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Speaker 1: On this episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly. Cursing in professional

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Speaker 1: sports is nothing new, but sometime in the last year,

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Speaker 1: the NBA decided it had a big bleeping problem and

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Speaker 1: started finding players for profanity like never before. SI senior

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Speaker 1: writer Howard Beck joins us to discuss the league's war

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Speaker 1: on an excess of exponents and later the Toronto maple leaves.

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Speaker 1: Austin Matthews, a Mexican American, became the NHL's top goal

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Speaker 1: scorer this season. We have the story of his former coach,

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Speaker 1: Ukrainian born Boris or Jenko, who worked with Matthews and

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Speaker 1: helped build hockey in Mexico. But first, when the owners

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Speaker 1: of the New York Liberty chartered private flights last season

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Speaker 1: for its players in violation of w NBA guidelines, it

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Speaker 1: set off a heated debate about the league's rules and

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Speaker 1: how women in professional sports are treated relative to their

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Speaker 1: male counterparts. With a new w NBA season upon US,

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Speaker 1: Howard Magnal reports on that continuing conversation about equality. It's Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: May a Team. I'm your host John Gonzalez from Sports

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Speaker 1: Illustrated and I Heart Radio. This is Sports Illustrated Weekly.

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Speaker 1: The w NBA season recently took off. But here's who

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Speaker 1: won't be taking off, at least not on a chartered plane.

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Speaker 1: The New York Liberty. That team is at the center

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Speaker 1: of a scandal that has reached new heights. Al Right, So,

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Speaker 1: as you may have heard, there's been some controversy surrounding

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Speaker 1: the w n b A the New York Liberty. They

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Speaker 1: were fined for chartering flights to road games during the

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Speaker 1: first half of w NBA season, as well as other

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Speaker 1: league rule violations. On the Friday before Labor Day of

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Speaker 1: last year, the New York Liberty laws to defending w

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Speaker 1: NBA champions, the Seattle Storm. It was the team's sixth

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Speaker 1: loss in a row. Liberty co owners Joe and Clara Wusa,

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Speaker 1: we're facing a team of exhausted, dejected players, so they

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Speaker 1: decided to do something about it. The New York Liberty

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Speaker 1: took their players to NAPA. There was a wine tasting.

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Speaker 1: That's Howard Magnal, a sportswriter who covers the w n

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Speaker 1: b A. It was just a wonderful excursion. How wonderful.

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Speaker 1: The proof is in the TikTok Liberty guards Sabrina Ian

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Speaker 1: Sku posted a video of herself dancing in front of

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Speaker 1: a group of players, and if you look closely you

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Speaker 1: can see co owner Clara Wusa among them. Plase Guy

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Speaker 1: every Day had a girl's in. Ian Escu captioned it

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Speaker 1: with a question, can your owners do this? The answer no,

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Speaker 1: they could not, because no w NBA owner technically could

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Speaker 1: do what the Size had just done fly their team

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Speaker 1: to a fancy resort for some R and R on

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Speaker 1: the company dime. It was in violation of the collective

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Speaker 1: barten In agreement because it was a benefit greater than

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Speaker 1: what was allowed. We spoke to Howard Magdal about the

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Speaker 1: SI Daily cover he wrote about this trip and the

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Speaker 1: ensuing scandal. It's a story of rule breaking, but it's

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Speaker 1: also the story of owners at odds with each other

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Speaker 1: and the persistent gap and investment between the w n

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Speaker 1: b A and the n b A. Oh yeah, and

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Speaker 1: charter flights. That's a big thing here, because beyond flying

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Speaker 1: the team to NAPA, the Size had also chartered flights

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Speaker 1: for the team to travel to multiple games during the season,

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Speaker 1: and as of right now, charter flights are not permitted

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Speaker 1: for travel for w NBA teams, and so the lead

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Speaker 1: ultimately came to the Liberty and eventually find them five

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars forced them to change their representative on a

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Speaker 1: board seat, and that was the biggest fine in w

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Speaker 1: NBA history. In this case, you have a c BA

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Speaker 1: that means that the players in the New York Liberty

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Speaker 1: are supposed to be treated the same as the players

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Speaker 1: on each of the eleven other w NBA teams. And

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Speaker 1: so if there are these limitations on what teams can do,

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Speaker 1: it's to try and have a level playing field between

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Speaker 1: the twelve. Yeah, so clearly there's a problem. Howard, Why

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Speaker 1: can't other teams just treat their players to trips to NAPA.

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Speaker 1: I'm sure that they would also appreciate it. If all

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Speaker 1: the owners were in favor of that this would happen.

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Speaker 1: This is not something they're gonna have trouble persuading the

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Speaker 1: players to go along with. It's more a question making

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Speaker 1: sure that the owners are on board. And there are

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Speaker 1: some owners who could absolutely do it right now, and

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Speaker 1: there are some owners who either can't or won't do

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Speaker 1: it right now, and there's not enough owners on board

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Speaker 1: for what would cost a significant amount of money. The

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Speaker 1: number that was floated by Kathy Engelbert was twenty million dollars.

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Speaker 1: You can divide that by twelve teams, we're talking about

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Speaker 1: something like at one point six million dollars per team.

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Speaker 1: All the salary cap right now is one point three

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Speaker 1: million dollars. So the econometers of the league as it

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Speaker 1: exists at the moment turned that into a big thing. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: so you mentioned w NBA Commissioner Kathy Engelberg. To be

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Speaker 1: honest with you, Howard, I'm kind of surprised that the

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Speaker 1: salary cap is so low, But you wrote that this

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Speaker 1: isn't just about trips to NAPA and charter flights and perks.

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Speaker 1: It's also sort of this tug of war between multiple

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Speaker 1: facets of w NBA owners And it seems like in

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Speaker 1: order to understand why all this happened, we have to

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Speaker 1: understand how the ownership structure of the w NBA works.

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Speaker 1: It's very complicated. For the first twenty five years of

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Speaker 1: the w n B, a fifty of the lead was

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Speaker 1: owned by collectively the NBA owners, the other split even

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Speaker 1: liam on the twelve w NBA teams. There was a

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Speaker 1: capital raise of seventy five million dollars that took place

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Speaker 1: in the first quarter of this year. And rough league

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Speaker 1: of the leagu's total state was sold to these new investors.

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Speaker 1: Some of them are previous and current owners of the

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Speaker 1: w n b A. Others are brand new people who

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Speaker 1: are entering the process. Welts like kind of Leeza Rice.

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Speaker 1: So we're throwing around a lot of numbers and money.

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Speaker 1: But you wrote that there are owners in the w

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Speaker 1: n b A right now who see the league not

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Speaker 1: sort of as valuable in and of itself, but more

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Speaker 1: as a place to park losses from their other corporations,

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Speaker 1: or even some who view it as kind of like

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Speaker 1: a charity that they're involved in. They're not even looking

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Speaker 1: at the league as a place to invest. But other owners,

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Speaker 1: a kind of new school owner, are pushing to change that, right,

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Speaker 1: no doubt about it. And you know, even that's complicated.

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Speaker 1: There are some of you the way you've described it.

