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Speaker 1: The volume. Today's show is brought to you by are

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Speaker 1: We deliver for America dot Org. Let's start with the NBA,

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Speaker 1: the Lakers and I think a lot of when a

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Speaker 1: team is losing, they listen to their coach, right, and

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Speaker 1: the Lakers had lost a couple of straight, had some

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Speaker 1: bad late game possessions, and Luca was, for the first

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Speaker 1: time as a Laker, getting heat. And I was one

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Speaker 1: of the many people saying, I think Lebron's still great,

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Speaker 1: but I don't think he fits with Luca and Austin Reeves,

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Speaker 1: and they Lebron's got rabbit ears. He reacted to it.

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Speaker 1: He has played unbelievable. I think Lucas scored thirty plus

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Speaker 1: in all of their wins, which I think is an

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Speaker 1: NBA record. That's what the Laker account said, and so

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Speaker 1: I think you and I would agree with this. We

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Speaker 1: know they're a great half court offense. They have multiple

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Speaker 1: ball creators. Outside of Marcus Smart, everybody's an offensive player.

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Speaker 1: They have length, they have shot creators, they have excellent passing.

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Speaker 1: Austin Reeves has established himself. It's no longer he's a

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Speaker 1: nice number four, like he's a real good playmaker. The

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Speaker 1: question for us has always been, okay in the NBA playoffs,

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Speaker 1: it's the only professional league in this country where it's

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Speaker 1: officiated differently. You don't get the whistle. You have to

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Speaker 1: play collective defense almost every possession of second halves, and I.

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Speaker 2: Don't know if they can do it. Do you?

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Speaker 1: And I think we've agreed on that that they're a

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Speaker 1: tremendously offensive gifted team. The rules in football and basketball

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Speaker 1: over the last decade have moved offense for both smartly

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Speaker 1: to make the game more appealing. Does this Laker team

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Speaker 1: gifted offensively? Do we feel differently today? Does it translate

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Speaker 1: to the playoffs? Are they maybe a little more profound

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Speaker 1: offensively than maybe we thought three weeks ago?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I think there's been improvement on both ends of

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Speaker 3: the floor. I want to start with JJ because I

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Speaker 3: think the work that he's done has been really important.

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Speaker 3: I mean, this was a team at one point Colin

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Speaker 3: they had lost twelve out of thirteen times, again, teams

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Speaker 3: that had at least a sixty percent win percentage, Like

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Speaker 3: they could not beat good teams, and they were just

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Speaker 3: rolling over and getting killed in those games. Now they've

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Speaker 3: won five of those in a row. They've won seven

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Speaker 3: straight against playoff level teams because they just beat Miami

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Speaker 3: and Orlando, both of which are feisty teams. And it

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Speaker 3: really comes down to a handful of complete reversals. First

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Speaker 3: of all, JJ has them completely bought in. When we

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Speaker 3: last talked about the Lakers column, we were talking about

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Speaker 3: how they cannot win in any way other than winning

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Speaker 3: with their offense. They are now generating margin in several

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Speaker 3: key areas now pre All Star break twenty third in

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Speaker 3: defense post All Star twelve. Nothing to write home about,

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Speaker 3: but considering their personnel, that's pretty good.

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Speaker 1: They're just Denver won a title in that space. Remember

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Speaker 1: that Jokis team, they were like thirteen. You don't have

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Speaker 1: to be a great defensive team to win a title.

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Speaker 1: You have to be competent situationally.

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Speaker 3: That's the formula. If you have an unbelievable, unguardable offense,

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Speaker 3: then you just have to be pretty good on defense,

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Speaker 3: and they've established that over the last few weeks. Secondly,

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Speaker 3: and this is the big one that's been shocking to me,

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Speaker 3: they are generating a lot of margins scoring off of turnovers.

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Speaker 3: JJ's been way more aggressive, and this is what I

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Speaker 3: think has been really smart, because, like say you're a

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Speaker 3: coach and you're trying to figure out how to get

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Speaker 3: a team to play defense when you don't have good

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Speaker 3: defensive personnel. You have to like track down, Okay, what

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Speaker 3: is the thing that we have that is a strength

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Speaker 3: for our defense and what it is is their basketball IQ.

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Speaker 3: They have a lot of really smart players, including Marcus Smart, Lebron,

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Speaker 3: James Austin, Reeves, Luka Doncics. They have a lot of

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Speaker 3: really smart players and so JJ's been way more aggressive

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Speaker 3: with their coverages. They're putting two on the ball more

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Speaker 3: than ever. This has put an emphasis on their defensive

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Speaker 3: IQ because in the four on threes that ensue after that,

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Speaker 3: it's a lot of anticipating what happens next, and they're

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Speaker 3: jumping a lot of those passing lanes and they're forcing turnovers.

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Speaker 3: They were seventeenth in steels pre All Star Break, eleventh

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Speaker 3: post All Star Break. Then you have this incredibly fast

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Speaker 3: attack and transition, something Lebron has been a huge part of.

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Speaker 3: Pre All Star Break, the Lakers were losing the points

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Speaker 3: off of turnovers battle by one point six per game.

