WEBVTT - JAY BILAS 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.680 Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:15.640 is cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.520 They's getting down to do it. Good do it. We 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.880 asked the questions you always want to know, but no 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:29.040 one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.040 them about it, then we're about to let you know. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:41.600 It's all some corn chips. I want to smack in 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:48.839 your mouth worse smitty, good brother. We are wrapping up. 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:55.080 What's on your plate? What's your resolution? Resolution? Man? I 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:58.600 can't get wait to get the hell out of you. 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:04.520 Know what I dislike? You're about how much time you got? Wow, 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:07.800 that's pretty good right there. You know what I dislike 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:10.000 when folks you go, hey, how are you doing? I'm 0:01:10.080 --> 0:01:13.600 just doing great? Stop lying? Why why are they gonna 0:01:13.600 --> 0:01:18.880 be a lie? It? Bro look backwards it. It sucked, 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:24.160 but I'm cool with the noubt about it. But I 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:29.520 just don't. I dislike the people who try to make everything, 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.160 oh it's great, Just be acknowledge. You gotta acknowledge that 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:36.319 it so you're best in highly favor I am, but 0:01:36.400 --> 0:01:41.759 damn it, man, it's still so it's been different. Did 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.960 you not learn anything about well, then that's it. There's 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:47.920 there's your book. I learned a ton, but let's quit 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:53.080 fakeing the f folks like it's been great, really it has. 0:01:53.200 --> 0:01:56.280 Don't don't swimming you misery. I'm not swimming and I'm 0:01:56.320 --> 0:02:01.360 just saying, just be forth right with your true be transparent, 0:02:01.760 --> 0:02:07.240 like everything's great, everything is that great. Stop laying. At 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:12.400 some point throughout, had some sort of a mishap. Everyone did, 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.520 everyone in the house. Ever, we were locked in the house, 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.839 so we had we had to wear masks, like just 0:02:19.000 --> 0:02:21.480 be honest. Don't get Oh it's great. It's some good things, 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.119 but they're also good things that came out of this podcast. 0:02:26.200 --> 0:02:30.639 To it, it's been outstanding. Absolutely, I've enjoyed and it's 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:33.960 allowed me to recognize some things. But it also is 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:38.040 like I really like talking to people who aren't I 0:02:38.080 --> 0:02:42.120 don't want to say phony, but stop, like stop stop 0:02:42.200 --> 0:02:46.040 acting like you can be both. You can't. You can 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.919 acknowledge that it sucked, but you can also I think 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:50.920 also I get the other side. I don't want it 0:02:50.960 --> 0:02:54.640 to be all negative, but don't you know, don't act 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:57.560 like like, Um, I talked to somebody and I was like, 0:02:57.560 --> 0:03:01.040 brow are you doing? He's like, man, I'm great. Like really, 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:05.080 He's like, oh, I'm fantastic. Bro, couldn't that hard for 0:03:05.120 --> 0:03:10.240 you to believe that someone could be doing great? Awkward silence? 0:03:10.800 --> 0:03:13.560 That's called that's called a dead air. No, I'm it's 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.400 not that you can't be great. But the individual I 0:03:16.440 --> 0:03:20.359 was talking to, we were talking because he text me 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.040 saying that he wanted to talk. Hey, bro, I gotta 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:26.919 run something by, you know, struggling with some stuff, and 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.000 I'm like, hey, how are you? I'm doing great? That 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:33.799 ain't what you just text me about. We ain't great. 0:03:34.840 --> 0:03:38.120 You text me and it's all just a little bit 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:40.720 of like you can't hit the text. So I'm struggling, 0:03:40.720 --> 0:03:42.840 And then I actually, hey, what's going on? Man? I'm good? 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:47.600 A sucked? What are you looking forward to? One? Man, 0:03:47.640 --> 0:03:50.320 I'm looking forward to There's so many things that I 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:55.760 discovered about myself that, um, it's made me very intrigued 0:03:56.640 --> 0:03:59.080 trying to stay away from the negative in regards to 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:02.480 and I say negative where, um you know, I'm on 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:04.840 cameo and so get a lot of people tell me oh, 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:08.080 Man needs you to roast my guy and Kurt you 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.920 can curse him out too and swear it's fine. Yeah. 