't have no grass. We can piss
Speaker 2: on ourselves and get on the knee and the piss
Speaker 2: run down your leg.
Speaker 4: You just wipe it off the water.
Speaker 9: Huh, it's still on.
Speaker 3: Now. But really, just believing in yourself.
Speaker 6: It's really the first thing that you have to have,
Speaker 6: because if they're not gonna hire somebody that not confident,
Speaker 6: they don't they're not gonna hand nobody that they don't
Speaker 6: believe in that can answer a tough question when they're
Speaker 6: not around, you know what I'm saying, Or somebody who
Speaker 6: can handle the building when it's going down, right, they're
Speaker 6: gonna hind somebody who can supplement that while they're gone.
Speaker 6: So you believing in yourself first and not expecting the
Speaker 6: world are people around you to tell you who you are.
Speaker 3: I think that's the first step to success, and.
Speaker 8: Then I'll pay you back off stack. I think it's
Speaker 8: about the follow through what Kobe said, you gotta finish
Speaker 8: the job. How many of us out here have had
Speaker 8: an idea, we sit on it and we say, all right,
Speaker 8: this is gonna be amazing, and then we don't do
Speaker 8: shit in that day.
Speaker 9: Right, and then man, when else does?
Speaker 5: And then you man when somebody else.
Speaker 8: So it's about it's about to follow through finishing the job.
Speaker 8: So if something jumps in your mind, you gotta go
Speaker 8: through with it. All these so called entrepreneurs, a geniuses
Speaker 8: and creatives, they just went the extra step to finish
Speaker 8: the job. It's a process and once you complete that task,
Speaker 8: boom you there.
Speaker 1: It's like Nip said, Man, he just ain't quit.
Speaker 16: He ain't quit, right, all right, Phillis, I got a
Speaker 16: question kind of track of what they're talking about. But
Speaker 16: as a former athlete, have y'all ever thought about interviewing
Speaker 16: or having on y'all show guys that not necessarily made
Speaker 16: it to the league, The guys that you play with,
Speaker 16: your brothers, that play with in college that had the
Speaker 16: transition into corporate America. Because as you know, you guys
Speaker 16: are part of the one percent. But there's another ten
Speaker 16: to twenty percent of us that don't make it to
Speaker 16: the league, get kicked our practice squad or whatever and
Speaker 16: have to find another avenue to go to be successful.
Speaker 16: So have y'all thought about bringing those guys onto the
Speaker 16: show to speak to that that bigger demographic, to give
Speaker 16: those guys hope and the avenue and other avenues to
Speaker 16: find success.
Speaker 5: You shooting your shot.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm not saying.
Speaker 5: I mean.
Speaker 8: It's about It's about opportunity. That's what the pivot is.
Speaker 8: It's the ultimate pivot. So how at us will say
Speaker 8: we put something that we have?
Speaker 7: So I I was gonna say, we have a show
Speaker 7: that just today a guy named Shae Cotton, who was
Speaker 7: one of the they said the greatest high school basketball
Speaker 7: player ever who did make it. And it's crazy the
Speaker 7: response and the feedback we've been getting from his story
Speaker 7: because to furtherier point, there's ninety nine percent of you
Speaker 7: that don't make it. One percent of college athletes make
Speaker 7: professional ranks. That means ninety nine percent of athletes don't,
Speaker 7: which is unsane, so worthy anomaly. The norm is the
Speaker 7: people who haven't. So to be able to speak to
Speaker 7: that audience, we feel like it's huge. So we started
Speaker 7: something on All the Smoke called street Legends, just guys
Speaker 7: that hooped who were amazing, that didn't make it but
Speaker 7: still we're aver to make something of themselves, and to me,
Speaker 7: I feel like those stories are more inspirational because they're
Speaker 7: more realistic.
Speaker 1: I think it's what he said as well. The difficult
Speaker 1: part I've learned is finding the right story right, Like
Speaker 1: somebody like Shae Cotton. I'm a big hoop fan, Like
Speaker 1: I know who Shae Cotton is, and so that story
Speaker 1: excites me, and that's something I want to learn about.
