WEBVTT - REWIND: 2022 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:05.120 Wait that ass up in the morning Breakfast Club. Yeah morning, 0:00:05.120 --> 0:00:09.360 everybody's DJ Envy Angela Yee, Charlemagne the guy. We are 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:11.160 to Breakfast Club. We got a special guests in the 0:00:11.160 --> 0:00:14.520 building to the room, stephen A. Smith. What's up, y'all? 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:18.480 How y'all doing? How I'm good, bro, I'm good. It's 0:00:18.480 --> 0:00:20.880 been crazy. I've been busy as hell and the nbac's 0:00:21.000 --> 0:00:23.120 is about to jump off too, So it's been crazy. 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:25.079 But I'm here. I wasn't missing this. Your book is 0:00:25.079 --> 0:00:27.880 available for pre orders. Great shooting. Yeah man, it's gone well. 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:29.600 And thank you because you was one of the people 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:31.800 that inspired me as well a lot people both for y'all. 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:33.400 I mean, I'm proud of y'all with y'all books and 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:35.760 what y'all have done. But I tell you, um, it 0:00:35.800 --> 0:00:37.760 was a long time coming. I really didn't want to 0:00:37.800 --> 0:00:40.839 do it. Um people have been They would have been 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.440 asking me since ESPN let me go in two thousand 0:00:43.440 --> 0:00:45.600 and nine to write a book, and I didn't want to. 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:47.400 I didn't want to because I always said if I 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:49.600 wrote a book, you know, I got to be straight 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:51.640 up about you know, just my life and kind of 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:53.320 the things that the kind of things I had to 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:55.920 go through on a personal level. And then my mother 0:00:56.000 --> 0:00:58.640 got rest us. So before she passed away in twenty seventeen, 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:01.440 she had always made me promise us don't ever write 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:04.959 a book until I pass away, because she knew that 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:06.720 I was going to talk about, you know, some of 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:09.080 the relationships that I had grown up with Pops and 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:11.040 others in my family and stuff like that, and she 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.160 knew I was gonna do that, and she did not 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.080 want me to do that while she was alive. She said, 0:01:15.080 --> 0:01:17.000 you go and do it. I'm just asking you for 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.600 one favor. Don't do it until I pass away. So 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:21.479 I had waited all of those years, and then even 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:25.120 after I wasn't gonna do it, and then my sisters 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:27.600 reminded me, Hey, go ahead and do it. Go ahead, 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:31.119 guy got folded. They said, it's time. Why now, Because 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:33.360 you've always been like a private person personally. Yeah, I 0:01:33.360 --> 0:01:35.280 still am, I just believe it or not. I still am. 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.000 But there's a lot to tell. There's a lot to 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:38.560 tell in terms of the path that I had to 0:01:38.600 --> 0:01:41.240 travel to get to where I am. And so you 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:42.760 tell some of those stories and you try to be 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.360 inspirational as y'all have done with y'all book and whatever. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.200 You know, you tell people, you know, you don't tell 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:49.640 them every single little nugget about your life, but you 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:51.440 tell a lot, and you tell a lot with the 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:55.360 Golden Mina or being constructive and being inspirational and just 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:57.200 trying to let people know, Look, you ain't the only 0:01:57.240 --> 0:01:59.040 person have been through stuff. It's a whole bunch of 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:01.040 us have been through stuff. And we walked through that 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:03.440 terrain and we carried ourselves on through and we through 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:04.880 the grace of God and a lot of help from 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:06.960 a lot of people, we were able to pull it off. 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:09.519 So you can't too. And that's basically what you're doing. 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.519 You're being You're trying to be as motivational and inspirational 0:02:12.560 --> 0:02:14.519 as you possibly can. But in the same breath, in 0:02:14.639 --> 0:02:16.480 order to do that, you got to be real. And 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:18.800 so I just said, hey, I'm just gonna do it. 0:02:18.840 --> 0:02:20.239 Did you know what you wanted to do as a kid? 