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Speaker 3: Post All Star there plus six point two. That is

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Speaker 3: a huge margin and points off of turnovers that now

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Speaker 3: is helping them build lots of margin for error. In

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Speaker 3: every single game. They were negative and overall fast break

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Speaker 3: points pre All Star now they're positive post All Star,

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Speaker 3: so JJ deserves a lot of credit for just getting

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Speaker 3: a very offensive minded group to buy into finding ways

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Speaker 3: to win games outside of their offense. But also their

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Speaker 3: offense is amazing now in large part because one Luca

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Speaker 3: has finally ascended to that best player in the world

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Speaker 3: level of basketball. When he has it going from three especially,

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Speaker 3: he just brings this combination of like the Steph Curry,

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Speaker 3: I'm taking twelve thirteen threes and what if I make

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Speaker 3: seven of them kind of thing that brings to the

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Speaker 3: table while also being as physically imposing as Jokic, as

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Speaker 3: good of a passer as Yokic, and having the mid

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Speaker 3: range shot making piece that shake shake goes Alexander Brieks

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Speaker 3: to the table. So Luca has been unbelievable. Austin has

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Speaker 3: found his rhythm finally. He's struggled a little bit with athleticism,

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Speaker 3: but table that because that's where Lebron comes in. And

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Speaker 3: as as Austin and Luca have taken so much more

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Speaker 3: of the offensive load, that has finally allowed Lebron to

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Speaker 3: slot into that like evolutionary Draymond Green role that we've

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Speaker 3: all thought he would do at this phase in his career,

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Speaker 3: but he just needed the right amount of ball handling

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Speaker 3: around him to slot into that role. To Lebron's credit,

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Speaker 3: for all to talk about him not doing enough of

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Speaker 3: that stuff, Austin was hurt most of the season. He

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Speaker 3: had no choice but to step into that role. And

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Speaker 3: by the way, like in the Houston games, Austin can

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Speaker 3: get a little overwhelmed against some of these athletes. A

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Speaker 3: mental question A number against Austin and the Shue Houston game, yeh.

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Speaker 3: But then here comes Lebron. I can give you thirty

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Speaker 3: against a smaller athletic team because he's so big and strong.

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Speaker 3: That's where he can become more Carl Maloney and he

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Speaker 3: can do his physical bullyball.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean the downside to being gifted offensively, and

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Speaker 1: there's not a lot of them. But the Warrior team

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Speaker 1: was a great example when they had Clay and Durant

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Speaker 1: and Staph The first year they were all.

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Speaker 2: In every game. I mean they just blew throopy.

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Speaker 1: The second and third years, it's like there's Knights like

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Speaker 1: we'll get our points and you get caught into a

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Speaker 1: cycle of you know, defense, even if you're Draymond Green,

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Speaker 1: defense is hard. It's hard for great defensive players, and

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Speaker 1: to be great defensively collectively is rare. That's usually teams

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Speaker 1: that don't have offense. That's why Oklahoma City is such

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Speaker 1: a pain in the ass. They're good offensively and collectively

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Speaker 1: they give you such an effort that's rare.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: Usually even the great Spurs teams Duncan and Bruce Bowen

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Speaker 1: gave you defense to get six seven guys in rotation

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Speaker 1: to care. But offense is different. It's easy for the

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Speaker 1: great players. Offense is easy for Luca and Austin. I

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Speaker 1: mean even Ruey Lebron still like beating people off. The

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Speaker 1: dribble is just a bulley. And so I think the

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Speaker 1: downside to being as gifted as the Lakers are is

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Speaker 1: that it is easy to lull yourself into hang around

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Speaker 1: and it's tied at eighty eight and will go on

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Speaker 1: a spurt.

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Speaker 2: I think this is my interpretation of what Reddick has done.

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Speaker 1: He has forced them to be really focused early. They

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Speaker 1: don't fall into holes. He's taken these gifted offensive players,

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Speaker 1: and JJ was talented. I think they're a much more

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Speaker 1: motivated team now. Some of it is probably the criticism,

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Speaker 1: and I'm sure JJ has reminded them that Lebron you

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Speaker 1: don't fit Luca. But when I watch them play, there's

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Speaker 1: real they're very intentional. The possessions really like they come

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Speaker 1: out of the half. That's my take on the Lakers, JJ,

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Speaker 1: these are stars, two of the biggest stars in the game,

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Speaker 1: maybe the two biggest stars, Luke and Lebron. And their

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Speaker 1: complimentary Lebron it's been a great I mean, Luke Kennard

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Speaker 1: the other night, he races over to him, and I

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Speaker 1: do think that's the art of coaching Phil Jackson, the

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Speaker 1: art of coaching superstars. Joe Tory with the Yankees when

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Speaker 1: he had a Rod and Jeter, being able to ride them,

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Speaker 1: you know, to their you know, just enough push the buttons.

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Speaker 1: And I think JJ's you know, it's that, it's that

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Speaker 1: Duke education, whatever it is.

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Speaker 2: JJ is really good with stars. He's a really good coach.

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Speaker 1: That's that's how I he's great at pushing buttons. I

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Speaker 1: think this is as good as Lucas played in three years.

