Speaker 1: Welcome to the Greatest a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Welcome to another episode of the Greatest Christmas Edition. I'm
Speaker 1: one of your hosts, C J. Toldano, and I'm joined
Speaker 1: here by my lovely wife and co host Megan Gaily.
Speaker 1: Hi everybody, there's a lot of energy I feel. I
Speaker 1: feel like that's that's five pm coffee. That sounds um
Speaker 1: good for the podcast and bad for everything else. Um no, no,
Speaker 1: no, no no, all right, well you're gonna get us sued
Speaker 1: Um not if I'm just doing my own little voice. Listen.
Speaker 1: I know John Williams has people and he listened to
Speaker 1: John Williams. People listen to sports podcast making sure. Okay,
Speaker 1: isn't there like a fair use one that I can
Speaker 1: do jingle that's got to be out in the Library
Speaker 1: of Congress. Yeah, Library of Congress. Um, it is Christmas time,
Speaker 1: almost the end of the year. We are wrapping up
Speaker 1: so many things. But Christmas means sports kind of sports
Speaker 1: kind of I mean, yeah, this is and shouldn't bring
Speaker 1: our guests bad. I was gonna do a nice little
Speaker 1: lead up, and you know, NBA and Christmas go together
Speaker 1: hand in hand for us at least, And I feel
Speaker 1: like for a lot of our listeners were like, who
Speaker 1: are some real big basketball heads in our friend in
Speaker 1: comedian community, And so I thought, do you want to him?
Speaker 1: You've got this train going, Okay, well here's the train
Speaker 1: is continuing to go. So we thought we'd bring on
Speaker 1: our very very funny friend. You may have seen him
Speaker 1: on the Late Show, Late Late Show with James Cordon,
Speaker 1: Late Night with Seth Meyers. Very funny comedian, very good
Speaker 1: basketball player, Ladies and gentlemen, Kenny DeForest, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: thank you and thank you for getting my most valued
Speaker 1: credit there at the end. Basketball players always, I would
Speaker 1: trade it all. I would trade it all to be
Speaker 1: known as a good basketball player. I mean you and
Speaker 1: I both know it's like that is definitely networking out here,
Speaker 1: as if you're good at basketball and like can can
Speaker 1: hang in these games and you're one of the one
Speaker 1: of the better people. What we were watching like an
Speaker 1: Elf documentary about the movie not Elves, but I am
Speaker 1: fascinated and when especially when they sneak in at night.
Speaker 1: I love those guys. And they were saying that like
Speaker 1: Elf got made because of a game that was Jimmy
Speaker 1: Miller's maybe Mosaic. Yeah, because yeah, they like it was
Speaker 1: pitched at a basketball game and and like went up
Speaker 1: the flagpole out a basketball game. They had a whole graphic.
Speaker 1: I don't know if elves sneak in at night. I
Speaker 1: think you might be thinking of vampires, but you know,
Speaker 1: I'm thinking of they're gonna say freaks. Um. I am
Speaker 1: thinking of that story where like the shoe cobbler couldn't
Speaker 1: get it done in the day, and then there were
Speaker 1: elves that would come in and finish the shoes at night,
Speaker 1: and he was like, who's you thinking of? Are you
Speaker 1: thinking of an ad campaign by the keebler? Else? Cook?
Speaker 1: I think this was like a real story that was
Speaker 1: actually probably just talking about like marriage, you know, just
Speaker 1: like a man being like how did this get done? Um?
Speaker 1: And it's like I want to believe it's his wife. Yeah, exactly,
Speaker 1: magical little man in the Yes, yes, that finished all
Speaker 1: my tasks. Um, But there is some sort of oh gosh,
Speaker 1: I'm seeing a very ugly man on my computer. Just
Speaker 1: who's on TV? I just sometimes with the men they
Speaker 1: put on TV. It's so hilarious to me. Um, Kenny,
Speaker 1: how are you doing? Happy holidays? Thank you, Happy holidays
Speaker 1: to you guys. I'm doing that. I'm doing okay. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like you know, obviously it's a weird year, but it's
Speaker 1: weird for everybody, and I'm healthy and uh, luckily we
Speaker 1: have this technology. Man. It's I just did like a
Speaker 1: Zoom holiday show with the butter Boy crew. They're in
Speaker 1: New York. Amazing evening. Get to see some friendly faces
Speaker 1: and talk hoops, which is my favorite ship. I'm good
Speaker 1: that show has like a green room too. That's whenever
Speaker 1: there's like Zoom shows, I'm like, oh, I was kind
Speaker 1: of here just to like talk ship, and that was
Speaker 1: my main point. It's weird because there's people don't realizing
Speaker 1: is there's the people I missed that because I'm in
Speaker 1: touch with my friends, you know what I mean. I'm
Speaker 1: talk to you guys. I've seen you guys some. But
Speaker 1: it's the people in comedy that if you called them
Speaker 1: it would be weird, but you're seeing them all the time,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. And like I felt like
Speaker 1: a Partner was one of those people in New York
Speaker 1: where I just love her so much, but like if
Speaker 1: I called a partner, I should be like, dude, what
Speaker 1: is happening? Um? Yeah, I saw her on a bus
Speaker 1: today and was thrilled, Oh wow, it's amazing. She's on
Speaker 1: It's like a Ben and Jerry's Netflix campaign. Her wand
Speaker 1: to Psychs and Fortune and I waved to them just
Speaker 1: standing waiting in line to get into the bank. What
Speaker 1: a sad Wait what you saw them out? No on
Speaker 1: a but no, like they were like on the bus,
Speaker 1: you know, like saw herself on the bus. I saw
Speaker 1: these women. I like, I thought, like the world has
Speaker 1: gotten so bad, like some of the best comedians we
Speaker 1: know have to travel on buses and people the sites
Speaker 1: has just taken the God. Okay, that's good news, good
Speaker 1: news that they're on busses and in that way. But um,
Speaker 1: but yeah, so Kenny, we and I hope I'm not
Speaker 1: outing you, but we midway through the pandemic where we
Speaker 1: thought there was gonna be a little bit of a handle,
Speaker 1: we got tested and then immediately after getting tested, me,
Speaker 1: you and another comedian played basketball. I mean twenty one,
Speaker 1: I guess you could call it. Uh and and I
Speaker 1: think I've told you it hurt for a week. Oh
Speaker 1: I was so fun, dude, And like I've been playing
Speaker 1: a lot before the pandemic hit, like really getting back
Speaker 1: in the groove, and so it's just that classic story
Speaker 1: of like, oh I can still just do what I
Speaker 1: was doing four months ago, five months ago after doing
Speaker 1: nothing but sitting on my seating, okays, and yeah I was.
Speaker 1: I was destroyed. I was sunburned. I was like hydrated
Speaker 1: for three days. I couldn't drink enough water. And then
Speaker 1: like two weeks after that, I drove by that court
Speaker 1: and you know, it was one of the few rims
Speaker 1: in LA that still had the rim up because the
Speaker 1: city took him down. Um. I drove by like two
Speaker 1: weeks after we did that, and there was like fifteen
Speaker 1: guys standing around playing five on five like stubbing in
Speaker 1: and I was like, that's it. And then a week
Speaker 1: later I drove by in the rim was down. I
Speaker 1: was like, they it, but that mean that because that
Speaker 1: was like it was a half court, and like you said,
Speaker 1: they took down a lot of the rims. And so
Speaker 1: I know there have been like on Twitter and just
Speaker 1: like some like feeds I've seen people are like, hey,
Speaker 1: heads up, I saw a rim still on the backboard.
Speaker 1: And then almost seeing like through all the basketball accounts
Speaker 1: that we follow, just full five on five like sanctioned
Speaker 1: high school games. I mean, college is still going up,
Speaker 1: but like high school just like who is who is
Speaker 1: like make king sure protocols in place. I know, dude,
Speaker 1: my buddy coaches high school and sometimes I like live
Speaker 1: stream and watch his games. That's what that's what we're
Speaker 1: quarantine watching high school boys basketball on the internet. And
Speaker 1: uh and but yeah, it's like none of the parents
Speaker 1: were in masks. This is like in the Midwest, so
Speaker 1: of course it's just like no masks and uh yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: It's like I go back and forth on it because
Speaker 1: on the one hand, it is tragic. If you think
Speaker 1: about like a high school senior who spent their whole
Speaker 1: life preparing for this season. Really it's like your senior
Speaker 1: year is always what you're dreaming of and then to
Speaker 1: have that just completely taken away. I mean, you know
Speaker 1: that's your therapy right there, you know. So the part
Speaker 1: of me that's like, yeah, if they can do it safely,
Speaker 1: let him have the season. But you're right, it's like
Speaker 1: the n b A had billions of dollars making sure
Speaker 1: those plays, you know, those are like millions, multi hundreds
Speaker 1: millions of dollars investments. Those they're like, yeah, we're not
Speaker 1: getting these guys sick. But high school. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: like I guess the honor system, which yeah I heard
Speaker 1: about a personal or a basketball team was a super
Speaker 1: sprinter um and the boys like knew they had it,
Speaker 1: but we're like, we want to play, and so they
Speaker 1: didn't say anything. And then you know, I mean, these
Speaker 1: aren't even high school kids. These are like young kids.
Speaker 1: But like, okay, you see these games and the parents
Speaker 1: aren't wearing masks. It's like, okay, well that's that's step one.
Speaker 1: That's like that's the easiest thing to do. So if
Speaker 1: they're not even doing that, fucking blow it all up.
Speaker 1: They're not doing anything. You know, like you there has
Speaker 1: to be and like the Notre Dame football coaches like
Speaker 1: a parents can't come. He was like threatening to pull out.
