Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John And this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do it, Good do it.
Speaker 1: Let's getting down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: them about it? Then we're about to let you know.
Speaker 1: It's all backstage, Joe, Steve, what up? Hello? What's going on? Fellas?
Speaker 1: How's everybody today? Man? Good? This might be a good story. Joseph, Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: tell you up. Let it fly, bro backdoor? I whoa
Speaker 1: whoa whoa who Now, ain't gonna be too that man.
Speaker 1: We passed that joke back stage? What up? Man? Has
Speaker 1: everybody listened to this podcast? You know? We talk about
Speaker 1: a lot of things that we see when we're on
Speaker 1: adventures or we're out riding around town or making Yeah,
Speaker 1: because we always got we always got something popping up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we got all kinds of stuff. Well, I'm gonna omit
Speaker 1: some of the information on a letter that I received. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna omit a little bit information. But but but
Speaker 1: our fans and y'all. Now neither one of you looking
Speaker 1: at me. You both got your eyes bugged out, like
Speaker 1: you have no idea what's happening here. I just know
Speaker 1: it doesn't include me. I got a hoodie on justin
Speaker 1: case it opens up. Dear Mr. Please, this is this
Speaker 1: is an official letter. Please, I would like some information
Speaker 1: on the two thousand twenty one C Class three fifty,
Speaker 1: also on the g SUV price pictures, et cetera. Five
Speaker 1: Any and all information you can send to me, please,
Speaker 1: thank you very much. May my God bless you. Hey, man, boss,
Speaker 1: this is this man's name. That so he just signed
Speaker 1: it as boss and and then is the regular spell
Speaker 1: boss or is it it's boss like I don't don't
Speaker 1: know how you spelled boss, so as if that is
Speaker 1: that letter conson spell boss a different way. So I
Speaker 1: just want to give it this he letting you know
Speaker 1: he's the boss. He wants a G or he wants
Speaker 1: a three fifty sincerely, Now after this, there is three
Speaker 1: letters and a numerical value. It says m VC dash
Speaker 1: one to to eight one. Does anybody know what that
Speaker 1: stands for? The I don't want to give it all
Speaker 1: away because once I tell you what this means. And
Speaker 1: that's his inmate number. Y'all this cat, this rascal sent
Speaker 1: a letter in. I did say rascal. They ain't never
Speaker 1: heard this rascal. And I know this is a podcast,
Speaker 1: it's not visual. I'm gonna pass this to to to
Speaker 1: Mr Steve Smith. Now, the boss wants a g wagon
Speaker 1: when he gets out of prison. I'm like, what do
Speaker 1: you do? Like do you send him a credit app? Like?
Speaker 1: Like what how does how does he qualify you think
Speaker 1: being in the pen. I don't know how much time
Speaker 1: he's doing the other thing too. He gave choices, he didn't.
Speaker 1: He didn't just go in and be like, man, let
Speaker 1: me copy this boss. Boss. That's his his boss. That's it.
Speaker 1: So if you're at Mountain View Correctional Facility in Spruce Pines,
Speaker 1: North Carolina, is our call in line up? What come
Speaker 1: does he want? Wait a minute, did we just become
Speaker 1: local radio to call a line boss online? Too? You
Speaker 1: go ahead, you're with Steve Hey, Hey, Mike, I want
Speaker 1: that g wagger. I ain't got no job, That's okay,
Speaker 1: I've got no credit, but I want that. We don't
Speaker 1: know that man may have him great credit credit. We
Speaker 1: don't know. It's it's plenty white color folks who got
Speaker 1: great credit is locked. Here's what I can tell you.
Speaker 1: Don't buy it street credit. Right, that's true. That right,
Speaker 1: But man, that came across me. You know, people always
Speaker 1: try to send us stuff and everything, and this came
Speaker 1: to me me a few days ago. I'm like, I've got
Speaker 1: to talk about this. That he locked up, but he
Speaker 1: making he's setting up when he get outdoors making moves.
