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Speaker 2: Welcome in What's Driving the Great Episode two forty one,
Speaker 2: where we will try to talk about the WNBA without
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, are you calling people out
Speaker 2: their name, flipping out saying your people'll know you because
Speaker 2: of me. We're gonna try to do that. I don't
Speaker 2: know if it can be done at this point. Really,
Speaker 2: I don't know. It seems like we have all of
Speaker 2: a sudden found these sports topic that can't be discussed
Speaker 2: without people losing their god dog minds. I mean, I
Speaker 2: understand there are some racial and gender angles to it,
Speaker 2: but ultimately this is just a sports story that is
Speaker 2: pretty it's it when you, when you, when you get
Speaker 2: through all the morass, it's not that complicated. Yet there
Speaker 2: is a whole lot of projection of people's own stuff
Speaker 2: being put on what's happening right now in the w NBA,
Speaker 2: And my, oh my, oh my, is it causing land
Speaker 2: minds for so many of my colleagues. Demons, how are
Speaker 2: you doing?
Speaker 3: Pretty good? Pretty good? Crazy weekend?
Speaker 2: Crazy weekend. And I mean, and by the way, since
Speaker 2: this weekend, I think the Indiana Fever have played three
Speaker 2: more games. My god, who set this schedule? I mean,
Speaker 2: I understand you want to get eyeballs on Caitlin Clark
Speaker 2: and shout out. By the way, because according to the
Speaker 2: folks that monitor this type of stuff, one and a
Speaker 2: half million people watch that Fever sky game, which makes
Speaker 2: it the fourth highest rated WNBA game in the last
Speaker 2: twenty two years. So people are people are into this.
Speaker 2: So I understand the WNBA saying we got to, you know,
Speaker 2: put Caitlin Clark on this world tour. But they had
Speaker 2: played as of Sunday as many games in the previous
Speaker 2: nine days as the Aces had played all season. Think
Speaker 2: about that, they had played as many games in nine days.
Speaker 2: The ace has played all season, so we are the
Speaker 2: going to start with that. But first we must get
Speaker 2: to what missed the cut. So here is what missed
Speaker 2: the cut. The Stanley Cup final is set. More on
Speaker 2: that in a moment. KD, We're going on his jumper
Speaker 2: in the club. I just like Kevin Durant Moore and
Speaker 2: more every day. And the Bills sign an Olympic wrestler
Speaker 2: Demons much like last year. I have a crisp clean
Speaker 2: one hundred dollars bill right here. This will become yours digitally,
Speaker 2: at least via zel. If you can name the two
Speaker 2: teams in the Stanley Cup final.
Speaker 3: This is Stanley Cup is uh, that's that's hockey.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're gonna go with the Oilers, uh huh, and.
Speaker 3: The Oilers against the what's it?
Speaker 4: I honestly don't know another hockey teams.
Speaker 2: Brewers, maybe it's not, it's not okay, you were thinking Bruins.
Speaker 3: Brewers, and it's Ruins.
Speaker 2: That's Ruins. So I was certain you were cheating because
Speaker 2: Oilers is correct. But the fact that you weren't cheating
Speaker 2: and got Oilers, it's Oilers, Panthers, the Rangers, it's fifty.
Speaker 2: You know what, it's fifty. So I'm just gonna rip
Speaker 2: this right in half and send you the So it's
Speaker 2: fifty dollars, I'll give it to you. Good job by you.
Speaker 2: All right to moan say, let's get right to uh,
Speaker 2: the story that is sweeping the sports world, which is
Speaker 2: a kind of hard foul. I mean, my god, people
Speaker 2: everyone take them.
Speaker 4: So Kennedy Carter of the Chicago Sky obviously foul the
Speaker 4: crab on a Kaitlyn Clark. Yeah, and it's sparked a
Speaker 4: lot of controversy. People were saying that our teammates didn't
Speaker 4: back her up. They're complaining about the refie. Kaitlin Clark
Speaker 4: doesn't seem to make a big deal about it. She
Speaker 4: seems to be rolling with the punches quite literally. But
Speaker 4: what are your thoughts? Why is everybody else making a
Speaker 4: big deal on it?
Speaker 2: Okay, and now there's more to it, which is Angel
Speaker 2: came out yesterday and said, you know, people aren't watching
Speaker 2: just because of her. This all start in the National
Speaker 2: Championship Game a year ago, and and there are so
Speaker 2: many things happening here that I find wildly fascinating. So
Speaker 2: what you have is two groups coming colliding and it
Speaker 2: is creating this vortex of uncomfortable takes. So one group
Speaker 2: is not familiar with how sports media covers sports and athletes.
Speaker 2: So that group, for instance, yesterday saw Angel Rees gave
Speaker 2: a quote where she seemingly ends the quote with you know,
Speaker 2: they're not just watching because of one person, They're watching
Speaker 2: because of me too, and the quote end and it's like, wow, well,
Speaker 2: I mean that's kind of you know, more me than
Speaker 2: we What about your teammates or about the other rookies.
Speaker 2: But then she went on immediately after that, if you
Speaker 2: extend the quote another ten seconds to say, you know,
Speaker 2: there's a lot of us and talk about the rookie
Speaker 2: class as a whole, kind of Caitlin excluded, it would
Speaker 2: appear that's fine, and folks are like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: look at how you're doing this, black woman misquoting her
Speaker 2: doing this, And it's like, I listen, there is a
Speaker 2: lot of race involved here, and we will get to it.
Speaker 2: But I promise it is not a woman thing or
Speaker 2: a black thing. It is a sports media thing where
Speaker 2: if you give the internet and sports aggregators a piece
Speaker 2: of a quote that can be used against you, it
Speaker 2: will be used against you that is unfair, It is
Speaker 2: not great. It is why you have to be very
Speaker 2: careful of the sports media aggregation site or accounts. But
Speaker 2: that is not unique to aim. That is simply unique
Speaker 2: to social media and how sports are covered. You then
Speaker 2: have so there's this this these folks who don't really
Speaker 2: know how the sports media sausage is made, that think
Speaker 2: things are being wildly things are wildly unfair, which they
Speaker 2: might be wildly unfair, but it's kind of just how
Speaker 2: sports are covered in twenty twenty four. Then you have
Speaker 2: a group of people that feel like, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: I should basically be able to have any opinion on
Speaker 2: this topic, and you should thank me for having an
Speaker 2: opinion on the topic, because I usually don't talk about
Speaker 2: this topic. So the fact that I'm talking about it
Speaker 2: means if you're criticizing me for talking about it, you're
Speaker 2: in the wrong because I should just be getting credits
Speaker 2: and plaudits and flowers for talking about it. And those
Speaker 2: two groups are gonna rip each other upon and I'm
Speaker 2: a stand on the sideline and says, it just seems
Speaker 2: to me like something we have seen before in sports.