Speaker 1: So like, especially in high school, I understand that parents
Speaker 1: want to be there, but it's like these are the rules,
Speaker 1: and if you can't do this one rule, then you
Speaker 1: fucked it up for your kid. I'm fortunately, when they
Speaker 1: go to therapy talking about their basketball season, they should
Speaker 1: talk about what a selfish bitch their parents are. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean that is like one of my big when
Speaker 1: I see adults that can't seem to understand that it
Speaker 1: should be about the kids. It like sends me into
Speaker 1: a spiral, honestly, And yeah, that's one of them. It's like, dude,
Speaker 1: you can live stream the game, you could have the court,
Speaker 1: you could drop your kid off at the game, wear
Speaker 1: a mask the whole time, and then go home and
Speaker 1: do what I'm doing, and like YouTube live. It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's infuriating. It's infuriating. Yeah, man, it's really And I
Speaker 1: think about like the college kids that lost March Madness,
Speaker 1: you know, like the guys that aren't good enough to
Speaker 1: play pro, but again spent their whole life. You know,
Speaker 1: the guy that's like the tenth man for Duke, you
Speaker 1: know that, Like I get to go to Duke and
Speaker 1: March Madness and then it's just gone last year, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. And we have on record superstars
Speaker 1: who made their name in March Madness and like bump
Speaker 1: their stock up. Steph Curry is one of them, Like
Speaker 1: Steph Curry became a name during March Madness, and you know,
Speaker 1: and so like who knows and hopefully fate and all
Speaker 1: in like there's programs and stuff after or even during
Speaker 1: this in bubble or something, but like it was, it's
Speaker 1: handling correctly by and it's because of a lot of
Speaker 1: egos of not the players h And that's like unfortunate. Dude,
Speaker 1: did you see that interview Like the Alabama head coach.
Speaker 1: It was like recently he was like, I don't know
Speaker 1: if we should keep going. And then they interviewed, they
Speaker 1: asked Alabama coach. It was such an ego dick answer
Speaker 1: where he's like, you really say that if they hadn't
Speaker 1: just lost yea, which we don't know your name, we
Speaker 1: don't know who you are. And coach K has seventy
Speaker 1: five courts named after him, so like him, Um people,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys um knew this. But
Speaker 1: as of I think last week, the Supreme Court has
Speaker 1: decided to hear a case brought by collegiate player representatives
Speaker 1: against the n C double A for for pay and
Speaker 1: for all of these it's not gonna unfortunately, I don't
Speaker 1: think it's gonna result in like pay, but it may
Speaker 1: result in like computers and then getting money for grad
Speaker 1: school and like a different like share in in revenue
Speaker 1: at least, And so I think that marks the first
Speaker 1: time that the Supreme Court will be hearing a case
Speaker 1: on something like this, and I know all three of us.
Speaker 1: I think that they should all be paid. So it
Speaker 1: definitely does feel like a step in the right direction.
Speaker 1: The reason it went to the Supreme Court all the
Speaker 1: lower courts rule that's n C double a sucks um
Speaker 1: and so they just now the Supreme Court just needs
Speaker 1: to uphold the lower courts rulings. That's amazing. You know
Speaker 1: a lot of times it's not the first court case
Speaker 1: that does it right, just it's kind of like it
Speaker 1: loosen to the jar and then the next case gets
Speaker 1: an open type deal. And my thing is, it's like, dude,
Speaker 1: there's people that work on campus. They have campus jobs,
Speaker 1: Like you don't have to pay these guys like life
Speaker 1: altering money, but they are employees of the school essentially.
Speaker 1: You know, it's no different than working at the bookstore.
Speaker 1: I perform for paying audience, Like even if it's just
Speaker 1: a cut of ticket sales, you know, that's like your
Speaker 1: jersey or you know, like, I don't even think they
Speaker 1: need to pay everybody. Some of these people are rich.
Speaker 1: And you know, I know someone who went to college
Speaker 1: on a sailing scholarship. You know, obviously she's fine, Okay,
Speaker 1: she doesn't need the money, but some of these other
Speaker 1: people you know, Like, that's such a Megan Gaily sentence.
Speaker 1: I knew someone. He went to my brother and I
Speaker 1: thought they were going to get married at when she
Speaker 1: almost was in my family. Lovely girl. Um, but I
Speaker 1: did not need a scholarship. You know, you have to
Speaker 1: be to learn how to sail in Indiana. This was St. Louis.
Speaker 1: Do you know how to be to learn how to
Speaker 1: sail in St. Louis? That's almost even rich people from St. Louis.
Speaker 1: This this person aside, she was lovely. Other rich people
Speaker 1: from St. Louis fucking suck. Okay, to shift this back
Speaker 1: to more fun in the love of the game, Kenny,
Speaker 1: I do for our listeners because they're your comedian. You
Speaker 1: can look up all your stuff online. But also I
Speaker 1: wanted to know a little bit more about your back.
Speaker 1: I feel like I know a little bit about the
Speaker 1: real athlete. Yeah, walk us through sort of your early
Speaker 1: experiences as a basketball playing kid or other sports. When
Speaker 1: where did you start? Um, well, my dad, My dad
Speaker 1: was a hooper, Like he still plays. My dad is
Speaker 1: seventy two and he is literally trying to keep himself
Speaker 1: in shape so we can keep playing mentally when things
Speaker 1: come back. You know, he played at JUCO and he
Speaker 1: pounced around, played in a couple of smaller schools and
Speaker 1: landed at JUCO and then got really involved in like
Speaker 1: the hippie scene and sort of just phased out of basketball.
Speaker 1: But I was just kind of like, you know, it's
Speaker 1: like kind of the cliche born with a ball in
Speaker 1: my hand, But my earliest memories are I had like
Speaker 1: a little Fisher Price poop in the basement, and I'm
Speaker 1: an only child, so my dad would like rebound and
Speaker 1: feed me the ball. So yeah, exactly, and so I
Speaker 1: loved it. And even like when my mom told my
Speaker 1: dad she was pregnant, she was like, do you want
Speaker 1: to boy or a girl? And like his answer was,
Speaker 1: I just want a little round baller, like from from
Speaker 1: the from the jump, That's what I was into. And
Speaker 1: so you know, I started off playing like why league.
Speaker 1: I played soccer too when I was young, like every
Speaker 1: other kid in America before we all decided that for
Speaker 1: some reason, we ate soccer and that's why our national
Speaker 1: team is so bad. But we all play as kids.
Speaker 1: I don't understand play. My brother Ryan played and he
Speaker 1: was so bad that my mom didn't even have Michael
Speaker 1: or me play. She just was like, we're just a
Speaker 1: tennis family. I think that's so funny. You suck so
Speaker 1: bad so they can't because I can't watch this anymore.
Speaker 1: I'm done. Yeah. And then in fourth grade is when
Speaker 1: I got a little more serious. There was, in fact
Speaker 1: interesting who this is. I guess I can name draft
Speaker 1: here a little bit. Lucas Harrold. He pitched in the
Speaker 1: major leagues for several years. In fact, one year, so
Speaker 1: he grew up. I grew up like four blocks from him.
Speaker 1: And one year I turned on the ESPN and Tony
Speaker 1: Kornheiser was giving an impassioned speech about how Lucas Harold
Speaker 1: is there used to be in the young discussion was
Speaker 1: like it was when he was went the Astros and
Speaker 1: they were awful, but he still had like a sub
Speaker 1: four e r A and he was like, anyone who's
Speaker 1: only given up three runs on his team deserves to
Speaker 1: be a discussion. So anyway, he was obviously a very
Speaker 1: serious athlete. And so his dad called my dad's fourth
Speaker 1: grade and there was an AU program starting and they
Speaker 1: were looking for players, and so he was like can
Speaker 1: I recommend you? And my dad and I talked, He's like,
Speaker 1: do you want to do this? It's like yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean I'm in fourth grade, so as much as I
Speaker 1: can think I want something, yeah, let's do it. And
Speaker 1: I tried out and made you know, made the team
Speaker 1: and uh so that played you from fourth grade through
Speaker 1: my senior high school, same team, Springfield Rockets, and uh
Speaker 1: I just loved it. Man, I just like fell fully
Speaker 1: and load like I was. You know, it was that
Speaker 1: deal where every Christmas, every gift was basketball, Every Birthday,
Speaker 1: every gift was basketball. My room was just basketball, basketball, basketball.
Speaker 1: It's all I cared about. You know. My A well
Speaker 1: messenger screen name was like Rockert. What was my number?
Speaker 1: I was young Jerry West Baby and so yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I was just really really it's all I cared about.
Speaker 1: And then you know, I played football in middle school
Speaker 1: and freshman year high school, and then the star basketball
Speaker 1: player at my high school actually tours a c O
Speaker 1: playing football, and then the basketball coach is kind of like,
Speaker 1: y'all need to not do that, and uh so I
Speaker 1: quit and just focus fully on basketball. So sophomore years
Speaker 1: through senior jeff basketball and then yeah, I played soccer
Speaker 1: through middle school but quit at some point because ay,
Speaker 1: you just took all my time. So yeah, that was it.