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:14.280 So Cameo is an app where people pay and ask 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.919 you to do a personalized message. And there's been some 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:20.599 messages like I really enjoyed doing them. It's made me 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:25.640 really change my perspective on how I see things. But 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:28.320 then there's also some people I've been like, I've been 0:04:28.680 --> 0:04:32.280 declining some of the requests because I'm like, I don't 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:39.080 want to really put down someone, and like, you're because 0:04:39.120 --> 0:04:42.040 you're quote unquote paying me. Just because I'm getting paid 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.400 doesn't mean that means that like you want me to 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.960 put like I'm like, who wants to be? Who wants 0:04:48.000 --> 0:04:52.920 to see a video message from somebody They may endoor like, 0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:57.719 look up to like, or it may be a yeah, 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.960 oh you suck rob Like no, And I've hit so 0:05:02.000 --> 0:05:06.240 many declines that guys are really like, oh really like 0:05:06.279 --> 0:05:10.560 you really, I'm like, bro, like I get it has 0:05:10.640 --> 0:05:14.320 been such a trying time. Who wants some more bad news? 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:18.040 I don't. I really don't. The bad news meter has 0:05:18.040 --> 0:05:22.479 definitely been reached and extended. Man, I just don't. I 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:26.560 want to really enjoy I want to hit into now 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:31.120 with aspirations that are unobtainable, but aspirations of like I 0:05:31.160 --> 0:05:37.479 really want to refresh. So for me is the folks 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:43.159 that are negative drainers in my life. I'm leaving you. 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:49.080 That's good. I have no room for you because it 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:51.760 does weigh on you and it'll bring it'll bring your 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.560 whole injury level down. Someone operates, and negativity or fear 0:05:55.880 --> 0:05:58.000 or all of those different things. Man, that stuff wears 0:05:58.040 --> 0:06:00.320 on you over time. I just want to be around people. 0:06:00.360 --> 0:06:02.600 And I'm not saying I'm the most positive person I 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.320 know I have my I could be a Debbie down nerd. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:09.960 I can be that at times. I have that. I 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:14.120 have that stronging of being like, just like, I'm good, 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:20.200 here's something I'm going into and you're gonna hear it 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:26.960 our new tagline at the end of every single podcast 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:29.279 we do. And I believe this and I want to 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.840 emphasize it and I want to push it. So I 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:34.359 was reading something my my my daily reading and on 0:06:34.560 --> 0:06:37.320 something that was really intriguing and it really hit me. 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:42.800 It was actually December four and why is it important? 0:06:43.400 --> 0:06:46.240 Because it was something that until this moment at forty 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:49.240 one years old what we all experienced in something that 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:53.719 really was compelling, and it sets to this, I am unique. 0:06:54.920 --> 0:07:01.200 There's only one person like me. I am worthwhile, competent, 0:07:02.080 --> 0:07:05.840 and lovable. And ever since I read that, I've been 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.440 repeating that at least once a day after once a 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.960 day moving forward, because for me to hear that that 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:20.280 I am worthwhile in this word right here, competent, because 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.880 a lot of times, I don't know, maybe it's just athletes, 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.560 but a lot of times athletes get deemed as dumb jocks. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:30.760 And I think that word competent because we can be 0:07:30.880 --> 0:07:33.920 on television, we can say how we feel or at 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:37.000 times getting intimidated by the red dot on the record 0:07:37.720 --> 0:07:40.880 of of being an analyst, and sometimes you have so 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.000 many seconds. You know, you have a two minute segment. 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.640 There's four people, so everybody has their thirty seconds each 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:51.720 to talk, and you're sometimes grasping for words to say 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.080 and be impactful, and sometimes you fumble over your words, 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:58.800 especially if a guy like me um and that work 0:07:58.880 --> 0:08:02.560 competent just to use it as I am unique, I 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:07.040 am worthwhile, I'm competent and lovable. I thought I was 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:08.920 really cool and something I've just been holding on to 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.560 and so I I like that and I'm gonna hold 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.680 on to it something I picked up in that. I'm 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:20.800 gonna drag, pull pull across that finish line. The the 0:08:20.840 --> 0:08:26.400 start line is a start line personally for me as 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:30.280 going in there and say I'm competent and lovable, because 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:31.840 a lot of times we don't feel like we're lovable, 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:37.920 especially what what everybody has going through, especially how um 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:42.600 everything with the presidency, the virus, whether it's black lives, 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:47.559 whether it's um, you know, defunding, the police, police brutality, 