Speaker 2: Now again, there is a clear racial dynamic to this
Speaker 2: that must be acknowledged. So I'll do that before we
Speaker 2: even get to the part that I've seen in sports before,
Speaker 2: which is there is a fraud racial history between the
Speaker 2: WNBA players at large and the media and sponsors of
Speaker 2: the league. That is, this is a overwhelmingly black league
Speaker 2: that a wildly disproportionate amount of its most famous players
Speaker 2: ever have been white players. What is also true, if
Speaker 2: we are being honest, is if if you were to
Speaker 2: say what percentage of the w is black? And got
Speaker 2: that number, and then got and what percentage is white?
Speaker 2: And then said, okay, of the twenty greatest players ever,
Speaker 2: what percentage is black? What percentage is white? For reasons
Speaker 2: that are I would imagine quite complex, and I have
Speaker 2: some theories on but I don't really have time or
Speaker 2: interest to get into them right now. There is a
Speaker 2: disc compared to the league as a whole, there is
Speaker 2: a disproportionate amount of the greatest players of all time
Speaker 2: that are white women, and so there is a weird
Speaker 2: So that is true. What also is true is amongst
Speaker 2: the greatest players of all time, the white women have
Speaker 2: seen his seemed historically to been marketed and pushed and
Speaker 2: gotten more media love than the black women, which is
Speaker 2: why Paige Becker's a few years ago at the SPI's
Speaker 2: I thought, gave an amazing speech when she won Female
Speaker 2: Athlete of the Year, when she essentially got up there
Speaker 2: and said when she was playing at Yukon before she
Speaker 2: tore up her knee, saying, hey, I appreciate all of this,
Speaker 2: but this is a league that has been mostly built
Speaker 2: by black women, and people that look like me consistently
Speaker 2: get these awards, and we need to be aware of
Speaker 2: that and try to maybe right those wrongs moving forward.
Speaker 2: Even though Paige Beckers was deserving of the award and
Speaker 2: one of the baddest college basketball players of her era
Speaker 2: before she got hurt and this new group of players
Speaker 2: came along. And by the way, Page is still one
Speaker 2: of the great college basketball players. She played Caitlin in
Speaker 2: the Final four. That was the push off game, the
Speaker 2: bad foul call at the end of the game or
Speaker 2: the illegal screen I think it was. And she'll, you know,
Speaker 2: and she'll continue to be awesome next year. So there
Speaker 2: is all of that going on here, right, And that
Speaker 2: is real. It is real that Caitlin being portrayed as
Speaker 2: the conquering hero, an angel being portrayed as the villain.
Speaker 2: Last year in college basketball, even though Angels team won,
Speaker 2: there was a lot of race to that you cannot
Speaker 2: act like the LSU team overwhelmingly black Bayou Barbie Flage
Speaker 2: who's a rapper, and then the mostly lily white Iowa
Speaker 2: team that there wasn't racial dynamics of play. Of course
Speaker 2: there were, and we can be adults and acknowledge it.
Speaker 2: We could just like, by the way, and I think
Speaker 2: that Gabe Goodwin, our esteemed head of Blue Duck who
Speaker 2: runs this podcast, I'll give you a cross sport, cross
Speaker 2: gender example. Once upon a time, Peyton Hillis was on
Speaker 2: the cover of Madden, and I bring up Gabe because
Speaker 2: I think it was his fault for reasons I don't
Speaker 2: totally remember. I think Sports Nation was involved, I think
Speaker 2: was I think it was Gabe's fault. I blame Gabe
Speaker 2: for this. But the reason Peyton hillis a slightly above
Speaker 2: average running back for the Cleveland Browns on the cover
Speaker 2: of Madden, it's because he's a white running back and
Speaker 2: it was cool and it was an odd of the
Speaker 2: And here is the other thing that I that maybe
Speaker 2: because Demon's ay. So here's my theory on this. I
Speaker 2: think that maybe this that I am. I think I
Speaker 2: am kind of in the ultimate place of privilege when
Speaker 2: it comes to talking about these topics, because I don't
Speaker 2: feel an additional pressure if I were black. I think
Speaker 2: there is an understandably pressure And tell me if you
Speaker 2: agree or disagree with me on this. I think there
Speaker 2: is a pressure on black commentators that, man, there is
Speaker 2: so much obvious racism in the world and in sports
Speaker 2: and everywhere that when a racial topic comes up, I
Speaker 2: don't want to be I don't want to seemingly be
Speaker 2: adding to it or be on the wrong side of
Speaker 2: it because I have an important responsibility or voice in
Speaker 2: the space. Like does that I'm not explaining that exactly right?
Speaker 2: Does that?
Speaker 4: But does what I'm saying make that makes sense? So
Speaker 4: you think that's stay in the middle kind of.
Speaker 2: Well, I and I think I so. I so I
Speaker 2: am in a unique spot because and then I think
Speaker 2: there's also white commentators who are trying, you know, at
Speaker 2: times trying to pander and at times just you know,
Speaker 2: obviously overtly on the wrong side of these issues. Black
Speaker 2: commentators on the wrong side of these issues sometimes too.
Speaker 2: I am just so confident that, eh, I don't think
Speaker 2: anyone's ever I think there are a lot of things
Speaker 2: at one point I will be unfairly accused of. I
Speaker 2: don't think being racially tone deaf, and I don't think
Speaker 2: being bigoted when it comes to race or not seeing
Speaker 2: the different levels of it. I'm just not worried about it.
Speaker 2: I think I have my entire life's body of work
Speaker 2: and track record, and I think I also don't have
Speaker 2: that additional pressure, like internal pressure because I am a
Speaker 2: white guy talking about this stuff. So I just I
Speaker 2: recognize that's something of a place of privilege, but I
Speaker 2: just kind of call it how I see it, and
Speaker 2: I see a lot of race involved here, and people
Speaker 2: seem to be stubbing their toe on that curb, which
Speaker 2: is preventing them to getting to the obvious thing that
Speaker 2: is happening amongst the players, which is this girl is
Speaker 2: richer than all of us, more famous than all of us,
Speaker 2: is getting more pub and attention than all of us,
Speaker 2: and she's a white girl. And you know what, that's
Speaker 2: bullsh We Our team beat her team in the National
Speaker 2: Championship game, and she got is the one that became
Speaker 2: super famous. With all that said, it's not because the
Speaker 2: it is the other piece of it is she is
Speaker 2: the best of all the rookies. She's the best of
Speaker 2: the draft class. She's the best of the gods basketball players.
Speaker 2: Last year she was the best. So it is when
Speaker 2: Lebron James got drafted before even drafted him, when the
Speaker 2: Calves won the do you know what I'm gonna talk
Speaker 2: about here? Demon say you're left. So here's the thing.
Speaker 2: The Calves win the draft lottery. They have Ricky Davis
Speaker 2: and Darius Miles on the team. The yes and those
Speaker 2: guys are like, yeah, man, Lebron can help ride our wave.