Speaker 1: And then my senior year had a good season. I
Speaker 1: was kind of a late bloomer. I was young for
Speaker 1: my class, and so I thought I wasn't gonna be
Speaker 1: able to play college. And then I kind of like
Speaker 1: filled out towards the end of my senior year and
Speaker 1: I did one last It's like almost like what I'm
Speaker 1: sure some of the guys are doing to try to
Speaker 1: get NBA that missed out in March Madness. It was
Speaker 1: like a post graduation recruitment camp. It was like all
Speaker 1: the guys that maybe should play in college that didn't
Speaker 1: get scholarships, one last look, and uh, I had a
Speaker 1: really good showing there, and I got recruited to play
Speaker 1: at this D two school in my hometown. My high
Speaker 1: school rival teams coach took over as the head coach
Speaker 1: that year, so he already liked me, and so I
Speaker 1: walked on. But you know, it was kind of like
Speaker 1: your recruited walk on. He even told me, he called me,
Speaker 1: He's like, I have a plan for you. You're not
Speaker 1: just a practice squad player or whatever, And uh, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I don't know. Mentally, I had started a bunch
Speaker 1: of ship happened to me at the end of my
Speaker 1: senior year that, um, we don't need to get to
Speaker 1: a bunch of difficult ship happened in my life, and
Speaker 1: I think mentally I started to crack a little bit,
Speaker 1: and uh, I started boozing, which I've never done before,
Speaker 1: and started partying a little too hard. And I think
Speaker 1: also I thought I wasn't gonna play, so I started
Speaker 1: drinking like I was done, and then all of a
Speaker 1: sudden I could play. But it's kind of too late,
Speaker 1: already already uncorked the bottle. No, we're in the comedian
Speaker 1: origin story. Yes, yes, Now this is where it's really
Speaker 1: worry well. It's also it's not that different from hearing
Speaker 1: you talk about it from your dad's career, Like so
Speaker 1: was he like, oh, Kenny, not that path or like
Speaker 1: also like I don't can I not, I wasn't gonna
Speaker 1: be in the NBA. You're not gonna be in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Live it up, dog. Yeah, it was kind of that,
Speaker 1: Like my dad was kind of uh, he was always
Speaker 1: just so chill, Like my dad never was like, let's
Speaker 1: go do drills. You know what I mean, Like I
Speaker 1: didn't have that dad. I think he always my parents
Speaker 1: wanted me to be well rounded, and I think they
Speaker 1: knew the deal, like this is going to end at
Speaker 1: some point, you need to have other skills. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I think, you know, my dad even told me early,
Speaker 1: like be careful party and you know, I've seen how
Speaker 1: you drink. And I was like, yeah, whatever, whatever, old
Speaker 1: man um, but yeah, and then you know, so I
Speaker 1: think it was kind of like he he would love
Speaker 1: to see me play four years. But ultimately I don't
Speaker 1: even know how much it mattered because my need. By
Speaker 1: the time practice started my freshman year, my knees started
Speaker 1: to act up and I got an X rade and
Speaker 1: I had like fifty tears and both my poteler attendants
Speaker 1: just from like wear and tear. Like it wasn't one
Speaker 1: thing I did. It was just all the years of
Speaker 1: mileage and the way I'm built. You know, one legs
Speaker 1: longer than the other and I'm bow legged, and these
Speaker 1: different things just put so much press on my knees
Speaker 1: and so I kind of lost this step I didn't
Speaker 1: have to lose, and so I was just a practice
Speaker 1: squad player. I lost my confidence and then got surgery.
Speaker 1: Between freshman and sophomore years. I'm coming back, you know.
Speaker 1: I like I stopped partying and I really focused and
Speaker 1: got back in shape and I was like, this is it,
Speaker 1: this is my last and then I got surgery. I
Speaker 1: got the same surgery the Hindes Ward got right before
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl. It was like you get the plasma
Speaker 1: injected right in your tendons. Actually was like the first
Speaker 1: person in the Midwest to get that surgery because my
Speaker 1: friends dad was like one of the leads orthopedic surgeons
Speaker 1: in the Midwest. He's like my friend's dad and he's like,
Speaker 1: I'll do it for free if you'll be the guinea pig.
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, so I did so. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I needed to say I'll take the vaccine. I don't care,
Speaker 1: and uh so my knees felt better and I came
Speaker 1: in and shape and then like as soon as I
Speaker 1: got cold, my knees just locked up again and it
Speaker 1: was exactly so I got an X rating in the
Speaker 1: same situation, and I was like, dude, I'm done. I
Speaker 1: finished the season because I tried to quit like two
Speaker 1: months into my sophomore year, and my coach is like
Speaker 1: we've just finished the year. We need you in practice.
Speaker 1: And I was like yeah, I closed it out and
Speaker 1: it was hard, man, It was really that is the
Speaker 1: comedian origin stories, c J. Your because it like I
Speaker 1: was just like, yeah, there's a lot of there's a
Speaker 1: lot of former athletes in comedy. I think there's a reason. Definitely,
Speaker 1: you need somewhere to put that energy and you're not
Speaker 1: gonna sit in the office, you know, and the like
Speaker 1: the reps like comedy and reps like the reps situation
Speaker 1: or like mentality came from sports. Do it over and
Speaker 1: over again and you'll see results. And just like yeah,
Speaker 1: at first I thought you meant like agents and managers.
Speaker 1: And I was like, okay, so your managers your a
Speaker 1: AU coach, Michael Michael Jordan has had a really good manager.
Speaker 1: Really send his tape. This is this is sort of
Speaker 1: like a broader question I have for you your high
Speaker 1: school basketball coach, being like, hey, I don't want you
Speaker 1: guys to play football and more because you could get hurt.
Speaker 1: C J and I have this conversation, like I always
Speaker 1: think about this. You know, there were kids growing up
Speaker 1: who were like three sports, Like my dad played three sports,
Speaker 1: and then like in college. I think at one point
Speaker 1: was playing like two sports like that was like an option,
Speaker 1: and now kids are like, you got to play baseball
Speaker 1: twelve months a year, no matter what kids are having,
Speaker 1: Like Tommy John surgery very young, do you do you
Speaker 1: wish you had been able to play football? Or like
Speaker 1: would he have been like, Okay, you guys can play
Speaker 1: baseball because there's less risk, or like what did it
Speaker 1: feel to have to just be like, oh I have
Speaker 1: to do this one thing now for the rest? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I I've actually thought about that quite a bit. I
Speaker 1: I do think it's better to let kids do multi
Speaker 1: sports because, for one, you're training your body in different ways.
Speaker 1: I think it might be less wear and tear. Like
Speaker 1: for instance, football obviously is growing physically, but it's also
Speaker 1: on grass, so it's not the pounding on your knees.
Speaker 1: You know, it's the same pounding on a hardwood floor
Speaker 1: every day for a year, all the time. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean. It's like, you know, in football, you're
Speaker 1: working you like your short area burst muscles, and then
Speaker 1: you run track and that's like your distance muscles. You're long.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like working different muscle groups. I think
Speaker 1: maybe because my dad was a three sport athlete as well,
Speaker 1: and so he he also had a real problem with
Speaker 1: that situation with coach and also just practically speaking there,
Speaker 1: you know, I might have had more of a future
Speaker 1: in football. You know, three white guy with big hands,
Speaker 1: that's good for football. That's just like yeah, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: yeah yeah. So you know, but ultimately, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: at peace with all of it because basketball with my
Speaker 1: favorite sport. And I think one reason that one thing
Speaker 1: I realized on a philosophical level is I feel like
Speaker 1: basketball culturally that's like my culture. Now. I'm not an
Speaker 1: active player. I played pick up. I have fun with it,
Speaker 1: but I mean I like being in the culture of basketball,
Speaker 1: like NBA Twitter is my favorite Twitter. NBA people are
Speaker 1: my favorite people. Like when NBA people talk about politics,
Speaker 1: I agree with them, you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: like the broader culture of basketball. I'm just glad I'm
Speaker 1: in that culture. And that's kind of where I'm at
Speaker 1: spiritually with the whole thing. That's how I'd come to
Speaker 1: peace with all of it, which has taken years. But um,
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the major selling points of
Speaker 1: basketball in general. You know, I don't know if gymnasts
Speaker 1: get to have that same you know, just because basketball
Speaker 1: is so huge and it just permeates and the people
Speaker 1: are such superstars and you can go to games wherever,
Speaker 1: like it's you your career ended, but like you're being
Speaker 1: a part of basketball will go on forever. And I
Speaker 1: think and it's also like, yeah, it's just I'm white
Speaker 1: and from like the whitest part of the country, like
Speaker 1: you are too meggat Like if it wasn't for basketball,
Speaker 1: I probably I don't know what I would be, like,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like that's the ship that
Speaker 1: I'm grateful for. Like, you know, I it's nice to
Speaker 1: be in a locker room where you're a minority and
Speaker 1: have that experience and get exposed to that at a
Speaker 1: young enough age where you could adjust your mentality and
Speaker 1: be like, oh my god, half the should I heard
Speaker 1: as a child was really dumb and ignorant. But you
Speaker 1: don't necessarily realize that unless your child, Like you know,
Speaker 1: the reason that baseball players are still there's like still
Speaker 1: trumpy baseball players. Besides Gordon Hayward, there's no trumpy basketball
Speaker 1: get that should beat out of you practice You're like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm dumb. It's definitely a recurring thing on here, whether
Speaker 1: we bring it up, our guests bring it up. But
Speaker 1: like the NBA, we yeah, we look towards them to
Speaker 1: lead social you know, social change, and like, hey, how
Speaker 1: should we perceive this, whether it's Madam Silver or the
Speaker 1: players themselves, like, besides China, besides you know what, we'll
Speaker 1: get them there there. You know, when me too happened,
Speaker 1: I feel like I had this. Maybe even someone else
Speaker 1: came up. We all get one person that we're like, listen,
Speaker 1: I know they got me too, but I want to
Speaker 1: keep them. I'm not subscribing. And then that's like maybe
Speaker 1: that's the NBA with China, that's the that's their blind spots.
Speaker 1: But they really like our shoes, guys. That's it's like, yeah, Lebron,
Speaker 1: Lebron should not release China edition shoes. Hasn't right now,
Speaker 1: like just late take the your foot off the pedal
Speaker 1: a little bit. But did that? The GM ended up
Speaker 1: getting fired Yeah darn, he's at the Sixers. Oh but
Speaker 1: he got fired from Houston, right. He laughed and went
Speaker 1: to the seventies Sixers and was like but we were like,
Speaker 1: you're right, you're right, and they were like Okay, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: So today's topic is going to be greatest NBA Christmas
Speaker 1: Day Games. Yeah, and we're feeling festive. Gosh, it's a
Speaker 1: great lead up to this year's NBA games. So the
Speaker 1: league starts again tomorrow Tuesday. So excited, so good it is.
Speaker 1: Um Yeah, I was like dying for it. Ring when
Speaker 1: if the bubble started, like it really changed moods in
Speaker 1: this house. Megan sort of saw how tense I was.
Speaker 1: Is a similar situation with you, Like your mood is
Speaker 1: just instantly better. Yeah, And like it was cool for
Speaker 1: me to to to our point before we jump in,
Speaker 1: if you don't mind a little small tangent, but to
Speaker 1: the social justice thing, like my girl is not a
Speaker 1: huge basketball fan of and trying to get her into it.
Speaker 1: She's not a sports person. And it's funny when people say, oh,
Speaker 1: if you're too politically vocal, you'll lose fans or whatever.