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Speaker 1: There are others who are in it to grow, but

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Speaker 1: are not necessarily financially capable of doing something beyond dollar in,

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Speaker 1: dollar out, And so for them, you know, things like

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Speaker 1: not having people in the stands for year and a

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Speaker 1: half made a huge difference on their long term bottom line. Yeah. Right.

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Speaker 1: COVID had a big impact on teams especially teams whose

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Speaker 1: owners aren't as financially stable as some others. So you

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Speaker 1: compare that with owners like Joe and Clara Wussi, who

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Speaker 1: owned the New York Liberty, who are dedicated to try

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Speaker 1: and bring this to an equality of treatment between the

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Speaker 1: Brooklyn Nets and the New York Liberty. And that requires

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Speaker 1: obviously a massive amount of investment because there is a

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Speaker 1: large amount of gap that has existed for the duration

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Speaker 1: of the w n B A right, So the idea

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Speaker 1: of investing in the league to achieve equality with the NBA,

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Speaker 1: that's important and it's something I want to come back

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Speaker 1: to you, But first I want to go back to

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Speaker 1: Joe and Clara Ussi, the owners at the heart of

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Speaker 1: this controversy with the charter flights. The Size really saw

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Speaker 1: these flights as a way to invest in the team

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Speaker 1: and in the league, which I get, I understand, but

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Speaker 1: that's different from other owners in the league who couldn't

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Speaker 1: or wouldn't handle things the same, right, even that is

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Speaker 1: more complicated. I feel like that's the answer to one

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Speaker 1: of their questions, right, because there are owners who are

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Speaker 1: absolutely for charter flights who were livid about the fact

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Speaker 1: that the Size did this secretly and unilaterally. You know,

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Speaker 1: the idea that what they were doing flew in the

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Speaker 1: face of the set of rules that was agreed to

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Speaker 1: by all twelve owners. And so from that perspective, what

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Speaker 1: they did absolutely was in part clearly coming from a

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Speaker 1: desire to bring equality. But there is also a question

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Speaker 1: of fairness and a question of making sure that this

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Speaker 1: is a step forward that everyone agrees on collectively. I

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Speaker 1: personally love that the size went rogue. I think that

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Speaker 1: this is a fantastic idea. I fully endorse it. But

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Speaker 1: the rest of the league, I understand, as you said,

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Speaker 1: it's an issue of fairness and equality. But the team

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Speaker 1: the Liberty actually proposed to the w NBA Board of

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Speaker 1: Governors the charter flights be the default mode of transportation

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Speaker 1: for the league. Right, So how did that go over?

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Speaker 1: I think I already know the answer, but go ahead,

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Speaker 1: So let's make it clear, because the league has, for

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Speaker 1: interesting reasons, decided to push back by saying there was

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Speaker 1: no official proposal. Now, of course, we never reported there

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Speaker 1: was an official proposal. It was raised at a Board

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Speaker 1: of Governors meeting and it was essentially shouted down before

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Speaker 1: I had a chance to be discussed. In any kind

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Speaker 1: of depth now from the leads part, the league says,

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Speaker 1: while the Liberty have not come back with any sort

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Speaker 1: of official proposal since then. Of course, if you brought

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Speaker 1: something up in the group of twelve and we're essentially

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Speaker 1: shouted down as soon as the topic came up, I

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Speaker 1: can't imagine you'd want to spend much of your time

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Speaker 1: trying to come up with an official proposal and waste

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Speaker 1: your time doing it. Right now, I'm just hearing a

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Speaker 1: lot of no from a lot of the rest of

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Speaker 1: the league. I want to talk about somebody with you

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Speaker 1: who's trying to push that. W n b A Commissioner

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Speaker 1: Kathy Engelbert has tried to transform the league by raising

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Speaker 1: the minimum salary and increasing the salary cap and driving

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Speaker 1: up viewership and really trying to create ways to our

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Speaker 1: money into the w n b A. So how has

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Speaker 1: that worked out for her so far and what has

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Speaker 1: her stewardship of the league been like, It's very hard

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Speaker 1: to argue that Kathy is anything less than the most

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Speaker 1: successful commissioner in the history of the w n b A.

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Speaker 1: She comes in July, she's got to negotiate a new

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Speaker 1: CBA with the players. It was a very significant change.

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Speaker 1: The max salary, for instance, went from one five to

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Speaker 1: two fifteen overnight when that CBA was signed. So a

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Speaker 1: lot of changes happen. We're so thrilled to announce the

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Speaker 1: w n b A and the Players Association, led by Neka,

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Speaker 1: we've announced a long term collective bargaining agreement that we've

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Speaker 1: agreed to eight years. We came together, we collaborated, and

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Speaker 1: we have what we think is a groundbreaking agreement that's

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Speaker 1: going to support these players for the long term and

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Speaker 1: the next generation of players. It's going to include a

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Speaker 1: tripling of the top players pay um over half a

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Speaker 1: million dollars. And we're also going to be providing a

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Speaker 1: platform on health and wellness and really what redefining what

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Speaker 1: it means to be a professional women's athlete, a mom.

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Speaker 1: You know, we have so many, we have entrepreneurs in

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Speaker 1: the league. It's just really going to be a great

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Speaker 1: platform for us to drive. Now you're ready to really

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Speaker 1: hit the accelerator, and then I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: had heard, but there was a thing COVID, and so

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Speaker 1: that created a bit of a problem for the next

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Speaker 1: couple of years. And you're navigating and the w n

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Speaker 1: b A has these existential crises that they're trying to

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Speaker 1: deal with in terms of finances, in terms of health

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Speaker 1: and safety, you name it. Where we're really doing to

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Speaker 1: get a sense of what Kathy Engelbert's tenure means is

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Speaker 1: over the next couple of years in two ways. One

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Speaker 1: in terms of what this new investment does to professionalize things.

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Speaker 1: You know, there are ways large and small that's didn't

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Speaker 1: matter basics, like being able to get w NBA merchandise

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Speaker 1: has been a near impossibility for years and years. This

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Speaker 1: is a very sore subject for w NBA fans. Lead

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Speaker 1: pass doesn't work more often than it works. This money

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Speaker 1: is supposed to go to make it that are more

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Speaker 1: professional and we'll see whether that works or not. And

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Speaker 1: then in a couple of years you're going to have

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Speaker 1: a media rights deal come up. Is the deal that

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Speaker 1: was signed with the ESPN in the middle of the

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Speaker 1: last decade is something that might as well have been

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Speaker 1: signed in the Paleolithic age. Even at the revenue coming in,

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Speaker 1: that's going to be a number that should mean a

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Speaker 1: dramatically different from them on another thin salary cap. If

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Speaker 1: the players are getting anything approaching fair market value, the

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Speaker 1: underlying component for all of this, to me, feels like

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Speaker 1: the idea of equity for female athletes. Right that it's

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Speaker 1: not just about charter flights, it's not just about equal pay.

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Speaker 1: It's all of these things together being a symbol of

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Speaker 1: professionalism and of status and a sign that the female

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Speaker 1: players matter just as much as the male players in

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Speaker 1: the NBA, Right, that equity is really a driving force

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Speaker 1: or when we're talking about all of these different factors.