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Speaker 1: I think the last eight games, that's the best Lebron's

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Speaker 1: been in two years, three years. I think they're I mean,

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Speaker 1: to me, Jason, there's an art to coaching stars, and

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Speaker 1: not every coach can do it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely, I think I think JJ has found a

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Speaker 3: way to kind of resonate with each player on an

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Speaker 3: individual level. Like JJ obviously built rapport with Lebron through

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Speaker 3: the podcast that they did together. JJ was Luca's teammate

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Speaker 3: for a little while in Dabllas, so like they have

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Speaker 3: a little rapport from their locker room time spent together.

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Speaker 3: JJ and Austin have clicked from the very beginning. I

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Speaker 3: love that you brought up the criticism, because I think

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Speaker 3: that's an important part of this, Like it has pushed

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Speaker 3: all of them to another level, because all of them

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Speaker 3: are sick of it. They're all sick of all the

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Speaker 3: stuff that's been being said, and all the criticism was valid,

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Speaker 3: and maybe not all of it, but a lot of

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Speaker 3: the criticism was valid. There there were real areas of

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Speaker 3: opportunity that needed to be brought up. And so Luca,

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Speaker 3: you're getting this unbelievable not just his own kind of

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Speaker 3: individual peak. This recent last couple of weeks is like

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Speaker 3: an all time NBA regular season run. He's averaging forty

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Speaker 3: over the nine game win straight Colin like a hundred

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Speaker 3: points and two and on points in two games like

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Speaker 3: he's been absolutely unbelievable and so and you know.

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Speaker 1: He's also, as you've pointed out, he's trash talking fans. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So Luca is so gifted. He's moved off officials to

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Speaker 1: some degree, He's moved into opponents and fans. And by

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Speaker 1: the way, that's just part of basketball culture. Like Michael

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Speaker 1: did it, everybody did.

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Speaker 2: It, BYRD did it. I mean, it's just you know,

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Speaker 2: it's you can't complain about that.

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Speaker 1: I mean, everybody, most of our stars, Kobe Bryant chats

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Speaker 1: with fans.

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Speaker 2: I think. I think JJ.

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Speaker 1: Reddick has told Luca, I don't mind the trash talk,

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Speaker 1: just directed to other people.

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Speaker 3: Oh absolutely. Like it's actually crazy because his relationship with

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Speaker 3: refs was getting borderline toxic. I actually dug into the

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Speaker 3: numbers because I was curious. There was a twelve game

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Speaker 3: stretch around November December where Luca was attempting thirteen free

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Speaker 3: throw attempts per game because that was what he was

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Speaker 3: doing every game. It was like entirely a ref game.

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Speaker 3: Every play was like a foul baiting type of he

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Speaker 3: was just along the lane line, trying to draw contact

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Speaker 3: and jawing with officials, and it was like producing a

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Speaker 3: lot of free throw attempts, but it wasn't producing a

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Speaker 3: lot of impact in terms of what he was bringing

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Speaker 3: to the game. Now he's focused on making shots and

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Speaker 3: talking shit, which has been amazing because not only is

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Speaker 3: it way more entertaining to watch because he's got this

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Speaker 3: like energy to him that's almost infectious, but it's also

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Speaker 3: causing him to focus on all the right things because

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Speaker 3: now you got to back up your trash talk, right,

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Speaker 3: And so he's really like, even when Luke Canard hit

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Speaker 3: that game winner last night, everyone's mobbing Luke, and Lucadacci

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Speaker 3: is literally blowing a kiss to the crowd because he's

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Speaker 3: having a moment at the crowd's expense. It is so funny.

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Speaker 3: But which takes me to Lebron because I think the

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Speaker 3: Lebron thing is fascinating here because Lebron there's an energy

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Speaker 3: I see with him that I think stems in a

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Speaker 3: lot of ways from the luc apiece. Lebron has won

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Speaker 3: four championships and in every single one of his four championships.

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Speaker 3: Maybe Ad was close to his level in twenty twenty,

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Speaker 3: but Lebron was the best player in the world in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty. He should have won MVP that year, Jiannis

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Speaker 3: robbed him of it. So Lebron knows you've got to

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Speaker 3: be one of the guys like you've got to be

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Speaker 3: at a special level to hoist the trophy. I think

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Speaker 3: Lebron looks over and goes, this is the Luca I

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Speaker 3: can win with. This is the Luca that I am

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Speaker 3: actually capable of reaching, this dreamed fifth ring that he

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Speaker 3: wants so bad, right, And so I'm seeing a level

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Speaker 3: of focus and engagement from Lebron because I think he

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Speaker 3: believes that this group has a shot now in a

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Speaker 3: way that he probably hasn't felt since twenty twenty one,

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Speaker 3: because he's known that either he didn't have the juice

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Speaker 3: or AD didn't have the juice because he was old,

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Speaker 3: and because AD had been kind of underwhelming as he

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Speaker 3: entered that phase of his prime. So you have a

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Speaker 3: Lebron that is doing things defensively, fighting, like even that

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Speaker 3: late play last night, he forced the turnover on Pala

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Speaker 3: buoncaroal that led to the eventual game winner. And it's like,

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Speaker 3: I haven't seen Lebron flying around denying the basketball on

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Speaker 3: an inbounds play like that and forever. Some of the

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Speaker 3: rotations he's making at the rim on defense, the effort

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Speaker 3: that he's putting in possession to possession. Lebron is locked in.