Speaker 1: Oh man, jail ain't gonna hold me back, right, these
Speaker 1: ain't gonna hold me back. That's all you, my brothers,
Speaker 1: because we could quote, we could quote Ross whenever we
Speaker 1: feel like, hey, hey, what was he saying this for
Speaker 1: the boys that see the uh see the moon like
Speaker 1: at night? Was that definitely dress? Huh? Is that definitely
Speaker 1: the red dress? Yeah? I know, I know, my Ross.
Speaker 1: I don't know how we got to this topic. But
Speaker 1: it costs too much. I ain't gonna try to product.
Speaker 1: Don't vote, that's that's that's another podcast. Don't vote, don't
Speaker 1: vote you. I can't pull his music over, don't tell
Speaker 1: them what we're working on killers our whole budget production
Speaker 1: and Talifia. But if he does, we can go our Boss. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the Boss. Wow, that's crazy, man, I like that.
Speaker 1: Who we got coming up on the cut to a podcast.
Speaker 1: We've got Ivory Ladder, a w NBA point guard. She's
Speaker 1: the all time leading scorer in South Carolina basketball history,
Speaker 1: one of the greatest collegiate players for the University of Carolina,
Speaker 1: Lady tar Heels, and she's the author of Despite the Height.
Speaker 1: I've read lotta on the cut to a podcast. So
Speaker 1: we're just gonna get to it. We we got some stuff.
Speaker 1: It's called get Ice stuff. It's a random questions that
Speaker 1: I just just randomly pick. Um. Oh, you're gonna need
Speaker 1: him all right, here we go. Oh my god. What's
Speaker 1: the difference between living and existing? Oh? Man, I mean
Speaker 1: the difference to me is just you know, you living,
Speaker 1: you here, you enjoying you in the moment um you
Speaker 1: exist and it's just like like you. It's like to me,
Speaker 1: it's like an out of body experience kind of thing,
Speaker 1: like you just you just here really with no purpose,
Speaker 1: you know when like with me, when I'm living, I'm
Speaker 1: living to the most high. I'm enjoying my life. Um,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to be an inspiration to a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Just have an impact. I just don't want to exist
Speaker 1: on earth, you know what I'm saying, because you can
Speaker 1: definitely be invisible and people don't even know what you
Speaker 1: do with who you are. So I just love living
Speaker 1: life every day existence like just checking off the box. Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: thank you, I'm good. It's one lifetime. Enough time? Is
Speaker 1: one lifetime enough time? Yeah? To me, I'm just like,
Speaker 1: hold up, rewind you overthinking this? Yeah, lights enjoy it. Though,
Speaker 1: I would say, there are some things that like you
Speaker 1: experience you like, man, I can't wait to get over this.
Speaker 1: And then there's so many things you're like, I love
Speaker 1: to do that over you know, experience it. I'll switch
Speaker 1: it up. So that's that's why I like about all right,
Speaker 1: here we go. What's your biggest passion? H Impacting the youth.
Speaker 1: That's my biggest passion. A lot of people would think,
Speaker 1: I say basketball all this, but just the impact that
Speaker 1: I have through the game of basketball with the children,
Speaker 1: like that is my passion, Like just you know, like
Speaker 1: now train, but just to see the influence in the
Speaker 1: impact that I have on their lives just through the
Speaker 1: game of basketball and just man, the joy did they
Speaker 1: give me? Like that's my passion. I love to see
Speaker 1: the kids succeed for sure, absolutely, Oh yeah yeah. So
Speaker 1: what happens when they're You have fifteen kids that give
Speaker 1: you the joy and then there's one that's that There's
Speaker 1: that one that just that just is a little ivory yea,
Speaker 1: So how do you deal with that? That that one kid,
Speaker 1: that that next ivory, that justice rambunctious, that's full of spice.
Speaker 1: I'm dealing with it now. I trained kids. I trained
Speaker 1: at least twenty twenty kids, boys and girls, and I
Speaker 1: got a young man like that. Yea. But when I
Speaker 1: tell you, he's one heck of an athlete. But you
Speaker 1: know my other kids, they two parent home. You know
Speaker 1: they're good. You know, him staying with Grandma and just
Speaker 1: like you can tell a big difference. But when he
Speaker 1: comes to me, it's like you walk up in my gym,
Speaker 1: pull your pants up. You know, I got standards, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So the first week was rough,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, hold up, man, I can't fight nobody kid.