Speaker 1: But she walked in the room and Doris Burke was
Speaker 1: just breaking down what happened to George Floyd in a
Speaker 1: very honest way, and she like sat down and she
Speaker 1: and like it was like her and I don't remember
Speaker 1: who she was talking to, what they were like and
Speaker 1: Brianna Taylor murdered in her bed by police. This is unacceptable.
Speaker 1: And she's just sat down and was like, oh, is
Speaker 1: this what the NBA is about? And she like watched
Speaker 1: the whole game with me. By the end of that day,
Speaker 1: she was asking me questions about the luxury text, like,
Speaker 1: you know, like it was pretty amazing, and you know,
Speaker 1: black lives matters on the court, it's right there. And
Speaker 1: so it was really a cool moment because then she
Speaker 1: started sharing that experience with me, which is all I've
Speaker 1: ever wanted. And yeah, man, it's it's cool. And she's
Speaker 1: from Indiana, Like I don't know if you guys know
Speaker 1: how much Indiana is like basketball is our fucking thing.
Speaker 1: Like you don't drive by a house without there being
Speaker 1: a basketball hoop outside. I mean even the Pacers, like
Speaker 1: intro is like in states it's basketball, but during it's
Speaker 1: like we're so intense about it. So if that state
Speaker 1: couldn't make her be into it, I didn't know if
Speaker 1: anything ever could. So I'm thrilled. And I think them
Speaker 1: losing fans is a lie um that they tell people
Speaker 1: to stop doing things. I think they I think it's
Speaker 1: a net gain. I think they end up gaining slightly
Speaker 1: more whoever than whoever they lose. Yeah, ratings were done
Speaker 1: for everything because people are people that you're like fine
Speaker 1: losing too. It's like, what like I would it's as comments,
Speaker 1: we know this. You'd rather have a half full audience
Speaker 1: that really wants to be there than that's like shitty,
Speaker 1: and so it's like, yeah, if we're losing the racist
Speaker 1: then like that's how how were you watching basketball? Anyways?
Speaker 1: But like, please see yourself out. We're very pleased to
Speaker 1: not have you be a part of this anymore. Alright,
Speaker 1: So to reiterate the topic greatest NBA Christmas Games, should
Speaker 1: we take a break. Let's take a break and then
Speaker 1: I'll come back. Perfect, all right, and we are back.
Speaker 1: We're joined our very funny comedian guest, Kenny DeForest. That's
Speaker 1: all you, Kenny. Just so Megan's dad will be wondering
Speaker 1: that as he was listening to what position did you play?
Speaker 1: I was a like a two three from my AU team,
Speaker 1: and then I was our starting center in high school center.
Speaker 1: That's how That's how you can tell how serious a
Speaker 1: you is is that you were a t a U
Speaker 1: but then back in your your local team you're a center. Yeah, exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we have like a six ten Division one center in
Speaker 1: high school. That was fun. C J. And I discovered
Speaker 1: a man this weekend. You'll love this Kenny. He is
Speaker 1: seven four, a freshman at Perdue, started playing basketball three
Speaker 1: years ago and now is on a full scholarship at
Speaker 1: a Division one powerhouse. And he's Asian and he's from
Speaker 1: Canada and he played hockey his whole life. And then
Speaker 1: they were like, you're seven four, we think maybe you
Speaker 1: should play basketball. And he was like, welly him and
Speaker 1: hockey pads was a very funny picture. Yeah. I got
Speaker 1: to look up Joey Joey. Yeah, just getting checked, just
Speaker 1: getting fully checked at the decap Yeah. Okay, So Kenny,
Speaker 1: you are going to lead us off with your number
Speaker 1: three pick for greatest NBA Christmas Day Games. Okay, So
Speaker 1: I had to pull up a list. Yeah good, because
Speaker 1: there was a list that had like a game in
Speaker 1: nineteen seven. I'm like, you've lost your mind. I saw that.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, thank you. Um, I'm gonna go for
Speaker 1: for number three just because the reason I like this game.
Speaker 1: Lebron has done enough since then. But it was the
Speaker 1: two dozen tend Lebron triple double brusha Lakers because he
Speaker 1: had just gone to the Heat and it felt like
Speaker 1: a statement game. And you know, Christmas is cool because
Speaker 1: it's like the Christmas Day games are kind of the first,
Speaker 1: like real games and the like, nothing feels like it
Speaker 1: matters until then. It's just like early there's all that
Speaker 1: talk and the Christmas Day it's like here we go.
Speaker 1: And so him to come out triple double against Kobe
Speaker 1: and I watched that game. You know, I obviously don't
Speaker 1: remember it like play by play, but you know, it
Speaker 1: was kind of it was just like a statement game
Speaker 1: for him. And I don't think we've ever seen a player.
Speaker 1: We definitely haven't seen a player that's skilled, that dominant,
Speaker 1: that's had to prove himself so many different times because
Speaker 1: we just refused to accept that he's like one of
Speaker 1: the greatest of all time. We just which I honestly
Speaker 1: think was good for him because you know, he came
Speaker 1: into the league the chosen one and that has killed
Speaker 1: I mean, ask O J. Mayo, how you know what
Speaker 1: what that did for him? So I think the skepticism
Speaker 1: from the public has fueled him in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I have a triple double. And also it
Speaker 1: said in this and I didn't realize this at the time,
Speaker 1: but he became the only player joining Oscar Robertson, John
Speaker 1: Halet Check Billy Cunningham as the only players to record
Speaker 1: a triple double and Christmas Day. So you know, it's
Speaker 1: like the start of this Lebron Heat era. There's all
Speaker 1: this pressure from the from the announcement and he comes
Speaker 1: out and drops a triple double. That's amazing. And triple
Speaker 1: double on that Mi Heat team where you have Wayne,
Speaker 1: Wayne and Chris Bosh next to you like that, that
Speaker 1: is a lot like I wonder if there was some
Speaker 1: sort of agreement like hey, Lebron, you gotta go off
Speaker 1: like because yeah, that's it's a lot of like ball
Speaker 1: in your hands when you have one of the best
Speaker 1: teams of all time, right, yes, I believe so, yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's always at Staples Christmas. Yeah. And also if you
Speaker 1: think about this too, now he's one of the best
Speaker 1: coaches in the league, but this is the earliest spo too.
Speaker 1: People don't know anything about at the time. He was
Speaker 1: kind of this unknown so to get when on Christmas
Speaker 1: over the Lakers is just it's huge. Do you think
Speaker 1: his eyes looked crazy then too, was he was he
Speaker 1: always that intense or has the intense like I feel
Speaker 1: like when he first came it was more kind of
Speaker 1: like laid back, chill Miami guy. And it's gotten more
Speaker 1: intense with He's got Filipino dad energy for sure. But
Speaker 1: then it also creeps in that he's like he was
Speaker 1: a video guy, but he is like a legitimate just
Speaker 1: like basketball heard and yeah, I feel like maybe early
Speaker 1: on there's a little bit of faking it, like holy shout,
Speaker 1: I have to coach Lebron, Wade and Bosch and all
Speaker 1: these people. But now he's just like one of the
Speaker 1: most veteran like I love him. I love him. Um. Okay,
Speaker 1: great first pick. I will go next. Um. I did
Speaker 1: not want to be disrespectful to the game that happened
Speaker 1: in ninety seven. So for any of our listeners that
Speaker 1: feel passionately about it, it was the New York Knicks
Speaker 1: versus the Providence steam Rollers, so we can't leave them out.
Speaker 1: And then the first sentences the steam Rollers no longer exist,
Speaker 1: like what I have a jersey? I thought they were
Speaker 1: the best league past team to watch this year. Okay,
Speaker 1: so my my number three pick is the two thousand
Speaker 1: sixteen Calves Warriors. Shoot, that's gonna be a lot overlap. Okay,
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's only so many games. I picked this
Speaker 1: one because it was the first time Lebron and Durant
Speaker 1: we're facing each other since two thousand and twelve. And
Speaker 1: then it was also the game that put Lebron over
Speaker 1: three hundred points on Christmas and the only other two
Speaker 1: players that had done that were Kobe and Oscar Robertson.
Speaker 1: So it felt sort of like a flagship game for him,
Speaker 1: like to go when you have like a record like
Speaker 1: that and to like go into that company. And also
Speaker 1: the Cabs came back and beat the Warriors by one,
Speaker 1: and so it felt sort of like foreshadowing. It was
Speaker 1: a very long fourth quarter. But Kenny, go ahead, what
Speaker 1: you what were you gonna say? Oh, I was just
Speaker 1: gonna have two back in Cleveland, you know that whole
Speaker 1: that whole narrative to like for him to hit that
Speaker 1: milestone in Cleveland after the way. I was actually in
Speaker 1: Cleveland when he announced he was going to Miami with Ramon,
Speaker 1: and it was like crazy, it was it was insane
Speaker 1: to be there. It was like it felt like a
Speaker 1: like a tragedy asolutely like that, that same feeling and
Speaker 1: uh so you know, as fun as it is to
Speaker 1: shift on Cleveland, but you know, we love Cleveland. So
Speaker 1: my last night told me a good friend of mine
Speaker 1: told me that I'm an honorary Browns fan, and it
Speaker 1: meant a lot to me. Yeah, she's her sister got
Speaker 1: engaged at the brown Stadium. So I was like, if
Speaker 1: anybody can tell me, it's you. That's amazing. I want
Speaker 1: to add to this game because it was one of
Speaker 1: my picks. I think it was either going to be
Speaker 1: my first or second. But sorry, no, no, it's totally okay.
Speaker 1: So everything that you guys saw too was it was
Speaker 1: it was the Calves beat came back from three one
Speaker 1: the finals, and then it was they went out and
Speaker 1: got Katie and we're all Matt like that was again.