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Speaker 3: I don't know if you saw the quote from the

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Speaker 3: Miami game. Early second quarter, they're down fifteen. JJ calls

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Speaker 3: a time out. He gets in the top huddle and

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Speaker 3: he's like, hey, guys, I know we're tired, and Lebron

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Speaker 3: steps up and goes, I'm not tired. And all of

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Speaker 3: a sudden, like everyone's looking around like, well, if this

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Speaker 3: dude's not tired, Like we've got to meet this level.

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Speaker 3: There's a level of engagement with Lebron that I haven't

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Speaker 3: seen in a half decade. And so it's just made

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Speaker 3: this team like this team, call it. This team was

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Speaker 3: such a chore to watch a month ago, and now

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Speaker 3: it's like I can't wait for the Monday night game

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Speaker 3: against Detroit. Like it's just there's so much more fun

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Speaker 3: to watch now because there's an energy that is coming

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Speaker 3: from the top down that is making them play with

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Speaker 3: a very entertaining brand of basketball.

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Speaker 1: Well, and I think, you know Lebron is always and

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Speaker 1: I say this respectfully, is that Lebron's very aware.

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Speaker 2: Of the media.

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Speaker 1: He listens, he reads. He's one of the smartest players

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Speaker 1: of my lifetime. I mean, he may be the smartest player.

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Speaker 1: Magic Johnson had the ability to not be a little

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Speaker 1: bit of a part time psychologist.

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Speaker 2: You know, Magic had to deal.

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Speaker 1: With the stoicism of Kareem and you know the Norm

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Speaker 1: Nixon stuff Byron Scott. There was a lot of stuff.

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Speaker 1: Jerry Bust the Playboy owner. You know, Magic's coming into

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Speaker 1: his own feeling his oats like you know, the Fabuls Forum,

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Speaker 1: the women that Magic kind of balanced it all. It

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Speaker 1: kind of showed his layered ability to be great at

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Speaker 1: several factors as a teammate, right as a player, as

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Speaker 1: a spokesman. A lot of egos back then in Los

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Speaker 1: Angeles with the Lakers and West and Riley and Kareem

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Speaker 1: and Magic and Jerry Buss the owner, and Lebron has

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Speaker 1: that ability. Lebron understands the world's watching. The Lakers are

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Speaker 1: the biggest. I mean, he didn't move to LA because they

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Speaker 1: had the best ownership group with the best front office.

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Speaker 1: He moved here because it was great for business and

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Speaker 1: he figured he could power through it and move Anthony

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Speaker 1: Davis here. So what I find interesting about this streak

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Speaker 1: is that we're all pointing to Luca, but in large

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Speaker 1: part it's Lebron. His IQ is understanding. I bet you,

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Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know this, but I bet Lebron's

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Speaker 1: been unbelievable at practice. I bet He's been unbelievable on

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Speaker 1: the team plane. I bet he's been unbelievable at.

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Speaker 2: Dinner.

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Speaker 1: Like I think Lebron understands. He's like, he's like the

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Speaker 1: old Justin Verlander is a pitcher. He didn't have to

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Speaker 1: pitch to have value in the locker room in a

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Speaker 1: playoffs there he's like he'd seen every batter, every moment,

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Speaker 1: and I think there's there's a greatness.

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Speaker 4: Look.

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Speaker 1: One of the things Lebron was criticized early in his career,

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Speaker 1: and I thought it was totally unfair. He always did

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Speaker 1: the right basketball fiting, He always made the right pass.

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Speaker 1: It was always about winning the game. And over this

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Speaker 1: nine gay winning streak, you don't have to necessarily see

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Speaker 1: all of it. I guarantee you Lebron behind the scenes

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Speaker 1: has been magical coaching practice. You know communication, Dinners, Well,

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Speaker 1: All right, So I started the volume over four years ago,

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Speaker 1: had said this before, is that I thought I grew up.

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Speaker 1: My first job out of college was I got very

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Speaker 1: lucky doing one inning of play by play for the

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Speaker 1: Las Vegas store. So I'm a baseball guy at heart.

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Speaker 1: I used to like baseball America was my bible out

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Speaker 1: of college. But then I got opportunities in TV and

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Speaker 1: other things, and I became very much a pro football

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Speaker 1: guy and a football guy. Course, I've always loved college football.

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Speaker 1: And then a couple of years ago, I thought Rob

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Speaker 1: Manfred made a couple of really necessary changes, and I

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Speaker 1: think baseball's had a three year renaissance where and I

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Speaker 1: never try to overthink it in my business, just what

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Speaker 1: does it feel for you? I have watched more baseball

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Speaker 1: in the last three years. I feel like when I

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Speaker 1: came out of college. The game is faster. The big

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Speaker 1: markets are fun, the Cubs, the Phillies, the Dodgers, the Yankees.

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Speaker 1: There's also Milwaukee, Seattle, smaller markets, and there's more personality.

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Speaker 1: Baseball had a weird, kind of a weird run for

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Speaker 1: a while where thank god for the Cubs that had personality,

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Speaker 1: because you know, the way to play the game. Stuff

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Speaker 1: kind of where's fans out like people just want personality.

