Speaker 1: My guest is Charles Barkley, and we're hanging out at
Speaker 1: the Nineteenth Hole. What else do you need to hear
Speaker 1: about the legend in basketball and broadcasting. His passion for
Speaker 1: golf is well known. You can see his swing made
Speaker 1: fun of on YouTube. But the man has worked hard
Speaker 1: to correct that hitch and mant is he loved golf.
Speaker 1: This is the first, and we hope will be a
Speaker 1: sub series of episodes called the Nineteenth Hole. I'm terrible
Speaker 1: at golf, but I do love the banter and the
Speaker 1: storytelling that goes along with around and especially after around,
Speaker 1: and Charles here is gonna talk about playing with Tiger
Speaker 1: and Michelson and Jordan's and many others. But this being Charles,
Speaker 1: our conversation would also veer off in all sorts of
Speaker 1: fun directions of course, basketball and football, fishing, hunting, TV, sports,
Speaker 1: social media, and a lot more. And of course, this
Speaker 1: being Charles, he is funny, thoughtful, blunt and so generous.
Speaker 1: You'll enjoy this, ladies, gentlemen, Sir Charles Barkley, Well, Charles,
Speaker 1: you talk a lot about golf, and I've heard people
Speaker 1: make fun of you. Want you to know I will
Speaker 1: never make fun of your golf game, because I really suck,
Speaker 1: legitimately suck. But we'll get to that in a minute.
Speaker 1: But how will you describe your relationship with the game
Speaker 1: of golf. It is probably the most important aspect of
Speaker 1: my life, because you know, Chris, it's only a few
Speaker 1: things you can do that get away and relax. I mean,
Speaker 1: because you know, like when you go to the supermarket,
Speaker 1: people want to talk to you. When you go to
Speaker 1: the draft cleaner, people want to talk to you. When
Speaker 1: you go to the golf course, you're out there in
Speaker 1: the middle of big old trees. You're playing with three
Speaker 1: guys who y'all just ras at each other, And it's
Speaker 1: one of the few things that you're life you can
Speaker 1: do just get away from being in the limelight. And
Speaker 1: I never never get tired of playing golf. Like I
Speaker 1: got tired of playing basketball, but I never get tired
Speaker 1: of playing golf. You use you're an example of somebody
Speaker 1: who it's inspiring because you're not the most natural golfer,
Speaker 1: you're not the most gifted golfer. You've had your moments
Speaker 1: of frustration, but you show up man, and everybody says
Speaker 1: you just are relentlessly optimistic. You always show up in
Speaker 1: a good mood and have a good time even if
Speaker 1: the score is not going your way. And that's very
Speaker 1: hard to do. It's pretty rare because I got no
Speaker 1: reason to be upset. I'm on a fIF to seven
Speaker 1: year old you know, you think about this. I am listen,
Speaker 1: you know, and I'm not one of those sentimental type
Speaker 1: people who like, I really mean this to settle man.
Speaker 1: I'm the lucky this dude in the world. You know.
Speaker 1: I'm from a small town in Alabama. I grew up
Speaker 1: with a single mom with three brothers, and grew up
Speaker 1: in the projects. And I was blessed to go to
Speaker 1: a great college Auburn, then sixteen years in the NBA
Speaker 1: and now twenty years on television. I might go my
Speaker 1: whole life and never work. I mean, you know, listen,
Speaker 1: you know you've been in the business probably longer than me.
Speaker 1: There's nothing like sports. I mean, we get paid to
Speaker 1: watch the greatest athletes in the world perform, and I
Speaker 1: get to watch. Going back, I got to watch the
Speaker 1: great Kobe Bryant. You know, I get to watch the
Speaker 1: great Lebron James, and I get paid to do it.
Speaker 1: I'd watch anyway. So when I get downtime. I'm just
Speaker 1: flapping a ball around. And first of all, I ain't
Speaker 1: gonna get on on your podcast A lot to you.
Speaker 1: There are some lot of bases flowing. You know, there
Speaker 1: are some cigars going, and I I am cool with that,
Speaker 1: Like I don't worry, like what, I love to play
Speaker 1: better a d But like, you know, I got this
Speaker 1: joke that always used as really really funny because I said,
Speaker 1: I said, you know, people always make fun of my
Speaker 1: golf game. Yeah, but you know what they're making it
Speaker 1: from at work? You know, Hey, all these people they're
Speaker 1: making fun of my golf game, but you know what
Speaker 1: they're making They're making it from work. They're the death somewhere, right,
Speaker 1: I said, they're at the death and they're working for somebody.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be there eight lousy hours. I'm up be
Speaker 1: on the golf course for four hours with some of
Speaker 1: my friends. And I've been blessed. One thing about being
Speaker 1: in a line, Like I played with the greatest players ever.
Speaker 1: You know, I played with Tiger a lot. I played
Speaker 1: with Phil Milson a lot. You know, I just on
Speaker 1: my bucket list. About a month ago I got a
Speaker 1: chance to play with Gary Player. It was one of
Speaker 1: the greatest days of my life. He's somebody I've always
Speaker 1: admired and respected, and he had heard that I wanted
Speaker 1: to meet him, and we just happened to be in
Speaker 1: the same city together and the golf process. He said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I heard you want to meet Mr. Player. I said,
Speaker 1: I've always wanted to meet him. He says, well, he
Speaker 1: wants to play golf with you. I said, when I
Speaker 1: gotta be there, I said, He said tomorrow, as I'll
Speaker 1: be there. I don't care what I got planning. And
Speaker 1: you know, Chris, when you meet somebody and they're just
Speaker 1: as awesome as you thought they were gonna be. Uh,
Speaker 1: it was so cool for me. Uh. So, like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm always on a good move, man, I ain't got
Speaker 1: no reason to be upset because I have outlived all
Speaker 1: my expectations. Uh, growing up in a small town in Alabama,
Speaker 1: growing up to beat Charles Barkley and never have a
Speaker 1: real job. I'm always in a good move. Your gratitude
Speaker 1: is so authentic, and that's what makes it so beautiful.
Speaker 1: But plenty of people have an outlook on life that's
Speaker 1: healthy like that, but suddenly they shank a ball and
Speaker 1: it all goes out the window. The golf course is
Speaker 1: the place for some people forget how good they have it.
Speaker 1: Play you played. There are plenty of successful people. They
Speaker 1: got no reason to be upset about what direction of
Speaker 1: white ball goes. But there's just something about the experience
Speaker 1: that makes people crazy. I don't have a strong temper
Speaker 1: in real life, but I've thrown a golf club. I
Speaker 1: felt like throwing all the golf clubs in the water.
Speaker 1: So how do you keep from, you know, losing your
Speaker 1: ship out there when you know it's so many people
Speaker 1: around you were doing it well? You know Pain Stewart,
Speaker 1: the late great Pain Stewart saying something to me one
Speaker 1: time at the Olympic. We're playing in Barcelona, Spain, back
Speaker 1: in and I was getting mad. He says, hey, you're
Speaker 1: not good enough to get mad. And I'm like what
Speaker 1: he says, you're not good enough to get mad? He says,
Speaker 1: I can get mad. I do this for a living.