Speaker 1: You boy too, like what's going on? But it's that
Speaker 1: one kid that I would never give up on. You
Speaker 1: just gotta keep finding a way to like relate to him.
Speaker 1: You know, some way try to relate to him. And
Speaker 1: and that's what I did. And man, when I tell
Speaker 1: you has changed far as like a like a's and
Speaker 1: bees in school is cool now. Back then it wasn't
Speaker 1: cool because he would get picked at for making like
Speaker 1: good grades, like a man, make good grades. We're trying
Speaker 1: to get a scholarship so grandma can be Okay, that's
Speaker 1: that should be your thing right there, like grandma needs
Speaker 1: to be set. And that's why you do it. Oh,
Speaker 1: absolutely absolutely, I do it. Man, I do it all old,
Speaker 1: all over. Give me, give me five or six of you.
Speaker 1: What's your favorite child hood childhood restaurant back in your
Speaker 1: back in your hometown York? What? What's so funny? We
Speaker 1: just thought getting restaurant a couple of years ago. I know,
Speaker 1: but I just if there's a mom and pop, there's
Speaker 1: always everybody has that. Everybody has that place that you
Speaker 1: go when I go home. It's like you can't eat
Speaker 1: it every time, but you're like, you know what, let
Speaker 1: me roll on over here and get some of this, uh,
Speaker 1: get something um this food that reminds me of when
Speaker 1: I was here. Why are you thinking about this place
Speaker 1: back home called Ramona's everybody that travels with me that's
Speaker 1: been and g has been. It's a barrito spot. That
Speaker 1: brito spot is in the hood, right is dope boys
Speaker 1: out there slanging in the parking lot. But man Gee
Speaker 1: looked at us like, man Gee was like, man, that's
Speaker 1: brito better be good. Yeah, ain't side because no, no, no,
Speaker 1: I'm not. I'm not saying you sid side on it.
Speaker 1: But it's all you know, I get you, but I
Speaker 1: know you're gonna be up hype it up. I didn't
Speaker 1: hype it up something. And you know that's my boy.
Speaker 1: So if you hype up something, he gonna say, like, man,
Speaker 1: that was a mid ye exactly. It was cool that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: well I did that. Boy, that's good right there. But
Speaker 1: it's not. Yeah, it's but it's not one of those
Speaker 1: that um. For me, it's a place at some point
Speaker 1: in my trip, I'll snag one because it it's more
Speaker 1: of it reminds me of home. There's a brito spot
Speaker 1: called Steve Burgers. It's I it's not even mid it's
Speaker 1: more of the video game I used to play in there,
Speaker 1: ms pac Man in Gallicha, right. So for me, it's
Speaker 1: more of just brings me back to that nostalgic place
Speaker 1: of when I dreamed about being in the NFL. Right,
Speaker 1: it reminds me of what I dreamed about, and so
Speaker 1: like this even like music. There's some music, Bro, I'm
Speaker 1: not lying to you. Fuji's killing me softly. You know
Speaker 1: about the school man I used to, Bro, I used
Speaker 1: to sit. Let me tell you. You know what I
Speaker 1: used to. You know what I used to, You know
Speaker 1: what I know about it. I remember when I used
Speaker 1: to sit in my room, brown carpet, bunk, bed wood paneling,
Speaker 1: um radio what had a black and red chord. Um
Speaker 1: was playing a Sega Genesis with a wall unit and
Speaker 1: we had uh and just that's when we had like
Speaker 1: the five gallon water jug with change in it, Like
Speaker 1: I remember that. And but the fojis always bring me
Speaker 1: back to that. When I used to practice catching the football.
Speaker 1: You remember what it smells like. I'm not trying to
Speaker 1: be funny, like that's a great question. I really don't.