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Speaker 1: So about a year and a half ago, I went

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Speaker 1: to this team at the Volume and I said, we

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Speaker 1: gotta have a baseball podcast.

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Speaker 2: And I wanted to have personality. I don't want to you.

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Speaker 1: Know, I want smart guys who can just talk the game, bullshit,

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Speaker 1: have fun, buddies laugh. And it was pitched to me.

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Speaker 1: Somebody said, you know it's going to be in like

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Speaker 1: a year, a ten year anniversary of the Cubs World Series.

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Speaker 1: And I'm like, what are you thinking? And they just

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Speaker 1: threw the names out. They said Ross and Rizzo. I went,

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Speaker 1: there's no way we're going to get that as our

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Speaker 1: first baseball podcast.

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Speaker 2: I said no way.

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Speaker 1: And so of the many names that were throwing, people

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00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:43,560
Speaker 1: were throwing actors at me that liked baseball and players.

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00:20:44,440 --> 00:20:50,520
Speaker 1: And then David Ross, the former fifteen year career Cubs

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Speaker 1: manager for three years, he was just the bullpen coach

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Speaker 1: for Team USA and a one of the most beloved

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Speaker 1: Cubs ever. So he and Anthony Rizzo our first baseball podcast.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be called the Lovable Reunion at debuts

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Speaker 1: in a week and they're going to look back. Not

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Speaker 1: only are they going to talk baseball. They're going to

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00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,919
Speaker 1: look back at the ten year reunion of probably the

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Speaker 1: most memorable world series.

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Speaker 2: I'm trying to think of my lifetime.

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Speaker 1: It's I grew up with a seventy five, seventy six

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Speaker 1: Cincinnati Reds. You know we are family, pirates World Series,

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Speaker 1: the Yankees now, o Tani, I don't think anything surpasses

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Speaker 1: the Cubs. And David Ross is joining us. Anthony Rizzo's

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Speaker 1: doing the baseball and Netflix stuff, so he was going

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Speaker 1: to join us, he's not today. So first of all, David,

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Speaker 1: we've never met.

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Speaker 2: Obviously, I know you.

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Speaker 1: Multiple Red Sox World series, Cubs world series. So let's

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Speaker 1: start with this. Because I didn't want us to talk

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Speaker 1: before we did this. I wanted us to kind of

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Speaker 1: meet each other as we're doing this. I want the

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Speaker 1: audience to be along for it. When when did you

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Speaker 1: and Anthony Rizzle? When did the idea come up? Because

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Speaker 1: it was pitched to me a while ago. When did

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Speaker 1: this come up for you guys, this ten year anniversary thing?

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Speaker 4: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: Well, first of all, we're pumped to be on this

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Speaker 5: right like, we're so excited. This has been a journey

430
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:21,359
Speaker 5: that's taken on a life of its own. Already with

431
00:22:21,400 --> 00:22:23,960
Speaker 5: the guys, but we started talking. We had the same

432
00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:29,480
Speaker 5: agents playing, and so we started talking about this after

433
00:22:29,560 --> 00:22:32,359
Speaker 5: I was done a little bit and what was baseball

434
00:22:33,000 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 5: gonna be like for us or life after us after

435
00:22:37,080 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 5: baseball and you know, him just retiring two years ago.

436
00:22:41,400 --> 00:22:45,480
Speaker 5: We started talking about this probably around that time of

437
00:22:45,960 --> 00:22:49,920
Speaker 5: we've got such a great relationship and we work well

438
00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:55,480
Speaker 5: together and we're just good friends, and so us having

439
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:57,320
Speaker 5: a little bit of like we should do some of

440
00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,080
Speaker 5: the podcast world has taken off obviously with our history

441
00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:03,920
Speaker 5: and how we met and just how we like to

442
00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,920
Speaker 5: be around each other, and we're very different in our

443
00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:08,800
Speaker 5: thoughts about baseball. So it's been really fun to kind

444
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:10,440
Speaker 5: of banter a little bit with some of our old

445
00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:12,600
Speaker 5: teammates and talk about some of these.

446
00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:14,680
Speaker 4: Stories we've had. But this has been in the works

447
00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:15,920
Speaker 4: with us for a little bit.

448
00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:19,359
Speaker 5: And then when you guys, you know, we kind of

449
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:23,600
Speaker 5: met with your group, and how excited Logan and the

450
00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 5: team were. It just it just was such a fit.

451
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,679
Speaker 5: They were so excited and there's so many there. It

452
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:32,159
Speaker 5: was it was it was like a note. We got

453
00:23:32,200 --> 00:23:35,359
Speaker 5: off that call with you guys, and it was like

454
00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:37,480
Speaker 5: that's the group that's the group we've got to be

455
00:23:37,560 --> 00:23:40,600
Speaker 5: with there. They're one how professional you guys are on

456
00:23:40,680 --> 00:23:43,480
Speaker 5: top of your stuff. But my goodness, the excitement or

457
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,240
Speaker 5: in the room when we had those conversations were.

458
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,679
Speaker 4: Uh, were at the top they were.

459
00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:51,359
Speaker 5: There was nobody more excited and kind of on board

460
00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 5: with whatever we wanted to do and our vision. Uh.