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Speaker 1: So there's two parts to it, right, there's the moral component,

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Speaker 1: and then there's the economic component. And those who have

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Speaker 1: tried to keep women's sports down have tried to argue

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Speaker 1: that these two are at odds. They're not. The moral component,

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Speaker 1: like you said, it is very clear, it's very obvious

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Speaker 1: the economic component is not. Well, unfortunately these are not

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Speaker 1: money making sports, or unfortunately people are looking to watch them.

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Speaker 1: What we're finding again and again and again is that

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Speaker 1: with proper investment, women's sports can absolutely be the money

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Speaker 1: making machine that men's sports is. We see it whenever

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Speaker 1: women's sports has given the opportunity. We see it, for

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Speaker 1: instance in the US women's national team and soccer. Uh,

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Speaker 1: you know the way in which that came about. The

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Speaker 1: modern era. Every time that we have seen proper media

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Speaker 1: coverage given to the US women's national team. We saw

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Speaker 1: it in ninety nine and there was a huge boom

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Speaker 1: that followed. We saw it in and so it goes

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Speaker 1: back to this sort of outdated notion, right, there's this

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Speaker 1: ven diagram that so many people put forward to all

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Speaker 1: of there there's people who will only watch men's sports,

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Speaker 1: and there are some people who will watch men's and

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Speaker 1: women's sports, and that's the only part of the diagram,

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Speaker 1: and they don't see they don't turn their head this

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Speaker 1: way right to say, oh, there's a large group of

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Speaker 1: people that will only watch women's sports. That's part of

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Speaker 1: the equation too. And if you're trying to figure out

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Speaker 1: why women's sports valuations keep going up the way they

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Speaker 1: have at the team level, and why people are watching

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Speaker 1: and why those audiences went up even in the midst

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Speaker 1: of a time that sports audiences are going down across

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Speaker 1: men's sports, this is the reason why. How would you

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Speaker 1: make a very convincing case. I say send them all

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Speaker 1: to NAPA. They have earned it, and we will send

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Speaker 1: the charter fight for you for the next interview, Howard,

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Speaker 1: thank you for doing this. My pleasure after a break profanity,

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Speaker 1: and the end bleeping A. Just a quick heads up

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Speaker 1: that this next story is about a lot of cursing

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Speaker 1: in the n b A. So as we talk about

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Speaker 1: the NBA, you're about to hear a lot of cursing.

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Speaker 1: Howard Beck, Welcome back to Sports Illustrated Weekly. Good to

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Speaker 1: be back. Thank you. All right, So I saw this

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Speaker 1: story and I couldn't wait to discuss it with you

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Speaker 1: because I love the NBA, and I'm not going to

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Speaker 1: say that I love cursing, but I am a devoted

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Speaker 1: practitioner of profanity, and apparently that's also true for much

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Speaker 1: of the n b A. The NBA evidently deemed cursing

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Speaker 1: a problem at some point in this last year. Tell

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Speaker 1: us about what happened and why you wanted to write

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Speaker 1: about this. Well, I am a big fan of cursing

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Speaker 1: and of F bombs, as I was using before we

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Speaker 1: actually started rolling on this. Can I curse on our

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Speaker 1: SI weekly podcast? Or will I be censored by our bosses? Well?

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Speaker 1: You know, normally we don't, but because s I made

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Speaker 1: an exception for the written piece I expect because of

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Speaker 1: the subject matter. Now and a companion audio piece that

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Speaker 1: will make an exception here. I mean, I feel you

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Speaker 1: pressure now almost to live up to my reputation. Having

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Speaker 1: jammed like fifty f bombs into the story itself written

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Speaker 1: and full, I almost feel like I have to say

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Speaker 1: funk a few times. I think I did have the

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Speaker 1: unofficial record on Zach Lows podcast, at one point of

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Speaker 1: which they beaped me quite a bit your Hall of

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Speaker 1: Fame cursor. My mom, I'm sure is not pleased with

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Speaker 1: this at all. My mom too. So the fact is,

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Speaker 1: you know, sports involves cursing, right. Literal locker room language

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Speaker 1: is guys saying fuck or ship and various other things

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Speaker 1: in various combinations thereof, we expect that the NBA expects

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Speaker 1: that they don't expect a league full of choir boys,

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Speaker 1: so to speak. However, they would prefer that those words

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Speaker 1: that kind of language remain offline, off camera, out of print,

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Speaker 1: basically me where that the public might consume it, see it, here,

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Speaker 1: it read it. The NBA would prefer not to project

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Speaker 1: that image by its players what they saw during the

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Speaker 1: pandemic years in particular. And I didn't include this little wrinkle,

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Speaker 1: but you and I are doing this via zoom, and

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Speaker 1: zoom became the default method for press conferences and interviews

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Speaker 1: over the last couple of years, and you're disconnected from

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Speaker 1: your audience, and it this is, you know, kind of

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Speaker 1: amateur psychologists play here. But I think the league felt

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Speaker 1: like Zoom made guys let their guard down a little bit.

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Speaker 1: They started getting more relaxed. They started feeling free to

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Speaker 1: curse more often than they normally would in say, a

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Speaker 1: press conference setting with fifty people in the room and

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Speaker 1: you can actually see the cameras and the people, so

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Speaker 1: it eroted. But other things we're eroting to respect for

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Speaker 1: the game rules, which is what players are saying to

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Speaker 1: the refs and to each other, and hand gestures and

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Speaker 1: air punches and all that. That was starting to erode

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Speaker 1: over the last couple of years during the pandemic too,

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Speaker 1: especially with no fans in the building. So what the

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Speaker 1: NBA decided they wanted to do was, as they called

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Speaker 1: a recentering. It's a very NBA corporate word to use.

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Speaker 1: They wanted to have a recentering of all of their decorum,

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Speaker 1: respect for the game rules, respect for the refs, respect

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Speaker 1: for everything. And that included hey, guys, um, maybe don't

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Speaker 1: drop f bombs when you're speaking to the media, especially

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Speaker 1: in press conferences, they'll let a lot of other stuff

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Speaker 1: go in terms of discipline and finding. If a guy

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Speaker 1: says ship, if a guy says ask, if a guys

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Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden, this is George Carlin's

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Speaker 1: seven words, you can't say, this is fantastic. Looked up

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Speaker 1: George carlin seven Words because I was going to reference

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Speaker 1: it in the story, and then I realized that some

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Speaker 1: of those words are words that I don't want to

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Speaker 1: use either. Actually, they're beyond even me, words that I

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Speaker 1: stopped using, probably I hope when I was maybe sixteen.

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Speaker 1: They called them bad, impor taste, unseemly street talk, got

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Speaker 1: to talk, locker room language. So yeah, those words. A

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Speaker 1: lot of Carlin's list would get you five too. But

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Speaker 1: the one that was being used the most often, the

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Speaker 1: most freely, that was the most problematic for the NBA

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Speaker 1: was variations on the F word as we call it.

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Speaker 1: Not surprising. And I realized, and I understand that the

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Speaker 1: NBA is a business, and they want to keep this

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Speaker 1: about business and keep the money flowing. I get that part.