Speaker 1: I remember we had a old school tub. I used
Speaker 1: to wash the we would uh if the Washington I
Speaker 1: remember when the Washington she broke. I used to wash
Speaker 1: my clothes my hand and dry them out with the
Speaker 1: towel roll the towel up and put it on things,
Speaker 1: squeeze it out and hang it. And when we were
Speaker 1: you can hang clothes on the line because Ninja was
Speaker 1: taking it right next day. And and so that's why
Speaker 1: I asked on the food part because that just that
Speaker 1: just brings back some of that grind that, right, something
Speaker 1: that grind that that some of these young folks, um,
Speaker 1: they don't get that on Instagram. I'm not giving that
Speaker 1: to you on Facebook. I'm not giving that to you
Speaker 1: on social media. That's something that I gotta hold dear
Speaker 1: to me is when I get up in the morning,
Speaker 1: I'm going forty two, I'm straight. What's gonna push me
Speaker 1: to work out with my fat ass today? Right? And
Speaker 1: I remember, I remember, you know what, we gotta get
Speaker 1: off the bench today. Let's let's let's let's play like
Speaker 1: a starter. So so what was that restaurant for you?
Speaker 1: If I had to think? I think before games because
Speaker 1: I am the baby seven. So it was at one
Speaker 1: point all sisters was on the same team because I
Speaker 1: played varsity in seventh grade. Flex no, he was in
Speaker 1: school like my I can't say no for that man.
Speaker 1: So my sisters then they would we would always go
Speaker 1: since since you said that the sister older sister is Iris,
Speaker 1: and my middle sister is Ashley, and then I'm Ivory okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: and then my brothers is four. It's four boys and
Speaker 1: three girls. So my oldest brothers, Charles, I mean cool.
Speaker 1: I love all my no. See, everybody got their own
Speaker 1: personality when it comes to me. That's the thing. They're
Speaker 1: so protective. Like my brother Charles, on a good day,
Speaker 1: on a good day, hey, listen, on a good day.
Speaker 1: For the night he es, don't give me about five five,
Speaker 1: you know, Charles. Okay, so you're telling me no athletes
Speaker 1: lie about their height. Absolutely absolutely so on a good day,
Speaker 1: when I'm feeling good, stretched out real well, like, oh
Speaker 1: my god, oh man, don't I'm not even captain b
Speaker 1: I even said on a good day. I wasn't even
Speaker 1: like saying, oh it's every day or you know, every game.
Speaker 1: I say, when I'm feeling good, stretched out, you know
Speaker 1: about five seven someone Reggie, Sharon and Colon. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: it's seven of us. So my the spot that when
Speaker 1: you was talking, I was like, man, my sister would
Speaker 1: take me there for the games. Will eat the Afghan
Speaker 1: Chinese kitchen. It's a little Chinese kitchen spot that's in
Speaker 1: your Everybody would go there, so it's like basketball football everybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was on, Oh it was some days. It was
Speaker 1: on some day with difficult but I mean, you know, yeah,
Speaker 1: but the place was. You know, did you a school?
Speaker 1: You know, give us that like ten dollars, We're gonna
Speaker 1: make that ten dollars work, you know what I'm saying. Stretched,
Speaker 1: So that's the that's the place and so crazy. Man.
Speaker 1: I drove by there the other day and I just
Speaker 1: looked at it like, nah, boy, I'm saying something that
Speaker 1: workout is, but I'm about to die. And that work
Speaker 1: out hurt. The things that we used to eat before
Speaker 1: a game, go out there before and perform. You go
Speaker 1: out there now, man, you right for a week, week,
Speaker 1: a whole week, a week some stuff like that. Don't
Speaker 1: you cannot finish the game. Yeah, I don't know what.
Speaker 1: We didn't even talk about playing. I'm just talking about paying.
Speaker 1: I ain't even talking about playing now now being a
Speaker 1: dad and going to games and stuff with my boys
Speaker 1: and they're like, yeah, you know, we got a little
Speaker 1: bit of time and be swen. Let's get someway. And
Speaker 1: I just look at it now, and think about the food. Yeah, right,
Speaker 1: just how much we played on God give him a building.
Speaker 1: How much. There's only so much you could really do.