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:23.640 You know what I always I grew up idolizing Howard 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:28.080 Cosell and be primarily because of Muhammad Ali and his 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:30.960 relationship with Muhammad Ali and then Brian Gumble, because I 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.160 saw him doing everything. You know, it was like it 0:02:33.240 --> 0:02:34.920 was the Today's Show. It was he used to do 0:02:35.040 --> 0:02:37.760 NFL ONC. I mean, the Olypics, he did everything, and 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:40.320 so I grew up idolizing them, and I had fantasized 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:44.320 about that. But I also I always fantasized about being 0:02:44.320 --> 0:02:50.280 a criminal lawyer. And this is before I mean I 0:02:50.360 --> 0:02:52.440 literally did. But you know, I'm in, I'm in the 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:54.600 I'm in I'm in the fourth grade, and I'm getting 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:59.520 left back because I got on dig undiagnosed dyslexa dyslexa, 0:02:59.560 --> 0:03:02.400 and I'm saying, hey, you know what, ain't away I'm 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:04.360 going to law school. I'm thinking, like, hell no, ain't 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:07.200 doing that. But I mean I grew up watching Perry 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.560 Mason and Mad Logging, this four, Law and Order, all 0:03:10.600 --> 0:03:13.360 of those crime shows that anything that had the courtroom 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.440 in it I fantasized about. So I always said, you 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:18.040 put me in a courtron, no where in hell you're 0:03:18.040 --> 0:03:20.640 gonna convince me. I'm gonna lose out on convincing twelve 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.560 jurors to see my way. And I always believe that. 0:03:23.600 --> 0:03:26.640 But then the journalism came and all of a sudden 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:30.280 it just blew up unexpectedly because even though later earlier 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:32.360 on in my life, I didn't have that confidence. Later 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:34.760 on I did. And when I had that confidence, I 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.720 was ready to do it. But then this journalism took off, 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:40.480 and I was like, when you know I'm doing quite well, 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:42.600 let me stick with this. How'd you overcome to Dyslexiao, 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:45.000 because you're one of the most articulate people speaking on 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:49.160 television today. My older sister, Linda, she was a teacher 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:51.920 back the day. My sister Carmen is a teacher now, 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:55.360 my sister Abbey Gills and the education system as a superintendent. 0:03:55.640 --> 0:04:01.360 But Linda was a teacher. And Linda literally taught me 0:04:01.720 --> 0:04:04.840 how to read and write and and one of my 0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.680 best friends growing up, his name was Ronnie. His big brother, 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:10.720 Tiver was also brilliant. So whenever I was over his house, 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:13.080 Tiver was a brilliant dude, and he would teach me 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:14.840 how to read. And then I come home to Linda, 0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:16.840 and Linda would sit me down four or five days 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.560 she said, we're gonna overcome this, and you know, she 0:04:19.600 --> 0:04:21.000 would teach me how to read it right. And then 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.560 in the seventh grade, I had a teacher that told 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:25.680 my mother during the parent teachers night, he said he 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.280 ain't stupid, not at all, she said. He's not focused. 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:31.640 He drifts, he doesn't focus and concentrate on things that 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.159 bore him. But when he's when he's interested in something, 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:38.599 he's locked in and he don't miss anything. When he's 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.200 like that, fine, what he's interested in and watch what 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.400 you had watched? Many times do you argue with your 0:04:43.400 --> 0:04:45.560 sisters like how was your house growing up? Because you 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:51.080 like to argue. But here's the deal, here's the reason why. 0:04:51.720 --> 0:04:54.960 Because I wasn't allowed to growing up. I got four 0:04:55.000 --> 0:04:59.200 older sisters. Bro shut the hell up. Then that's that's 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:01.679 on the regular. So you know, you got four women. 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:04.240 And it's like, I remember the scariest moment in my 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:07.200 adult life because it's related to your question. I had 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:11.599 to go on the View right after the Tiger stuff 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.240 came out, and I was like, cool, So problem is, Peter, 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.239 let me go. It was you know, I had gotten 0:05:17.279 --> 0:05:20.200 the Fox Sports Radio. They asked me to come on 0:05:20.279 --> 0:05:22.120 the View. I said fine, and I walked in the 0:05:22.160 --> 0:05:26.240 studio and it's Barbara Walters there. It's Barbara Walters, Joy, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.120 Joey Bayhard and Elizabeth Hasselback. All this back in those days, Okay, 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:32.240 and I walked in. You got these four women on 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:36.159 the set. That's cool, But the audience was like stadium 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:39.280 seeing and it looked like they right on top of you, right, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:44.240 And I was the only man in the entire studio, right, 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:47.120 There wasn't a male in sight. That I was the 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:51.080 only spec of testosterone. It was it was like, I said, oh, 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:53.320 how'd you want the hell about that? But the end 0:05:53.360 --> 0:05:56.200 then they was asking me about Tiger and I was like, well, 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.840 you know, I'm trying to what are you saying I 0:06:02.560 --> 0:06:05.440 got myself into you know? To me? And it was 0:06:05.440 --> 0:06:08.200 like but then I remember, I grew up around this. 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.640 I grew up around this. I knew how to handle it. 