461
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,280
Speaker 5: And so we're we're super pumped this thing. We we've

462
00:23:57,280 --> 00:23:59,160
Speaker 5: been we've kept kept it under rats for a long time.

463
00:23:59,200 --> 00:24:01,439
Speaker 5: We're so pumped to break this thing out next week.

464
00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:01,920
Speaker 2: Yeah.

465
00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:03,800
Speaker 1: I told I went to dinner with Tom Ricketts about

466
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:05,359
Speaker 1: six weeks ago and I said, listen, you got to

467
00:24:05,400 --> 00:24:08,000
Speaker 1: keep this under wraps. But we're doing a baseball podcast.

468
00:24:08,720 --> 00:24:11,120
Speaker 1: And I said, and I told him about it. He goes,

469
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,119
Speaker 1: oh shit, you guys got that. He's like, that's like,

470
00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:17,679
Speaker 1: I can't miss prospect. He goes, So I want to go.

471
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,040
Speaker 1: I want to go back to this to the World

472
00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,120
Speaker 1: Series team. So you had this one hundred and eight

473
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,960
Speaker 1: year drought and listen, baseball superstitious. And you can say

474
00:24:28,320 --> 00:24:31,160
Speaker 1: nobody's talking about it, but it's one of the only

475
00:24:31,240 --> 00:24:36,240
Speaker 1: times in my life the country, even outside of Chicago,

476
00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,239
Speaker 1: the country was rooting for Chicago. So that's even as

477
00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:42,880
Speaker 1: popular as MJ was. They didn't like him in Detroit,

478
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,080
Speaker 1: they didn't like him in LA. There were a lot

479
00:24:45,119 --> 00:24:48,040
Speaker 1: of non MJ guys, you know, a lot the Celtics

480
00:24:48,040 --> 00:24:53,520
Speaker 1: didn't like him. Everybody wanted the Cubs to win. Beyond Chicago,

481
00:24:53,640 --> 00:24:56,040
Speaker 1: there's never been a championship in any sport in my life.

482
00:24:56,119 --> 00:25:00,359
Speaker 1: I mean there's Olympic stuff obviously, so I always like,

483
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,440
Speaker 1: oh god, that's the most pressure ever the country.

484
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:05,159
Speaker 2: It was almost Olympic feeling.

485
00:25:06,160 --> 00:25:10,320
Speaker 1: At what point in that season, did you guys, and

486
00:25:10,400 --> 00:25:14,359
Speaker 1: let's just talk specific you and Anthony Bruzzo, Yeah, did

487
00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:19,359
Speaker 1: you guys start talking about shit? We're did you sweep

488
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:23,080
Speaker 1: a couple series? You know you got the bullf ben right,

489
00:25:23,240 --> 00:25:27,280
Speaker 1: you're sitting there, you know you're hitting for power well managed.

490
00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:30,280
Speaker 2: When did you start thinking, god, this this could be it?

491
00:25:31,000 --> 00:25:34,640
Speaker 5: Well we goes back to twenty fifteen. That's what's kind

492
00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:38,840
Speaker 5: of cool about this podcast of the journey, and we had,

493
00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,520
Speaker 5: you know, got Joe Madden signed, John Lester I came

494
00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:43,600
Speaker 5: aboard in fifteen.

495
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,399
Speaker 4: You know, the Chicago had been through.

496
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:48,520
Speaker 5: A lot of losing at some young guys, Jake Ariett

497
00:25:48,520 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 5: of the trade Pedro Stroke with Baltimore the year before,

498
00:25:53,800 --> 00:25:57,320
Speaker 5: and you start to look at the season in fifteen

499
00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:00,879
Speaker 5: and we came together. We had a lot of guys

500
00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:03,800
Speaker 5: in this podcast. They all got the same answer, when

501
00:26:03,800 --> 00:26:06,600
Speaker 5: did you think we were good? And there was a

502
00:26:06,640 --> 00:26:09,800
Speaker 5: turning point in a in a series in San Francisco.

503
00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,119
Speaker 5: We played San Francisco at home late in the year,

504
00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:17,879
Speaker 5: I think it was in August twenty fifteen, and we

505
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,400
Speaker 5: went on our run. They were the defending champs, were good,

506
00:26:20,520 --> 00:26:26,159
Speaker 5: Bomb Gardner, Posey, they had all the dudes, and we

507
00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:30,000
Speaker 5: started and everybody kind of points to that time back

508
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:31,639
Speaker 5: end of the season. All the young guys kind of

509
00:26:31,640 --> 00:26:35,119
Speaker 5: coming up, shoreber Addison, Russell, Hobby was kind of getting

510
00:26:35,440 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 5: Hobby bias, starting to get his feet wet, KB, Chris

511
00:26:39,560 --> 00:26:43,000
Speaker 5: Bryant obviously, like I mean, these guys were coming along

512
00:26:43,040 --> 00:26:45,159
Speaker 5: and young, and we had some veteran guys and we

513
00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,080
Speaker 5: just took off, obviously making the playoffs and going deep

514
00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,560
Speaker 5: and getting beaten by the Mets in the Championshies in fifteen,

515
00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:54,760
Speaker 5: and then when we went into spring training the next year,