Speaker 2: You know what I mean, he can ride our bandwagon.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think a high school kid's gonna
Speaker 2: come in and make a big difference. But we'll see.
Speaker 2: Those were his teammates, you know why, because he had
Speaker 2: just gotten an eighty million dollars deal from Nike that
Speaker 2: nobody was talking about the Calves. The Calves are like,
Speaker 2: damn it, this is bs. We're better than him, were
Speaker 2: older than him, were more established than him, and there
Speaker 2: was legitimate jealousy from his own teammates. Now, fortunately we
Speaker 2: didn't have to deal with the extra level of race
Speaker 2: on this one because it was all black guys in
Speaker 2: the discussion. I can only imagine that would have been
Speaker 2: of all of the Lebron's stuff. Well, that's an interesting
Speaker 2: nat Lebron's entire career as exact identical, except he's a
Speaker 2: white dude. I wonder how so many things would be different,
Speaker 2: But it wasn't there. That's that's not complicated. Rookie hazing
Speaker 2: is not complicated, and hard thousand sports are not complicated. Now,
Speaker 2: is it interesting that Aliah Boston didn't immediately come to
Speaker 2: Caitlyn Clark's aid? Yeah, it is. That is interesting. It's noteworthy.
Speaker 2: Is it interesting that Angel stood and applauded, Yeah, that's interesting.
Speaker 2: I don't think she likes Caitlin guess what, she's not
Speaker 2: supposed to. And this whole idea that everyone should be
Speaker 2: like fetting Caitlin Clark the other competitors, like, oh, we're
Speaker 2: all gonna make more money thanks to you, We're all
Speaker 2: getting all these accouterment. There's that word again, thanks to you.
Speaker 2: That is not how athletes work. We would never say
Speaker 2: that about male athletes, never, And people might say, oh, well,
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 3: Don't you think like.
Speaker 4: To like keep it within the parameters of the game. Though,
Speaker 4: like the foul that the grow issued to Caitlin Clark
Speaker 4: was just like, I mean.
Speaker 3: I think you got a flare one for it or whatever,
Speaker 3: but I think it's like a different level of hate,
Speaker 3: is what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: So here's the thing that was out of bounds, but
Speaker 2: it wasn't wildly out of bounds. Flavorant one is what
Speaker 2: you should get, not you know, more than a regular foul,
Speaker 2: not enough to be thrown out of the game. Now,
Speaker 2: do I think the refs missed the boat by not
Speaker 2: issuing it immediately? Instead I'd be issued retroactively, sure, But
Speaker 2: that wasn't like and going making the rounds yesterday? Was
Speaker 2: Candace Parker what she dealt with as a rookie in
Speaker 2: the big giant melee that happened between her team and
Speaker 2: the Detroit team when she was a rookie. Guys, So
Speaker 2: I don't I don't look an Angel got fouled like
Speaker 2: that last week and nobody gave h And I understand
Speaker 2: Angel's frustration with this. I also And so this is
Speaker 2: again where race must be acknowledged. The Chicago Tribune again,
Speaker 2: the newspaper in Chicago. That's where the Chicago sky obviously
Speaker 2: are from Angels team in the editorial, they about that foul.
Speaker 2: They they say, and I quote the foul committed by
Speaker 2: Chicago skyguard Kennedy Carter was egregious. Outside of a sporting contest,
Speaker 2: it would have been seen as an assault. Pipe down, folks.
Speaker 2: You know what's also an assault outside of a sporting contest,
Speaker 2: A box out, a contest on a layup, shut up?
Speaker 2: And that that is race, right. The only thing that
Speaker 2: gets people all of a sudden flocking to we must
Speaker 2: protect this woman is a white woman in distress, particularly
Speaker 2: if it's a non white person putting her in distress.
Speaker 2: That is race. And like, I just feel like we
Speaker 2: should be able to hold multiple thoughts in our head
Speaker 2: at once. And I do want to go back to
Speaker 2: the basketball piece of it because I like Angel and
Speaker 2: I have supported Angel. I you and I had a
Speaker 2: whole thing on this show when she talked about what
Speaker 2: she had been going through. I think I was in
Speaker 2: comparison to some of the other members of sports media.
Speaker 2: I think I saw that for what it was better
Speaker 2: than most and I really like Angel. So this is
Speaker 2: the say it again flip flopping. No, I'm not flip flopping.
Speaker 2: I'm not, but I am going to make.
Speaker 3: You flopping on her stance, and I don't even know
Speaker 3: that she's.
Speaker 2: Listen. I think it's here's the thing on that before
Speaker 2: I give what I was gonna say it. Folks say
Speaker 2: they want to be a villain. Nobody does. The only
Speaker 2: person in the last decade in sports that I've seen
Speaker 2: that truly wants to be the villain. Do you know
Speaker 2: who I'm gonna say to No, No, because he plays
Speaker 2: the victim. He plays. He says he wants to be
Speaker 2: the villain. But then he's like, you guys are trying
Speaker 2: to make it so I'm broken when I'm older. No,
Speaker 2: Beverly plays the victim too. Dylan Brooks plays the victim
Speaker 2: all these guys. Beverly's like, you don't know what they
Speaker 2: said to me. I shouldn't have thrown the ball, but
Speaker 2: you don't know what they said. Dylan Brooks has like,
Speaker 2: call me Dylan the villain. Then he's like, it's a
Speaker 2: media construct. There is only one person who actually wants
Speaker 2: to be the villain. Luca. Luca actually wants to be
Speaker 2: the villain. He wants to go in your building, tell
Speaker 2: you to go bleep yourself, swagger, do all of it.
Speaker 2: Everyone else wants to pick and choose when they're the villain, right,
Speaker 2: and it's hard. Lebron tried it for a whole year
Speaker 2: and then was like, that was miserable. I don't want
Speaker 2: to do that anymore. Okay, So that's not what I
Speaker 2: was gonna say. What I was gonna say is this
Speaker 2: my advice.
Speaker 3: Really does not look at social media at all with
Speaker 3: that good Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: I means too, he's too much you know, hookahs smoking
Speaker 2: his eyes. Yeh ah. Here's my vice, Angel Reese. On
Speaker 2: the basketball court, if you want there to be less
Speaker 2: attention on Caitlin and more on you, you need to
Speaker 2: play better. Sorry, it's gotta be better. There is not
Speaker 2: there is. Angel Reese was an outstanding championship level college
Speaker 2: basketball player who went seventh in the w NBA Draft.
Speaker 2: About where she should have gone. Maybe at this point
Speaker 2: you can say she should have gone fourth or fifth.
Speaker 2: She is having, in my opinion, the second best rookie season.
Speaker 2: Some would say Cameron Brinks having the second best rookie season,
Speaker 2: second or third. But there is a wide gap between
Speaker 2: what she's doing and what Caitlyn's doing, just like there
Speaker 2: is a wide gap between what she what Caitlyn is
Speaker 2: doing and every other.