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Speaker 1: Me thinks, Howard that then trying to legislate cursing out

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Speaker 1: of the game will not go. Well, you wrote about that,

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Speaker 1: and we're gonna get to that in a second, but

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Speaker 1: I want to run through some of the more egregious

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Speaker 1: offenders that you outlined in your piece, who really got

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Speaker 1: some bang for their buck. We're gonna start with Nick's

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Speaker 1: forward Julius Randall, who two years ago excellent season, this

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Speaker 1: past year not so excellent, a little frustrated. He was

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Speaker 1: fining twenty five thou dos for not once but twice

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Speaker 1: telling his critics to shut the funk up. Yeah, and

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Speaker 1: that one when he got fined. My reaction at the

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Speaker 1: time John was, Huh, I don't think I remember a

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Speaker 1: guy getting fined for cursing like this before, unless it

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Speaker 1: was on live TV way back when when I was

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Speaker 1: covering the Lakers and Shack did it literally as he

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Speaker 1: was coming off the court. It was one of those

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Speaker 1: on the court interviews. Well, that's an FCC issue, right,

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Speaker 1: Randall was just saying this in a press conference. A

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Speaker 1: lot of and these press conferences now like MSG network

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Speaker 1: that's cable, you're not subject to the FCC rules. There

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Speaker 1: a lot of other ways in which these guys can

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Speaker 1: curse now and are not strictly by law. A problem

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Speaker 1: back in the day. If the NBA find you, was

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Speaker 1: because they themselves could be in trouble with the federal

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Speaker 1: government for allowing profanity in primetime on over the year television.

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Speaker 1: So I what it happened with Randall. I went, huh, well,

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Speaker 1: that's interesting. And then a week later, I think literally

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Speaker 1: a week Kevin Durant got wrung up. Kevin Durant got

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Speaker 1: fined fifteen thousand for calling the schedule fucked up. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So suddenly I'm like, well, this is interesting. It's a

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Speaker 1: pattern emerging. And I think I might have texted n

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Speaker 1: B A p R at the time and gone, here, guys,

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Speaker 1: what's going on? And then I kind of let it

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Speaker 1: go because there were only a couple of these. You

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Speaker 1: need at least three things to make a trend in

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Speaker 1: our industry, right, But it was in the back of

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Speaker 1: my mind. And then Beverley got rung up in the playoffs.

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Speaker 1: Pat Beverley got rung up in the playoffs. I'm glad

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Speaker 1: you brought that one up. He was fine thirty K

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Speaker 1: for one two punch. After the Wolves made the playoffs,

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Speaker 1: he said, I fucking told you all what she was

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Speaker 1: happy and excited about. I told you he he was going

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Speaker 1: to the playoffs. Everybody, mostly all y'all looked at me

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Speaker 1: like I was crazy when I first said that, I

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Speaker 1: told you. And then he went on Instagram and told

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Speaker 1: his old team, the Clippers, to get the funk out

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Speaker 1: of here, which I thought was poetic Clipper funk out

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Speaker 1: of here, but the league evidently deemed that inappropriate and egregiance.

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Speaker 1: Inappropriate and egregious. I love the ones that are egregious.

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Speaker 1: All of them are inappropriate as far as he's concerned.

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Speaker 1: If you say it twice now it's egregious. And the

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Speaker 1: fine is increasing. They can find ten anything up to

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Speaker 1: fifty thousand under their labor agreement. Fifty is the cap,

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Speaker 1: but it goes up if you are a repeat offender

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Speaker 1: or if you are doing the egregious thing where you've

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Speaker 1: just spat out a bunch of them in a row,

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Speaker 1: and one more that you listed. And this might be

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Speaker 1: my favorite one because of your writer. Early Flourish Jazz Center,

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Speaker 1: Rudy Gobert was fine dollars for a live TV interview

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Speaker 1: hit where he said, fuck the talk. The talk, we

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Speaker 1: just saw me TOSTI compete and trying to enjoined them

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Speaker 1: a months and whatever happens, happens, and you replied, you

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Speaker 1: know that the league was in no mood to pardon

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Speaker 1: his French, which I thought was just brilliant. It hit

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Speaker 1: me as I was writing the sentence, and then I

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Speaker 1: thought somebody must have made this joke already, right, And

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Speaker 1: I didn't really look around that much, but I hadn't

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Speaker 1: heard it, so um yeah, And and now Rudy's was

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Speaker 1: I believe on live TV again might have been life

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Speaker 1: cable TV and not over the air TV. So those

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Speaker 1: are the four Those four combined, those four players combined

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Speaker 1: dollars not a huge sum of money for NBA players,

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Speaker 1: but that is the most NBA players have been fined

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Speaker 1: combined in a single season probably ever, at least in

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Speaker 1: the twenty years of records. At the NBA was able

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Speaker 1: to provide me. And given that I don't think this

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Speaker 1: was a routine thing back in the day, and because

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Speaker 1: salaries were less back in the day, I'm gonna just

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Speaker 1: say on this program, which I did not say in

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Speaker 1: the story, that's probably the most ever in a single

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Speaker 1: year for players being fined for profanity, and it's the

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Speaker 1: most offenses that were flag because it was four guys

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Speaker 1: who were fined. There are at least somewhere in the

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Speaker 1: teens of guys who have been warned and possibly even

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Speaker 1: find privately. The NBA says they don't announce all these

431
00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:29,399
Speaker 1: and that is the crackdown. A bunch of guys have

432
00:23:29,480 --> 00:23:33,240
Speaker 1: been either told or find or both. This season knocked

433
00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:38,720
Speaker 1: that ship off basically. Now, Listen, I understand that it's

434
00:23:38,760 --> 00:23:42,359
Speaker 1: the most for these types of violations, but it's still

435
00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:46,640
Speaker 1: only not even to your accounting a hundred thousand dollars,

436
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:49,720
Speaker 1: which even the poorest NBA player is pretty well off.

437
00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 1: I know that fifteen thousand dollars is still fifteen thousand dollars,

438
00:23:53,240 --> 00:23:55,880
Speaker 1: but I'm pretty sure KD can afford it, Julius Randall

439
00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:58,600
Speaker 1: can afford his twenty five K. I'm wondering if these

440
00:23:58,600 --> 00:24:01,480
Speaker 1: fines are having any impact at all. And also who's

441
00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:03,959
Speaker 1: in charge of levying the fines and coming up with

442
00:24:04,080 --> 00:24:07,199
Speaker 1: the amount? Yeah, so the players can clearly afford it,

443
00:24:07,240 --> 00:24:10,360
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's a great disincentive right now.

444
00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:13,919
Speaker 1: Guys even making twenty or thirty million, Guys making as

445
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,320
Speaker 1: little quote unquote little as five million, fifteen or twenty

446
00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:19,800
Speaker 1: dollars is still real money. And if you ask players,

447
00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:21,399
Speaker 1: if you ask anybody who has a lot of money,

448
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:23,680
Speaker 1: if they just want to throw away twenty thousand, they'll

449
00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:26,120
Speaker 1: still say, like, no, it still hurts, still bothers them.