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:12.960 And if it wasn't for my upbringing, what my fault 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.400 older sisters and my mother. There's five women telling me 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.000 what to do. Shut the hell up when we tell 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.599 you to shut the hell up. The subject in that 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:22.400 position too, because I feel like a lot of times 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:24.480 as women, especially in sports, you see a lot of 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:26.919 women who might be the only woman, yeah in the room, 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.000 And so I love the reverse when that happened. We don't, 0:06:30.320 --> 0:06:33.520 we don't. It's scary. It's scary as scary as hell. 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:36.680 I mean, to this day, that is the scariest moment 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:38.640 in my career because you gotta remember typing out of 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:41.119 some stuff now and I'm like, I'm walking in this studio. 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.400 I'm like, there's nothing I can say. I mean, I 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:47.479 got to figure out a way. And they were just 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:50.160 looking at me like you even uttered the room syllable 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:52.960 We're gonna be on you, And I was like, that's interesting, 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:55.120 especially with like the Ema Joker stuff happening now and 0:06:55.200 --> 0:06:57.960 seeing Shacks say, I don't want to weigh in and 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:00.480 criticize this because I've been through the things that I've 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.320 been through, So you don't want to be a hypocrite. Well, 0:07:02.320 --> 0:07:03.680 you don't want to be a hypocrite. But in the 0:07:03.720 --> 0:07:05.480 same breath, if you're sitting in that chair and all 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:07.080 of y'all can relate to this with the great show 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.800 y'all have been doing for years, you gotta call it 0:07:08.800 --> 0:07:10.240 like you see it. And what we gotta do is 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.600 we gotta be careful. You can talk about an incident 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:18.160 without talking about the person. And this is what listen. 0:07:18.240 --> 0:07:21.400 You know how many people disagree with me every day. 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:25.440 I have no issue with you attacking what I say 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:30.440 or what situation I've addressed. That's entirely different than attacking me. 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.040 I can. I can compartmentalize. And if you're sitting in 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:36.200 that chair, you know I told shout, bro, you can 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.880 avoid it all you want to T and T coming up, Bro, 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:41.200 season get ready to start, You're gonna have to avoid it. 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:42.920 You're gonna have to talk about it at some point. 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:45.440 I definitely told them that. And so for me, you're 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:47.600 dan right. I touched on it, but I touched on 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:50.200 it from a different angle. There's no excuse for him 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.400 to find himself in that position that he was in. 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:56.480 But my position, religiously was it's none of our business. 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.400 There's no reason on earth that you can justify to 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.440 me why the Boston Celtics had that press conference while 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.520 we're having this discussion. That was an h R matter. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:11.240 I've been covering sports fromas thirty years. I'm telling you 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:16.360 every year the stories like this. Every year, you don't 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.640 see it being discussed. You hear about the Can't getting fired, 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:21.160 and you hear rumors as to why, but you don't 0:08:21.280 --> 0:08:25.160 know it's not validated by the organization. And then you know, 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:27.120 I took it a step further and I mentioned this 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:31.520 blackness only from this perspective, you kept him, You retained him, 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.079 You didn't fire him. That means no one has the 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.840 right to come and get him. You suspended him, but 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.040 it was indefinite. You said, I'm gonna suspend you for 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.360 a year, but then after the year, we're gonna we're 0:08:42.360 --> 0:08:44.960 gonna look into it. I mean, that's bs all right. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:47.600 You probably docked half his pay, because that's what my 0:08:47.640 --> 0:08:50.000 source has told me. You docked half his pay, And 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:54.800 I'm like, so he doesn't he can't work, he can't 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:59.880 go elsewhere. You docked half his pay. His futures are 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.280 in arms, and you publicized his personal business because the 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:09.160 press release, I mean, I'm sorry, the report said consensual relationship. 