Speaker 1: I still don't know if I'm right with it, but
Speaker 1: I love Katie so much. But to have the game
Speaker 1: in Cleveland, the Warriors are like, no one's beating the Warriors,
Speaker 1: and just so much ship happened. Like if you watch
Speaker 1: the condemsed game on YouTube, it is like thirty seconds
Speaker 1: of quarters one through three and then the last eight
Speaker 1: minutes or all fourth quarter because it was like Lebron
Speaker 1: and Katie were exchanging dunks. Richard Jefferson had one of
Speaker 1: the sickest posters at like age thirty eight. Kyrie again
Speaker 1: just was Kyrie. He had like some game winners and
Speaker 1: then the last shot was like a step three but
Speaker 1: it was um. We saw what two more finals appearances
Speaker 1: between them after that, and it really just felt like
Speaker 1: on Christmas, You're like, you want to see two of
Speaker 1: the best, and that was probably like yeah, midway through
Speaker 1: that sort of rivalry. And it was maybe the last
Speaker 1: Christmas game in Cleveland for a while because I think
Speaker 1: it went to the Golden State after Is this the
Speaker 1: game where you had to watch in separate rooms? That's
Speaker 1: what I was going to get to so real quickly.
Speaker 1: For Christmas, I would go spend spending in Vegas with
Speaker 1: my mom and Yah. It was second year of her
Speaker 1: boyfriend living in the in their house too. And then
Speaker 1: this was also the introduction to my mom's boyfriend's daughter,
Speaker 1: who is a die hard Golden State fan, like Filipino
Speaker 1: Philippinos from the Bay. It is huge and so we
Speaker 1: me and my brother Lebron fans. I mean, he's a
Speaker 1: Celtics guy, but like love Lebron, So we had to
Speaker 1: and like there was already tension between our families, and
Speaker 1: so me and my brother watched it in one room
Speaker 1: and then his daughter, my mom's boyfriend's daughter watched it
Speaker 1: in the other room. Didn't speak, just you would just
Speaker 1: hear like yelling in one room and then the other
Speaker 1: as it was going back and forth. And then we
Speaker 1: never talked about the game out that's so funny, just
Speaker 1: walked out, like, so he wants to watch who wants
Speaker 1: to watch it? Some wonderful exactly. But man, so that
Speaker 1: was that was the first year of Durant in Golden State,
Speaker 1: all right, Yeah, that's another factor. I mean for them
Speaker 1: to lose them too, because you know, at that point too,
Speaker 1: we were already tired of Golden State and Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: It's like, come on, man. So there's just like narrative
Speaker 1: that they're infallible, you know, And so for them to
Speaker 1: lose on Christmas Day, it's always good to be reminded
Speaker 1: that there's a reason to watch the games, because that's
Speaker 1: one of the big narratives of people who don't like
Speaker 1: the NBA. It's like before the season even starts. You
Speaker 1: already know who's gonna win. There's a whole idea that
Speaker 1: it's rigged and all that ship, which I think is
Speaker 1: so stupid. And for them to lose on Christmas Day,
Speaker 1: it's like December twenty sixteen in America had a real
Speaker 1: go into it, you know, like, really we really needed basketball?
Speaker 1: Yeah we did, we did. That's crazy. He was president
Speaker 1: yeah yeah, well he wasn't. He wasn't inaugurated yet, he
Speaker 1: had not been um, he wasn't like sitting yet, but
Speaker 1: he was president elect during this game. I know. Listen, millennials,
Speaker 1: we've seen more than we've should have had too. Sorry, okay,
Speaker 1: leave me a one star review, you fucking boomers. Pieces
Speaker 1: of ship. Now if you were if you were piste
Speaker 1: off about the omission of the Providence basketball, you're also
Speaker 1: going to be mad about our stance on Trump. That's
Speaker 1: just accepted. No, there, chill. Anyone who liked him left
Speaker 1: a long time ago. Um, okay, see give us your no.
Speaker 1: So I don't want to because we don't have that
Speaker 1: many picks to go through. So we'll just go to
Speaker 1: break and we'll come back with our number two pigs.
Speaker 1: Oh no, he sounds sad. I'm not sad, all right,
Speaker 1: and we are back. So Megan, continue to steal my game.
Speaker 1: And you know what, now that I see it on
Speaker 1: your paper, I do see it in big. It's bold
Speaker 1: and big. It's bold and big. No, it's okay. We're
Speaker 1: just speaking to all these games that are all fan favorite.
Speaker 1: So can you hit us with your number two? Can
Speaker 1: I insist that you go first? Since you didn't go
Speaker 1: in the first round two games? I have two games
Speaker 1: that I could pick from here, and actually that I
Speaker 1: feel like, yeah, and I feel like one of these
Speaker 1: might be one of your picks. So I'm going to say,
Speaker 1: I'm let's say the ninety three Bulls Knicks game Christmas
Speaker 1: Day obviously because and I didn't know much about this
Speaker 1: game because I maybe stopped watching for a second because
Speaker 1: so this this is the first school work got in
Speaker 1: the way, and it was Jordan's left he went to
Speaker 1: be retired, and so I think I think it's ninety four, right,
Speaker 1: I think it was season or no, maybe, but but Pippen,
Speaker 1: uh yeah, Pippin goes off for thirty six. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's okay. So and and those are and I need
Speaker 1: to because I bring it up on his podcast A lot, Man,
Speaker 1: I want to like watch every game when Jordan retired
Speaker 1: and just to see how Pippin carried himself and like
Speaker 1: the pressure, whether he lived up to it or not.
Speaker 1: And obviously we know about the one playoff game where
Speaker 1: he just sat down. But I just I do love
Speaker 1: sort of pipp and revenge games. One it was against
Speaker 1: the Knicks on Christmas NBA on NBC. Those are hard
Speaker 1: to beat, but yeah, I just love seeing pip and
Speaker 1: flourishing because it is that true answer of like, oh
Speaker 1: what if Pippin wasn't there, or like Pippen played by himself?
Speaker 1: Is he a superstar? And this is one of those
Speaker 1: games where he proved it. This was my this was
Speaker 1: my this was gonna be number one. But it's fine
Speaker 1: because I had three other games to from. That's how
Speaker 1: much I love Pippin. Because I grew up a Bulls fan.
Speaker 1: Mom and dad are both from Chicago area, so I
Speaker 1: was raised die hard even when I was raised Gary,
Speaker 1: and so we watched all of those games. Who would
Speaker 1: you been a fan of if you were if your
Speaker 1: parents weren't from Chicago. That's a good pros. Yeah, West
Speaker 1: covers all the Bulls exactly. No, you better back that
Speaker 1: statement up. The Midwest is a big bulla Kenny go on. Sorry,
Speaker 1: yeah listen unless hear an Austin Crozer fan and then
Speaker 1: you love the Pacers. Oh no, I just splashed my face.
Speaker 1: Um yeah, man, And I just feel like Pippa never
Speaker 1: got his due, and it was that whole like without
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's they wouldn't be anything. And on top of that,
Speaker 1: coup Coach never got his due, you know, like those
Speaker 1: two guys were legitimate standalone stars and a standalone superstar.
Speaker 1: And I think since that era has been left in
Speaker 1: the rear view, Pippen has retroactively gotten his you. But
Speaker 1: at the time, you know, nobody wanted to give it
Speaker 1: up to him because you know, he played with the
Speaker 1: go and just for him to go off on Christmas
Speaker 1: like that, he played every minute of the game. And
Speaker 1: also to like you watched the last dance, was that
Speaker 1: narrative of hip and like sitting down he couldn't fight too,
Speaker 1: motherfucker played fifty two minutes on Christmaers and overtime. Yet
Speaker 1: you know, like come on now, that's crazy. So I
Speaker 1: I love it and I love hip and yeah, I
Speaker 1: just it was cool to have a season where he
Speaker 1: got the show buddy, just how good he is. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm always wondering the eating schedule. I think about this,
Speaker 1: um for this for the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders that have
Speaker 1: to cheer on Thanksgiving and they weigh in. I watched
Speaker 1: the show, so they're not eating Thanksgiving. But then I'm like,
Speaker 1: do they eat it after? So, like, did Pippin and
Speaker 1: the team get like prime rib or ham and mashed
Speaker 1: potatoes after? I just like, or do they just go
Speaker 1: this isn't Christmas and we're doing Christmas the next day?
Speaker 1: Like I would love if someone can vlog if they're
Speaker 1: playing on Christmas, what the experiences like and what they
Speaker 1: do for their holiday. I would love that. Of course,
Speaker 1: this is the nineties, they're probably like, yeah, I gotta
Speaker 1: eat a whole hand before they get right right, We're
Speaker 1: gonna burn some calories. From what I've seen, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like there there's like a catered meal maybe after or
Speaker 1: the day before, like if they're on the road or
Speaker 1: something like that, they do like a little meal. But
Speaker 1: a lot of these guys have heard just be like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: we give up Christmas to play in the league. And
Speaker 1: it's totally worth it. Okay, that makes sense. But then
Speaker 1: their kids are their kids getting Christmas? Like I just
Speaker 1: need to know, maybe I just need kids. Their kids
Speaker 1: are living in mansions. I'm not going to pass the
Speaker 1: hat for them, but like, does Santa bite a cookie
Speaker 1: at a D's house? That's all I'm asking. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: can you give us your number two pick? All right,
Speaker 1: then I'm gonna pick this one. I'm gonna go two three.
Speaker 1: When Tea mac was at the Orlando he and it
Speaker 1: was Lebronze Christmas debut, and I I loved Tracy McGrady
Speaker 1: and I have a big soft spot in my heart
Speaker 1: for all those guys that came right after Jordan's where
Speaker 1: nobody was trying to give them their due. Really, lebron
Speaker 1: and Kobe, I guess are the ones that kind of
Speaker 1: snapped that. But like the Jerry Stackhouses, the Vince Carter's,
Speaker 1: the Tracy mcgrady's, the guys that came in the league
Speaker 1: and just because they weren't quite Mike, people wanted to
Speaker 1: act like they were nothing, you know. And so Tea Mack,
Speaker 1: I mean, and this is not a Christmas game, but
Speaker 1: that game when he was with the rockets and scored
Speaker 1: what was it, like, sixteen points in in seconds or something.