Speaker 3: Rookie, Yeah, nice, five more points on more games.
Speaker 2: Well so, right so, And Caitlin's biggest weakness right now
Speaker 2: is the turnovers are bad. But that was also a
Speaker 2: problem in college, so I think that's just gonna be
Speaker 2: a problem. But Caitlyn right now, it's like, oh, she's
Speaker 2: shooting thirty five percent from the field and thirty percent
Speaker 2: from three Well, angels forward shooting thirty five percent from
Speaker 2: the field, and so she is going through rookie struggles
Speaker 2: just like Caitlyn is. The Caitlin's numbers this year fifteen
Speaker 2: and a half points, five rebounds, six assists on thirty
Speaker 2: five thirty splits. Angel who's been the second best rookie
Speaker 2: is ten and a half points per game, nine rebounds,
Speaker 2: two assists on thirty five percent from the field. Cameron
Speaker 2: Brank who's been, you know, the second or third best rookie,
Speaker 2: nine points, five rebounds to assist on forty seven percent
Speaker 2: from the field and really good defense. And then Riquia
Speaker 2: Jackson ten ten points per game, three rebounds, no assists
Speaker 2: because she's a big on forty nine percent from the field.
Speaker 2: Thing is this, if folks want to make the argument
Speaker 2: that Caitlin Clark is getting undue attention. Somebody in her
Speaker 2: rookie class got to go out there and out player
Speaker 2: and that hadn't happened, just hadn't. And that is again,
Speaker 2: that's a sports conversation. And I'm not gonna act like
Speaker 2: I had this kind I set everything exactly perfectly here
Speaker 2: and that And also, by the way, we should wait
Speaker 2: and see how Camilla Cardosa ends up looking. She's only
Speaker 2: one game after missing the beginning of the season. Uh.
Speaker 2: In our first game she played really well eleven and
Speaker 2: six on five to seven from the field, So we'll
Speaker 2: see how, you know, how she does. But the fact
Speaker 2: the matter is, guys, there is a what is so
Speaker 2: cool about this is we have another sport now that
Speaker 2: enough people are following that it is a national conversation.
Speaker 2: And I implore folks who have been following the WNBA
Speaker 2: for years, don't be WNBA hipsters. Please don't be the
Speaker 2: fan of the band that loved it before it, you know,
Speaker 2: was going on worldwide tours. And then she towards the
Speaker 2: new fans and gate keyp and be like, well, if
Speaker 2: you weren't here shooting with me in the gym, guys.
Speaker 2: It's better the sport growing is better for everyone. Okay,
Speaker 2: I do ask that. I also ask the Johnny Cume latelies,
Speaker 2: and I think I am a cross between the two groups.
Speaker 2: I think I obviously watched and followed more WNBA than
Speaker 2: the average person, but that's because I'm in sports for
Speaker 2: a living. But I also was not you know, I
Speaker 2: knew enough about the WNBA that last year I placed
Speaker 2: a very significant bet before the season started on the
Speaker 2: Aces to win the title, and I placed a very
Speaker 2: small bet on the Aces to go undefeated for the season,
Speaker 2: but not enough to act like I am. You know
Speaker 2: that I'm a WNBA League Pass subscriber, and I am
Speaker 2: I've never talked about it on the TV show side
Speaker 2: from maybe a segment or two and seven years until
Speaker 2: this rookie class headlined by Caitlin. So I'm a bit
Speaker 2: of both, right, But I beg just like I don't
Speaker 2: want the folks who were always fans to gatekeep, I
Speaker 2: would like the folks who are new to the party
Speaker 2: to not act as if A they are experts on
Speaker 2: everything WNBA related, and B please do not act like
Speaker 2: everyone needs to give us credit because we arrived at
Speaker 2: the party there is this weird thing going on where
Speaker 2: it is like, well, now that I am talking about
Speaker 2: your sport, I am doing you a favor, and therefore
Speaker 2: I should be above criticism for my takes on it.
Speaker 2: Na man, Just like I said when when Diana Tarazi
Speaker 2: during the NCAA tournament, I thought had I thought had
Speaker 2: a bad take on Caitlin and the WNBA. By the way,
Speaker 2: Diana looks like she might have been more right than
Speaker 2: I was on that, and what I said was a
Speaker 2: bad take. It looks like maybe I was wrong and
Speaker 2: she was right. It is in battle, and I said,
Speaker 2: and I disagreed with Diana's take, And it felt like
Speaker 2: a lot of people disagreed with it, but were almost
Speaker 2: afraid to say they disagreed with it the way they
Speaker 2: would if it were Kendrick Perkins discussing Victor winbin Yama.
Speaker 2: It's like, no, man, that everybody's everybody's grown here. Everybody
Speaker 2: can find for themselves to a degree. We don't need
Speaker 2: to be overly protective of Caitlyn Clark. She's a badass,
Speaker 2: fierce competitor that also, despite a grueling schedule, seemingly not
Speaker 2: a very good team and massive scrutiny is handling herself. Fine,
Speaker 2: I say, seemingly not a very good team, Tom take
Speaker 2: it's the number one pick them back to back years
Speaker 2: or two and nine because like you said, But let me,
Speaker 2: let me give one other prediction that I know is
Speaker 2: gonna end up being a classic Category two. Caitlyn Clark
Speaker 2: from this moment forward is gonna have Banana's numbers. So
Speaker 2: here's why. So they have had multiple back to backs.
Speaker 2: They have played eleven games. No other team's played more
Speaker 2: than nine. The Aces have played six. Because of that,
Speaker 2: the rest of the way here, they don't have a
Speaker 2: single back to back. They have massive So they play
Speaker 2: on the seventh, the tenth, the thirteenth, the sixteenth, the nineteenth,
Speaker 2: twenty first, twenty third, twenty seventh, thirtieth, second, sixth, tenth, twelfth, fourteenth, seventeenth,
Speaker 2: then a month off because of the Olympics, an Olympic
Speaker 2: team that we don't know if Caitlin Clerk's gonna make
Speaker 2: or not, and then again in September and August, a
Speaker 2: relatively light schedule compared to the field because they already
Speaker 2: had their tough part, so they're gonna have more rest.
Speaker 2: They also have already played. You play the Liberty four times,
Speaker 2: They've played them three already. The Liberty might be the
Speaker 2: second best team in the league. You play Connecticut four times,
Speaker 2: They've played them twice already. Connecticut's a top three team
Speaker 2: in the league. So the schedule is gonna get softer.
Speaker 2: She's got her legs underneath her, she's gonna have more rest,
Speaker 2: and she's gonna ball out. And by the way, I
Speaker 2: hope the rest of the rookie class does as well.
Speaker 2: I'm rooting for all these girls, but we've gotta be
Speaker 2: able to acknowledge. Of course, there is a racial dynamic here.