Speaker 1: You're just out here having fun. And I start thinking
Speaker 1: about that, like unless it's your real job. And see
Speaker 1: the one thing I love about Like, I'm not going
Speaker 1: out in abody, I'm not going out with a random strangers,
Speaker 1: like I'm playing with other jobs who are most of
Speaker 1: the time, I'm like when I played with the pro
Speaker 1: is a little bit different. But most of the time
Speaker 1: I'm playing with old hassband jocks and all we talk
Speaker 1: about is too good old days. And we always ever
Speaker 1: said the older I get, the better I was, so
Speaker 1: like I said, I always like, I'm playing with old
Speaker 1: retired jocks and we all wanted life to to to
Speaker 1: jump on Charlie heat. We won. We're winning. I mean,
Speaker 1: so uh, you know, it's been like I don't go
Speaker 1: crazy what I like to play better, of course, but
Speaker 1: like you know, living in Arizona is a little bit
Speaker 1: different because you have to drive a card. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's hard to go. But when I live in Philadelphia
Speaker 1: during the summer, that to me is the epitome of
Speaker 1: what golf is. You're out there those big old trees
Speaker 1: and you're like, man, this is pretty damn good. I'm
Speaker 1: and I love to walk when I played. If you're
Speaker 1: out there and you're like, wow, this is pretty awesome
Speaker 1: that like all these people are working and they got
Speaker 1: stressful lives and you're out here smoking cigars and drinking
Speaker 1: a little bit, and you're like it's pretty cool. No.
Speaker 1: For me, being in nature is that's my church, and
Speaker 1: so I try to remember that. Back when I played,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm some I retired, and nobody's asked me to
Speaker 1: come out of retirement because that's how bad I am.
Speaker 1: But when I was playing a little bit, I was
Speaker 1: fully aware of the nature, the trees. I would take
Speaker 1: it all in. I would try to focus on that.
Speaker 1: If the score wouldn't go on my way, I could
Speaker 1: at least tell myself, you're outside, it's a beautiful place
Speaker 1: around you. Focus on that, and that would that would
Speaker 1: sometimes get me through. I had no right to be
Speaker 1: mad about anything, cause I have no skills in golf,
Speaker 1: and I was able to kind of overcome my temper
Speaker 1: by reminding myself, you're surrounded by beauty, just chilling. A
Speaker 1: lot of people would like to be right here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but also you know I'm around because, like I said,
Speaker 1: people said, what's the most the one thing you missed
Speaker 1: the most about playing? I said, well, the first thing
Speaker 1: he gets a check, let's do let's get that out
Speaker 1: the way. The check is always good. But just being
Speaker 1: around the guys, cracking jokes, giving each other ship, that's
Speaker 1: the best thing about sports. The money is great. The
Speaker 1: famous great. Well when you on a plane, our train
Speaker 1: or a bus, whether like when we we we busted
Speaker 1: d C, we busted New Jersey, we took the train
Speaker 1: to play the Knicks. Are you you get on one
Speaker 1: of those five hour flights when you're going from Philly
Speaker 1: to l A and y'all are giving each other so
Speaker 1: much crap. That's all you miss and the only way
Speaker 1: to do that now, I mean, because they like we
Speaker 1: can go out. Listen, you tell the guys you talk
Speaker 1: to n a job. You don't play basketball once you retire.
Speaker 1: You don't play football once you retire. You don't play
Speaker 1: baseball once you retire. So unless you get together with
Speaker 1: the guys and play golf, or you happen to be
Speaker 1: in the same city, which doesn't happen that often because
Speaker 1: very few people live in the city they played in.
Speaker 1: That a lot of them go back home where they
Speaker 1: grew up to be around family in France when they retire.
Speaker 1: So when you but the only time you get to
Speaker 1: give each other a lot of ship and have a
Speaker 1: blast is when you're on the golf course. That's a
Speaker 1: part of it. I mean, you know, you can give
Speaker 1: the ship for the best seven. I know you can
Speaker 1: take it. You don't have a glass jaw, or you
Speaker 1: to tired a long time ago. Right, So when these
Speaker 1: guys are going at you, did anybody ever get in
Speaker 1: your head and actually just do what they were trying
Speaker 1: to do, which is totally take you out of it
Speaker 1: and your game falls apart? Or or you always been
Speaker 1: resilient when the when the ship starts flying. No, you
Speaker 1: gotta be resilient. Listen. It has nothing to do with golf.
Speaker 1: To be honest with you. If you play on the
Speaker 1: team every day is warfare the locker room every day.
Speaker 1: I mean you think about it. You see, I tell
Speaker 1: you if you see these guys, when you see your family,
Speaker 1: I mean you see these guys. I tell people in
Speaker 1: the NBA, you know, you practice every day or you're
Speaker 1: on a plane, train or bus, and all you do
Speaker 1: is give each other hard time. When you see people
Speaker 1: at their best and at their worst, right, you're you're
Speaker 1: you're running the whole spectrum with these guys. You're living
Speaker 1: the highs and the lows, and you know all their
Speaker 1: weaknesses and you know what what what their great points are? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know you know what gets their go. Uh,
Speaker 1: and listen and a lot of times, you know when
Speaker 1: you have when somebody has had a bad game, it's
Speaker 1: up to you guys to pump them up. That's actually
Speaker 1: what all the laughing and the joking like. First of all,
Speaker 1: if you win, it's an easy train or playing or
Speaker 1: you know whatever. But when you play like Ship or
Speaker 1: a player played like Ship, that's what your brothers are far.
Speaker 1: I mean that, like, that's what like if a guy
Speaker 1: is sitting back and low, no, no, you can't sit
Speaker 1: back to a by yourself. We lost as a team, No,
Speaker 1: you're not gonna sit back and you had a bad game.
Speaker 1: No no, So so that to me, it's the essence
Speaker 1: of sports. Yeah, everybody loves you and pat you on
Speaker 1: the back when things are going good, I don't need
Speaker 1: friends and teammates then. But when I have a shitty game,
Speaker 1: that's what I mean because I already feel bad because
Speaker 1: you let the guys down. But that's when I really
Speaker 1: need those guys like yo. And that's the number one
Speaker 1: thing I learned from Dr Jay. He's like Charles, when
Speaker 1: you're the star on the team, you got to keep
Speaker 1: everybody up. He says. Your job. Your job ain't just
Speaker 1: to go out there and play great. He said, that's
Speaker 1: your first responsibility to pay great, But your second responsibility
Speaker 1: is to make sure number one of those other guys
Speaker 1: feel important because unfortunately, you get all the credit and
Speaker 1: you get all the blames. So when you're getting all
Speaker 1: the credit, you really have to make those guys let
Speaker 1: them know you appreciate them. Because listen, there's always a
Speaker 1: little bit of jealousy. Uh. They like, Charles get all
Speaker 1: the credit. Dr Jay get all the credit. Charles gets
Speaker 1: all the money. Dr Jay gets all the money. It's
Speaker 1: like a guy who plays with Lebron when he played
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, they're like, man, everybody talks about Lebron all
Speaker 1: the time. So it's a double ledged sword. You have
Speaker 1: to really go out of your way to make sure
Speaker 1: those guys feel a part of you. Well, I know,
Speaker 1: when you're on the golf course, you do that because
Speaker 1: you're considered the most fun guy to play with. But
Speaker 1: are you saying all this team sport crap that you
Speaker 1: took makes you totally immune in your current sport, Like
Speaker 1: there's nothing anybody can say when you're lining up a
Speaker 1: tea shot or it's a big money put, or it's
Speaker 1: coming down to it. There's nothing that anybody can say
Speaker 1: that's gonna take you out of your enjoyment or rock
Speaker 1: your world or affect your game at this point. No,
Speaker 1: but some of the greatest lines I've ever heard. Or
Speaker 1: on the golf course, you know, one of the guys,
Speaker 1: this over guy hits the shot, he hits the skinny.
Speaker 1: He said, Oh, that's like chuck skinny. Then everybody in
Speaker 1: the group lab or you're playing with a guy he
Speaker 1: is a really, really fat and you said something, oh,
Speaker 1: just like your wife, he's fat. I mean, I mean
Speaker 1: the way we ride each other and if you get
Speaker 1: the ball, if you dribble it off the t I mean,
Speaker 1: it's so much stuff like after the first of all,
Speaker 1: I can't like most of the stuff we can't even say.