Speaker 1: It's pine like, this guy was electric, an absolute superstar
Speaker 1: and really was one of the I mean, the post
Speaker 1: Jordan's days were kind of dark for a minute as
Speaker 1: an NBA fan, So for him to emerge as a
Speaker 1: star like that, you know it, it was like him
Speaker 1: and Ai and Vince Carter, like, do are the guys
Speaker 1: that sort of breathe life back into the league that
Speaker 1: post Jordan law? Yeah, Kobe, they really breathe life back
Speaker 1: into it. And then Lebron came man and then now
Speaker 1: we're in this new era that's probably better than the nineties,
Speaker 1: I would say. But for Tracy to get his on
Speaker 1: the debut of The Nude Chosen One was kind of
Speaker 1: cool to me. For him to be like, hold on,
Speaker 1: don't forget about the guy who came out of high
Speaker 1: school first, you know what I mean? And so that's
Speaker 1: why I picked them. Yeah, Team Mack in general, he
Speaker 1: just deserves so much more love. And I love that
Speaker 1: you bring that up because it totally is right. Is
Speaker 1: the reason why I feel like Tea Mack wasn't talked
Speaker 1: about in the same echelon as like Jordan and all
Speaker 1: those guys, because one of the media just wasn't on
Speaker 1: board in the beginning to sort of shape that narrative
Speaker 1: and go, man, he's really proving us all wrong. It's
Speaker 1: just you know, he was just good and we just
Speaker 1: were like, yeah, we gotta start watching him. But he
Speaker 1: was Yeah. I mean he was one of the best
Speaker 1: players for a good what eight years, nine years. If
Speaker 1: he had stayed healthy, who knows where he would have
Speaker 1: ended up on the on the all time list, you know,
Speaker 1: like his scoring averages, he was on pace to be
Speaker 1: in that Eche a lot of guys and he just
Speaker 1: you know, his knees and all that stuff. But I
Speaker 1: bet he loves that he sucked up Lebron's Christmas. I
Speaker 1: bet he thinks about that every Christmas. It's like, oh,
Speaker 1: that was fun. But Lebron did everything he had to do,
Speaker 1: just like put together a good like solo game. He
Speaker 1: was a boy. If anything, Lebron was like still he
Speaker 1: was probably missing Christmas, Like wait, will you know I'm
Speaker 1: at the stadium? Does he do we have a chimney? Um? Okay,
Speaker 1: does this mean it's my turn? Okay, I'm going purely selfish.
Speaker 1: This is the two thousand nineteen Clippers Lakers Christmas Day game.
Speaker 1: And I'm picking it because we were at it and
Speaker 1: it was really fun. It felt super festive and just
Speaker 1: it's if you have a chance to go to an
Speaker 1: NBA Christmas game, I like, highly recommended. It was so
Speaker 1: fun and like a nice change of pace. It's like
Speaker 1: the movies, but like times one thousand and then I
Speaker 1: also picked it because that game, Kyle Kuzma was the
Speaker 1: Lakers leading score He had four points than A d
Speaker 1: and Lebron And it was a good game. The Clippers won.
Speaker 1: They were down the entire game, they had like a
Speaker 1: huge comeback in the fourth quarter, and um they ended
Speaker 1: up winning one eleven, one oh six. And this was
Speaker 1: really I mean, I know it was only a year ago,
Speaker 1: but it was really like the Clippers aren't the team
Speaker 1: to be like it was all about Kauai and Doc
Speaker 1: and everything they had like done they were. This made
Speaker 1: them like season series they went up to and oh
Speaker 1: on the Lakers, Like it's just seemed like they kind
Speaker 1: of had their number and so I think it's interesting
Speaker 1: to see how that played out too. And I think
Speaker 1: the Lakers were up like fifteen with a few minutes
Speaker 1: left to go, and the Clippers came back so easily,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is the this I don't if
Speaker 1: you were asking that, I was like, Clippers are winning
Speaker 1: the Sea in four short um. Little did we know
Speaker 1: that the year would just go to complete hell or
Speaker 1: the next few months, but things would change. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I've always I mean, we grew up watching these games
Speaker 1: on TV and still to this day, like whenever we
Speaker 1: get to like be feed away from the players or
Speaker 1: see these games live, it doesn't seem real, and especially
Speaker 1: on Christmas because as a kid, you're like, you can't
Speaker 1: I could have been fathom a Christmas away from my family,
Speaker 1: like not having dinner or just like you know, that's
Speaker 1: so the fact that we were I mean, shout out
Speaker 1: to Megan who like begged her her reps. The agency
Speaker 1: manager wants to get us some tickets. But that was
Speaker 1: a really, really fun experience. I didn't even have to
Speaker 1: beg I just had to circle that. I know, I
Speaker 1: wrote an email and then I had to follow up
Speaker 1: on that email and then they were like, Megan, we're trying.
Speaker 1: That's amazing and it's crazy that I repeatedly through quarantine.
Speaker 1: But this year's about like moving through like concrete. And
Speaker 1: I remember when you guys went to that, know, like
Speaker 1: I think we talked or maybe I just texted you
Speaker 1: after I saw a tweet or something, but yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I mean last offseason was so exciting and that just happened,
Speaker 1: you know, like Kauai and PG coming to the Clippers.
Speaker 1: Then they're gonna move their jet stadium and like fully
Speaker 1: separate from the Lakers. And I was like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: live in l A. When there's this battle frill a
Speaker 1: going on, I'm going to games. I cannot wait. And
Speaker 1: I mean my preseason picked to when it all was
Speaker 1: the Clippers. I just that lineup was so deep, and
Speaker 1: I felt like I also at the time did not
Speaker 1: think Rob Lincoln was gonna be a good GM. He's
Speaker 1: proving me wrong this offseason. They nailed it. But I
Speaker 1: was like, man, they're there too. They don't have enough depth,
Speaker 1: and the Clippers up so much depth and they have
Speaker 1: like an amazing defensive lineup with Pbeva on the floor,
Speaker 1: they have an amazing offensive line up with Loue Will
Speaker 1: on the floor, and they're just gonna be able to
Speaker 1: mix it up and interchange so much and they're switched
Speaker 1: a bowl and all the and then yeah, the Lakers
Speaker 1: are like, yeah, but we have the two we have
Speaker 1: two top five players in the sand. Yeah know, what
Speaker 1: are you gonna do? Yeah? Yeah, that's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 1: You guys are there for that playoff p r I. Um, okay,
Speaker 1: let's take a quick break and then we'll be back
Speaker 1: with our number one picks and we are back. C J.
Speaker 1: Do you want to go first? Um? Okay? Um, so
Speaker 1: my well, let's tell Kenny, Kenny, since you our guests,
Speaker 1: you'll you'll be the big finale. Hopefully we don't take
Speaker 1: any off the board for you. I'll wait to do
Speaker 1: my honorable mentions. Okay, okay. So this is another Bulls game,
Speaker 1: two thousand eleven Bulls Lakers. So the fun thing about
Speaker 1: this game was that it was a lockout season. Um
Speaker 1: and so the Christmas Day games were actually the first
Speaker 1: games of the season. This is the first year after
Speaker 1: d Rose won the m v P, so d Ros
Speaker 1: is like still prime this Bulls team. And I know
Speaker 1: Kenny chime in whenever, but like this was like one
Speaker 1: of the this is what got me really back into
Speaker 1: the NBA. This was like yeah, we were living in Chicago.
Speaker 1: It was just like this team that kind of organically
Speaker 1: came together, hometown kid, and it was yeah, Bulls versus
Speaker 1: Lakers as Staples Center, Kobe and the Lakers and the
Speaker 1: Sunday Whites. And it was a very close game. And
Speaker 1: let's see, I had some notes here. De Rose went
Speaker 1: off five Kobe and seven Kobe and palstall on the
Speaker 1: team together. So the last this is the sequence. It
Speaker 1: was a lull dang Steele de Rose game winner and
Speaker 1: then there's enough time for a Lakers possession Noah block.
Speaker 1: So like if you were a fan of this team,
Speaker 1: literally everyone doing their part and it was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is like the NBA is back, and it was
Speaker 1: just it was just exciting. One of my favorite favorite
Speaker 1: games ever, dude, And I agree with you. This is
Speaker 1: the team that got me back into it. Like joke
Speaker 1: of Noah just retired. I hope you better sign him
Speaker 1: to a ten day so we can retire a Bull
Speaker 1: all time. Honestly, it's like Jordan Pippen, you were tweeting
Speaker 1: about it. Yeah, you're like, he's like my favorite, and
Speaker 1: I loved watching people respond to you. I love him
Speaker 1: so much, man, He's just it's just like because I
Speaker 1: remember when they picked him, I was like, like, what
Speaker 1: you know, it's like this big, sort of undersized, unskilled,
Speaker 1: seeming big guy. But he was a fucking star. I
Speaker 1: mean out of that national championship team. It was like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is like a mega star, household name. So it
Speaker 1: wasn't you know, it wasn't like a Trabitsky pick, no fense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but it's always scary. Thanks for that. It's always uh,
Speaker 1: it's always scary though, when those there's those great college teams,
Speaker 1: there's always one guy that looks incredible on that team
Speaker 1: because it was so much talent that isn't ready. And
Speaker 1: luckily it was Corey Brewer, thank god, because Hortford and
Speaker 1: joke him Noah were both great NBA players. Horford still
Speaker 1: is and but dude, yeah, and like yeah, the Derek
Speaker 1: Rose and I'll admit, dude, I wanted easily that draft.
Speaker 1: I was like, you need easily. He's a stud and
Speaker 1: we need a we need a big guy. You know,
Speaker 1: he's so skilled. I watched the uh the college uh
Speaker 1: when Derrick Ross missos free throws and started crying, I
Speaker 1: was like, no, can't have that in this locker room
Speaker 1: and have people are crying with the miss free throws,
Speaker 1: No sir, and boy boy was I wrong? And uh yeah,
Speaker 1: and he rose. I just loved him so much and uh,
Speaker 1: I forgot there was a lockout to like to break
Speaker 1: down on Christmas, like Christmas sort of miracle for everybody
Speaker 1: that's a good pick man, and uh like you said
Speaker 1: that secret and lou all ding too. It's another all
Speaker 1: time favorite fill that Tom Thibodeau almost killed still hooked
Speaker 1: up to an I V. God. Well, the Lakers are
Speaker 1: paying him for the next one three three years, so
Speaker 1: he the Bobby Bonilla basketball Yeah, so yeah, all right.