Speaker 1: I don't know how it works for y'all. Like for us,
Speaker 1: we've brought on people who we thought were great stories,
Speaker 1: Like we had Myron roll On right, Myron Rolle never
Speaker 1: became he like he never made an actual game roster,
Speaker 1: but he was a Rhodes scholar. He was a college
Speaker 1: All American. You know, he's now a brain surgeon. And
Speaker 1: to us like that was like that's an amazing story. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you didn't make it in the league, but it doesn't matter,
Speaker 1: Like your calling is so much bigger. You know, he
Speaker 1: was in all of these different hospitals during COVID and
Speaker 1: we did get a good response from the people that
Speaker 1: watched it.
Speaker 4: I've learned that.
Speaker 1: If people don't feel a connection to a guy, like
Speaker 1: if you can't build it to make them really want
Speaker 1: to dive in it. So many people actually missed that message,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. But if we tell you
Speaker 1: we got the rock on four million of y'all show up,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean? And that is like that
Speaker 1: like that is the thing is we'll get well, why
Speaker 1: don't y'all do this? Oh no, no problem, Like we'll
Speaker 1: do a mental health show period to talk about mental health.
Speaker 1: We'll bring some on somebody on that that wasn't a
Speaker 1: popular player, but it's huge in the mental health space.
Speaker 1: And then people don't watch it. And so I think
Speaker 1: you you know, like we're still going to do those things,
Speaker 1: but if you're going to like want those questions that
Speaker 1: want those type of the shows we also have to support.
Speaker 17: So y'all talked about being role players when you were
Speaker 17: kind of going into pivoting into your second career.
Speaker 5: I guess were.
Speaker 17: There any other options that you had before you landed
Speaker 17: on the podcast. And then I'm sure, as we all know,
Speaker 17: when you're breaking into a field that doesn't necessarily look
Speaker 17: like we all do, Like, were you nervous that this
Speaker 17: were you ever unsure that this was your lane?
Speaker 6: Well, when when all the Smoker's verson starts. I mean
Speaker 6: was about to start. They wasn't sure on me, to
Speaker 6: be honest. We came up with the idea, like, who
Speaker 6: is Jackson, what is this he gonna beat people up
Speaker 6: every episode? Is he gonna come in here with a
Speaker 6: faudy and some dickies and the pistol?
Speaker 4: Like no, that was like.
Speaker 3: And he did and he did?
Speaker 6: But nah, So I mean I think for us, we
Speaker 6: both were we both were doing TV at the time,
Speaker 6: and me and Matt always hang out. We brothers. A
Speaker 6: lot of people don't know. We came close when his
Speaker 6: mom passed from cancer. So that's when we really build
Speaker 6: our relationship. So doing the show what the conversation about
Speaker 6: building the show wasn't really a long conversation. Liked doing
Speaker 6: a show together, of course, we'll do it, you know.
Speaker 6: But he made this happen. You know, he he knew
Speaker 6: the right people, He called the right people. So I
Speaker 6: believed that everything he was gonna do right. What did
Speaker 6: I know our podcast with view or is that today?
Speaker 9: Know?
Speaker 6: But I believed in it right. I couldn't have told
Speaker 6: you at the time, but in my mind, ye know,
Speaker 6: we gonna make it there, right, So you gotta believe
Speaker 6: in yourself, because if you don't, nobody else will.
Speaker 17: My dude's on the pivot you RC him, I know
Speaker 17: you ESPN broadcast.
Speaker 4: It's seeing.
Speaker 2: Tel just did we know?
Speaker 4: Okay, Well I got out. Nobody knew what he was
Speaker 4: gonna do.