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:51.280 all of those things. I think sometimes we have forgotten 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:56.640 that lovable part. Man agree on that. So you're unique too, 0:08:56.679 --> 0:08:59.240 and I and I love you for so I'm trying 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.679 to be you are and and not saying that it 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:05.439 like in the what you mean? So you know, if 0:09:05.480 --> 0:09:08.480 if you know some people, and also to the last thing, 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:15.120 make sure you check in with some folks, see how 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.319 they're doing, how they really do not just don't say, 0:09:18.880 --> 0:09:21.400 don't say how you doing? What I've been texting guys, 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.880 how is your mental? Yep just makes me think of 0:09:26.559 --> 0:09:29.319 one of our last episodes, Sam Macho, and he talked 0:09:29.360 --> 0:09:32.440 about how even in locker rooms you can walk by 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.560 somebody and just say, hey, how you doing? How you doing, Steve? 0:09:35.600 --> 0:09:38.160 How you doing, Joe? And you always give it that 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.760 I'm good, much like you just said before, I'm good. 0:09:41.240 --> 0:09:44.200 How are you really? Because we're good at putting on 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.000 that front foot on that facade, like how are you 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:47.640 really doing? And going out of your way to check 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.679 on someone. I think that's super important. Well, he said 0:09:50.760 --> 0:09:55.000 that guys will ask and the guy may not even respond, 0:09:55.040 --> 0:09:58.120 but he just keeps going because it's programmed. Didn't you 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:00.319 let me act like I really care? But I don't 0:10:00.320 --> 0:10:02.480 because I got so much other stuff going on to 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:05.360 really stop Paul's living. And now it's really good. That's 0:10:05.400 --> 0:10:08.080 really good. So who we got next? Coming up on 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:10.520 the Cut to It podcast, We've got j billis an 0:10:10.600 --> 0:10:14.160 n C double, a analyst for ESPN, former player and 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:17.040 assistant coach for Duke University, and the author of the 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.599 book Toughness. J billis on the Cut to It Podcast. 0:10:31.640 --> 0:10:33.800 Our first segment, we call it get Iced Up, our 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:37.640 version of Icebreakers. There are questions that are selected at 0:10:37.760 --> 0:10:40.000 random by Smitty himself. There may or may not be 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.000 a follow up. Have no clue, Smitty, go ahead, give 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:46.079 him the First, are you ready? All right? This open 0:10:46.080 --> 0:10:48.679 book test. It's about you, so if you fail, blame 0:10:48.720 --> 0:10:54.360 it on yourself. All right. The last book you read, 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:58.520 the last book I read, is called The Color of 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:03.800 Law by Richard raw Steen. It's about how systemic racism 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.520 is not uh de facto um, it's the jura meaning 0:11:09.040 --> 0:11:13.040 it's built into our system of laws. And for people 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:20.880 who don't want to acknowledge that systemic racism, he points towards, 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:26.280 you know, facts in in law that have established it 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.680 beyond a reasonable doubt. It's it's a great book. Would 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.800 you suggest me growing up as a black man? Shild 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.840 I read it. I think everybody should read it, honestly. 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:40.040 That and that and uh called the new gym Crow, 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.920 which I think I'm right now one down up. I 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:47.720 started that when that's a good one. What do you say, 0:11:47.840 --> 0:11:52.199 j when you get a gift that you don't like? So? 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:56.920 What what are some pretend words would you use um 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.120 in saying thank you for this ugly as gift as 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:02.880 you received. I don't. I don't mince words anymore at 0:12:02.880 --> 0:12:09.760 my age on gifts. So I was born December and uh, 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:12.640 and I do not I do not do combo gifts anymore. 0:12:13.600 --> 0:12:16.640 Thank you. I'm a fellow. I know how it goes. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:21.440 I'm like I combo gifts are not acceptable. I don't 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:24.360 want any dad gifts. I don't want any soap on 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:26.760 a rope. I don't want any that crap. I want 0:12:26.800 --> 0:12:30.160 something good. I'll feel you when that comboy that thing 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:33.800 gets me hot? Hey, is there a give? Really? Soap 0:12:33.840 --> 0:12:36.679 on a rope? There used to be? I mean when 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.040 you're you're younger. Maybe when I was a kid, there 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:41.560 were all these Father's Day gifts that were you know, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.040 like like for your dad, you you soap on a 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:46.600 rope used to be one. And you know your dad, 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:48.760 My dad used to say when when it was his 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:51.880 birthday or Christmas or whatever, we say, Dad, what do 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:54.000 you want? And he'd say I don't want anything, and 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:55.920 so why not? And he goes because it's not gonna 0:12:55.960 --> 0:13:00.040 be what I want and I have to pay for it. 