Speaker 1: I mean it feels reminiscent to this year. I think
Speaker 1: this year is gonna be. I mean, I know they're
Speaker 1: starting tomorrow, but then the NBA game or the Christmas
Speaker 1: Day games are going to be the second game. You know.
Speaker 1: So that's pretty fun too. Not a lockout, just a
Speaker 1: global pandemic. Okay, my number one pick, Kenny, I really
Speaker 1: hope I'm not taking your number one, but I fear
Speaker 1: this is two thousand four Lakers heat. Is this your
Speaker 1: number one? No? No, I had it narrowed down to two.
Speaker 1: That was one of them. But I just decided on
Speaker 1: the other one right before you started. So I literally
Speaker 1: scrolled down to the I was like, no, I think
Speaker 1: I want this one and I'll explain why. But that
Speaker 1: was the other one I was considering. Yes. So this
Speaker 1: was Shock's return to l A, the first time him
Speaker 1: and Kobe were seeing each other, presumably since he had
Speaker 1: left the Lakers for the Heat. It was icy. Um,
Speaker 1: they wouldn't look at each other, you know, it felt
Speaker 1: in the grand scheme of like what we know about life.
Speaker 1: It felt sort of like petty. But it was great theater,
Speaker 1: and their feud was really like larger than life. And
Speaker 1: and now that he's past, you'd like to think that
Speaker 1: it was not. It wasn't deep. You know. It was like, oh,
Speaker 1: we we are working, relationship got fractured, but we have
Speaker 1: like love for each other and I almost kind of
Speaker 1: want to watch this game again and and be able
Speaker 1: to like pick that out. But Shaq actually ended up
Speaker 1: fouling out. He spent most of the fourth quarter on
Speaker 1: the bench, and the Heat were still able to win
Speaker 1: because Kobe missed a game winning shot at the last second.
Speaker 1: Still scored like sixty I mean, I mean, no, not sixty,
Speaker 1: but I think ended up being um like forty five
Speaker 1: points or something crazy, So it like truly delivered on
Speaker 1: everything that people wanted it to. And I think this
Speaker 1: also felt really like, Oh, Christmas Day is like when
Speaker 1: there's gonna be these crazy must see matchups. I will
Speaker 1: have to say in closing, I desperately wanted to pick
Speaker 1: a Pacers game just anywhere on my list. The Pacers
Speaker 1: have not had a Christmas Day game since two thousand four,
Speaker 1: That is the year I graduated high school and I
Speaker 1: get botox a lot. Now it's been too long. It's
Speaker 1: fucked up. They have stars, Victor Oladiople loves Christmas lights,
Speaker 1: give them a Christmas Day game. I even went to
Speaker 1: like google it and there were all these There were
Speaker 1: like three articles that were like, well, no, no Christmas
Speaker 1: game for the Pacers again, Like it seems like it's
Speaker 1: almost this like snub or this fuck you. No fan
Speaker 1: base loves Baby Jesus more than Indian or not. Like
Speaker 1: people will go to church, they'll open their presence, they'll
Speaker 1: pray to their Lord Jesus Christ, and then all they
Speaker 1: want to do is watch basketball. And I just need
Speaker 1: you all to give it. Is it because our owners
Speaker 1: are Jewish, what's happening give it to us? Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't know. And here's the thing, as a bols find,
Speaker 1: I guess I'm supposed to hite the Pacers, but I
Speaker 1: think I love them. I do. I Like I always
Speaker 1: love Reggie, I always loved Jalen Rose, Mark Jackson. You
Speaker 1: know those teams drought Rick Smith's. I used to practice
Speaker 1: that Rick Smith's buzzer beater that steps through from us.
Speaker 1: I mean I used to practice that constantly. And I
Speaker 1: think y'all, y'all are good and honestly you're like you
Speaker 1: have so many trade pieces too. I think the Pacers
Speaker 1: are gonna make noises year in the East. So maybe
Speaker 1: maybe next Christmas, Yeah yeah, let that like it'll be fun.
Speaker 1: Well hopefully Oladippo will be a hundred. I want because
Speaker 1: I want to see, like what a healthy Oladipo warrant.
Speaker 1: Like t J. Warren Nell has had his break out
Speaker 1: Brogden's great Miles Turner. I think he's just gotta like
Speaker 1: maybe he knows since no movement happened, that he's got
Speaker 1: to prove himself maybe get his value up. So like
Speaker 1: I'm happy didn't make any blockbuster moves, but also to
Speaker 1: like missed opportunities with Pacers Christmas games. I feel like
Speaker 1: there was maybe a year or two where it would
Speaker 1: have been awesome to see it a Heat Pacers Christmas
Speaker 1: Day game if those Cats pacer ge the Cabs Pacers
Speaker 1: like playoff series were always i mean seven games, like
Speaker 1: in the first second round, like that would have been
Speaker 1: a fun matchup that I think they missed. So that's
Speaker 1: my Christmas wish. All right, Kenny, bring us on home
Speaker 1: with your number one pick for Greatest Christmas to Megan's
Speaker 1: game real quick and then because it'll it'll segue into mind.
Speaker 1: I watched the highlights of that game the Heat Lakers,
Speaker 1: and it was like a skeleton crew that Kobe was
Speaker 1: dealing with two because they lost Shack. Chris Man was
Speaker 1: the starting center, you know, like Chucky Atkins was the
Speaker 1: starting point guard, which hey, I got love for Chucky,
Speaker 1: but he's a six man. He doesn't need to be
Speaker 1: your starting point guard. And so the fact that that
Speaker 1: game was as close as it was just shows Kobe's
Speaker 1: greatness too, Like the highlights of that game, or just
Speaker 1: him catching the ball at the high post, backing down,
Speaker 1: turning fade away like Carl floor, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it's just like that guy was other worldly good.
Speaker 1: Which I'm going to segue into a Lakers win here,
Speaker 1: since this is the year of Kobe love doesn't eight
Speaker 1: when the Lakers beat the Celtics rematch, I think we
Speaker 1: gotta go out with a Kobe win for sure, and
Speaker 1: a big thing for me, my all time favorite coach,
Speaker 1: Phil Jackson. This was his thousandths win and so he
Speaker 1: got on Christmas, made him the fastest coach in history
Speaker 1: to that mark. I fucking loved Phil so much, and
Speaker 1: especially after the last Dance, I'm sure you felt the
Speaker 1: same way watching him deal with Rodman. That guy like
Speaker 1: he's a philosopher, he's like more, he's more than a coach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the fact that he understood Dennis Robin the way he
Speaker 1: did let him go, brought him back, just put his
Speaker 1: arm around him like he was. He deserves it. Man.
Speaker 1: I love Phil, and so for Kobe to get a
Speaker 1: big win against the Celtics, which obviously at that time
Speaker 1: was the powerhouse team, the first Big Three. People want
Speaker 1: to act like the first Big Three and no sir
Speaker 1: um and yeah, man, I just it's funny like Kobe,
Speaker 1: I have to admit I did not appreciate him during
Speaker 1: his prime because I was one of those stubborn Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan fans that just didn't want anyone. But also that
Speaker 1: shows you how great Kobe was. He was like the
Speaker 1: first guy since Jordans that I felt like, Oh I
Speaker 1: got a cheer against this guy. That's how much I
Speaker 1: knew how good he was. And also I think I
Speaker 1: heard him that he modeled his game so much after Mike.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like you're watching Michael Jordan's two point out.
Speaker 1: A lot of people kind of don't. I don't think
Speaker 1: I appreciated it as much because that was the most reason. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was like he was like it was like a
Speaker 1: great cover band, you know what I mean, Like that
Speaker 1: was great, but that looked just like the guy you're
Speaker 1: trying to beat. But man, he he was special, and
Speaker 1: especially on Christmas man he played he was also one
Speaker 1: of the all time great Christmas Day performers. So that
Speaker 1: was my pick. That's great. I mean, the Kobe Jordan's thing. Again,
Speaker 1: I'll probably talk about this every day till till the
Speaker 1: end of time, like but no almost in it. One
Speaker 1: is death obviously made me look back on just life
Speaker 1: and just like appreciating greatness and everything he had given
Speaker 1: to us, and especially what he was doing in the
Speaker 1: later part of his life with you know, um, you know,
Speaker 1: trying to put up bringing the women's game up. But
Speaker 1: also it almost wasn't until I saw the last dance
Speaker 1: and he gave credit to Jordan. He was like, there
Speaker 1: wouldn't be me without or like he should finally not admitted,
Speaker 1: but like the intention of like no, I did take
Speaker 1: Jordan's moves. Of course I did. And then I like
Speaker 1: I factored in with everything else my work ethic, and
Speaker 1: it's not easy to copy Jordan's and that's it's like,
Speaker 1: of course, yeah, that's awesome. People are copying Jordan's great
Speaker 1: Like that's not that's not a bad thing. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: it's like, of course you did, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like I don't know. I even remember when everything happened
Speaker 1: with Louis c K. People were like, are you gonna
Speaker 1: same thing? I was like, no, because I clearly copied him,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, it's so obvious that
Speaker 1: I looked up to Louie that for me to go
Speaker 1: online and be like what a discret, like it just
Speaker 1: felt gross. I was just like, honestly, I'm bummed about it.
Speaker 1: That's my answer. You know. I feel like as a
Speaker 1: comedian as supposed, I can get to understanding that ship
Speaker 1: with Kobe where it's like, yeah, I copied the best, Like,
Speaker 1: what do you want me to say? You know what
Speaker 1: I mean, It's what you do. It's what you do
Speaker 1: when you're learning. When you're learning any new skill, you
Speaker 1: look at the best to ever do it. You know,
Speaker 1: this is all Nicki Minaje wants Cardi B to say that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you, just thank you, and I definitely took some
Speaker 1: from your point, so I actually I feel like it's
Speaker 1: something like that thank you. We were listening to Master.