Speaker 1: I mean, people are so politically correct nowadays. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's really unfortunate, you know, in a way because I'm
Speaker 1: a firm believer in which it don't matter what I believe,
Speaker 1: it's just the way it works now. I think intent matters.
Speaker 1: I do. I think intent matters, But unfortunately in our
Speaker 1: business today, intent don't matter. Like there's stuff that I
Speaker 1: would listen, there's no doubt in my mind if we
Speaker 1: put a microphone in the locker room, everybody will be suspended.
Speaker 1: The fire all the time. But unfortunately, uh, time to
Speaker 1: change and stuff that you say in the locker room
Speaker 1: that used to be funny or used to be a joke, Like, man,
Speaker 1: you're gonna get fired or suspended if you said today.
Speaker 1: And like I said, I'm that's sure. That's always a
Speaker 1: good thing because you should listen. Uh, you should be
Speaker 1: able to have fun. But nowadays, man, you have to
Speaker 1: be really careful what you say because time to change,
Speaker 1: and I don't think it's for the better. Well, the
Speaker 1: context is hard to explain, that to the fact that
Speaker 1: people don't wan here about the context. But what you're
Speaker 1: saying is in the golf course, it's an oasis from
Speaker 1: all that what happens out there. It's kind of like
Speaker 1: a safe haven. You can be non politically correct, you
Speaker 1: can break anybody's balls in any kind of way, and
Speaker 1: it's it's understood that in that environment that's okay, and
Speaker 1: that's why you get and that's why you have to
Speaker 1: be careful who you play with. Ye yeah, you have
Speaker 1: to be really careful. If you ever at the end
Speaker 1: of a rounders you ever say wait, some stuff just
Speaker 1: happened out there over the last four hours. I don't
Speaker 1: know if I want that stuff shared, I better go
Speaker 1: tell him. Listen, all this was off the record. You understand,
Speaker 1: no nost of I'm not playing with no reporters. I'm
Speaker 1: only planned with my friends. I don't mean reporters, but
Speaker 1: I mean off the I mean off the record in
Speaker 1: terms they don't they don't want to share that story.
Speaker 1: And you've heard that saying before, because I've had friends
Speaker 1: of mine got screwed. They're like, well, I told the
Speaker 1: guy that was off the record. I'm like, na, man,
Speaker 1: it doesn't work like that. And unfortunately, in this society
Speaker 1: we live in today, so many people or reporters are
Speaker 1: trying to get clickbaited. There's nothing that's off record now.
Speaker 1: I mean, times have changed so much. And listen, you know,
Speaker 1: I don't believe in doing social media. I think it's
Speaker 1: one of the worst things that ever happened to the world,
Speaker 1: because I think it gives everybody the right, you know,
Speaker 1: because the one thing that bothers me. Sports are the
Speaker 1: only job in the whole world. Do we let every
Speaker 1: jackass in the world have an opinion? I mean, sports,
Speaker 1: think about it sports. You can call it to a
Speaker 1: radio show right now anywhere in the country and you
Speaker 1: can listen, no no disrespect. You can be a nurse,
Speaker 1: a plumber, electrician, a lawyer, or anybody and you get
Speaker 1: to say Lamar Jackson sucks. You get to say Nick
Speaker 1: Foles sucks or chalks Barkla, Chris Foler sucks. There's no
Speaker 1: other job in the world that we give you that
Speaker 1: platform divorce your opinion only in sports. That's how crazy
Speaker 1: this whole thing is. There's no other You can't call
Speaker 1: to the doctor's office and say, hey, I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk to the doctor he sucked, and put it on
Speaker 1: the internet or calling to a radio show. That's the
Speaker 1: most interesting aspect of sports to me. But you don't
Speaker 1: seem to bother by people saying that up about you
Speaker 1: because you have put yourself out there. You put yourself
Speaker 1: out there period talking about heavy issues, talking about basketball,
Speaker 1: but even putting yourself on the golf course where you
Speaker 1: know that you don't have a classics swinging in a
Speaker 1: classic game and people are gonna make fun of you,
Speaker 1: and you you just you could care less like what
Speaker 1: anybody says or thinks about you, which I think is
Speaker 1: what's what draws a lot of people to you. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, because you never give them foods that power. Okay,
Speaker 1: you don't like me, that's fine. I'm not gonna give
Speaker 1: you a platform where I do social media and gonna
Speaker 1: read about it. Anybody who thinks everybody liked them, it's
Speaker 1: just an idiot. And it's so funny. You know. I've
Speaker 1: known guys like yourself, I know, I mean, can we
Speaker 1: all travel in the same circles? And I got friends
Speaker 1: in the business going back to Burn and Gary. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, guys like that. I've had dinner with them
Speaker 1: and Joe Buck and guys like that. And you're telling
Speaker 1: me like people actually think we care who wins. Like
Speaker 1: when I'm in Alabama, they're like, I hate Gary and
Speaker 1: Vern I'm like, why do you Gary? N there? I said,
Speaker 1: there two of the nicest guys in the world. First
Speaker 1: of all, if you don't like Burn, you've got something
Speaker 1: wrong on with you. Uh. I feel like, well, they
Speaker 1: hate Alabama and Auburn. I said, really, really, are you serious?
Speaker 1: That's just you guys are just idiots. That's just I
Speaker 1: know Verne pretty well. I don't know Gary that well.
Speaker 1: But they're two great guys. But let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: They don't care who wins. Nobody cares who wins, but
Speaker 1: fans think that because they hear what they want to hear.
Speaker 1: It's like Ernie was doing baseball one year and I
Speaker 1: went to the playoffs and people in in um in Philly,
Speaker 1: uh booing Ernie. I'm like, what they're doing, Arnie. They're like,
Speaker 1: they think you don't like the Phillis. That's just first
Speaker 1: of all, if you brewing Ernie Johnson, you're just an asshole.
Speaker 1: That's Ernie Johnson is the nicest person in the world.
Speaker 1: But this notion that Ernie cares who wins, so you
Speaker 1: have to learn this. You go like, man, I don't
Speaker 1: care who wins the game. You know what I want.
Speaker 1: I want the season to be able so I can
Speaker 1: get to my vacation. That's what I want more than anything.
Speaker 1: I want to cease to be over. Erniest. Go ask
Speaker 1: me who's gonna win. I have to pick somebody, but
Speaker 1: I don't care who wins. But it always makes me laugh,
Speaker 1: like people care that now they think like, well, that
Speaker 1: guy doesn't like my team, that guy doesn't like my school.
Speaker 1: I'm like, God, please stop, please stop. Nobody like cares
Speaker 1: who wins these events. So I kind of figured that, like, okay,
Speaker 1: if you don't like my nuts, and that's fine, I
Speaker 1: kinda get into what I'm trying to defend myself. I've
Speaker 1: had this confedsation with Joe Buck, who's fantastic. I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, He's like, what do you do? Do you do? You?
Speaker 1: You're one of the best to ever do it. This
Speaker 1: notion that you care who wins, it's just Athanine. You're
Speaker 1: just doing your job for fans. They like, oh I
Speaker 1: hear this. No, no, he didn't say that, but that's
Speaker 1: what you want to hear. You know, we we talked
Speaker 1: about this because you share all of the college football
Speaker 1: The passion of the fans is one of the engines
Speaker 1: that makes this thing work. So I understand they view
Speaker 1: it through a lens. I understand they're gonna hear what
Speaker 1: they want to hear, and that their opinion is gonna
Speaker 1: be colored by that. And they think everybody's biased. You
Speaker 1: do a game, you got fans from both sides, and
Speaker 1: you were obviously biased against US. I could hear it
Speaker 1: other team fans say the same thing. You know you're
Speaker 1: doing a good job when you're when you're doing that.
Speaker 1: But I, yeah, that's that's not something you can worry about.