Speaker 2: Of course, there is a very typical jealousy dynamic here
Speaker 2: that would exist no matter the races, but is heightened
Speaker 2: because of the racial dynamics here. And of course there
Speaker 2: is just some sports competitiveness here, which is Angel Reese
Speaker 2: thinks she's better. She beat her in the National Championship
Speaker 2: than Caitlin got her get back the next year but
Speaker 2: didn't win the National championship. And Angel they are going
Speaker 2: to be rivals, and that is great for the sport.
Speaker 2: All right? Did I manage to do that without saying
Speaker 2: I made anyone famous or calling anyone a bitch I
Speaker 2: think I did? Wow? Did that get me a medal
Speaker 2: for it? Quick break? Right back? What's right? All right?
Speaker 2: Welcome back in What's Right with Nick? Right? All right?
Speaker 2: And after a nice half hour on the WNBA and
Speaker 2: racial and gender dynamics in America and a little slight
Speaker 2: media criticism, I suppose let's get right to the NBA Finals.
Speaker 2: De Monse, go ahead.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, we are just a few days away from
Speaker 4: your large Slovenian son being able to prove prove you correct,
Speaker 4: back up all those words you've been speaking for the
Speaker 4: last couple of weeks. It's weird because Boston's at minus
Speaker 4: two twenty this is not very weird, and Dallas at
Speaker 4: plus twenty five to win the series.
Speaker 3: Do you think Vegas has that wrong?
Speaker 4: You know, considering the path that the Mavericks had to
Speaker 4: take to get there and the Boston Celtics.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I do. I do think Vegas has this wrong.
Speaker 2: This would be the third biggest finals upset since the merger.
Speaker 2: The biggest upset famously four Pistons over the Lakers. The
Speaker 2: second biggest upset a weird one, the nineteen Raptors over
Speaker 2: the Warriors. But Katie popped his achilles Clay blew out
Speaker 2: his knee, so that one, I don't want to say,
Speaker 2: you can throw it out, but that's wasn't a traditional upset,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean, like the unless you think
Speaker 2: the Raptors were gonna beat the full strength Warriors. And
Speaker 2: then this fact of the matter is this, since the
Speaker 2: trade deadline, the MAVs have had the best events in basketball,
Speaker 2: and with this starting lineup, they have played this year
Speaker 2: on a sixty five win pace, which is what the
Speaker 2: Celtics played all year, a sixty four to sixty five
Speaker 2: win pace. So I do think that this series is
Speaker 2: relatively even. And if it's relatively even and one team
Speaker 2: has an all time legendary player and the other team
Speaker 2: has Jason Tatum, then I'm gonna go with the team.
Speaker 3: Don't I think this series is relatively even? Or did
Speaker 3: you say it is?
Speaker 2: I said, I do. I do think the series is.
Speaker 2: I do think the series is relatively even. I think
Speaker 2: their regular season records would say it's not sixty four
Speaker 2: wins versus fifty wins. But I don't look at the
Speaker 2: MAVs as that team. I look at the MAVs as
Speaker 2: the team they were once they got Gafford and PJ
Speaker 2: and once Lively you know what I mean, got more
Speaker 2: reps in his rookie season. So I just and early
Speaker 2: in the season they dealt without having Kyrie. I just
Speaker 2: really like the MAVs in this spot and maybe all
Speaker 2: end up being wrong and everyone people are now. Yesterday
Speaker 2: the internet got mad at Zach Lowe for saying I
Speaker 2: thought something obvious, which is Jason Tatum is somewhere between
Speaker 2: the six to seventh eighth the best player in basketball.
Speaker 2: That is not an indictment, It is just the truth
Speaker 2: that now, can you win the title with that? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Is it super rare? Yes? So like I now, does
Speaker 2: the best player always win? No? If that were the case,
Speaker 2: Lebron be ten for ten in the finals, So obviously, Well,
Speaker 2: I think that's a little you know, that doesn't always
Speaker 2: work with team sports, but it does work more often
Speaker 2: than not. In the NBA, however, I typically if the
Speaker 2: other teams got demonstrably and clearly the best player, you
Speaker 2: need to have massive team advantage. And Vegas thinks the
Speaker 2: Celtics do. I do not. I think that there is
Speaker 2: a huge gap between Luca and Tatum. I think there is,
Speaker 2: right now a minimal gap between Brown and Kyrie. Now,
Speaker 2: the next three best players in the series are Celtics
Speaker 2: Chris STAPs, Drew and Derek White, But the next three
Speaker 2: best players after that are MAVs in PJ. Gafford and
Speaker 2: uh Lively. I'm leaving somebody out the Oh yeah, Derek
Speaker 2: Jones Junior could be on there, but the that's right,
Speaker 2: and so the and then you add to it what
Speaker 2: to me is a pretty clear and maybe Celtics fans
Speaker 2: disagree with me here, coaching advantage for the Mavericks and
Speaker 2: the fact that the Celtics have been hit or miss
Speaker 2: at home while the MAVs have been absolute killers on
Speaker 2: the road. And I like the MAVs in this spot
Speaker 2: and so well, I think plus one eighty five is crazy.
Speaker 2: I also think it's very on the board Boston wins
Speaker 2: Game one, which is why I might wait to bet
Speaker 2: the series, because if it's plus one eighty five right now,
Speaker 2: it'll be like plus three hundred or plus two sixty
Speaker 2: after Boston wins Game one if they win Game one.
Speaker 2: But I also might just pull the trigger on bet
Speaker 2: it beforehand. But I'm going to roll with this being
Speaker 2: Luca's moment and that I don't think the Boston crowd
Speaker 2: is going to get to Kyrie, but I do think
Speaker 2: the Boston crowd is going to get Luca going. I
Speaker 2: think the Boston crowd going after Luca, is going after
Speaker 2: Kyrie is going to be good for Luca. I am curious, Demons, however,
Speaker 2: your feelings going into this finals versus two years ago
Speaker 2: when your Celtics were playing the Warriors. And I have
Speaker 2: other questions Celtics related for you, but your feelings going
Speaker 2: into the finals since the Celtics are your team.
Speaker 4: A lot more comfortable with them going into the into
Speaker 4: the series against the Mavericks. This is the one team
Speaker 4: out of the West, like I would have been more
Speaker 4: afraid to play Minnesota, and the Mavericks are uh. I
Speaker 4: mean they're coming off they had to play the Timberwolves,
Speaker 4: who openly came out and said that they were tired.
Speaker 3: Celtics aren't tired. Celtics are deeper.
Speaker 4: I think that I think that the Celtics can get
Speaker 4: this done in six.
Speaker 3: Just way too deep.
Speaker 4: Kyrie and Kyrie and Luca I don't think are going
Speaker 4: to be enough to win in a seven game series.
Speaker 3: I think it's just too much.