450
00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:29,320
Speaker 1: Does it bother them enough to change the behavior. I

451
00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:31,800
Speaker 1: think it's more the emphasis and the messaging that will

452
00:24:31,840 --> 00:24:34,000
Speaker 1: probably change it. If this is going to work at all,

453
00:24:34,040 --> 00:24:36,439
Speaker 1: if players are going to stop feeling so free to

454
00:24:36,560 --> 00:24:40,199
Speaker 1: drop F bombs and other assorted bombs in press conferences

455
00:24:40,400 --> 00:24:43,560
Speaker 1: or in interviews with print reporters, I think they'll do

456
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,479
Speaker 1: it just because they know it's an important messaging thing

457
00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,159
Speaker 1: by the NBA, and because their partners, right, they get

458
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,159
Speaker 1: the players do of every basketball related dollar that the

459
00:24:53,240 --> 00:24:56,159
Speaker 1: league generates. And because of that, because they are business

460
00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,280
Speaker 1: partners and they understand there's an image the league is

461
00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,640
Speaker 1: trying to uphold, they may decide, you know what, it's

462
00:25:01,680 --> 00:25:03,479
Speaker 1: not so much the fine, it's that I want to

463
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,160
Speaker 1: do right by the team, by the league and everything.

464
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:11,400
Speaker 1: I think it may actually work now. The linguistic experts

465
00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 1: that I spoke to for the story, a couple of

466
00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,080
Speaker 1: professors of linguistics who have written books about the F

467
00:25:16,200 --> 00:25:19,879
Speaker 1: word and profanity, say this ship ain't gonna work, and

468
00:25:19,960 --> 00:25:24,119
Speaker 1: it's not even worth attempting to the question of who decides.

469
00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 1: So the league has the Basketball Operations Group headed by

470
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:30,480
Speaker 1: Byron Sprowl at the moment, Joe Dumars of course now

471
00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:32,680
Speaker 1: joining that group in the role that was previously held

472
00:25:32,680 --> 00:25:36,520
Speaker 1: by keke vandaway. They are the ones who adjudicate everything, right,

473
00:25:36,920 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 1: upgrading or downgrading fouls to flagrants or non reviewing text

474
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:42,880
Speaker 1: and deciding what we're gonna rescind this tech or we're

475
00:25:42,880 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 1: gonna give this tech after the fact whatever. The Basketball

476
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 1: Ops Group at Olympic Tower, NBA headquarters, that's who does this.

477
00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: So it's Byron Sprul and his staff soon to be

478
00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,480
Speaker 1: with Joe Dumar's as well, and then if necessary, they

479
00:25:55,520 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: sometimes will take this stuff to Commissioner Adam Silver and say, look,

480
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,439
Speaker 1: we want to ding this guy F d K. What

481
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,560
Speaker 1: do you think? And animals say whatever he says. I

482
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,320
Speaker 1: would imagine as the commissioner of the n b A

483
00:26:06,840 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 1: that Adam Silver has bigger things to worry about than this,

484
00:26:10,240 --> 00:26:12,439
Speaker 1: but somebody has to be in charge of it. Evidently,

485
00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:16,720
Speaker 1: does Byron like this component of his job. That's a

486
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: good question. You know, I was on the I dont

487
00:26:18,760 --> 00:26:20,640
Speaker 1: a zoom call with Byron and a couple of other

488
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:25,879
Speaker 1: NBA officials who remain anonymous. But I got this sense

489
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,200
Speaker 1: that Byron doesn't necessarily like this aspect of the job.

490
00:26:29,640 --> 00:26:31,800
Speaker 1: I certainly got the sense that he didn't like me

491
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:35,320
Speaker 1: asking so much about it. I don't think this was

492
00:26:35,359 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: his favorite discussion. Listen, you can tell by the way

493
00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,080
Speaker 1: I have written the story and by the way I'm

494
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:43,679
Speaker 1: speaking about it here and how freely I will invoke

495
00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 1: the F word. I think it's silly. I think it's pointless,

496
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:48,960
Speaker 1: you know, like I have a bias on this, which

497
00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:52,040
Speaker 1: is that I don't fucking care if players swear, and

498
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,359
Speaker 1: I don't think they're saving anybody from anything. So I

499
00:26:55,400 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: wanted to do this story semi tongue in cheek because

500
00:26:57,480 --> 00:27:00,720
Speaker 1: I think it's amusing and interesting. I don't think the

501
00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:05,119
Speaker 1: league considers it amusing. They consider this serious. Now, is

502
00:27:05,160 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 1: there somebody in particular league ops who's particularly prudish or pollyannish?

503
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:12,720
Speaker 1: And Byron stipulated at least three times, I'm not trying

504
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: to be pollyannish, but yeah, but do you kind of

505
00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 1: are right? So I asked him at one point, like

506
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:19,640
Speaker 1: whose sensitivities. Did this trigger over the last couple of years,

507
00:27:19,680 --> 00:27:22,359
Speaker 1: who all of a sudden decided we need a crackdown

508
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:25,520
Speaker 1: on the F word. This is too much. And it

509
00:27:25,600 --> 00:27:28,080
Speaker 1: was some combination of a you know, competition committee, board

510
00:27:28,080 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: of governors, some owners, some executives, us in league. So

511
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:33,679
Speaker 1: I don't know that it's anyone person. I would love

512
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:36,119
Speaker 1: to know. At one point, when they made one of

513
00:27:36,119 --> 00:27:38,480
Speaker 1: the issued one of these fines, I responded on Twitter

514
00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,560
Speaker 1: with the gift of the church lady from Saturday Night Live.

515
00:27:42,280 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 1: And who could have led us into that? Chas and

516
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:47,240
Speaker 1: Jammie who was behind the whale of our Lincoln Town

517
00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:51,280
Speaker 1: car when we drove into the Crazy Gate Motown? Who

518
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:53,240
Speaker 1: could it be? Who could it be? I just can't

519
00:27:53,240 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 1: imagine who could it be, because that's kind of the

520
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:03,080
Speaker 1: way I see it. I don't know. I don't know

521
00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:05,440
Speaker 1: who the church Lady of Olympic Tower is. I hope

522
00:28:05,480 --> 00:28:09,480
Speaker 1: to someday get to the bottom of it. So the

523
00:28:09,560 --> 00:28:12,400
Speaker 1: league has decided to go in this direction. You and

524
00:28:12,440 --> 00:28:15,879
Speaker 1: I are laughing about it. We find it's silly and

525
00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:18,919
Speaker 1: also kind of pointless. The players are getting fined, as

526
00:28:18,920 --> 00:28:21,400
Speaker 1: you mentioned, and even though they are all very wealthy

527
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:24,760
Speaker 1: and well off. As you mentioned, fifteen dollars or more

528
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:27,800
Speaker 1: is still real money? Do the players find it silly?

529
00:28:27,840 --> 00:28:30,640
Speaker 1: Are they laughing at this? So I spoke to Draymond

530
00:28:30,680 --> 00:28:33,040
Speaker 1: Green and Andre Goodala, both with the Warriors, because I

531
00:28:33,080 --> 00:28:36,120
Speaker 1: was spending some time around that team anyway. And Draymond,

532
00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:37,920
Speaker 1: of course, is somebody who has outspoken as he is

533
00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:39,800
Speaker 1: and is willing to say anything as he is. I

534
00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:42,800
Speaker 1: figured had some thoughts. And Andrea Goodala not only a

535
00:28:42,840 --> 00:28:45,280
Speaker 1: longtime veteran, but he is the first vice president for

536
00:28:45,400 --> 00:28:49,000
Speaker 1: the players Union. They both kind of expressed this mixed

537
00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:51,400
Speaker 1: feeling of like, listen, the league should not be telling

538
00:28:51,480 --> 00:28:54,000
Speaker 1: us necessarily what to say or how to express ourselves.