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:03.480 Was the first thing you tweeted this morning. Jeezy lyric 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.959 from his new album Recession to every Day Jay? What 0:13:08.080 --> 0:13:13.240 did Jay? Where did your love from Young Jeezy come from? Well? 0:13:13.280 --> 0:13:15.040 I mean, I'm I listened to a lot of stuff. 0:13:15.120 --> 0:13:17.120 Jeez is one of them. He happens to be one 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:19.800 of my favorites, if not my my favorite, uh sort 0:13:19.800 --> 0:13:22.560 of hip hop rap artists. But it kind of started 0:13:22.600 --> 0:13:24.760 for me, honestly when I was in high school. I 0:13:24.800 --> 0:13:26.920 was in high school, my freshman year of high school 0:13:26.920 --> 0:13:31.840 in n and seventy nine, and that was about that 0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.360 was about the time that the sugar Hill King came 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:38.760 out with Rappers Delight, and so my my my teammates 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:41.520 on my basketball team, we sang that thing every day 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:43.920 while we were doing conditioning work and all that. I 0:13:43.960 --> 0:13:47.080 still remember every damn word to it. And you know, 0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:50.160 then then in in college, you know, all my teammates 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.679 listen to run DMC and you name it, and so, uh, 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:55.760 you know, I gained a great appreciation for it as 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:58.760 an art form. And then about it's probably about ten 0:13:58.840 --> 0:14:01.040 years ago, we were in Michigan State for college game 0:14:01.120 --> 0:14:04.240 Day for ESPN and Draymond Green was playing for Michigan 0:14:04.280 --> 0:14:06.400 State at the time, and he had, you know, some 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:09.200 big old headphones on and one of our crew asked 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.320 him on the air when he came by, what are 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:13.360 you listening to? And he said, I'm listening to Young Jeez. 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.560 So Hubert Davis, who was with us at the time, 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.200 and now you know he's an assistant coach at North Carolina. 0:14:19.240 --> 0:14:20.920 He turned to me and he says, is that is 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:23.640 that on your iPod? Back then it was iPod, you know? 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:26.720 And uh And I said, well, oddly enough it is. 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.400 People didn't believe me, and so somehow it's almost become 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:33.880 a myth now. But people were hitting me on Twitter saying, 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.240 come on, man, you don't listen to Jeez, and I said, yeah, 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.080 I do, and I shot a couple of lyrics out 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:40.480 and after going back and forth with a couple of people, 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.080 I really did. If I remember right, I really did 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:44.640 have to go into my office. I had to go 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.480 into work, and so I put, I put, you know, 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:50.120 some lyric and I gotta go to work, and somehow 0:14:50.200 --> 0:14:52.360 it caught on and I wound up doing it every morning. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.320 Says then, so what was this morning's lyrics? I don't 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.080 even remember. I did it at like six am, so 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.080 I'd have to go out to go back and look. 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.320 I what I do now, because I was always concerned. 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.920 When I started doing it, I was doing it off 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:09.560 of what I was listening to, and then I was going, 0:15:09.600 --> 0:15:12.080 you know, I might not understand what I'm tweeting out here, 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:16.280 I gotta be a little careful and uh, you know, okay, 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:19.280 because I gotta remember, like you know, everybody says, remember 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.600 where you're from. I grew up in Rolling Hills, California, 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:23.880 you know. I I grew up in a beach community. 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:26.960 And so now what I do is I make sure 0:15:27.000 --> 0:15:31.080 I check every lyric as it's written. Yeah you don't. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:36.320 Some of the motives act like yeah exactly, So I 0:15:36.560 --> 0:15:38.320 just I just make sure I I get it. So 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.720 I actually plan them out now. Before I used to 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:43.840 do them just when I got up, I listen to something. 0:15:43.840 --> 0:15:45.760 Maybe I listened something the day before, had something I 0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:48.400 was thinking about, and then I wound up. I wound 0:15:48.480 --> 0:15:51.320 up tweeting off the same album too much, I thought, 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.600 so I started. I've actually planned it out a little 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:56.200 better now, all right, what today's was a't no retreat. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:58.480 I'm bouncing back on my feet is really in the field. 