0:09:09.880 --> 0:09:13.000 Now you might have violate the organizational policy and all that, 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:18.600 but it said so essentially, all of this has happened 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.560 because of a consensual relationship. Now we don't know her status, 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:24.840 and even if we did, we can't say because you know, 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.319 they haven't revealed that information. You know, you can get 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:29.120 sued for stuff like that. But here's what I know 0:09:29.200 --> 0:09:33.440 about him. He ain't married, and it was a consensual relationship, 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.640 according to y'all. Think do you think we'll ever get 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:40.560 the full story. Hell yeah, you can't. Not just that 0:09:40.640 --> 0:09:44.520 you can't do what you did with this man, and 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.720 there's not going to be an uproar at some point. 0:09:46.760 --> 0:09:48.480 And I said it, and then people was getting on 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.240 me about that. I said, I know plenty of white 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:54.360 dudes that's that, that's screwing around in the office in sports. 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:57.160 This stuff wasn't public So I know at least three 0:09:57.240 --> 0:10:00.400 dudes personally that got fired because of them. It was 0:10:00.480 --> 0:10:04.480 never publicized. We heard about it, but it was never publicized. 0:10:04.559 --> 0:10:06.920 And guess why, because they're working for another team now, 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.280 not in that capacity that they were. It might have 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:12.880 been on the lower level, but they still are employed 0:10:13.400 --> 0:10:17.760 in the same and with the same brand. Because why 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.120 it wasn't publicized or put out on front streat like 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:23.480 they say something that sure, he's not married, that's right, 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.560 that's right. Allegedly one of the women are. Why are 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.079 they attacking him so much for the rest if it's 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:35.640 an organizational policy, why the woman's name is Listen, we 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:38.240 totally agree. I'm not gonna sit up here in front 0:10:38.240 --> 0:10:40.840 and act like we disagree. What I'm saying is in 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:44.240 the interest of making sure that all our eyes. I 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:47.000 dieded in teas across and we don't have folks coming 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.240 at us talking about why why why are we trying 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:51.679 to make somebody else the victim. All I'm saying is 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:56.840 it's always private. We've never heard the details you heard 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.920 they got fired. You could speculate as to why buy 0:11:00.000 --> 0:11:03.840 because it's not known. Another team has no problem bringing 0:11:03.880 --> 0:11:07.720 you on board and employing you because that's never been confirmed. 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.440 By having the press conference, you confirmed the stuff that 0:11:11.520 --> 0:11:14.719 was put out there about him. You said nothing about her, 0:11:14.840 --> 0:11:17.000 And I'm not saying to put her on front street. 0:11:17.200 --> 0:11:19.679 I'm saying he shouldn't have been talked about. Let him 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.320 go or keep him, but keep the matter in house. 0:11:23.640 --> 0:11:26.320 They didn't do that because they wanted to suspend him 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:28.880 and make an example of him. And it could have been, 0:11:29.160 --> 0:11:31.679 you know, enforced by somebody else. But the bottom line 0:11:31.400 --> 0:11:34.120 is it was wrong. Do you think because he was black? Well, 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:36.040 I think that part to me. I I'm not gonna 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:38.600 go that far, but I will say this, I haven't 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.240 seen it happen to any white boys. I'm gonna tell 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:43.240 it like that. I haven't seen it, and I said it. 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.600 I said it on National Toughic I ain't see anybody, 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.400 and everybody. Everybody backed up because they know I've covered 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:52.360 this league and I've covered professional sports for a quarter century. 0:11:52.559 --> 0:11:55.080 And I went on national television and I said, I 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:57.360 know plenty of white boys that's been doing their thing 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:00.920 in the office. Nobody said it anything we didn't know, 0:12:01.760 --> 0:12:03.959 and they and everybody backed up because they know I'm 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:06.920 telling the truth. It's just the truth, and it's it's 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.920 jacked up to that. Listen, he ain't perfect and whatever 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:12.360 he had coming to him, if the organization they had 0:12:12.400 --> 0:12:14.080 courts to fire him now because I heard that he 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.040 obviously violated the organization of policy. And then plus he 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.719 lied initially won approach. So now you got cause you 0:12:19.800 --> 0:12:22.480 got him debt the rights. Okay, you can't defend him. 0:12:22.520 --> 0:12:24.120 If they wanted to let them go, they could let 0:12:24.160 --> 0:12:27.560 them go, but then let him go. Don't hold them 0:12:27.960 --> 0:12:30.199 and keep him from working and keep him from going 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.440 someplace else to work. You have ruined this man's career 0:12:34.160 --> 0:12:38.120 because of a consensual relationship. Ain't nothing right about that man. 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:40.080 And then, to me, that's the point that everybody's missing. 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:43.359 To your point, that's that's a great point. Clearly, they're 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:46.920 protecting some one person in this situation, which absolutely him. 