Speaker 1: You either got or you don't. Right, you can you
Speaker 1: can put all you can, hire all these folks and
Speaker 1: do all this stuff that at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: if you ain't got, if you if you're jumper, ain't wet,
Speaker 1: it don't matter what coach you got. It don't don't
Speaker 1: matter what defense you're running. It don't matter what offense.
Speaker 1: How many screens that boy can run around the screen,
Speaker 1: don't you know? So No, you're right though, Like you're right, seriously,
Speaker 1: but you can't tell this generation that because they got
Speaker 1: ten trainers. But we're going to I G with the trainers.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like they showing out, But
Speaker 1: so you're saying you're seeing seeing that. I'm from your
Speaker 1: perspective all the time. That's a cap A lot of
Speaker 1: these kids that are doing it, they only showed Like
Speaker 1: with me, if you see any highlight tape, I'm showing
Speaker 1: my missus because I'm gonna be real, I miss shots
Speaker 1: show that. But then when you got a college coach,
Speaker 1: because I was I was a college coach at Carolina
Speaker 1: for two years. You know, you get on Instagram and say,
Speaker 1: oh man, she's nice. But then when you go recruiting,
Speaker 1: you're like and you're looking at the video and looking
Speaker 1: and making sure that person got the same number. Like
Speaker 1: hold up, no, they do that highlight thing, but in reality,
Speaker 1: turn turn the cameras off, Like who are you as
Speaker 1: a player? You know what I'm saying. Like even like
Speaker 1: when I trained my kids, y'all bring them in, but
Speaker 1: I tell a parent, we're putting them. We're putting the
Speaker 1: misses on. You need to see that, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, because it's part of the game. You're not
Speaker 1: gonna make every shot. I've never known anybody to make
Speaker 1: every shot. Now you're gonna take forty four like Kobe
Speaker 1: in one game, but you're gonna you're gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: miss on. So that that Instagram stuff is straight up
Speaker 1: cap that. That's the cap I was captain. That's the
Speaker 1: cap right there. Don't trap it up here they it is.
Speaker 1: It's uh. I just wanted your perspective on it because
Speaker 1: you're seeing it firsthand. Training all these training, all these kids,
Speaker 1: and I mean we'd all be sitting here line, we
Speaker 1: didn't if we didn't acknowledge that. I mean, the generations
Speaker 1: are just different and things have changed, and social media
Speaker 1: has brought so much. It's a it's a gift on
Speaker 1: the curse sometimes it is, it really is. And I
Speaker 1: just wish that these kids when they get in the gym,
Speaker 1: focus on your craft, like, focus on what you need
Speaker 1: to do to get better as a player. But also,
Speaker 1: you know, try to get recruited by colleges, not the popularity.
Speaker 1: It's no stop doing things for lights. Everybody don't like it.
Speaker 1: Sometimes they'd be bored like me at homes all time
Speaker 1: on a on a Saturday and just be clicking up
Speaker 1: that click and then you're looking like, oh they liked
Speaker 1: my post. They don't even know he's empty. Because when
Speaker 1: you're like, seriously, all when Steve, you know this, whenever
Speaker 1: you we grinded, ain't nobody would have. Yeah, but when
Speaker 1: we when it's on the shore, everybody can pick pick it.
Speaker 1: I love cut to It, and I love it even
Speaker 1: more when you download us and subscribe and you can
Speaker 1: follow us on social media too. Smithie, where where at
Speaker 1: that's at? Cut to it? On Instagram? What about Twitter? At?
Speaker 1: Cut to It? Facebook cut to It featuring Steve Smith
Speaker 1: singr what about online and you can follow us at
Speaker 1: cut to It podcast dot com where you can buy
Speaker 1: merch and you can subscribe to us wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts. I got all my answers questions. Um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I got all my questions answered. That's what I'm here for,
Speaker 1: a brother, cut to a podcast dot Com. All right,
Speaker 1: let's get into it. So where are you from in
Speaker 1: the place you call your hometown? Um? Recently from McConnell's
Speaker 1: Softcare Alana McConnell's, McConnell's were like twenty five minutes from
Speaker 1: rock Hill, Like rock Hill is moving and shaking, and
Speaker 1: then the Panthers facilities going down there. So hey when
Speaker 1: they go down there, all all those little houses, because
Speaker 1: all of a sudden, it's gonna double and triple absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1: So um, I mean stoplights, how many stopped signs? Two
Speaker 1: to come in and go? Here's what I need to know.