Speaker 1: And I yeah because I've actually I go to the
Speaker 1: Iron Bowl every year, my favorite sport, an event other
Speaker 1: than the Olympics. And I can see be sitting with
Speaker 1: Alabama and arburn fans and they both said those announcements
Speaker 1: hate both of us. I'm like, you guys are just idiots.
Speaker 1: But it goes back like you've been in the business forever.
Speaker 1: I've been in it for twenty years, and like guys,
Speaker 1: we all knew each other. We don't care who wins.
Speaker 1: We're throwing the stats out there. Your defense sucks, We
Speaker 1: got that. We can't get on TV and say your
Speaker 1: defense is good. Well, and we say your defense sucked
Speaker 1: and they sucked. That don't mean we dislike your team,
Speaker 1: but you're right. They hear what they want to hear.
Speaker 1: And it's funny though, Uh it's funny. I always tell
Speaker 1: people fans want to hear two things. My favorite player
Speaker 1: is great and my team is great. If you don't
Speaker 1: say those two things, you're screwed with that fan base.
Speaker 1: I tell people my favorite player, you better tell me
Speaker 1: he's great, and you better tell me my team is good.
Speaker 1: That's like what I'm in New York? Where are you
Speaker 1: at right now? It's always fun to go there because
Speaker 1: the Knicks fans are amazing. Every year you go there,
Speaker 1: they're like, you hate the Knicks. You hate the Knicks, Like,
Speaker 1: what are you talking about? You said they sucked every year.
Speaker 1: I said that stuff, They suck every year. And I said,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, why am I a Knicks hater? If
Speaker 1: y'all suck every year? And I see y'all suck every year,
Speaker 1: why does that make me a hater? But every time
Speaker 1: I go there, they run up at me on the
Speaker 1: street and said, it's act same thing. You hate the Nix.
Speaker 1: You've got credibility of those. Yeah, but it makes you laugh.
Speaker 1: But you were a great player, so you can comment
Speaker 1: on that. I mean, when you watch golf, you don't
Speaker 1: look there. Do you feel the license to criticize a
Speaker 1: player who played badly or choked or whatever. You don't
Speaker 1: really publicly talk about that because you weren't at that level, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, you would never do that. I would never
Speaker 1: do that. But but for the simple fact that that's
Speaker 1: one thing, one thing that I hate about guys on television.
Speaker 1: It drives me crazy on television. One of these guys
Speaker 1: listen to some of my friends too, uh, and it
Speaker 1: drives me crazy when they get on TV. Number One,
Speaker 1: they never played sports, but they'll say that quarterback sucks,
Speaker 1: that picture sucks. Uh, he's not a good wine receiver. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's not a good hockey player. I'm like, are you
Speaker 1: kidding me? Really that you would? And I said, and
Speaker 1: I said, so, I don't want to stick to I
Speaker 1: always stick to basketball. I never talk about other sports.
Speaker 1: Like I'll ask a guy in the NFL about somebody privately,
Speaker 1: or as guy, a boy, a baseball player privately. But
Speaker 1: I'm never gonna get on TV and say, oh, that
Speaker 1: guy is not a good quarterback. Oh you know, you know,
Speaker 1: he's not a good picture. I just don't like that.
Speaker 1: Because number one, anybody will make it to the pros
Speaker 1: is a good player. Are they all Kevin Durant and
Speaker 1: Lebron and Janice? No? But the number ten, eleven, and
Speaker 1: twelve player on the NBA team is a pretty good player.
Speaker 1: You know you mentioned Fortunately my success that would have
Speaker 1: nothing to do with any athletic ability or planning sports
Speaker 1: because I was I was very mediocre athlete. And everything,
Speaker 1: but I'm really inept at golf and you you are
Speaker 1: responsible partly. I'll take most of the blame. You are
Speaker 1: partly responsible for the most embarrassing athletic event in the history.
Speaker 1: Do you do You know where I'm going with this.
Speaker 1: I'm time gonna tell the story. But you played a
Speaker 1: large part in my low point as an athlete among
Speaker 1: all the low points. You know what I'm talking about. No,
Speaker 1: Jimmy V. Celebrity Golf Classic. For the folks who don't
Speaker 1: know you have these. You have these charity events, okay,
Speaker 1: and guys like Charles Jordan was there, She Schefski was there.
Speaker 1: And then you find out who you're gonna play with,
Speaker 1: and so they get a chance to play with Charles,
Speaker 1: these guys who donated a lot of money to the
Speaker 1: cause of fighting cancer. It's a tremendous event in Jimmy
Speaker 1: V's name. They're excited. I get to play with Charles,
Speaker 1: Coach k Michael. They get to play with me. Not
Speaker 1: as excited, not as excited, but they try to put
Speaker 1: on a brave face so we're gonna have a good time.
Speaker 1: So I know they're not that that pumped to play
Speaker 1: with me, and I'm not very good, so I just
Speaker 1: gotta be a nice guy. So we're out there playing
Speaker 1: the Jimmy V Classic. I got me a very modest
Speaker 1: sized gallery. First of all, I'm not good, so I
Speaker 1: get nervous. I just try not to hit somebody with
Speaker 1: the ball. That for me is like what makes me
Speaker 1: nervous is that these celebrity just don't hit somebody with
Speaker 1: the ball. And so I'm out there worried about all
Speaker 1: that stuff, and I see your group, massive gallery following you,
Speaker 1: and your green is near our tea box. You're laughing
Speaker 1: because you know what's coming. So all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: you you put out and you get the idea, I guess,
Speaker 1: to bring your entire group over to my tea box.
Speaker 1: What made you want to do that? Well, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm just trying to have fun. Man. Yeah, let me
Speaker 1: tell you something number one, especially something like that, when
Speaker 1: you raise all that money, that's all that matters. Like,
Speaker 1: first of all, let me give you a pull up
Speaker 1: piece of advice. What's she hit? Like the first ten people,
Speaker 1: it just becomes, oh, you've not hit ten people. You've
Speaker 1: hit ten people on the golf course. I knocked the
Speaker 1: hell out of many people. It's just like, hey, it's
Speaker 1: just like resting your teeth. Just just do it every day.
Speaker 1: Like the first few times. Well, listen, I will agree
Speaker 1: with you. The first time you hit somebody's nerve racking,
Speaker 1: the second, the third time, they should know better to
Speaker 1: get the hands not to wait. Well, they didn't know
Speaker 1: better for me. So I'm over here and I'm you know,
Speaker 1: I haven't hit a horrendous tea shot, but there's nothing
Speaker 1: to write home by all of a sudden, here comes Charles,
Speaker 1: Here comes hundreds of people. Hundreds of people crowd around
Speaker 1: the tea box. You started giving me ship. I don't
Speaker 1: remember what you said, but you did a good job
Speaker 1: of getting in my head, which wasn't very difficult because
Speaker 1: I had no confidence. And so I'm over the ball
Speaker 1: and I'm thinking, like, all right, don't miss. First of all,
Speaker 1: don't swing and miss. But I did, like the next
Speaker 1: worst thing. I closed the club place. I scald it.
Speaker 1: It went like a foot off the ground over here
Speaker 1: to the left. You fell down on the ground. Your
Speaker 1: gallery falls down on the ground. Everybody has My group's mortified.
Speaker 1: My girl, oh my god, our guy here just choked.
Speaker 1: Once in a lifetime, choke you guys have good fun,
Speaker 1: and I know walking away, it's gonna be a long
Speaker 1: round with my guys for the rest of the cause
Speaker 1: they're gonna be afraid to say something. They're gonna try
Speaker 1: to and I gotta play it off. I gotta laugh.