Speaker 2: I started to the way like r C and uh,
Speaker 2: you were doing you did a meeting before you retired
Speaker 2: before Yeah, so like some dudes know, they transition. So
Speaker 2: Artcing was doing me before A retired. He was on
Speaker 2: TV Matt and them. Credit just chill all day. Credit
Speaker 2: just chill all fucking day. But no, he he do
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff. But no, I didn't know I
Speaker 2: would go podcasts like I'm a are entertaining and mess
Speaker 2: around and play like I do now. And that's why
Speaker 2: I keep like I keep that, I keep that level,
Speaker 2: like I keep that thing because I know what I am.
Speaker 2: I know why people ask me to be on that podcast.
Speaker 2: I know why a thousand people text me every day
Speaker 2: to come on the show because I just talked fun.
Speaker 4: So I didn't know what I was gonna do after football.
Speaker 2: And then once I retired, I was sitting around and
Speaker 2: my wife was like, you going back to play? You're
Speaker 2: going back to play, and I was like, no, I'm not.
Speaker 2: It's like what you're gonna do. So I bought three
Speaker 2: boats and I would go fish all day. I swear
Speaker 2: to god. I had two. I had a bass boat,
Speaker 2: I had a splats boat, and I had a DEPC boat.
Speaker 2: And I was like, I'm just fish all day and
Speaker 2: that shit got boring. So then I went back to
Speaker 2: the radio station and I started doing a couple of
Speaker 2: shows and all.
Speaker 4: But I didn't know I was gonna do the media.
Speaker 2: But then I saw it was good at it, and
Speaker 2: I just kind of transitioned and kept working. But you
Speaker 2: never know what you're gonna do because I was a
Speaker 2: college dropout, like I left as a sophomore, So like,
Speaker 2: just find your passion and work on it is my
Speaker 2: total is my ultimate message of what I'm saying, because
Speaker 2: I never knew I'd be sitting on stage with these
Speaker 2: four amazing people and talking about podcasting and talk about
Speaker 2: media and all that stuff.
Speaker 4: But it happens. But like they were just saying, just
Speaker 4: grinding work.
Speaker 2: That's a long time, bro.
Speaker 4: Fuck you, Okay, ch I.
Speaker 9: Got a question.
Speaker 7: You keep saying college dropout, but you went to the
Speaker 7: league after your sophomore year.
Speaker 4: Right, yeah, I dropped out.
Speaker 9: That's not a dropout.
Speaker 2: Dropout, No, it's not.
Speaker 9: You went to the league.
Speaker 4: I have thirty six credits in Florida.
Speaker 9: Me too, or total two years, thirty six credits.
Speaker 6: I got thirty six in college thirty six times.
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, we only have one more. But just they
Speaker 2: put me in chemistry, I said, Man, y'all can kiss
Speaker 2: my if y'all.
Speaker 4: Know how hard chemistry is, I do.
Speaker 1: I passed it.
Speaker 2: I dropped that three times. I took social dance twice.
Speaker 2: I took bowling twice, and I took golf. Just get
Speaker 2: him on the football field. What I say, think they
Speaker 2: got here, We're gonna do it right for you.
Speaker 15: Go ahead, man, How do you guys stay humble yet
Speaker 15: motivated despite accomplishing so much.
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't ever feel like I don't ever feel like
Speaker 1: it's enough. To be honest, I think, and I think
Speaker 1: what happens is people focus on success as a destination
Speaker 1: and don't focus on the work as a journey. Right,
Speaker 1: So when you look at the process of getting to anything,
Speaker 1: like the progress that you make every day, like those
Speaker 1: are the wins, right, And think about what Matt just said.
Speaker 1: They started a podcast because the podcast has done so well,
Speaker 1: because they own it. Now they're moving into a production company.
Speaker 1: Now they're gonna bring people on which you're the same
Speaker 1: conversation that we've had the same conversations I've had with
Speaker 1: our producer. Right, Like I'm in making my next deal
Speaker 1: with ESPN, Like you're gonna have to give me a
Speaker 1: thirty for thirty, Right, I'm gonna have to produce that. Right,
Speaker 1: You're gonna have to give me an ESPN Plus show series,
Speaker 1: and like that has to come with what I'm doing.