539
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:58,480
Speaker 1: But I understand both of them said, I understand why

540
00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,200
Speaker 1: this might be a concern to them. I understand why

541
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:03,320
Speaker 1: they might find a guy don't necessarily agree with it,

542
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:05,600
Speaker 1: but I kind of get it. And that's because these

543
00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:09,200
Speaker 1: guys they're look, they're smart, they're businessmen themselves, and they

544
00:29:09,280 --> 00:29:11,040
Speaker 1: get that there is something at stake here for the

545
00:29:11,080 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: league in theory. But I would just say this to

546
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:17,360
Speaker 1: anybody who thinks that this is a serious concern. Where

547
00:29:17,360 --> 00:29:20,000
Speaker 1: were the complaints right like it was Olympic Tower being

548
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:24,479
Speaker 1: flooded with calls. The day after Julius Randall dropped the

549
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,080
Speaker 1: F bomb twice, did Rudy Gobert saying fuck the talk

550
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: all of a sudden cause State Farm to threaten to

551
00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:37,200
Speaker 1: withdraw their massive sponsorship of having of all NBA commercials.

552
00:29:37,200 --> 00:29:40,080
Speaker 1: I believe. I don't think that was happening, John, And

553
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 1: so to me two things. I don't think there's any

554
00:29:43,160 --> 00:29:46,200
Speaker 1: real harm. And again, the sociologists and linguists would tell

555
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:48,360
Speaker 1: you that there is no harm to children or anybody else.

556
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:50,360
Speaker 1: And I don't think there was any business harm to

557
00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,520
Speaker 1: them that we know of. Yes, solving for a problem

558
00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:55,360
Speaker 1: that didn't really seem like much of one. And as

559
00:29:55,400 --> 00:29:57,560
Speaker 1: you mentioned, they are the academics you talked to that

560
00:29:57,640 --> 00:30:00,280
Speaker 1: said that people have been trying to get read of

561
00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:02,840
Speaker 1: profanity for hundreds of years and it hasn't worked, and

562
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 1: I don't think it will work here. But it did

563
00:30:04,560 --> 00:30:06,800
Speaker 1: make for a great story. You can read that excellent

564
00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:09,960
Speaker 1: R rated piece on si dot com, which we will

565
00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:12,480
Speaker 1: link to in our show notes. You should also listen

566
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 1: to him on the Crossover. It's stuff like this that

567
00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: makes him the best in the motherfucking business. Howard back,

568
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:21,320
Speaker 1: thanks for us, Thank you very much to appreciate it.

569
00:30:25,120 --> 00:30:28,240
Speaker 1: After a break tales of a Ukrainian hockey coach in

570
00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 1: Mexico with the Toronto Maple Leafs out of the playoffs again,

571
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,840
Speaker 1: let's take a moment to appreciate the ridiculous season that

572
00:30:47,920 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 1: Austin Matthews just had. Here's Matthews to the attack, number

573
00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: number one of the Matthews. Here it is. There's sixty

574
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:11,320
Speaker 1: gold club head off the Matthews. It's the first sleef

575
00:31:11,360 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: ever to go zero to sixty get a sickle season. Yeah,

576
00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,680
Speaker 1: pretty special, honestly. Reception from my teammates, the crowd, I

577
00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:24,080
Speaker 1: mean everything, it's just uh, you know, it just kind

578
00:31:24,080 --> 00:31:26,960
Speaker 1: of sends chills down your bones. For any player to

579
00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,480
Speaker 1: score sixty goals and lead the NHL and scoring is

580
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,040
Speaker 1: a massive achievement. But for a Mexican American kid born

581
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: in California and raised in Arizona, it's totally unique and

582
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: utterly modern story of hockey taking root in the Southwest.

583
00:31:41,240 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: And one of the central characters in that tale is

584
00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:46,680
Speaker 1: a Ukrainian Mexican hockey coach that you just have to meet.

585
00:31:47,280 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 1: He's a one of a kind named Boris dore Jenko.

586
00:31:50,080 --> 00:31:54,800
Speaker 1: Here's our senior producer Dan Bloom with Boris. What's the

587
00:31:54,840 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 1: temperature here right now? Yeah? Nighty? Nice? Are you used

588
00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,200
Speaker 1: to it? You didn't grow up in ninety degree weather?

589
00:32:03,680 --> 00:32:10,080
Speaker 1: Not really. My name is Boris Doroshenko developed the hockey

590
00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:14,480
Speaker 1: players from US to professional living in Scotts the Arizona

591
00:32:14,560 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: now and originally and from Kiev, Ukraine. I was born

592
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:24,960
Speaker 1: in Soviet Union. We lived by Big Stadium. In the wintertime,

593
00:32:25,360 --> 00:32:28,440
Speaker 1: they put outdoor rink and I was really impressed of

594
00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 1: the sticks, hockey sticks, hockey gear, and a major impression

595
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:36,760
Speaker 1: was from the goaltender equipment, and I feel like I

596
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,440
Speaker 1: want to try. So you were playing for a club

597
00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: where I played in the club in Kiev, Soho, Kiev.

598
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:47,760
Speaker 1: It was pretty famous cockey club and produced a lot

599
00:32:47,840 --> 00:32:51,000
Speaker 1: of talents. This is towards the end of the Soviet Union.

600
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:56,920
Speaker 1: It's like you knew that something was wrong with the USSR, right, yeah, absolutely,

601
00:32:56,960 --> 00:33:00,840
Speaker 1: when all economic relations start to fell apart. There, I

602
00:33:00,960 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 1: was playing pretty competitive hockey, but payments for the hockey

603
00:33:04,880 --> 00:33:08,160
Speaker 1: player was not really nothing. We were like waiting for

604
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,640
Speaker 1: our salaries for for six months and the last years

605
00:33:11,640 --> 00:33:14,600
Speaker 1: of Soviet Union was terrible. Nobody get the payments and

606
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:19,040
Speaker 1: many cancelation games, and it was terrible. So I took

607
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: a decision to move. I get an opportunity to move

608
00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:30,720
Speaker 1: to Mexico and build the hockey there. You get off

609
00:33:30,720 --> 00:33:36,800
Speaker 1: the plane from Kiev. Yeah, you don't speak any Spanish.

610
00:33:37,920 --> 00:33:39,840
Speaker 1: How do you start to get along in Mexico not

611
00:33:39,920 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: speaking the language? Adios, tequila and sombrero. That's three words

612
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:53,360
Speaker 1: I knew when I get there. At the same time,

613
00:33:53,400 --> 00:33:57,840
Speaker 1: I didn't speak any English, so I didn't speak any Spanish.

614
00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:01,880
Speaker 1: I didn't speak any English, and it was really hard.