Speaker 4: I think that the hookah and the cigarettes will catch
Speaker 4: up to Luca something. And this is your furthest lucas
Speaker 4: ever been obviously, right, Yep.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he made the conference finals two years ago. But
Speaker 2: this is for everyone on the as this except for Kyrie,
Speaker 2: this is their first finals. Meanwhile, for everyone on the
Speaker 2: Celtics except for Chris STAPs, they've been here before, right, right,
Speaker 2: And so I do think that plays too in your
Speaker 2: favor to a degree. Actually I don't was out. I
Speaker 2: don't think Al Horford's been here before, but he's played
Speaker 2: in a million playoff games because he was with the
Speaker 2: Celtics and then left and then came. Oh no, he
Speaker 2: was there too, he was worsh You're right, because he
Speaker 2: was there, then left to Philly, then came back when
Speaker 2: they played for the season. So yeah, everyone but Chris
Speaker 2: STAPs essentially has been there. Drew hasn't been there with Boston,
Speaker 2: but he's been there with Milwaukee obviously. Uh, here's the
Speaker 2: gosh it. I was gonna ask you another question.
Speaker 3: Another question, but real quickly.
Speaker 2: You you mentioned Luke and Kyrie won't be enough. One
Speaker 2: thing that would be a little concerning for me for
Speaker 2: boss if I'm Boston. As this, the MAVs did beat
Speaker 2: the Thunder with Kyrie averaging sixteen points per game. So
Speaker 2: they beat the number one seed in the West in
Speaker 2: six games and could have won that thing in five
Speaker 2: and Kyrie was, you know, sixteen points a game in
Speaker 2: that series. Now do they need Luca to be brilliant? Obviously,
Speaker 2: but Luca is looking healthier as the playoffs go on.
Speaker 2: And that is my biggest prediction of this series is
Speaker 2: you demons are gonna leave midway through this series. Have
Speaker 2: a visceral dislike for Luca from the whining and the
Speaker 2: preening and the screaming and.
Speaker 4: On alert for his he Christ he cries, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2: He does after a after getting calls to not just
Speaker 2: after not getting calls. He gets angry when he gets calls,
Speaker 2: when he doesn't get calls, the whole nine. What's your
Speaker 2: other question? Go ahead?
Speaker 4: Uh, do you think that Luca will leave this series
Speaker 4: the villain that he wants to be or you think
Speaker 4: he wants to be?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Oh that's a bab I like that. That's Luca's bane
Speaker 2: with a hookah. Yeah. I mean I think he is.
Speaker 2: I think he is going to be this, I mean
Speaker 2: absolutely hated by the Celtic crowd and I can't wait
Speaker 2: for it. What's your next follow up?
Speaker 3: If you think that Boston will win the finals?
Speaker 4: Is it a smart is a smart bet to bet
Speaker 4: Tatum at minus one fifteen or Brown at plus six
Speaker 4: fifty for finals?
Speaker 3: MVP?
Speaker 2: Oh, listen if those odds, I like Brown way way
Speaker 2: way better. Now, I am curious Who's who's going to
Speaker 2: have I get that, go ahead, go.
Speaker 3: No, I get that.
Speaker 4: I understand that. I was just like with with I
Speaker 4: think if the if the Celtics win the finals, it
Speaker 4: won't be because Jalen Brown was the best player.
Speaker 2: Well, he just won conference finals MVP. Now, maybe listen,
Speaker 2: you might be right.
Speaker 4: But I also don't know what's going on with Jason Tatum,
Speaker 4: but I think he's gonna turn it on at some point.
Speaker 2: Well, and he was good in the conference finals, to
Speaker 2: be clear, It just Jalen Brown hit the shot that
Speaker 2: forced overtime in Game one, and their numbers were christ
Speaker 2: and he was more efficient. I am curious, though, who's
Speaker 2: go We'll talk about this more on Thursday. Who's gonna
Speaker 2: be Luca's primary defender because Drew is not big enough.
Speaker 2: It's gonna have to be Tatum or Brown and whomever
Speaker 2: it is that is going to take a lot out
Speaker 2: of them energy wise on the offensive end. Now, he'll
Speaker 2: probably hunt you know, switches and stuff anyway, but that'll
Speaker 2: be interesting to see. I also think, you know, we'll
Speaker 2: talk about him more on Thursday. How Kristaps is gonna
Speaker 2: look when he comes back is one of the biggest
Speaker 2: storylines of this series. All right, let's move on because
Speaker 2: we have Thursday. We'll do like an all finals show
Speaker 2: on Thursday. Go ahead.
Speaker 3: So Justin Jefferson just signed a record one hundred and
Speaker 3: forty million.
Speaker 4: Dollar extension with Minnesota. So that's very similar to Jordan
Speaker 4: Poole money. So obviously Justin Jefferson he's he's the best
Speaker 4: wide receiver in the league. So I might say, so
Speaker 4: you got to give him that money. But if for you,
Speaker 4: isn't it great to have, like, you know, a team
Speaker 4: like the Chiefs who doesn't have to go out there
Speaker 4: and spend all that money for a wide receiver? Is what?
Speaker 2: Yeah? But they nobody here's the thing, nobody else has Mahomes.
Speaker 2: So I understand, and Justin Jefferson deserves the money. But
Speaker 2: I do think that we and I've talked about it
Speaker 2: on this pod before and I will continue to We
Speaker 2: are going to reach something of a market correction. College
Speaker 2: football keeps producing ready to go wide receivers and they
Speaker 2: are producing less ready to go offensive and defensive linemen.
Speaker 2: So I think you are going to see maybe not
Speaker 2: for Justin Jefferson caliber players, but for that next caliber
Speaker 2: wide receiver, the really good guy. But isn't you know,
Speaker 2: top five in the league. Smart teams say we can
Speaker 2: get eighty five percent of that production by a guy
Speaker 2: in the draft for ten percent of the salary. We're
Speaker 2: just not paying. We are not. The Chiefs have basically
Speaker 2: said we're gonna draft and develop wide receivers in corners
Speaker 2: because that's what college football is producing, and we are
Speaker 2: going to pay our offensive and defensive lineman along with
Speaker 2: the quarterback. Wild's had an interesting thought, which was, under
Speaker 2: the current salary cap structure, can you basically just have
Speaker 2: fifty million dollars for your quarterback and your wide receiver
Speaker 2: one and split it up as you see fit. So
Speaker 2: like for the Vikings, you know you have Justin Jefferson
Speaker 2: on the rookie deal, I'm sorry, on the record setting deal.
Speaker 2: And then a rookie quarterback for the Dolphins. Right now,
Speaker 2: you have Tyreek and Waddle on these crazy deals, but
Speaker 2: they haven't paid to a yet. The Cowboys have Dak
Speaker 2: on this huge deal waiting to pay CD. Maybe when
Speaker 2: they pay CD, do they then not bring back Dak.