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:49.280 It's just like, go delify him, play much right, that's right, 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:51.280 throw him out to pasture, and and and black man. 0:12:51.360 --> 0:12:53.320 We know about that all too well. So people are 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:55.400 gonna sit up there and say, Steve and A's trying 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.400 to make it a race issue. Actually know you made 0:12:57.400 --> 0:12:59.440 it a race issue by how you elected to handle this. 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.720 All I said was I said, fire him or keep him. 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:05.600 But you don't do this because you've never done it 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:08.240 to anybody else. So why is the first example of 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.080 black man? I got a problem with that. What do 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.920 you think about Matt barnes comments, Because I wondered from 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.120 an og journalism perspective, looking at the new media as 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:18.480 they called it, what do you think his comments? He'll 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.880 never work again, he thinks if they listen, if the 0:13:21.960 --> 0:13:24.440 full he might be right. He might be right about that. 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:27.679 He's not wrong. And I think that in Matt Barnes case, 0:13:27.720 --> 0:13:30.160 who's a good brother, by the way, he's real good brother. 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:33.640 I think with him, here's the issue. I think he 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:37.480 felt uncomfortable with the ledge he went out on. It 0:13:37.520 --> 0:13:40.640 wasn't so much the story itself, but the things he 0:13:40.800 --> 0:13:43.520 said initially and sometimes you find yourself in that situation 0:13:43.559 --> 0:13:46.040 where you might know all the facts, but you went 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:48.680 too far out. It's saying what you said and you 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:51.679 got a backtrack and people are thinking that you're backtracking 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:54.840 totally because you went out too far. I didn't go 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.640 out too far. I said exactly what I meant. I 0:13:57.720 --> 0:13:59.760 said it a week and a half ago. Damn it, 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:02.640 I'm saying the same thing now because I know that 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:04.880 the story is going is gonna percolate, it's going to 0:14:04.960 --> 0:14:07.760 develop even more. We're gonna hear more details coming out 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:09.480 of it, and I'll be front. I mean, listen, I'm 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:11.320 not gonna front with you and act like we didn't 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:13.120 hear what's going on and we don't know. I mean, 0:14:13.240 --> 0:14:16.040 there's a lot of details that I know that I 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:19.760 cannot say because for legal issues and what have you, 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.880 you just can't do that. But trust me when I 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.200 tell you it comes from a place of knowledge. I 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.040 know what the hell I'm talking about, and I know 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.160 how screwed over he's gotten in all this. He ain't innocent, 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:32.400 and if he got fired, he would have deserved it, period. 0:14:32.760 --> 0:14:35.880 But you didn't have to do that. Him getting fired 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.680 is one thing you publicize in his business like that 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.800 is an entirely different matter altogether. He'd have lost his 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.160 job with the bosson Celtics. If you handled it correctly 0:14:46.520 --> 0:14:49.880 in this instance, you might have ended his career as 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.000 a head coach, and as a rookie head coach. He 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:54.840 did what the president of basketball operations couldn't do in 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:57.680 seven years. He took these brothers to the NBA finals 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:02.280 in year one, year one and this, and this is 0:15:02.320 --> 0:15:03.880 the other part that y'all got to know about it. 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.560 He's making about three million, three three to three and 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:10.720 a half million dollars. Had he had another successful season 0:15:10.800 --> 0:15:12.800 and I'm not talking finals, he could have got them 0:15:12.800 --> 0:15:15.960 to the conference finals whatever. He's in a position next 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:20.440 summer to negotiate a contract that's paying him at least 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:23.880 triple at least nine million today's NBA company at least 0:15:23.960 --> 0:15:25.840 nine to ten million dollars. That's to go on rate 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.240 for a lot of these brothers are right. So now 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:32.600 you've squashed that because what leveraging position does he have. 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:35.880 He can't come to you and negotiate a deal that's 0:15:35.880 --> 0:15:39.640 gonna get him a raise next year. You've stripped him 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:46.200 of everything because of a consensual relationship. I don't know 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:48.960 if it was personal. I know that it was handled 0:15:48.960 --> 0:15:51.720 in a way that I don't think enough people are 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:56.400 breaking attention to. It's an HR matter, y'all. It's an 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.320 HR matter. If it happened with one of y'all, if 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:01.040 it happened with me, if it happened to anybody, it's 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:03.920 none of our business. Man, it's an internal matter. Now, 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.760 if it's not, if it's not consensual and you're talking 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.600 about something else, sexual assault, rape, something like, that's a 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:12.320 different matter. You're breaking the laws. But if it's legal 0:16:12.760 --> 0:16:16.080 and consensual, it's none of our business. That's why we 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.200 got to have another conversation about the power of self control. 