615
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:05,280
Speaker 1: When I started working in Mexican Federation of Ice Hockey

616
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,799
Speaker 1: was really small, with thirty players and whole country. But

617
00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: I was impressed with ice drink there. How professional it was.

618
00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,520
Speaker 1: So it's having that nice drink. You have no hokey players.

619
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 1: But we changed a little bit of this story. But

620
00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,720
Speaker 1: those of us, myself included, who have never heard hockey

621
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:27,600
Speaker 1: coached in Spanish? What would it sound like. Pretend that

622
00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:30,280
Speaker 1: you're coaching me and you want me to skate harder?

623
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:36,240
Speaker 1: What would you tell me in Spanish? Yeah, coach me up? Well,

624
00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:44,879
Speaker 1: I can say and deli no, what would you say, like,

625
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:46,560
Speaker 1: how do you say skate? I don't even know how

626
00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:50,759
Speaker 1: to say skate in Spanish? Pat pat okay. So you're

627
00:34:50,760 --> 00:35:01,520
Speaker 1: saying like, and is bit mark of my life from

628
00:35:01,760 --> 00:35:05,120
Speaker 1: Mexican culture because I have fluent time, I have a

629
00:35:05,120 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 1: citizenship of Mexico, so I'm not born there, but I

630
00:35:09,960 --> 00:35:13,640
Speaker 1: I get the citizenship. For many years I relieved there. Yeah,

631
00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 1: and I feel like a part of Mexican culture. So

632
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 1: you feel that Mexico has given a lot to you,

633
00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:22,799
Speaker 1: and you have also given a lot to Mexico. You

634
00:35:22,880 --> 00:35:25,239
Speaker 1: built up the national team program. You said there were

635
00:35:25,239 --> 00:35:27,560
Speaker 1: thirty youth players in the whole country and that was it.

636
00:35:27,880 --> 00:35:30,520
Speaker 1: So tell me about the growth that took place while

637
00:35:30,520 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 1: you were leading the program. We make a strategy there.

638
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:39,919
Speaker 1: We start to involve the high schools in the program,

639
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 1: and we start to make them games and invite mariachis.

640
00:35:45,880 --> 00:35:48,960
Speaker 1: If stairs were full of schools, like two thousand people

641
00:35:49,000 --> 00:35:53,480
Speaker 1: on the stairs mariachi playing between faceoff and faceoff, Yeah,

642
00:35:53,960 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 1: it was. It was incredible. And then more schools and

643
00:35:57,560 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 1: monkeys start to be involved and they are to play

644
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:05,480
Speaker 1: internationally to like tournaments. So you start taking the teams

645
00:36:05,480 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 1: out on tournaments and you go to Phoenix and the

646
00:36:09,680 --> 00:36:14,160
Speaker 1: team basically exceeded the expectations of the other people who

647
00:36:14,160 --> 00:36:16,560
Speaker 1: were at these tournaments. Can you describe what that was like.

648
00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:19,560
Speaker 1: I remember the starst phone calls I did with some

649
00:36:19,640 --> 00:36:22,799
Speaker 1: Coki directors. Oh yeah, we definitely need some team to

650
00:36:22,840 --> 00:36:25,399
Speaker 1: come and play you guys, asked and then ask me

651
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,359
Speaker 1: where are you from. I said, I'm from Mexico. They're

652
00:36:28,320 --> 00:36:31,839
Speaker 1: asking New Mexico and I said, no Mexico. They say

653
00:36:31,960 --> 00:36:35,799
Speaker 1: New Mexico. I said, no Mexico. When we gets here

654
00:36:35,880 --> 00:36:38,600
Speaker 1: and they start to play, the people really surprised. We

655
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:41,240
Speaker 1: did a team from Canada in Quebec in the first

656
00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:45,640
Speaker 1: game of the tournament and everybody shut them out really quick.

657
00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 1: Arizona team did well, like everybody were like, well, these

658
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:56,240
Speaker 1: kids can scape really well, like really really doing something

659
00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:00,360
Speaker 1: and this impresses people. Yeah, this gets your name on

660
00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,760
Speaker 1: the radar of people. When you bring these teams around,

661
00:37:03,520 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 1: how do you get the invitation to come and do

662
00:37:05,800 --> 00:37:09,839
Speaker 1: the guests coaching in Arizona. One of the coaches who

663
00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,719
Speaker 1: worked with me in Mexico, he moved back to Arizona,

664
00:37:13,840 --> 00:37:17,560
Speaker 1: so he wasn't touched with the people in Arizona who

665
00:37:18,040 --> 00:37:21,960
Speaker 1: played games against US, and they mentioned to him like,

666
00:37:22,040 --> 00:37:24,480
Speaker 1: will be good to have Boris come over and do

667
00:37:24,840 --> 00:37:28,239
Speaker 1: like master class for a week or so. And we

668
00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:31,160
Speaker 1: did it the first time. I remember like probably like

669
00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:34,480
Speaker 1: five or six days. And that's exactly when Austin Matches

670
00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:37,319
Speaker 1: showed a face there when it was six years old.

671
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:42,000
Speaker 1: Six years old. Could you tell right away that this

672
00:37:42,080 --> 00:37:45,120
Speaker 1: was a special kid. It was a special kid because

673
00:37:45,160 --> 00:37:50,320
Speaker 1: he was with fire in the ice, definitely with no

674
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:54,319
Speaker 1: much skill in this time. He was okay, but six

675
00:37:54,400 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 1: years old, it's just beginner, like you can say, you

676
00:37:57,640 --> 00:38:00,799
Speaker 1: just feel his fire in his eyes. They asked me

677
00:38:00,880 --> 00:38:03,400
Speaker 1: right away, his grandfather and father saying like are you

678
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:05,440
Speaker 1: coming next year? I said, yeah, I do if you

679
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:09,080
Speaker 1: invite me, and said, okay, let's do it the next year.

680
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:12,920
Speaker 1: I start prepare this trip for me a little bit

681
00:38:12,960 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 1: longer for two weeks, and then we started the conversation

682
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:20,400
Speaker 1: after second year when to my move to US. So

683
00:38:21,200 --> 00:38:25,359
Speaker 1: it was often Matthew's parents, Emma and Brian, who were

684
00:38:25,440 --> 00:38:28,200
Speaker 1: the spearheads, to say, wait a minute, we can't just

685
00:38:28,239 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 1: have you once a year. We gotta have you here

686
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:35,280
Speaker 1: year round, right exactly. It was the conversation we need

687
00:38:35,320 --> 00:38:38,959
Speaker 1: you longer times, we need you all year round here.