0:15:58.480 --> 0:16:00.520 You better buy some cleats. I gotta go to work. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:05.240 I love that one because of the cleats park that was. 0:16:05.320 --> 0:16:09.160 That was cleets. There you go. Who was your favorite 0:16:09.200 --> 0:16:14.440 team growing up? Any sport? The Dodgers? You know, growing 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.560 up in l A. I played baseball as a kid, 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:18.800 and I love the Dodgers. I was a big Laker 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.120 fan and the Rams l A Rams were a big 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:24.080 deal when I was a kid. Uh and and loved 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:27.040 all that, and then loved U c l A um 0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:28.920 and yeah, yeah, I was a front runner. I loved 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.160 U c l A Basketball in USC football. But but 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.120 I think the longest kind of love affair I've had 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:37.400 with any team has been the Dodgers because I I 0:16:37.720 --> 0:16:40.760 just to me, you know, going to Dodger Stadium during 0:16:40.760 --> 0:16:43.720 the summer with my friends. One of my best friends, 0:16:43.760 --> 0:16:45.720 his parents had season tickets, so we used to go 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:47.520 quite a bit when his parents didn't want to go. 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:50.480 And back then I knew, I mean I knew who 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.880 was playing in the Dodgers farm system and uh in Albuquerque. Man, 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:55.840 I could tell you anything. I don't have the time 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.400 for it anymore. But when the Dodgers won this year, 0:16:58.440 --> 0:17:01.920 I was I was pretty geeked up. Me to Raoul, 0:17:02.120 --> 0:17:05.199 momda See, yeah, that's all I can go. I go 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.359 back a way before that. I go back to like 0:17:07.480 --> 0:17:10.240 Don Sutton and Steve Garvey and Davy loebs run say, 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:13.159 all those guys back in the back in the seventies 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.080 and uh uh, you know, my grandfather took me and 0:17:16.119 --> 0:17:19.960 my brother to the to the World Series in nine four. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:22.440 I didn't know my head from my rear end back then, 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:27.080 but it was pretty damn cool. That's awesome. I still 0:17:27.160 --> 0:17:30.119 have a ral Mondesty jersey right now, a real Dodgers 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:34.000 like like, I still have it in my in my 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.240 jerseys right now. That's bucket lists for me. Go see 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:38.360 a game in l A. I've seen him play before, 0:17:38.359 --> 0:17:41.119 because that's bucket lists with me. Go to l A 0:17:41.119 --> 0:17:44.000 and catch a game. So where we know where you're from, 0:17:44.040 --> 0:17:46.240 but where are you from in a place you call 0:17:46.600 --> 0:17:50.879 your hometown? My hometown is placed call was born in 0:17:50.960 --> 0:17:54.159 San Pedro, California, and then I grew up in a 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:58.120 town called Rolling Hills, which is not far from Torrance, 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.200 Rodondo Beach Um and the other side it was called 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.520 the Hill. So the other side of the hill from 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:07.080 where I grew up was Palace Verdes. So right now, 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:12.240 um uh, people know kind of where I grew up from. Uh. 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:16.159 You know that that Trump golf course is there on 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:19.200 the water and that's if you just if you leave 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:21.280 the front gate of that golf course and go up 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.800 over the hill, you'll run into my parents house. On 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:25.280 the other side of the hill. We just called the 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:27.920 poor side of the hill. But it was pretty nice. 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.000 So San Pedro, you know, I grew up in l 0:18:32.080 --> 0:18:34.480 A and and and San Pedro at that time you 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:38.359 were growing up. How has it changed and Rolling Hills? 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:42.560 How has it changed today? Well, Rolling Hills has gone 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:47.399 from being an area where a blue collar you know, 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:49.919 blue collar worker that had done well could live too. 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:54.400 Now it's a wealthy zip code and uh so that's 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:57.080 changed a lot. And the people who move in there, 0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:00.560 the folks that have been living there forever, have been 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.880 able to stay because of something called Proposition thirteen, which 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:05.520 was a little bit before your time, but it was 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:09.120 that was a it is still in effect now as 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.920 a law, but it was something that, uh it froze 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:14.720 your property taxes. So when my dad bought bought his 0:19:14.760 --> 0:19:17.760 house in Rolling Hills, he is paying the same property 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:20.480 on the same tax basis that he bought the house, 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.680 and the tax basis will only change. That's why California's bankrupt. 