Speaker 1: Is the fire department volunteer or a most likely, But
Speaker 1: it's all in the same It's all in the same
Speaker 1: building as the police department. I mean yeah, it's the
Speaker 1: police department and the fire department in the jail in
Speaker 1: the same place. Now it's like one division. The jails
Speaker 1: not in there. You know what I forget y'all. Man, Hey,
Speaker 1: but that's like the post office, the meat hall, and
Speaker 1: the fire department is in one building. The meeting hall.
Speaker 1: Like you know, we have all our meetings. You know
Speaker 1: what that means South Carolina? So I know what meetings
Speaker 1: y'all talking about. But have we have we progressed? Get
Speaker 1: them off? Get him off your back. You said meetings,
Speaker 1: you know, South Carolina. I don't know what kind of
Speaker 1: meetings y'all talking about. No, not the type of meeting man,
Speaker 1: Not that means anymore. That's true. Not mean. Ain't talking
Speaker 1: my fish fry meetings either. Oh yeah, you gotta have
Speaker 1: them because we got the meeting hall. Now, were you
Speaker 1: growing up? Oh no, no, no, you aren't even allowed
Speaker 1: in exactly No, I definitely wasn't going in there. Were
Speaker 1: good when you go growing up? Growing up out there
Speaker 1: a young kid? Um? What was that like? As far
Speaker 1: as you know, racism and in in segregation? Uh? In
Speaker 1: in in a small deep South? Was it forty five
Speaker 1: minutes from Charlotte? Seems back in the day like Charlotte,
Speaker 1: Charlotte's downtown uptown uhould be where you where you score
Speaker 1: dope right years ago, so I can imagine if if
Speaker 1: Uptown was that way. Forty five minutes down in South
Speaker 1: Carolina was my personal spears growing up. My mom and
Speaker 1: dad shield me from a lot of stuff. Why you
Speaker 1: know what, I never asked them, Um, I don't know why,
Speaker 1: but it's I mean, you know, I never knew what
Speaker 1: that as the Confederate flag was, but you see it
Speaker 1: all the time. You know, people trucks and in the trailers.
Speaker 1: You know, they have it on the wall, I mean
Speaker 1: in the in the windows, is everywhere. I never knew
Speaker 1: what that was growing up until literally, I'm gonna be honest,
Speaker 1: I got to college, and I mean that's when I
Speaker 1: just started realizing, like, dang man, it's crazy something so much.
Speaker 1: It was something that represented something that you had no idea,
Speaker 1: but it was it was it was in your face
Speaker 1: every single day. I had no idea. So when you
Speaker 1: went to college you discovered that Confederate flag for you
Speaker 1: and your small town meant what man? It just meant that. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: it just meant that it they wasn't for us. There
Speaker 1: wasn't for us. They was they was against us. That's
Speaker 1: what it That's what it meant. But it's so crazy
Speaker 1: because literally, um really growing up. Man, Like when I
Speaker 1: say we're in the country, like we like the next
Speaker 1: house down, you know, it's you know, like the kind
Speaker 1: of like family members, but it's still far away. And yeah, yeah, seriously,
Speaker 1: it's like the next was down, like you know, they fought,
Speaker 1: they we separated. Um. But I did experience this though
Speaker 1: my first game and junior high. Um, I played in Chester,
Speaker 1: you know Chester, South Carolina is um, so I played
Speaker 1: no flex stop. I scored. I scored fifty points in
Speaker 1: my first game as a seventh grader, and I had
Speaker 1: to get escorted at the gym like for the police,
Speaker 1: like my dad. Everybody covered me like that man. And
Speaker 1: it was but it was my own people people. It
Speaker 1: was it was the black community throwing stuff at me,
Speaker 1: upset mad that I even scored, like because I scored
Speaker 1: fifty points and yeah yeah I had fifty and I
Speaker 1: think the score I think we had like to. I
Speaker 1: think we had like too, and it was just like
Speaker 1: we won the game, but it was like who is she?