Speaker 1: You're dying inside, but I gotta laugh. And I know
Speaker 1: that everybody that you brought over there their takeaway from
Speaker 1: the Gimmy Pho goals Fowler choked the worst, the worst
Speaker 1: golf shout I've ever seen. I think out and spread
Speaker 1: the word about that. So thanks, thanks for bringing your
Speaker 1: gallery over and making me choke. We've all too, But hey,
Speaker 1: I think you were coming pretty good. You've had a
Speaker 1: good run, but not a golf man, i'd say, I
Speaker 1: I I just I'm gonna get back into it because
Speaker 1: living in Miami you have too many opportunities. But I just,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know how five hours out there,
Speaker 1: so just it's a long time to not have fun.
Speaker 1: So I I need we gotta play together. You gotta
Speaker 1: get get back put the fun back in it. Because
Speaker 1: everybody plays golf with you comes away saying he's the
Speaker 1: most fun. Nobody ever has a bad round playing with you,
Speaker 1: So what you. First of all, the first thing you
Speaker 1: need to do it just take some lessons. That's probably
Speaker 1: the biggest mistake I made from the beginning is not
Speaker 1: taking the lessons. And first of all, you got the
Speaker 1: right you're the right height for golf. I got one
Speaker 1: thing I got. I got the right height. Hey, so
Speaker 1: listen one thing that pisces me off about golf. They're
Speaker 1: all between five seven and five nine five ten, like
Speaker 1: the d J field Ernie. You can name the guys
Speaker 1: that over six ft tall. That's like when I used
Speaker 1: to play with Tiger, people be like, yo, man, how
Speaker 1: tall is Tiger? Like six six two that's just like
Speaker 1: five ten. They're like, why he looks so much tall
Speaker 1: on those other guys. I thought the rest of them
Speaker 1: like five seven, five eight, and he looks taller because
Speaker 1: he's slender. But I just only like five team. But
Speaker 1: I could say I've only played with three or four
Speaker 1: guys in thirty years that's over six ft tall. I
Speaker 1: mean the first time. I mean, but not non basketball players.
Speaker 1: Do you play with plenty of teammates? Yeah, you play
Speaker 1: I know you used to play with like uh yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah I know that. Yeah. So I'm playing for the
Speaker 1: Suns and one of our dances name is Amy, and
Speaker 1: she was awesome. She was sweet, and we see each other.
Speaker 1: She's like so when she gets to know me a
Speaker 1: little bit, she's like, hey, i'd like you to play
Speaker 1: golf with my boyfriend one day. And I'm like okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: okay whatever. And I'm like hey, okay. This goes on
Speaker 1: for a few months and she's like, are you ever
Speaker 1: gonna play golf with my boyfriend. I'm like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: I played with him sometime. And finally, after about three
Speaker 1: or four months, she said, chose, are you ever gonna
Speaker 1: play golf with my boyfriend? I said, you know what, yeah, Amy,
Speaker 1: because you're the sweetest girl. You're awesome. She's one of
Speaker 1: our dancers. As you sweet, she says. And I said,
Speaker 1: what's his name? He said Phil Michlson. I said what
Speaker 1: I said why? I said, wait, your boyfriend is Phil Mickelson.
Speaker 1: She says yeah. I said, Amy, you should have started
Speaker 1: that conversation like three of months ago telling me his
Speaker 1: last name. I said, it would be an honor and
Speaker 1: privilege to play with Field Michelson. You just told me
Speaker 1: his first name. I thought, even just something random or
Speaker 1: dude just filed from Phoenix. Yeah. Yeah, Like that's exactly right,
Speaker 1: like like one of those callings show, Hey it's failed
Speaker 1: from Phoenix. Hey. So after about four months she says, yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta play with my boyfriend Phil Mickelson. I'm like
Speaker 1: what I said, Amy, I know who film mism in.
Speaker 1: I'm a golf junkie, as you've been to. I thought
Speaker 1: it was something random dude named Phil. If you have
Speaker 1: to til the field to play golf? When I first
Speaker 1: got traded here, he's awesome. Did you do you elevate
Speaker 1: your game when you play with those guys? Did you
Speaker 1: play better or worse? What do you play? Do you
Speaker 1: play better or worse when you play with a golf legend?
Speaker 1: Like it's it's very nerve racking. Yeah, and well this
Speaker 1: Phil Tiger. I played last week with Bob Tway and
Speaker 1: Willie Wood, guys who are terrific players on the senior Tour,
Speaker 1: and I was nervous. Um. You know. I talked to
Speaker 1: Grant Hell he lives down there with Adam Scott and
Speaker 1: Justin Rose, and he was saying we were talking about it.
Speaker 1: He's like, yeah, man, I could barely take the club back.
Speaker 1: I do I'm playing with a hundred crows, and every
Speaker 1: time I played with one, I'm just as nervous I
Speaker 1: was playing with him the first time. It's the weirdest thing.
Speaker 1: So that goes back to your point earlier. You're talking
Speaker 1: about the Jimmy v Hey every listen, I say, I'm
Speaker 1: fifty seven years old now and I'm played with a
Speaker 1: hundred pros. But every time I played with a great player.
Speaker 1: But even when I played with Gary Player recently, I
Speaker 1: could barely take that thing back. I mean, I was
Speaker 1: so nervous, but it was awesome. But but the one
Speaker 1: but see, it just goes to show you though, when
Speaker 1: you watch a pro play, it's something special. When you
Speaker 1: watch a real pro, it's beautiful to watch. Uh. And
Speaker 1: I enjoy it, even though I get nervous, I really
Speaker 1: enjoy it. Yeah, I played with Ricky Fowler. We we
Speaker 1: joke and he's not a distant cousin. But I know
Speaker 1: what you're saying. Is it only golf pros that makes
Speaker 1: you nervous? Can you play with a lot of famous people?
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't know if you play with presidents,
Speaker 1: but certainly actors and all kinds of super successful people
Speaker 1: that doesn't freak you out. It's just the guys who
Speaker 1: are at the top of the game of golf. No,
Speaker 1: I think I think the key to me is the gallery,
Speaker 1: like when there's people standing well, because I get a
Speaker 1: good gallery, especially like in Lake Tahoe. To me, that's
Speaker 1: one's nerve wracking when I got a gallery. And I
Speaker 1: was joking with you earlier about once you hit a
Speaker 1: few people would become normal. Nah, every time you're play
Speaker 1: in front of crowds and they're standing right there, Uh,
Speaker 1: it is nerve racking. Uh. You just don't want to
Speaker 1: hit anybody because it's scary when you hit somebody, because
Speaker 1: I see I'd hate to hit somebody for real, I mean,
Speaker 1: like real serious. But it's still very nerve wracking. When
Speaker 1: there's a gallery, that's when I probably get the most nervous. Now,
Speaker 1: how come for so many people and ever, I'm not
Speaker 1: competitive in this way. I'm happy to play around without gambling,
Speaker 1: without money on the line, But it's such a huge
Speaker 1: part of every round for a lot of people. Your
Speaker 1: teammates ex guys and the Suns used to talk about
Speaker 1: Dan Marley, thunder Dan and Joe Klanto about They called
Speaker 1: you eight TM because you were just it was just
Speaker 1: money withdraw all time when they played with Charles. I
Speaker 1: know that that's the kind of things they give you
Speaker 1: crap for. But is that a part of a Charles
Speaker 1: Berkeley around all the time, to give and to take
Speaker 1: and having a little something on the line and make
Speaker 1: it interesting. Yeah, But but the kid is number one.
Speaker 1: Number one. I just like to gamble, number one. Let's
Speaker 1: get it out the way. I think. I just love
Speaker 1: I love to gamble, but I think it's just fun.
Speaker 1: The key, though, is you have to bet within your means,
Speaker 1: Like you have to know that you suck at golf
Speaker 1: and you can't be bedding like I still play a
Speaker 1: thousand dollars a whole because you're probably gonna lose a
Speaker 1: lot of holes. But to play for a whole, maybe listen,
Speaker 1: even if you play a hundred dollars a whole, that's
Speaker 1: only eight hundred dollars if you if that happenstands you
Speaker 1: lost every hole. But I think it makes you compete better.