Speaker 2: The Bills, Josh Allen makes a ton of money. They
Speaker 2: trade Stefan Digs the Chiefs. All the money goes to Mahomes,
Speaker 2: they draft receivers. It is an interesting thought by Wilde
Speaker 2: that I didn't really I hadn't really considered on that level,
Speaker 2: but I now the Eagles are trying to do everything.
Speaker 2: Pay Davante, pay aj and pay Jailen Hurts, but they're
Speaker 2: kind of borrowing a lot from the future. The Niners.
Speaker 2: You paid Debo, you seem hesiten to pay Ayuk and
Speaker 2: Purdy makes nothing, and so I get why the Vikings
Speaker 2: would do it, But I also think some of these
Speaker 2: wide receiver contracts are not gonna age. Well, all right,
Speaker 2: let's play a quick game of this or that.
Speaker 4: Uh, yes, it's time for this or that. We got
Speaker 4: Bears hard Knocks, huge pool of them. Caleb Williams and
Speaker 4: the Bears will be featured on Hard Knocks this year.
Speaker 4: The NFL putting Caleb in the spotlight right away is
Speaker 4: genius or too soon?
Speaker 2: Oh? I think it's genius. I think he's charismatic. I
Speaker 2: think he'll be excellent. I think that he will become
Speaker 2: instantaneously another star of the league. So I think I
Speaker 2: love it. I think it's great. Next.
Speaker 4: No better team for that right New York's After the
Speaker 4: Rangers were eliminated. New York men's sports teams have now
Speaker 4: gone to combined one hundred seasons without a championship. But
Speaker 4: you've got a nice graphic up there for those questioning
Speaker 4: on YouTube.
Speaker 2: But that's good.
Speaker 4: But they still have Jalen Brunson. New York Sports is
Speaker 4: hopeless or hopeful?
Speaker 2: Oh? I think it's hopeful because the Knicks just had
Speaker 2: their best season in my opinion, in a quarter century.
Speaker 2: The Rangers, it seems like we're good in The Yankees
Speaker 2: might win the World Series this year, so I think hopeful. Next.
Speaker 4: Dallas is having a great year for sports. The Rangers
Speaker 4: won the World Series, the Stars made the Conference finals
Speaker 4: in the NHL, and the MAVs are in the NBA Finals.
Speaker 4: Uh So what about Dallas? Cowboys will join the party
Speaker 4: soon or never?
Speaker 2: Well, it's not gonna be soon. I don't want to
Speaker 2: say never, but it would be later rather than soon.
Speaker 2: The Cowboys are in the midst of you know, they
Speaker 2: kind of took their shot with the way decks.
Speaker 3: Kind of feel like.
Speaker 2: Never's not that. So then I guess that soon. So
Speaker 2: the I guess, I'll say, I guess, I'll say soon. No,
Speaker 2: I'm not. I don't have to pick one. The answer
Speaker 2: is later. It's there there is. The answer is not never,
Speaker 2: but it's also not soon.
Speaker 3: Yes, I want to be clipped.
Speaker 4: Yesay on TV, you said your top five quarterbacks in
Speaker 4: the NFL A Mahomes, Alan, Burrow, and Stroud.
Speaker 3: With the fifth spot up in the air.
Speaker 4: Nick's fifth best quarterback is Lamar Jackson or Justin Herbert
Speaker 4: is none of the above.
Speaker 2: I'd probably go kale it. But if you guys don't
Speaker 2: want me to put a rookie, I'll say Stafford. Uh
Speaker 2: and so. And I know people think I'm being disrespectful
Speaker 2: to Lamar. I'm just being honest.
Speaker 4: Sorry, And the game you're not picking either, then you
Speaker 4: just went outside of this or that.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm sorry you guys.
Speaker 3: Last one.
Speaker 2: Put Justin Herbert on there instead of Matt Stafford. That's
Speaker 2: not my fault. Put a better name, or put Trevor
Speaker 2: all right.
Speaker 4: Next, Syricus alumni Crmelo Anthony is joining the ownership group
Speaker 4: for an expansion of the basketball team in Australia. You
Speaker 4: said it as part of a journey to one day
Speaker 4: becoming an NBA owner. Could your fates be intertwined? Nick
Speaker 4: will be an Avid fan or a general manager?
Speaker 2: Avid fan, I got. I had an opportunity to become
Speaker 2: a part of owner ship group of lower level Italian
Speaker 2: basketball team that I could have kind of been part
Speaker 2: of the general manager front office, you know, kind of
Speaker 2: group four. I don't know if I told you about
Speaker 2: this to months it's like eighteen months ago, but I
Speaker 2: didn't have and I thought I would want to do it,
Speaker 2: but then I thought about it. I didn't have the
Speaker 2: time to like, actually, you know what I mean, I'm
Speaker 2: not gonna be scouting like lower level international prospects. I
Speaker 2: just wasn't and so I, uh, maybe in another life, yeah,
Speaker 2: it was cool and I probably should have followed up
Speaker 2: on it more than I did, but I didn't. And
Speaker 2: in another life maybe, but right now I just just
Speaker 2: Avid fan, all right? Next?
Speaker 4: All right, So it took Jason kelce less than three
Speaker 4: months in retirement to start picking fights. And his first
Speaker 4: enemy is big soap, so he's got a thing against.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Jason Kelsey wrote, all of you have been fed
Speaker 2: diabolical lies. Washing every crevice of your bodies and hair
Speaker 2: all the same all the time is somehow better or healthier.
Speaker 2: Any dermatologists not in bed with big soap will agree
Speaker 2: hot spots are all that's necessary and actually leads to cleaner,
Speaker 2: healthier skin. This is really a I'm gonna go ahead
Speaker 2: and say we started the show talking race, we might
Speaker 2: end the show talking race. This is also a too
Speaker 2: Americas thing. This is there are real There is a
Speaker 2: real racial dichotomy about how often you need to you know,
Speaker 2: scrub like your calves versus whether or not when you're
Speaker 2: in the shower, as Jason Kelcey put it, you wash
Speaker 2: hotspots and just kind of let soap and water and
Speaker 2: gravity take care of the rest.
Speaker 4: It is go ahead, demanse So the Jason Kelcey are
Speaker 4: big so was that this or that? But that's not
Speaker 4: something that you want to hear from a guy like Jason.
Speaker 2: Kelsey in a big football player. Listen, he's not saying
Speaker 2: he's not showering. What he's saying is is he is
Speaker 2: washing directly his underarms and his you know, genitals, and
Speaker 2: that the rest of it, ah, soap and water will
Speaker 2: take care of itself. And what I'm telling you is,
Speaker 2: I don't think Jason Kelcey is the only person out
Speaker 2: there with that opinion. I do think that happens to
Speaker 2: be more of an opinion held in the white community
Speaker 2: than the non white community. I also think that Jason
Speaker 2: Kelcey one of the there are certain things like there's
Speaker 2: also like a real racial division about do you just
Speaker 2: use the bar of soap to clean yourself or do
Speaker 2: you use a washcloth or washt owl. There's a lot
Speaker 2: of things that again we don't talk about it, Like
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about how I shower, how I bathe
Speaker 2: because I understand better than Jason Kelcey. There's certain things
Speaker 2: better just keep to yourself. It's just no wins in this.