516
00:26:54,920 --> 00:26:57,240
Speaker 5: we knew we were good. They added we brought Dexter

517
00:26:57,320 --> 00:27:00,240
Speaker 5: Fowler back, which amazing at it. Guys like Ben Zobe Ris,

518
00:27:00,359 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 5: Jason Hayward, John Lackey. I mean we added some pieces

519
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,840
Speaker 5: in sixteen. THEO went out and did his part, and

520
00:27:08,160 --> 00:27:12,120
Speaker 5: we got to spring training. I remember Miguel Montero tweeting

521
00:27:12,119 --> 00:27:14,800
Speaker 5: out like we are good, the hashtag we are good,

522
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,679
Speaker 5: and that was like the whole We started off so

523
00:27:17,840 --> 00:27:20,400
Speaker 5: darn good. And then we lose Schwarber early on in sixteen,

524
00:27:21,240 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 5: so you're like, wait a minute, how are we gonna

525
00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,159
Speaker 5: how are we gonna navigate that? But we were we

526
00:27:25,200 --> 00:27:27,199
Speaker 5: had the pitching staff, our guys stayed healthy. I think

527
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,600
Speaker 5: we were one of the best defensive teams that year,

528
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:31,080
Speaker 5: number one.

529
00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:32,280
Speaker 4: I mean we were. We were really good.

530
00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 5: But it started in fifteen a lot of people we

531
00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:36,239
Speaker 5: really hit that momentum, and I thought it was so

532
00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,840
Speaker 5: important the way Joe handled the group and for our

533
00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:42,680
Speaker 5: young guys to get a taste going deep into the playoffs.

534
00:27:42,800 --> 00:27:44,920
Speaker 4: Whenever you get that, you get so hungry.

535
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,199
Speaker 5: In the off season that you knew going in the

536
00:27:47,240 --> 00:27:50,160
Speaker 5: target was on our back. But Joe did a great

537
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:54,199
Speaker 5: job of messaging and the expectations and how that's a

538
00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:57,879
Speaker 5: good thing. And just embraced the target was our slogan

539
00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,879
Speaker 5: going into sixteen, and and we took all it was.

540
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,480
Speaker 4: It was. It was amazing. It was amazing. But I

541
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 4: think it started in fifteen.

542
00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:09,639
Speaker 1: Let's go to the final game. Three outs is what

543
00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:13,760
Speaker 1: the Chicago Cubs need. I want you as closely as

544
00:28:13,760 --> 00:28:18,800
Speaker 1: you can remember. I don't even know if it's goosebumps anxiety.

545
00:28:21,400 --> 00:28:23,960
Speaker 1: Three outs to go? What is that?

546
00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:24,560
Speaker 2: Dugout?

547
00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:24,720
Speaker 5: Like?

548
00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,119
Speaker 4: It's tense. I mean we brought in CJ. Edwards to

549
00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 4: start the end. First of all, like Chappie had gotten

550
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:33,000
Speaker 4: us through.

551
00:28:33,320 --> 00:28:35,080
Speaker 5: You know, he went back out after giving up the

552
00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,560
Speaker 5: home run and gives us a clean inning.

553
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:41,160
Speaker 4: Obviously the rain delay. We come out, we score two.

554
00:28:41,600 --> 00:28:45,440
Speaker 5: Nobody, you know, everybody talks about Ben's Obra's hit, and

555
00:28:45,480 --> 00:28:48,680
Speaker 5: then Miguel Montero got another base hit to at a

556
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:50,280
Speaker 5: at a run, which we actually needed.

557
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:52,680
Speaker 4: So CJ. Edwards come in.

558
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,680
Speaker 5: We get a quick out or two, and then a

559
00:28:56,800 --> 00:29:00,200
Speaker 5: run's given up and RAJ Davis gets on first two

560
00:29:00,280 --> 00:29:04,120
Speaker 5: outs and you're thinking, okay, Rajer is gonna steal he

561
00:29:04,600 --> 00:29:06,400
Speaker 5: I think he was top in the league that year

562
00:29:06,680 --> 00:29:09,680
Speaker 5: in stolen bases, so you're kind of playing through like manager,

563
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,680
Speaker 5: or at least I was manager in your brain of like, okay,

564
00:29:12,720 --> 00:29:13,560
Speaker 5: we've how are we.

565
00:29:13,520 --> 00:29:17,840
Speaker 4: Going to navigate this? Uh? And they bring in Mike Montgomery.

566
00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 5: Uh. Another one where you're like, we had Pedro stroke

567
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:23,800
Speaker 5: down there, hex Ron don we had I mean, Arietta

568
00:29:23,880 --> 00:29:25,680
Speaker 5: was down there lacking. We had all kinds of bullets

569
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,600
Speaker 5: in the bullpen, and Joe uh pulled on you know,

570
00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 5: turn these young guys, which as a veteran guy and

571
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:33,760
Speaker 5: even as a manager, you don't lean on. The young

572
00:29:33,800 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 5: guys are the biggest moments. So you're super nervous about that.