Speaker 1: She showing out? So it was like my parents had
Speaker 1: to like literally like cover me up them already small,
Speaker 1: so they covered me up. People throwing stuff, throwing stuff,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yo, is this really high it's gonna
Speaker 1: be I'm like, I know one time I had told
Speaker 1: my parent, I'm not playing basketball no more. I hate this.
Speaker 1: Why they're throwing stuff at me that I was like,
Speaker 1: don't nobody care. We're moving up the barsity. I was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: it's that gonna be better. He was like, nah, it
Speaker 1: may not, but you got your two sisters that's gonna
Speaker 1: protect you. So and I just I've just been protected
Speaker 1: since then. He said. He started playing basketball at the
Speaker 1: age of four. Yeah, what kind of basketball we're referring to,
Speaker 1: because I'm just being honest, Like when I think of
Speaker 1: when I think of kids, all they played basketball is
Speaker 1: for you, like straight dribbling, dribbling. I did dribbling everything,
Speaker 1: but like I told him, like straight up diaper bro
Speaker 1: straight up diaper diaper and everything. Yeah, just driveling, driveling.
Speaker 1: I just know my my parents, like yo, like they
Speaker 1: had to change the walls. They don't change the floors everything,
Speaker 1: because since four into then, I just dribble, dribble, dribble.
Speaker 1: My sisters don't were like beat try to like beat
Speaker 1: the stew They would take my ball, bust my balls,
Speaker 1: bust the balls that I had um because they was like, man,
Speaker 1: you're dripped it too late, and and I just that's
Speaker 1: all I did. Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. And ever since then,
Speaker 1: I never looked back. I love the game. Parking disease
Speaker 1: hit your family pretty hard. Yeah, so my dad had
Speaker 1: Parkinson's for fourteen years, and I really didn't know her
Speaker 1: dad had Parkinsons. And two yes, I did, I do
Speaker 1: that here and there those things. You know, you got
Speaker 1: the third person on this story right here. Check this
Speaker 1: out though, right then, here we go, third person, Yo,
Speaker 1: my my dad had Parkinson's. I played four years at Carolina.
Speaker 1: I think my parents may have missed five games out
Speaker 1: of my four years. My third year in the w
Speaker 1: n b A is when I found out my dad
Speaker 1: had Parkinson's. Take it back. I was like, man, my parents,
Speaker 1: y'all got some money. Y'all always at the game, you know.
Speaker 1: Come to find out my dad was coming up my
Speaker 1: sophomore year starting treatments. They never told me. This is
Speaker 1: how I found out my dad had Parkinson's. We was eating,
Speaker 1: We was eating, and and I'm thinking, ship they got
Speaker 1: money in every game, like we're going, Mama, how you
Speaker 1: the boss let you off the day? Yeah? He cool?
Speaker 1: He good, but checked us out. When when did you
Speaker 1: think you have money? Because they was coming up like
Speaker 1: I mean, it's crazy. They would come up to They
Speaker 1: never missed. They never missed the home game out of
Speaker 1: four years. This is how I found out my dad
Speaker 1: had Parkinsons. So me and him eating I had came
Speaker 1: back from overseas. I came back from Israel, and I
Speaker 1: was like, let's go to Chapel Hill and just see
Speaker 1: what's going on. You know. See the coach we did
Speaker 1: was eating that one of my favorite restaurants called Sutting.
Speaker 1: My mom was on my right, my dad was right
Speaker 1: there and the door was open, and so we're just
Speaker 1: sitting here and then I'm like, I'm like, yo, what's
Speaker 1: going on? Like, dare You're good? You're straight? I'm like
Speaker 1: you're cold. He's like, na, no, I'm good, I'm good.
Speaker 1: So my mom kind of looked at him. I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: y'all tripping. I was like, all right, so you know what,
Speaker 1: I'm just eating exactly, And so we start eating east
Speaker 1: I've seen him start shaking again. I'm like okay, alright.
Speaker 1: So the owner his name Done. So I'm like, hey, Done,
Speaker 1: can you close the door? You know, my dad's cold.