Speaker 2: There's just no there's no upside in this. And but
Speaker 2: it was. I think Jason Kelsey has taken a lot
Speaker 2: of arrows for an opinion. A lot of people share,
Speaker 2: but they're not brave enough to say it. I'm not
Speaker 2: saying where I stand. I've also been married to your
Speaker 2: mother for fifteen year of married eleven years with your
Speaker 2: mother fifteen years, so I maybe have adjusted whatever my
Speaker 2: potential previous bathing habits were. Who knows. All I know
Speaker 2: is it's no one's damn business. Quick break, get to
Speaker 2: your questions next? What's right? Hey, welcome back in What's
Speaker 2: right with think? Right? Demondsey, We're back. We didn't even
Speaker 2: know it. We weren't paying attention. All right, Let's get
Speaker 2: to the listener questions right now? Go ahead?
Speaker 4: Uh rap, I knew you were gonna say, Luca is
Speaker 4: a villain. Come on, man, talking about how everybody else
Speaker 4: is a victim, but somehow not Luca. Luca's top three
Speaker 4: winners in the league, always winers in the league. Sorry,
Speaker 4: playing always playing victim.
Speaker 2: Well, listen, I think Luca whinds to the refs a lot.
Speaker 2: I do not think he plays victim to the media.
Speaker 2: That's what I was talking about. Those other guys play
Speaker 2: victim to the media, Luca doesn't. Luca on the courts,
Speaker 2: always whining, but he wants to be the villain. Go ahead.
Speaker 4: I think there is a curve when you consider that
Speaker 4: Lucas like he's he's he's formed, like I don't want to.
Speaker 4: I guess it sounds kind of weird, but he's not.
Speaker 4: I don't think he was like brought up in like
Speaker 4: the the Hales, like the way media and sports is
Speaker 4: done over here. So I think he's still a giant baby,
Speaker 4: but he's just a foreign giant baby.
Speaker 3: He's not.
Speaker 2: Okay. I listen see he winds to the refs on
Speaker 2: the court, but he is I don't think he plays
Speaker 2: victim in the post game press conference or off the court.
Speaker 2: Just my opinion. All right, let's go to Kevin Gillan.
Speaker 4: Kevin Gillen said Demonse needs his new shades. If Nick
Speaker 4: doesn't pony up soon, the comment section is going to
Speaker 4: pass the hat for a pair of pit vipers.
Speaker 2: So I looked up what pit vipers are Demonse google
Speaker 2: pit viper sunglasses because I didn't know what those were called.
Speaker 2: I didn't know that that's what those were. I don't
Speaker 2: even know what to compare them to. I think they're
Speaker 2: like the sunglasses Hulk Hogan used to wear, like in.
Speaker 3: The eighties, oh, late eighties.
Speaker 2: Or early nineties, and I think some baseball players wear them.
Speaker 2: I don't think those would look good on Demonse. I
Speaker 2: don't think those are really his. Look, I do need
Speaker 2: to get you a pair of nisee shades though, that
Speaker 2: part's true. All right, let's go to Eric Hua.
Speaker 3: I thought you had them and like you just hadn't
Speaker 3: given them.
Speaker 2: No, no, no, no, this guy, this guy is saying, oh, class, yeah,
Speaker 2: oh I do have You're right, no, no, no, I actually
Speaker 2: do have them. That parts I wasn't even thinking about it.
Speaker 2: That part is I do have them, I just haven't
Speaker 2: given them to you.
Speaker 4: Go ahead, So Eric, who has said I understand it's
Speaker 4: more compelling to talk about what if the Celtics lose?
Speaker 4: But are the other talking points for if they win?
Speaker 4: Or is it more of a what missed the cut?
Speaker 2: No, if they win, we'll spend a lot of time
Speaker 2: on it. The I don't and I think we're gonna
Speaker 2: I think leading the TV show with a discussion about
Speaker 2: that today. I don't think they're going to win. And
Speaker 2: I have not been that interested in their meandering walk
Speaker 2: to the finals through three okay teams without their best player.
Speaker 2: I know people are might Celtics fans might not like that. Sorry,
Speaker 2: I just haven't been and so, uh will let's see
Speaker 2: how the series plays out. I promise if they're winning,
Speaker 2: they will get their credit. But right now, I'm just
Speaker 2: not that interesting in it. I'm just not and I
Speaker 2: don't think they're gonna win, all right.
Speaker 4: Next Negative four and two asked who would benefit most
Speaker 4: from a finals MVP, Luca, Kyrie or Tatum.
Speaker 2: Oh, Tatum would benefit the most from it because he
Speaker 2: would then say what more do you want from me? Guys?
Speaker 2: So Tatum would benefit the most from it. But I
Speaker 2: I think from a legacy perspective, it is no Tatum.
Speaker 2: Actually the answers Tatum, because I think Luca gets one eventually.
Speaker 2: Oh we had pit vipers on set. What are the
Speaker 2: odds of that? Wow? Maybe those shades? Well, I mean
Speaker 2: that's unbelievable. Maybe those shades? All right, demontic reed, go
Speaker 2: to one hundred overall question.
Speaker 3: A hunter overall, Batman, bron what a name?
Speaker 4: A question for Nick? What exactly does Lamar? What exactly
Speaker 4: does Lamar need to do to be a top five quarterback?
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know, not every single year of
Speaker 2: the worst game of his season in the playoffs? Sorry, wait,
Speaker 2: what did you say? Is like?
Speaker 3: What did you say?
Speaker 2: Every year of his career. He has had his worst
Speaker 2: game of the season in the playoffs every single year
Speaker 2: of his career. Sorry, I mean he score more than
Speaker 2: ten points in a home conference championship game. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I like Lamar, I root for Lamar. If I'm being honest,
Speaker 2: Do I think he's one of the five best quarterbacks
Speaker 2: in football? I don't. All right, Next last question, Joel Penfield.
Speaker 4: Joel Penfield said, Nick, I need a vibe check on
Speaker 4: your thoughts on the Royals. Big stretch of games coming up.
Speaker 2: Huge stretch. Gotta take two out of three from the Guardians.
Speaker 2: We had lost six of seven. It looked like we
Speaker 2: were gonna be slumping going into the biggest series of
Speaker 2: the year. And then that amazing ninth inning on Sunday
Speaker 2: got us going in the right direction with two run
Speaker 2: comeback against the Padres. Now we got to take two
Speaker 2: out of three against the Guardians and stay within spitting
Speaker 2: distance of the Ale Central. All right, great show, Great job, demons.
Speaker 2: I'll see you guys on Thursday for a finals gambling show.
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