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.040 The tax basis will only change when he sells it, 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.320 so the new owner will take the tax hit on 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.600 the value of the property. So in in a lot 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:38.360 of ways. Uh, my parents can't afford to move, um, 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:40.800 and it costs him a fortune to move and UM, 0:19:41.240 --> 0:19:44.359 so they've stayed there. Sampedro's changed. That's the port of 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:46.560 Los Angeles. So my dad, before I was born, was 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.440 a commercial fisherman and then became a He got into 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:53.440 the electronics business after he got out of the fishing business. 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.679 And uh, you know, just the demographics have changed, um, 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:59.600 as far as the makeup of the city, which has 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:02.600 been a good thing. Um, but it was very ethnic 0:20:02.640 --> 0:20:06.400 at the time. Like my dad's from from Yugoslavia, former 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:10.280 Yugoslavia and uh and his family and so it was 0:20:10.320 --> 0:20:13.640 a heavy yugoslav influence at the time. Uh. So it's 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.240 those demographics have changed and it's a lot different now, 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:19.200 but it's still a great community and and support of 0:20:19.240 --> 0:20:21.920 Los Angeles is gigantic now. I mean it was big 0:20:21.960 --> 0:20:24.520 when I was a kid. You drive by there, now 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.399 it's huge. I mean it's it's um, it's not I 0:20:27.440 --> 0:20:29.840 don't want to say it's off putting, but if you 0:20:29.920 --> 0:20:32.560 grew up out there, you're like, this is totally different now. 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.720 I mean all the containers and um, it is the 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:37.679 stuff that moves in and out of there, all the 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:40.080 cars and and things that come in from all over 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:43.880 the world. Um, you know, it's really remarkable to see. 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:48.159 We have to take a break in the morning. Thing. 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:56.320 We gotta pay some bills. I love cut to It 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.760 and I love it even more when you download us 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:03.240 and subscribe and you can follow us on social media 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:06.239 to Smithie where where at? That's at? Cut to It 0:21:06.280 --> 0:21:11.119 on Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook? 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:15.240 Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr? What about online? 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.200 And you can follow Louis at cut to It podcast 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:21.400 dot com where you can buy merch and you can 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:24.840 subscribe to this wherever you listen to podcasts. I got 0:21:24.880 --> 0:21:28.440 all my answers questions. Um, yeah, I got all my 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:32.000 questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother cut 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:37.359 to a podcast dot com. Growing up in Rolling Hills 0:21:37.400 --> 0:21:41.400 near San Pedro, What how did it shape your perspective 0:21:41.520 --> 0:21:46.920 on how you see the world today? Well, I mean 0:21:47.080 --> 0:21:49.680 I think I grew up in a little bit of 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:53.120 a bubble honestly where you know I went to. If 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:56.040 it weren't for basketball, I think my my view of 0:21:56.160 --> 0:22:00.680 things would be would be colored differently. Um, basketball took 0:22:00.720 --> 0:22:03.600 me into so many areas of southern California used to play. 0:22:04.200 --> 0:22:05.920 I used to go play pick up at Carson High 0:22:05.960 --> 0:22:10.320 School and Narbonne and all these different places. Um, and 0:22:10.560 --> 0:22:12.760 you know, so I got to know a lot of 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:15.960 people that I wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise. And 0:22:15.960 --> 0:22:18.320 and so it was it was great for me. And 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.680 it was a sort of a world, you know, world 0:22:22.040 --> 0:22:25.600 worldly experience, I thought. And then and then it it 0:22:25.720 --> 0:22:29.520 obviously took me all over the world. But um, I 0:22:29.560 --> 0:22:32.960 think when you when you grow up like the place 0:22:33.040 --> 0:22:37.600 I grew up, as as the peninsula jets out from 0:22:38.560 --> 0:22:40.800 from the coast a little bit. So the truth was, 0:22:40.880 --> 0:22:44.200 nobody went to my area unless they had a reason 0:22:44.240 --> 0:22:46.639 to be there. It wasn't like a pass through area, 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:50.440 so you could get a little bit sheltered. And basketball 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:53.280 took that took me out of there because I played 0:22:53.320 --> 0:22:56.360 every weekend from fourth grade through high school. Every weekend 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.240 I played out of town somewhere. And during the week 0:22:59.280 --> 0:23:02.280 at night, you want to go get a game, and 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:04.240 so you'd go play pick up wherever there was a 0:23:04.240 --> 0:23:06.800 good pickup game. I mean I was at Venice Beach 0:23:06.840 --> 0:23:09.760 playing outside or um, you know, I mentioned we'd go 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.920 to Carson High School all these different places and play 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:15.399