Speaker 1: It was the last thing listen to Master. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: she is a top five rapper of this generation, and
Speaker 1: I in like, we gotta stop putting the female like
Speaker 1: qualifier ding again, yeah, and stop beating them against each
Speaker 1: other curious she's I mean, Jesus Christ, it's insane. I
Speaker 1: love Cardi too. I just wanted to be friends. Um
Speaker 1: one honorable mentioned that. I want to point out there's
Speaker 1: a lot of Knicks games on this The one I
Speaker 1: like though, is this Nick's Celtics ninety five. I was
Speaker 1: not here, Kenny. I don't know if you were here. No,
Speaker 1: CJ was not here. Um. But this is very much
Speaker 1: viewed as Patrick Ewing's like coming out the Knicks were
Speaker 1: down by five, and as a rookie, so this was
Speaker 1: his first season, he scored already two points. They went
Speaker 1: to double overtime, the Knicks ended up beating the Celtics,
Speaker 1: and then everybody was like, oh, I guess we know
Speaker 1: who Patrick Ewing is if they had not already known
Speaker 1: him from Georgetown. So that's for people that were alive
Speaker 1: and like the next great. And I never appreciated youwing
Speaker 1: fully either that actively as a Bulls fan. Teams were
Speaker 1: just wean, but we always crushed him because we had Michael.
Speaker 1: But so it made me think all those guys sucked.
Speaker 1: And then you look back and you're like, nah, he
Speaker 1: was amazing. He's amazing. Yeah, it's almost you look back
Speaker 1: on it, it's like tragic at him, and I don't
Speaker 1: I didn't mean to laugh like him and Barkley and
Speaker 1: uh stalked in him alone, like they didn't get championships
Speaker 1: because Jordan was so good. And then you're like, it's
Speaker 1: not because they're bad. It's just yeah, kind of the wrong.
Speaker 1: He was so dominant that the most competitive assholes on
Speaker 1: the planet are still willing to be like, yeah, dude,
Speaker 1: I mean, of course I don't have a championship. Michael
Speaker 1: Jordan was for those guys to say that knowing how
Speaker 1: they're wired is crazy, and it seems like the only
Speaker 1: one who won't is maybe Gary Payton. The last dance,
Speaker 1: he was like, no, I'm better. Like he wasn't saying
Speaker 1: I'm better than him, but I was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: he was living on an alternate universe. Yeah, which I admire.
Speaker 1: I guess the baby shout out to Glove, Yeah, shout
Speaker 1: out to him. Um gosh. I think on Christmas, which
Speaker 1: game are you guys most excited about this year for? Yeah,
Speaker 1: but I know that I think the Warriors nets obviously.
Speaker 1: I've been watching in the preseason k D and Kyrie,
Speaker 1: just seeing him on the court again and seeing k
Speaker 1: D again, like I just like I was kind of mad.
Speaker 1: I was, no, I was absolutely mad, like Katie went
Speaker 1: to the Warriors because it wasn't that I didn't want
Speaker 1: him to get one, but I just felt like we
Speaker 1: couldn't fully appreciate his greatness because he couldn't take over game,
Speaker 1: like he wasn't their only option. No, it felt it
Speaker 1: felt icky. Okay, he joined the champion at Lebron. It
Speaker 1: was it was. It was a concept, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean, like the Heat should be very good. We
Speaker 1: don't know the words, like, hey, it's one of the
Speaker 1: all time great teams. And they added Kevin durant Um.
Speaker 1: So this is the slate. Pelicans Heat. That is the
Speaker 1: first game, and then Warriors Bucks. I'm kind of excited
Speaker 1: for that. Nets Celtics, Celtics, Mavericks, Lakers, and then Clippers
Speaker 1: and Nuggets. That is a fucking great slate, man. I mean,
Speaker 1: first of all, Pelicans are gonna be I'm I'm gonna
Speaker 1: watch a ton of Pelicans is here because I obviously
Speaker 1: in Brandon Ingram, who I'm really excited about Ingram. So
Speaker 1: you know, as Pelicans heats, so obviously defending Eastern Conference
Speaker 1: champions versus Pelicans, that's excited. Was the next game Warriors Bucks.
Speaker 1: People forget we keep forgeting about the Warriors. Man. I
Speaker 1: keep talking about like how good the West is and
Speaker 1: the song goes, oh yeah, and the Warriors like fun yeah,
Speaker 1: and like they lost Clay. But people haven't been watching
Speaker 1: Telli Ubre because he's been not bad teams. That dude
Speaker 1: is developed. He's not Clay Clay is unbelievable. But Ubre
Speaker 1: is gonna be able to catch and shoot. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: one thing he can do. And Wiggins, I think is
Speaker 1: in a finally you know, Steve Kurterer. If anyone's gonna
Speaker 1: get Andrew Wiggins strained out of Steve Kerr. And so
Speaker 1: if if Wiggins can take a step and Ubre takes
Speaker 1: a step, those two combined can help replace play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you still have Draymond and Step you know. So,
Speaker 1: so then we have nets Celtics that will be very fun,
Speaker 1: awesome Kyrie back against Boston. That's that's a good story
Speaker 1: stage the arena, you know. And now it's kind of
Speaker 1: the Boston team that feels like you can really root
Speaker 1: for them, you know, like the Celtics team minus Gordon Hayward.
Speaker 1: I am like, oh yeah, I'm into them. I love
Speaker 1: Red Stevens truly. Yeah. Um. And then Mavericks Lakers Lebron
Speaker 1: versus Luca. Yeah, yeah, that's exciting. Yeah, that feels like
Speaker 1: the most like fun one. And then Clippers Nuggets Oh boy,
Speaker 1: the Clippers. It's really um it'll be interesting to see
Speaker 1: what happened on Serge man. Surge is a great pick
Speaker 1: up for them well and they say yeah, they say Montrez,
Speaker 1: while he was a great six man, he just couldn't
Speaker 1: be the big man that they needed like they were.
Speaker 1: That was the only sort of weakness. They're like ship
Speaker 1: like Whoky guard Yoki. They were trying to throw Zoo
Speaker 1: back at him. But like Surge is, if you can
Speaker 1: have them healthy or have him just like in the
Speaker 1: right spot during the playoffs, they'll blow by most every team.
Speaker 1: You know. Certain brought up Miles Turner earlier. Miles Turner
Speaker 1: used to watch Surgeon Baka film because that's what Myles
Speaker 1: Turner can do. Should I tweet at it? Yeah? He Surge.
Speaker 1: He surge Miles because he can space the floor. He's
Speaker 1: a legit three point shooter. Now he's still a plus
Speaker 1: rebounder and he's not gonna leave the league in shop
Speaker 1: blocks anymore. But they don't need him to. You know,
Speaker 1: he's still quick enough to guard Yoki and that's really
Speaker 1: what they need. And maybe most importantly is that he's
Speaker 1: a proven Kauai teammate, like they were talking about chemistry issues.
Speaker 1: Kauai need like he needed more familiarity in this in
Speaker 1: the locker room and man at the center position, Surge
Speaker 1: is like the exact guy that Kauai pick. I mean
Speaker 1: he called him or I think he like Texan was
Speaker 1: like you coming or what which is really funny. So these, um,
Speaker 1: these games start at nine am and presumably we'll go
Speaker 1: till about eleven pm, so you've got full day. You
Speaker 1: don't even you may not be able to be with
Speaker 1: your family. We got five well not we I didn't
Speaker 1: do anything, um, but there are five NBA games that
Speaker 1: can take the place of your family. I like Lebron
Speaker 1: better than some of my family, you know, not nuclear,
Speaker 1: not nuclear mom and dad, but like outside, um, Kenny,
Speaker 1: where can people? Where can our listeners find you? At? Ken?
Speaker 1: D E F O R E S T not two rs.
Speaker 1: For some reason, people want to put a second are
Speaker 1: in there. Um, I would say Instagram is is what
Speaker 1: I prefer. I'm also on Twitter, but I think about
Speaker 1: deleting it every day, So follow me on Twitter and
Speaker 1: Instagram and then well you know, if I quit Twitter,
Speaker 1: then NBA Twitter's like probably the only thing keeping you there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and We're in Christmas Eve of NBA Twitter right now,
Speaker 1: so it's gonna be tough to back out. I'll be
Speaker 1: on Twitter. You can find you can you just gobble
Speaker 1: in the fun and leave the rest. I mean that's
Speaker 1: very I don't know what I'm talking about. My dive
Speaker 1: head first into the shitty every day. Um, I got
Speaker 1: all Kenny stand up to Oh yeah absolutely, and um
Speaker 1: Pro Bowl announcement came out today Rodrigo blanket ship left off.
Speaker 1: I'm pretty fucking pissed. I want to recount. I want
Speaker 1: to recount. How about that? Oh yeah he need Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. The forest Buckler will be there someone as
Speaker 1: someone else got a spearhead your campaign. I'm spearheading Hot Rods.
Speaker 1: But the Forest Buckner you got sucked over to Kenny Moore.
Speaker 1: We got a player named Kenny on her team. Kenny
Speaker 1: Moore's change good and they both got snow up. Wow.
Speaker 1: This is wow wow Wow. Um doesn't Kennymore just sound
Speaker 1: like a guy who lives in Indy. I love that name.
Speaker 1: It's just so Indy to me. Um, you can find
Speaker 1: me at better Megan Gailey on Instagram, at Megan Gaily
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Oh my half hour is on YouTube right now.
Speaker 1: The link is in my Instagram bio. I think it's
Speaker 1: only up for a few more weeks, So gather the
Speaker 1: family around, or if you don't have family that you
Speaker 1: can't see, gather me around. I'd love to be your
Speaker 1: little bitchy aunt or sister or whatever you need me
Speaker 1: to be. I will be for you all right at
Speaker 1: c J Tolodonna on everything. And that's it you guys.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, Happy holidays. Please stay safe but not there yet.
Speaker 1: Do your do your very very best. Don't drink and drive.
Speaker 1: I don't know that feels like a holiday when you
Speaker 1: got to throw out there, Kenny, thank you so much.
Speaker 1: Merry Christmas, pleasure, Merry Christmas, Happy holidays, everybody, Thank you
Speaker 1: all right, see you next time. The Greatest is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.