573
00:29:38,040 --> 00:29:40,920
Speaker 5: And then knowing the scounery report I did, and and

574
00:29:40,920 --> 00:29:43,320
Speaker 5: and Miggy, we're gonna flip a bunch of breaking balls

575
00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:47,240
Speaker 5: in and you're just nervous. You know, you're you're hoping

576
00:29:47,280 --> 00:29:49,320
Speaker 5: Rajie doesn't steal. You don't want to buy in scoring position.

577
00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:53,000
Speaker 5: And then that swinging bunt to KB obviously he slips.

578
00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,760
Speaker 5: He talks about that in the in the pod, and

579
00:29:56,920 --> 00:29:59,560
Speaker 5: Rizzo catches that ball, and then it just all the anxiety,

580
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,000
Speaker 5: all the you know, the tension that you hold, just

581
00:30:02,040 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 5: the relief that you have of you know, we did it,

582
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:06,959
Speaker 5: because it was such a back and forth game and

583
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 5: how we came back down three to one, and there's

584
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:14,400
Speaker 5: so many stories within that that everybody's thinking and sitting

585
00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:17,640
Speaker 5: there on the bench watching this all play out, and

586
00:30:17,720 --> 00:30:18,840
Speaker 5: I've already played my role.

587
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:20,239
Speaker 4: I don't have any control over it.

588
00:30:20,480 --> 00:30:22,760
Speaker 5: So you're just rooting for everybody super hard, and that

589
00:30:22,800 --> 00:30:24,840
Speaker 5: balls hit and you're just you're just praying that it's

590
00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,520
Speaker 5: hit to somebody and uh KB nice and easy throws

591
00:30:28,560 --> 00:30:31,000
Speaker 5: into riz and and off we go to celebrate.

592
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 4: But yeah, you're.

593
00:30:31,960 --> 00:30:34,760
Speaker 5: Definitely you're definitely nervous when things start going. You've got

594
00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,160
Speaker 5: young guys. When the young guys on the mound too,

595
00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 5: you never know how that's gonna how they're gonna handle

596
00:30:39,240 --> 00:30:40,760
Speaker 5: those biggest moments of their career.

597
00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:42,960
Speaker 4: Uh And they did it. We did it.

598
00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:52,680
Speaker 1: Ten years later. What does the CUB Championship mean to you, man?

599
00:30:53,440 --> 00:30:57,960
Speaker 5: Well, I mean me personally, those guys and how they've

600
00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:01,000
Speaker 5: how they lifted me up up in that.

601
00:31:01,080 --> 00:31:02,840
Speaker 4: I mean I could carry off the field game seven, like,

602
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:04,480
Speaker 4: who's that happened to? You know?

603
00:31:04,600 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 5: Like, I'm so thankful I got to do so many

604
00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:11,640
Speaker 5: things off the field after that. I'm working for ESPN,

605
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,760
Speaker 5: getting back to manage. They put me on this platform

606
00:31:15,800 --> 00:31:17,360
Speaker 5: to be on here talking to you and to start

607
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:20,000
Speaker 5: this thing with Riz and just baseball is a part

608
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 5: of my life. And a lot of that has to

609
00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,680
Speaker 5: do with my two championships, but especially at the end

610
00:31:25,720 --> 00:31:28,120
Speaker 5: the way those guys, you know, I tell people all

611
00:31:28,120 --> 00:31:32,000
Speaker 5: the time, I wasn't telling the media I'm this leader

612
00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 5: or I'm this guy or that guy. Just my teammates

613
00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 5: were saying nice things about me. And the thing about

614
00:31:37,400 --> 00:31:41,120
Speaker 5: doing this pod and reminiscent about these stories is it

615
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:44,360
Speaker 5: just I mean, there's there's laughter, there's tears, there's everybody's

616
00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:46,840
Speaker 5: getting emotional at a certain time, just talking about what

617
00:31:46,920 --> 00:31:48,200
Speaker 5: a special group we had.

618
00:31:48,680 --> 00:31:52,680
Speaker 4: And me personally, my my.

619
00:31:53,040 --> 00:31:57,200
Speaker 5: Career backup catcher most of my career career, two twenty hitter,

620
00:31:57,680 --> 00:32:00,200
Speaker 5: got to got to go and do so many any

621
00:32:00,240 --> 00:32:03,080
Speaker 5: great things and represent that group on so many different

622
00:32:03,080 --> 00:32:06,880
Speaker 5: platforms and talk baseball, and my my life has taken

623
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:09,320
Speaker 5: off since that championship, and a lot of that has

624
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 5: to do with the people there, the front office, the staff,

625
00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 5: and obviously the players and that that city. It's meant,

626
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:18,680
Speaker 5: it's meant so much to me, and I'm just so

627
00:32:18,720 --> 00:32:21,640
Speaker 5: happy to be able to get on here and share

628
00:32:22,200 --> 00:32:25,920
Speaker 5: these moments with behind the scene moments with all these fans.

629
00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:29,200
Speaker 5: I'm so thankful and grateful for so much. But yeah,

630
00:32:29,240 --> 00:32:31,880
Speaker 5: it's a it's a big one. That's That's the only

631
00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 5: thing anybody knows before walking through the airport is uh

632
00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,400
Speaker 5: my my World series with Chicago and Dancing with the Stars.

633
00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:41,640
Speaker 5: That's that's two days.

634
00:32:44,880 --> 00:32:47,680
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635
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636
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639
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