Speaker 1: I think it makes you concentrate better. Uh So I
Speaker 1: like to put a little cash on the line. I
Speaker 1: think that just at first of all, I just think
Speaker 1: it makes it more fun and entertaining, because when you
Speaker 1: get money from a friend, there's no better feeling, none
Speaker 1: like you like even if you beat them by the score,
Speaker 1: that's not the same. It's when you get some money
Speaker 1: from a friend. There's nothing better than that. But they
Speaker 1: would always joke that even if the odds were against you,
Speaker 1: you know you're playing against better players, you know you're
Speaker 1: likely to lose money if you're playing stroke play. You
Speaker 1: didn't want that handicap, you didn't want that advantage. You
Speaker 1: always backed yourself. You always believe in yourself, even though
Speaker 1: you were the huge under dog going into this golf match. Well,
Speaker 1: that goes back to what I was saying earlier. You
Speaker 1: first of all, I bet. I I bet on my golf.
Speaker 1: Like I'm Charles Barker the basketball player. I got some
Speaker 1: pretty confidence. That's one of the keys you have to learn.
Speaker 1: As I've gotten older, I'm getting my shots now. At
Speaker 1: the time, I was Chard's Barker the basketball players. So
Speaker 1: I have supreme confidence in myself. Unfortunately, it doesn't translate.
Speaker 1: You can think you a hell of a basketball player,
Speaker 1: that does not translate into being the hell of a golfer.
Speaker 1: So listen, I'm taking my strokes. Now my egos gone,
Speaker 1: My egos way going out of every pound that I got,
Speaker 1: my ego is less and less. That's part of maturity. Man.
Speaker 1: You mentioned basketball players. You know a lot of X
Speaker 1: hockey players baseball players because there's the connection with the
Speaker 1: golf club to the hockey stick of the baseball bat.
Speaker 1: Find it more of a natural thing. A lot of
Speaker 1: tennis players of sport I cover are pretty good golfers. Now,
Speaker 1: basketball doesn't seem to have the same translation of skills.
Speaker 1: As you point out, it's not an advantage to be taller,
Speaker 1: so there aren't as many excellent golfers who are former
Speaker 1: basketball players? Who who are the guys who are who
Speaker 1: are who's on the All Star team for that? And
Speaker 1: maybe even like active players. I know Steph Curry is
Speaker 1: pretty good golfer. Who do you think the best active
Speaker 1: NBA players and the best pass ing b a great
Speaker 1: since terms of golf, Well, Steph Curve is probably the
Speaker 1: best NBA player today on the golf course. Uh, you
Speaker 1: got Ray Allen, He's really good. Bill Lambier was really great.
Speaker 1: I haven't seen Bill in a long time, but Bill
Speaker 1: was really at six ten. Huh wow, that's impressive. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: but he's one of those guys who grew up in
Speaker 1: the country club, so he's been playing prior to the longest.
Speaker 1: Michael is a good player, but he's streaky because he
Speaker 1: got a long, long swing. But he's really streaky because listen,
Speaker 1: he's six six. So, like I say, the longer your
Speaker 1: swing is, the more room for era there is. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I think Steph Curry Dell Curry is pretty good also.
Speaker 1: But you go to these tournaments and you know, you
Speaker 1: see these baseball players. I mean, it's obvious how that
Speaker 1: would translate. You know, if you can see, if you
Speaker 1: can hit something come at you a hundred miles an hour,
Speaker 1: you ought to be able to hit something on a
Speaker 1: t that's still hockey the same thing. So you know,
Speaker 1: I feel like those guys have an edge. We get
Speaker 1: you go to Nevada and you're playing the pro ams
Speaker 1: and things like that. Yeah, I think the hockey players
Speaker 1: are perfect example. There are a lot of really good
Speaker 1: hockey players because of the slap shots and things like that.
Speaker 1: But the thing I've noticed is the baseball pitchers. They're terrific.
Speaker 1: I mean, they only working one day, it seems like
Speaker 1: they're playing golf those other four days. So I think
Speaker 1: if something, because you got to understand something, like you
Speaker 1: got all that free time basketball, we probably had the
Speaker 1: less amount of free time because even when you're not
Speaker 1: even when it's not basketball season, you're actually still playing basketball,
Speaker 1: like you're playing during the summer pick up game. You're
Speaker 1: not going to play golf. I mean, I've never touched
Speaker 1: the golf club. I don't like seven years old. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, and most of the guys they didn't play
Speaker 1: golf like growing up because like I said, during the summer,
Speaker 1: all you do is play basketball. You know, you take
Speaker 1: it takes a long time. And I always get a
Speaker 1: little suspicious if if I see somebody, like a regular
Speaker 1: job person who's good at golf. Either they're very talented
Speaker 1: or they're just spend a lot of time in the
Speaker 1: golf course. I'm suspicious of that. How come? How come
Speaker 1: you can be that good but it takes four hours
Speaker 1: to play around a golf and you got a regular life,
Speaker 1: maybe you've got a family, and yet you're still that good.
Speaker 1: You must be. You must be seeking away and putting
Speaker 1: a whole lot of energy on the golf course. If
Speaker 1: my college basketball coach is a good golfer. I know
Speaker 1: my team sucks. I know my team sucks. And that's like,
Speaker 1: what about your lawyer? What about your what about your
Speaker 1: Yeah you're what about the guy handling your money? Yeah,
Speaker 1: my facily. If my financial advis is good at golf,
Speaker 1: I want another one. He's spending too much time on
Speaker 1: the golf course. Yeah, listen, And I'm saying this as
Speaker 1: a joke, but I'm kind of being serious. I think
Speaker 1: you can only be really really good at one thing
Speaker 1: in life. Like if you're a great basketball player, you
Speaker 1: can be a good golfer, but you can't be a
Speaker 1: great like you can't play on the tour. Uh. I
Speaker 1: don't want anybody who's great at something to be like, oh,
Speaker 1: it's second thing because it takes a long time. What
Speaker 1: about Bo Jackson? You you're you can be an athlete
Speaker 1: in two sports? You mean you don't think like Bo
Speaker 1: Jackson was a great football player and some would say
Speaker 1: a great baseball player. Um, I hear what you're saying.
Speaker 1: But he's not really a regular person, you know, like
Speaker 1: Jim Brown. You know, listen, listen. One of the great
Speaker 1: joys of my life was going to college with both
Speaker 1: Jackson I tell people this. Watching that man play football
Speaker 1: and baseball in college was one of the greatest things
Speaker 1: in my life. Uh. To get to see that every weekend,
Speaker 1: up close and personal. We stayed in the same dorm.
Speaker 1: I consider him a great friend of mine. But to
Speaker 1: see you see, Boat was unique by the way. Uh
Speaker 1: he can. He doesn't like golf. Boat wants to hunt.
Speaker 1: Boa wants to hunt. Uh. We played golf a few times.
Speaker 1: He would prefer to hunt. You can fit. You like
Speaker 1: to fish, you can fish with him. I suppose right,
Speaker 1: you're a big fisherman as well. I love the fish.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know you talk about golf. I mean
Speaker 1: golf and fish the only two things you can do
Speaker 1: when you get old. I mean, that's the only two
Speaker 1: things you can do. And I love doing both of them.
Speaker 1: But you know, Carmelon and Boat are people who hunt
Speaker 1: more than anything in the world. I've never been hunting,
Speaker 1: and I never have the inclination to go hunting, to
Speaker 1: be honest with you, But those two guys, man, they
Speaker 1: just want to hunt every day. I don't have the
Speaker 1: patience or I probably even the talent. I'd be scared
Speaker 1: to walking around with a gun, bowls, a bow and
Speaker 1: arrow guy, which is even more impressed than a gun.