Speaker 1: But when I started, that wasn't my goal because I
Speaker 1: couldn't ask for it because I wasn't ready for it. Right,
Speaker 1: But once you work at something and you work to
Speaker 1: try to master that which you never truse, you work
Speaker 1: to try to master that. Now it's like, Okay, what's
Speaker 1: the next step that the hard work that got me
Speaker 1: here affords me? And now because I've earned myself or
Speaker 1: earned opportunities into those next rooms based on my work,
Speaker 1: I now take that same work ethic into that and
Speaker 1: whether's that lead me? And so I think that's what
Speaker 1: it always is. It's always evolving, it's always the next step.
Speaker 1: And should you like be excited about your wins. For sure,
Speaker 1: you are blessed to have those wins. But what happens,
Speaker 1: like if we stop trying to win, we die, And
Speaker 1: I'm not ready to die.
Speaker 6: And it's not hard to stay humble anyway, because like
Speaker 6: we're human beings.
Speaker 3: We human beings, We just like y'all. We go through
Speaker 3: ups and downs.
Speaker 6: Kids, you know, school, car wrecks, rush to the hospital.
Speaker 6: We deal with real life stuff too, so we have
Speaker 6: to be prepared for that too. And things happen every
Speaker 6: day our life. So we can never get complacent because
Speaker 6: we are protected that provide us and we feel like
Speaker 6: it's always gonna be somebody.
Speaker 3: We can help.
Speaker 6: So if we get complacent that one person that might
Speaker 6: need some help, we might not be able.
Speaker 3: To help them. So that's why we gotta keep going.
Speaker 1: And these people help me too though, Like when I
Speaker 1: watch him succeed and then every time I see him
Speaker 1: he's exactly the same way. Like that humility to me
Speaker 1: makes me say, like that's what it's about. If he
Speaker 1: gonna dap me off, always be the same, Always be
Speaker 1: the same dude I met years ago. I think those
Speaker 1: are the sort of people that continue to show you
Speaker 1: that it doesn't have to change because you're being blessed,
Speaker 1: because in truth, it ain't really.
Speaker 9: Us, right, I think too, it's we're so lucky still.
Speaker 7: I mean, we've all been retired for a number of
Speaker 7: years and people still want to take pictures and talk
Speaker 7: to us. I mean, when I first got here, they're
Speaker 7: like Matt the vi p is upstairs. I came right
Speaker 7: in here and started shaking to hands and taking pictures
Speaker 7: of people.
Speaker 9: Because I feel lucky to be able to do this.
Speaker 7: It'll be seven years in June since I retired, and
Speaker 7: I'm as big as I've ever been as a business
Speaker 7: and as a person. So to continue to just think, man,
Speaker 7: I'm lucky that these people still want to hear me talk,
Speaker 7: These people want to take pictures with me. Some of
Speaker 7: the girls in here was trying to flirt with me.
Speaker 7: You know, it's it's it's.
Speaker 9: It's a blessing though, you know, it's a blessing.
Speaker 7: To really to really be able to stay relevant after
Speaker 7: your dem because we're so much about what are you
Speaker 7: doing for me lately?
Speaker 9: And what are you doing now?
Speaker 7: For us to all be older retired people and and
Speaker 7: still have an audience.
Speaker 1: Is a blessing if it's not dreaded, though, change your hair.
Speaker 4: Like Puerto Rican.
Speaker 9: That's Italian and Blacky that.
Speaker 4: Got a big sweat head.
Speaker 2: I don't know what you have answer that question. They
Speaker 2: got a big squad that been related to say talking
Speaker 2: go ahead. I'm sorry, hey. I think about like this,
Speaker 2: life is a hill. There's no I honestly think about
Speaker 2: this way. Life's a hill. You're declimbing or you're falling back.
Speaker 2: If you're not working, you're gonna fall Think about staying
Speaker 2: on the hill. If you stop, you're gonna fall backwards.
Speaker 2: So you're either driving forward or you're falling backwards. And
Speaker 2: that's how I think about life. To ask the question, ma'am, Well,
Speaker 2: we appreciate y'all.