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:22.800 Brothers got to learn discipline. Like, there's certain situations you 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.400 just shouldn't put yourself into, and that's one of them. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:28.200 That's right, which is why I say, if they fired him, 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:30.240 I wouldn't have said the word you put yourself in 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:32.360 that position? What are you doing? What are you doing? 0:16:32.440 --> 0:16:36.200 You you're you're a rookie head coach. You just got there, okay, 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.080 and you find yourself in this position. There's no excuse. Now, listen, 0:16:40.720 --> 0:16:42.800 from the beginning of the time, men have had problem 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:47.120 resisting women. I mean, I mean from Adam and Eve 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:50.640 for crying out lot. It's very very predictable. That's why 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.400 a little bit like what she's like. I mean, I 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.920 would like hopefully Stevens people get exercise something that they 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:09.000 can straight. But I mean, listen, there's no question about it. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:13.120 And especially and as black man, we gotta understand this. Yeah, times, 0:17:13.400 --> 0:17:17.120 times are what they are, and we believe progress has 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.720 been made, but we also recognize that there's a long 0:17:19.760 --> 0:17:23.439 way to go, and so the rules are still different 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.920 for us than it is for white men. Is call 0:17:26.960 --> 0:17:29.880 it what it is. You gotta know that and your 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:34.479 responsibility to yourself and your community, and and folks on 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.400 the come up that idolize you because of the position 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:39.960 that you're in. You know, you gotta be careful, though, 0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:41.959 you gotta be careful look at a position. I mean, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.159 come on, man, come on, man, you you think you 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:47.639 think that if I haven't had opportunities to get with 0:17:47.680 --> 0:17:50.560 folks in the industry and whatever, you ain't playing that game. 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.159 You know, they ain't worth my check. They they're not 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:56.560 worth what I built to try and accomplish for myself. 0:17:56.600 --> 0:17:58.920 I'm not going that route. That's just me. They'll send 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.160 people that somebody like, yes, and they had, and they 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:04.359 had and they have to listen. You can't put you 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:06.720 can't put it past anybody. Because you got people and 0:18:06.880 --> 0:18:10.200 they listen, They're gonna come at you in a variety 0:18:10.359 --> 0:18:13.600 of ways. I've been in situations where I've been proposition 0:18:14.080 --> 0:18:17.480 covering the NBA Playoffs, NBA Finals, and I'm not saying 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.040 this is exactly what happened, but I wondered who said 0:18:20.080 --> 0:18:22.520 them because the women were a little bit too aggress 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:24.840 I'm like, like, I don't think I look like Godzilla, 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:26.639 but I ain't that damn attractive. Now. This is a 0:18:26.760 --> 0:18:29.159 little bit too aggressive here. I mean, why they acting 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:31.760 like they got to get with me something? Something's fishy 0:18:31.800 --> 0:18:33.760 about that, you know what I'm saying. Not didn't know, 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.919 but you have that suspicion and that and that and 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:40.520 that success, that intuition. You gotta you gotta get it self, 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:42.639 protect them, You gotta be like, you know, this is 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:44.960 just a little too good to be true. You know 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:48.600 what I'm saying, ain't right about this? You know, I 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:51.920 mean you know what I mean, Me me, me, you know, 0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:54.280 me meting a honey or whatever. Ain't fun, all right 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.320 that you know that happens with all of us. But 0:18:56.640 --> 0:18:58.600 you know, three women coming up to me at the 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:01.720 same time. I say, you know, thank you, but no 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:04.120 thank you, and they still come in. They don't want 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:06.399 to take no for an answer. They're trying to find 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:09.040 out what hotel I mean, in what hotel room I mean? 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:10.879 Rather because we were in the lobby of the hotel. 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:13.440 It's happened in Dallas years ago, during the finals between 0:19:13.560 --> 0:19:15.560 Dallas and the Miami Heat. And I'm sitting there like 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:24.560 this is too good. Hell, these women, these women want 0:19:24.640 --> 0:19:29.800 me like this. You know. Hell, no, I'm not going 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.000 I mean, I'm a confident I'm a confident brother, but 0:19:33.240 --> 0:19:39.480