Speaker 1: But I just have never had the patience. I mean,
Speaker 1: first of all, who wants to get up early in
Speaker 1: the morning to go live in the woods. That's just stupid.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna do that. I got friends who hunt.
Speaker 1: They like leave like three or four in the morning.
Speaker 1: They can get to that. I don't forget what they
Speaker 1: call that little bunk house thing, and they just wait
Speaker 1: for deer to walk back. Who wants to do something
Speaker 1: stupid and the hide there? Yeah, Well, fishing takes patience.
Speaker 1: Golf takes patience. I mean, these are things that are
Speaker 1: not exactly unfolding at rocket speed. Man. I mean you
Speaker 1: have to have patients, I think to be successful in
Speaker 1: both of those things. Well, I think the fishing is
Speaker 1: just to me though. They're just a way to get away,
Speaker 1: like I'm always with my friends, like I said, because
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna go out and meet three random strangers
Speaker 1: on the golf course and go play with him. Because
Speaker 1: number one, I told you probably half the stuff I'd
Speaker 1: be saying would be inappropriate, uh number one. But I
Speaker 1: just I want to I want to have fun with
Speaker 1: my friends, and these guys have something in coming with me,
Speaker 1: like like if me and you played together, I say
Speaker 1: on one whole, like, who's the best player you ever
Speaker 1: seen Chris play in person? Uh? Then I say that
Speaker 1: like a few home later, what's the best sporting event
Speaker 1: you have a cover? I mean that's the things like
Speaker 1: when I'm playing with self Jenner, who's a great friend
Speaker 1: of man as a man, who's the best running back
Speaker 1: you had to tackle? And then I'd say like a
Speaker 1: couple of like who's the best player? He like, the
Speaker 1: best player you play? But he said, you'll say like
Speaker 1: Reggie White was like like, so I love picking my
Speaker 1: friends brains, Like I got a great friend Roy Green.
Speaker 1: He was like, we'll we'll be watching football. He says, Man,
Speaker 1: we'll be talking. He said, Man, that reminds me of
Speaker 1: Lawrence Taylor. I say, what what what? What does that mean?
Speaker 1: He says, well, Lawrence Taylor is the only reason before
Speaker 1: Lawrence Taylor came into the league, no running back ever chipped.
Speaker 1: He says. The woman can't block one one guy couldn't
Speaker 1: blond block Lawrence Taylor. He says, hey, running back hit
Speaker 1: him a little bit. Then they and then they started
Speaker 1: calling to chip the tight end used to always go
Speaker 1: out and catch balls like no, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: no guy can block this. Dude. Hey, hey, have to
Speaker 1: have the tight end, stay in and block Lawrence Taylor.
Speaker 1: I mean stuff like that. Just like, are you serious?
Speaker 1: He said, yeah, Lawrence Taylor bait. Everybody changed that. So
Speaker 1: these are these are great golf These are golf course conversations.
Speaker 1: That right, You're having these great talks in between hitting
Speaker 1: the shot. That's awesome. That's right. And do I said, like, well,
Speaker 1: who who y'all like watching today? They're like, yo, man,
Speaker 1: that dude Aaron Donald khalil Mack, like those bowls of brothers. Hey,
Speaker 1: I don't know what the boats of the family did, man,
Speaker 1: but the boss did it right. I gotta get them
Speaker 1: both of boys and credit. I don't know what mom
Speaker 1: and dad botha were doing or whatever they did. They
Speaker 1: got a little generational little soldiers. So you you you
Speaker 1: like you like the pass rushers. That's where your I
Speaker 1: go to the pass rushers to answer your question, since
Speaker 1: we might not play golf. Barry Sanders best player I
Speaker 1: ever saw in person, and my favorite events. It's a
Speaker 1: tie between the Rose Bowl and Wimbledon finals. So those
Speaker 1: are those are those are the answers. But I love
Speaker 1: the fact that you have these rounds and golf and
Speaker 1: it becomes like a like a freewheeling kind of off
Speaker 1: the record, non PC talk show. But you're just throwing
Speaker 1: opinions out there and hearing stories because I like, because
Speaker 1: I want to know who's great and other sports, I
Speaker 1: really do you know, uh, you know, like when I
Speaker 1: a few years ago it was on my bucket list
Speaker 1: to go to Wimblton. I went over. They ain't got
Speaker 1: a chance to see Roger Federer and Serena Plate. I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm good. Like I've been to Womanton one time in
Speaker 1: my life. I sue two of the greatest to ever
Speaker 1: do it. I'm cool with that, But like I want
Speaker 1: to know, like one of my football friends Tim, who's
Speaker 1: great today, Because sometimes they say stuff to me like
Speaker 1: I said, what happened? Then they're like this food ran
Speaker 1: the wrong route. You know, somebody at home like why
Speaker 1: that quarterback keep throwing the interception? And they'll tell me like, no, man,
Speaker 1: that's not what happened. That was a hot read. The
Speaker 1: wide receiver screwed that up and he ran the wrong route.
Speaker 1: Like I think that stuff is invaluable. I mean, like,
Speaker 1: and I love when guys get on TV they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's not on the quarterback. I know he threw the interception,
Speaker 1: but the guy ran the wrong route. Uh. When I
Speaker 1: was watching the game last night, he says, you know,
Speaker 1: the guy didn't run the right route that he that ball.
Speaker 1: Brian Greece said he shooped, threw that ball to somebody else.
Speaker 1: He says he made up his mind and fans he
Speaker 1: didn't read to read. And so I love learning about
Speaker 1: every other sports. I don't want to be one of
Speaker 1: those dumb fans like, yo, man, why does quarterback keep
Speaker 1: throwing interceptions? No, it wasn't the quarterback's fault. You uh,
Speaker 1: were the original guest picker in College Game Day and
Speaker 1: you go to af you go to a Knoxville Tennessee
Speaker 1: represent Auburn. We had never had anybody come on the
Speaker 1: show as a guest and pick games. You out there
Speaker 1: with the jersey on those are that was a really
Speaker 1: good UM Auburn team, And you predicted they would put
Speaker 1: a foot up Tennessee's asked that day, and they actually
Speaker 1: went out and pretty pretty much did that. Um they
Speaker 1: had Ry Brown, you know, so you know, I noticed
Speaker 1: some stuff. When I go to games, I look at
Speaker 1: the players bodies. So when I was down there looking
Speaker 1: at the players before the game, I'm like, man, but
Speaker 1: twice as big as these little dudes, Tennessee guy. And
Speaker 1: I like what Coach Saban has had me speak to
Speaker 1: his team. I think like three times, and man, they
Speaker 1: might have the best week coach. He's going to Georgia now,
Speaker 1: but man, they like I tell people, man, big and strong,
Speaker 1: it's tough to beat. And when I was walking on
Speaker 1: that field beforehand, I'm like, I'm gonna kill these little dudes.
Speaker 1: These Tennessee players said, hey, that's a train coming, they
Speaker 1: better get off the track. I remember what I said,
Speaker 1: and I'm saying, like, no, Tennessee. I know they're playing
Speaker 1: at home, but these little dudes ain't gonna be able
Speaker 1: to start running Brown and Cadillac and those guys, they're
Speaker 1: just gonna run over them. Then they just blessed them.
Speaker 1: They did. That was that was a memorable night. You
Speaker 1: You made the bold call. Vallos fans didn't like it,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing they can say. When an went, I
Speaker 1: hadn't did what you said they were gonna do. Hey,
Speaker 1: before we go here. So you talked about the great
Speaker 1: conversations during a round of golf the company. It's a
Speaker 1: tough question, but was there around for you that sticks
Speaker 1: out above all the others where everything is just perfect?