688
00:38:39,800 --> 00:38:43,200
Speaker 1: It was long, long, long relationship on the ice was

689
00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:46,319
Speaker 1: Austin like we started six years old and finished Like

690
00:38:47,719 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 1: officially we're not finished yet. But when you you did

691
00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:53,200
Speaker 1: the big star of the league and you a coach

692
00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:56,160
Speaker 1: who teach this start in the young age, like what

693
00:38:56,320 --> 00:38:58,600
Speaker 1: you can teach you more like you're saying you can

694
00:38:58,640 --> 00:39:04,200
Speaker 1: teach me now the transformation of Austin during the playing

695
00:39:04,280 --> 00:39:07,520
Speaker 1: National Hopeully League. He's not the same Austin now. He

696
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:10,319
Speaker 1: is much more, much or and much more stronger, and

697
00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:15,080
Speaker 1: much more skilled. Even more, he's skilled never stop, you

698
00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,800
Speaker 1: know how build it more and more every day? What

699
00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:30,000
Speaker 1: Matthew's carter chepping in so stoppable, sixty goals lad the

700
00:39:30,040 --> 00:39:33,839
Speaker 1: league in scoring. Yeah, that's incredible. You knew this kid

701
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,560
Speaker 1: from six years old and now he's literally the best

702
00:39:36,640 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 1: goal scorer in the league. Yeah, it's probably in the world.

703
00:39:41,040 --> 00:39:47,480
Speaker 1: It's the best quarter in the world, definitely. Emma Matthews

704
00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:51,160
Speaker 1: was born in Mexico. Do you take some special pride

705
00:39:51,200 --> 00:39:54,719
Speaker 1: in knowing that you've helped a player with Mexican background

706
00:39:55,080 --> 00:40:00,120
Speaker 1: make it to the league and succeed so much. Definitely, you.

707
00:40:00,280 --> 00:40:03,080
Speaker 1: I still have a lot of people in Mexico. They

708
00:40:03,160 --> 00:40:06,520
Speaker 1: who big fan fan club of Austin Matthews and they

709
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:10,440
Speaker 1: know he is Austin Matthews Martinez because his last name

710
00:40:10,480 --> 00:40:14,640
Speaker 1: by mom is Martinez. And do you know how speak Spanish?

711
00:40:15,120 --> 00:40:19,640
Speaker 1: And special pride definitely and Austin no his roots. He

712
00:40:19,800 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: really liked Mexico. He really likes Mexican culture. What did

713
00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:26,880
Speaker 1: it feel like to watch him make the league? I

714
00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:30,320
Speaker 1: was really impressed. I feel like on the sky of happiness.

715
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:32,839
Speaker 1: I remember the first day of the draft when he

716
00:40:32,920 --> 00:40:35,759
Speaker 1: was picked first overall. I remember I was on the

717
00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,239
Speaker 1: ice and somebody tell me you don't know what he did.

718
00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 1: You did a history like for his owner for it,

719
00:40:40,400 --> 00:40:43,520
Speaker 1: Like I said, I I didn't feel that. I was

720
00:40:43,600 --> 00:40:50,480
Speaker 1: just feeling happy about Austin when I watched his first

721
00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:52,919
Speaker 1: game where in Hawaii with my wife and my son

722
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:55,960
Speaker 1: seating here in some restaurant. In the game start, I

723
00:40:56,000 --> 00:40:58,759
Speaker 1: put it on iPod and Austin scared for a goal

724
00:40:58,840 --> 00:41:01,640
Speaker 1: and my son said, Austin score, they go. I said, wow,

725
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,440
Speaker 1: cool first game and National Hockey League scored the first

726
00:41:04,480 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 1: goal and then he scored the second goal, I said,

727
00:41:08,719 --> 00:41:11,080
Speaker 1: Austin schol not to go. I said, okay, now I

728
00:41:11,120 --> 00:41:13,840
Speaker 1: need to watch it more carefully. And I started to

729
00:41:13,880 --> 00:41:16,640
Speaker 1: watch it and I told my son, like, oh, if

730
00:41:16,680 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 1: Austin starts scoring, he can score even four or five.

731
00:41:19,600 --> 00:41:21,480
Speaker 1: And then he score four. And my son said, how

732
00:41:21,520 --> 00:41:23,760
Speaker 1: do you know that? He said, because I know Austin

733
00:41:23,840 --> 00:41:26,880
Speaker 1: for many years. He has no limits. He has a

734
00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,879
Speaker 1: desire to score always everywhere, and that's inside of him

735
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:35,360
Speaker 1: and it's part of his personality. He compete with himself

736
00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:40,080
Speaker 1: all the time. We have a cruise ship there waiting

737
00:41:40,120 --> 00:41:43,479
Speaker 1: for us, and I remember was raining and I walk

738
00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:45,880
Speaker 1: in with an iPad watching the game and my wife

739
00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:51,400
Speaker 1: behind me with umbrella. It's funny, that's a great memory.

740
00:41:55,600 --> 00:41:59,239
Speaker 1: You're born in Kiva and grew up there, and you

741
00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:03,279
Speaker 1: still have family there. So obviously we're having this conversation

742
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:07,080
Speaker 1: during tragic time for your homeland, and I just wanted

743
00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:11,200
Speaker 1: to know what thoughts you have about what's going on. Well,

744
00:42:11,320 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 1: it's definitely very hard for me. I wasn't shocked when

745
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,480
Speaker 1: as everything happened. It was hard for me to sleep,

746
00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:22,600
Speaker 1: to eat, to talk, but now I realized this is reality.

747
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,200
Speaker 1: We need to be strong, and we need to fight

748
00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:30,640
Speaker 1: this aggression. We're talking about the military aggression of Russian

749
00:42:30,800 --> 00:42:35,400
Speaker 1: against Ukraine. It's no question about this. It's not fair work,

750
00:42:35,600 --> 00:42:41,200
Speaker 1: it's not fair for kids and families, and my parents

751
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:44,080
Speaker 1: and Ukraine and many many more parents and other families.

752
00:42:44,680 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 1: I think this world need to be stopped right away.

753
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 1: Poor story Jenko is the founder and director of Next

754
00:42:55,160 --> 00:42:58,640
Speaker 1: Generation Hockey. You can find more information in our show notes.

755
00:43:02,760 --> 00:43:05,560
Speaker 1: Sports Illustrator Weekly is a production of Sports Illustrated and

756
00:43:05,680 --> 00:43:08,720
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I heeart Radio,

757
00:43:08,800 --> 00:43:11,920
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

758
00:43:11,960 --> 00:43:14,520
Speaker 1: you get your favorite shows. And for more of Sports

759
00:43:14,560 --> 00:43:18,719
Speaker 1: Illustrated its best stories and podcasts, visit SI dot com.

760
00:43:18,719 --> 00:43:22,000
Speaker 1: This episode of Sports Illustrated Weekly was produced by Cooper McKim,

761
00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:24,799
Speaker 1: Jessica or Moski, and Isaac Lee, who was also our

762
00:43:24,800 --> 00:43:29,320
Speaker 1: sound engineer. Our senior producer is Dan Bloom. Our executive

763
00:43:29,320 --> 00:43:33,160
Speaker 1: producers are Scott Brody and me John Gonzalez. Our theme

764
00:43:33,239 --> 00:43:36,239
Speaker 1: song is by Nolan Schneider. Thanks for listening, and if

765
00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:38,320
Speaker 1: you've stuck around this long, we leave you with this

766
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:44,600
Speaker 1: and with my size. I'm six four, blonde guy. No

767
00:43:44,840 --> 00:43:49,160
Speaker 1: English no Spanish moving on the oldest public transportation, people

768
00:43:49,239 --> 00:43:52,920
Speaker 1: look at me like a giant, like who these dude