Speaker 1: How you were playing, where you were, who were you
Speaker 1: with maybe one money at the end, all of it
Speaker 1: just kind of came together. You think this is the
Speaker 1: perfect round. It can't get any better than this. I
Speaker 1: think I shot seventy one time on of course in
Speaker 1: Kentucky and Wants celebrity tournament. That was probably the highlight
Speaker 1: for me personally. But to answer your question, I think
Speaker 1: Tiger is the greatest golfer who ever lived. I think
Speaker 1: no disrespect to Jack Nicholas, who is an amazing person
Speaker 1: and great and the great golf in his own right.
Speaker 1: But I think because of the competition, the equipment. I
Speaker 1: think the competition has just gotten better over the years,
Speaker 1: as you can see, like the reason that why no
Speaker 1: we won every Royder Cup for a hundred years and
Speaker 1: now it's like a toss up because they just got
Speaker 1: better players in other countries and better equipment. And when
Speaker 1: I played with Tiger, it was always an honor and
Speaker 1: a privilege. Um the same thing with Field, but to
Speaker 1: say that I played what, in my opinion, is the
Speaker 1: greatest golfer ever, it was pretty surreal. Uh. And I
Speaker 1: told I told people. I said, guys, I don't played
Speaker 1: with a lot of people, but I saw some stuff
Speaker 1: today because I ain't never seen before. I said, his
Speaker 1: ball makes a different sound when it comes off the
Speaker 1: club face. And I said, and this before he I
Speaker 1: don't even think he had won a major at the time.
Speaker 1: That's how for this go back? And I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is this dude here? Uh, Like I said, and I
Speaker 1: don't played with Field quite a bit. Tom Lehman a
Speaker 1: bunch of pros in Phoenix, and I'm playing a bunch
Speaker 1: of pro am. But when I played with Tiger for
Speaker 1: the first few times, I was like, Damn, this kid
Speaker 1: here is ridiculous. So that was probably the coolest moment
Speaker 1: for me. And then obviously after he'd want a bunch
Speaker 1: of majors to play with him, I was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: this is this is the Michael Jordan's Dwayne Gretzky Like,
Speaker 1: there have very few players who you're like, oh, they're
Speaker 1: the best of what they ever did. So I think
Speaker 1: Wayne Gretzky is like that. I think Michael was like that.
Speaker 1: No disrespect to Kobe or Lebron or Jack Nicholas, but
Speaker 1: I think Tiger is the best I've ever seen, and
Speaker 1: it was an honor the periods to play with him.
Speaker 1: That's the beautiful thing about golf though, right Charles. You
Speaker 1: can't play hockey with Wayne Gretzky. You can't. You got
Speaker 1: a box with Ali, You can't be in a football
Speaker 1: field with with a Brady. You could. You could get
Speaker 1: in the tennis court with Federal, but it wouldn't be
Speaker 1: the same. But you can't play golf. You're doing your
Speaker 1: thing and he's doing his a game right alongside you,
Speaker 1: and you get a chance to have that a ringside
Speaker 1: seat for that. That's really kind of unique to golf.
Speaker 1: That's a very cool thing. I know you realize how
Speaker 1: blessed you are to have all those experiences, but you
Speaker 1: probably sat around and talked with him after. Because the
Speaker 1: last thing I want to hit on is how people
Speaker 1: love to talk about golf almost as much you'd love
Speaker 1: to play it. And I had a chance one time
Speaker 1: at the Jimmy v. You were there, Michael was there,
Speaker 1: Quinn Buckner was there, Digger and I was just to
Speaker 1: fly on the wall taking this all in as you
Speaker 1: guys kind of went around and broke balls and told stories.
Speaker 1: The cigars were going, you mentioned the beverages. It was
Speaker 1: all happening, and I was thinking golf made it happen.
Speaker 1: But it's just a platform for guys to get together
Speaker 1: and share those kind of moments. And I'm sure that
Speaker 1: after the rounds you've had some some of those memorable
Speaker 1: times and and bonding friendships, just where the round of
Speaker 1: golf sets it up and then boom you have that
Speaker 1: guy's time. Well that goes back to what I was
Speaker 1: kind of, you know, talking about the our whole conversation,
Speaker 1: like when you get together with these guys and first
Speaker 1: of all you got is the old days. All you
Speaker 1: got is the old days, and we've been so lucky
Speaker 1: and blessed. I played against Michael Jordan's prime. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: I played against Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, all those
Speaker 1: guys in their prime. And now you know, when you
Speaker 1: get together with those guys, all you talk about is
Speaker 1: the good old days. And golf is the catalyst. I mean,
Speaker 1: golf is one of the few sports well let me
Speaker 1: phrase it, golf is the only sport you can play
Speaker 1: when you get older. Golf is the only spot. Like
Speaker 1: some guys might go out and try to play tennis,
Speaker 1: but golf, man, you can ask to go out and
Speaker 1: have fun. Like I said, You're gonna have a few beers,
Speaker 1: you can smoke some cigars, you can talk trash, and
Speaker 1: then it's just like you away from stress. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: there's nothing going on. You're like, you just have a
Speaker 1: window where you can just have fun and then when
Speaker 1: it's over, hopefully you want some money and hit some
Speaker 1: good shots. Golf is the only thing you can do
Speaker 1: that with. I mean, we can't go out and play basketball.
Speaker 1: A football player can't go out and play football. A
Speaker 1: baseball player, you know, a great Roger Clemens can't go
Speaker 1: out and pitch right now, you know. But you know
Speaker 1: what when we get together, like that's like when I'm
Speaker 1: in Lake Tahoe when Roger Clemens comes saying hello to me.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen this year, this year it was Patrick Mahomes
Speaker 1: and Travis Kelsey. I played golf with those guys. I
Speaker 1: played golf with Mmy m Smith. Like, not only do
Speaker 1: you get a chance to talk to those guys, but
Speaker 1: you get a chance to play golf with him, and
Speaker 1: you can't beat that. I will defend my tennis players.
Speaker 1: You can a tennis until you're old. You can have
Speaker 1: a lot of fun with it. You cannot drink beers
Speaker 1: and smokes cigars while playing tennis, so there is a
Speaker 1: major difference that doesn't work on a tennis s coore
Speaker 1: And yeah, but let me tell you something, Hey, old
Speaker 1: basketball players and football player don't want to be running
Speaker 1: around though. I hear you, I hear your golf is
Speaker 1: unique that way. Hey man, you've been so generous with
Speaker 1: your time. This has been a blast, as I knew
Speaker 1: it would be. Love hearing your stories and your wisdom
Speaker 1: and your gratitude and all that stuff, and massive respect
Speaker 1: for what you do. Uh at T n T you got.
Speaker 1: You guys are the gold standard and we appreciate it.
Speaker 1: And and you've almost inspired me to unretired to get
Speaker 1: the Cubs back out. And I need to work in
Speaker 1: the dark, away from everything, get my game back together
Speaker 1: and then uh maybe unveil it and unretired because it's
Speaker 1: been so much fun talking to you. Hey, I want
Speaker 1: to thank you for having me continue success. Uh listen,
Speaker 1: if you ever need me again, just reach out and uh,
Speaker 1: thanks for having me. You're the best Charals. I appreciate it, man.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.
Speaker 1: Charles is unique. I love the man and you heard him.
Speaker 1: You heard him offer. So maybe we'll do this again
Speaker 1: sometime down the line. But we thought this would be
Speaker 1: a great way to end our first series of episodes.
Speaker 1: Really appreciate all the feedback. We're gonna take a brief
Speaker 1: hiatus and then come back with more episodes on compelling
Speaker 1: topics with really fun, interesting guests. We'd appreciate it if
Speaker 1: you'd rate and review the podcast, and of course subscribe.
Speaker 1: Many thanks to my co executive producer Jennifer Dempster for
Speaker 1: her numerous invaluable contributions, and to our producer Jason Whitehelt.
Speaker 1: Stay well, we'll talk to you soon.