Speaker 1: And then my mom was just like, I'm like, why
Speaker 1: are you rubbing his lag on the table? But I
Speaker 1: see you all going what's going on exactly? And I'm like, yo,
Speaker 1: what is going on? So at the table she was
Speaker 1: like he's good because they know I am about my
Speaker 1: Dad's like, he's good. Nothing is wrong, you know, you know, um,
Speaker 1: you know he was diagnosed with parkinson And then the
Speaker 1: first thing that came to my mom was Muhammad Ali.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh my god, I'm just freaking out, like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is gonna happen, all this and that. And so
Speaker 1: from that day, uh, for the fourteen years because he
Speaker 1: passed away in eighteen, for those days, yeah, for those days, bro.
Speaker 1: Since that soft, since I found out, I've been getting
Speaker 1: I was getting him help from like we was in
Speaker 1: I was saying to my mom and dad, the Pittsburgh,
Speaker 1: um Chapel Hill, Atlanta in d C. You know, everywhere
Speaker 1: that I played, I was find somebody with Parkinson's. They
Speaker 1: would come and stay with me for like two weeks
Speaker 1: in the summer. He would get treatment. That's how I
Speaker 1: found out. Man, it did help. It did help, um,
Speaker 1: honestly and truthfully, be honest. Two weeks before he passed
Speaker 1: away in a car accident, which is crazy. I've always said, listen, um,
Speaker 1: my dad never drank, never had a drink, never smoked nothing.
Speaker 1: I said, listen, man, it's this thing called medical marijuana.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna need for you to try this, but I've
Speaker 1: been getting it for months and months, and two weeks
Speaker 1: before he past, he was like, I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1: I'm like yes, because they was telling me it's a
Speaker 1: Parkinson's strand. That's I there. I said, listen, I don't
Speaker 1: care what strand it is. You just need to go
Speaker 1: do what you got to do. And he agreed to it.
Speaker 1: But you know with the past that he wasn't able to.
Speaker 1: But man, I mean the time that he was here,
Speaker 1: I tried to get him as much treatment. Um. But
Speaker 1: I'm still learning, and a lot of people send me
Speaker 1: messages like, hey, my my, you know my dad has Parkinson's.
Speaker 1: What are some things you can do with some things
Speaker 1: you did with your dad? I said two things. I said,
Speaker 1: you label him as good days and bad days. I said,
Speaker 1: good days he'll pick up the phone to call me.
Speaker 1: You see what you saw with Kobe, did you know?
Speaker 1: He'll talk and then bad days I'll call him and
Speaker 1: he's just like it's slurry. But you gotta change that
Speaker 1: around and be like, man, what's going on? What we're doing?
Speaker 1: What we're eating? Ween wings that they He's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I had wings And literally if he said whatever he
Speaker 1: had to eat, I'll go get wings. So I'd be like,
Speaker 1: bro him eating wings too. He was like I And
Speaker 1: it's just lifts him up, you know. And so that's
Speaker 1: what I'm hoping people now that's dealing with Parkinson's and
Speaker 1: with their family so crazy. Yeah, they get my man's
Speaker 1: cold and he got parkinson Like, what's going out? Oh mama?
Speaker 1: So I found out that's pretty awesome. They were able
Speaker 1: to really keep you focused in that versus you know,
Speaker 1: obviously knowing how distracted you would have become, Yes, big time.
Speaker 1: I don't think I probably understand you probably would have
Speaker 1: went off to college, and that's why I probably I
Speaker 1: would have been right there. Probably wasn't done it good,
Speaker 1: but still playing basketball. Chopping hill Yes for you was
Speaker 1: amazing the best thing that ever happened to me. The
Speaker 1: opportunity to play at the prestige school like that and
Speaker 1: to be able to have the keys to Ferrari. That's
Speaker 1: what I call it, that that that schools the Ferrari
Speaker 1: to have the keys to be to do that what
Speaker 1: four years straight and accomplished so much that I did.
Speaker 1: The fans, uh, the coaches, my teammates, I mean everything.
Speaker 1: Just walking on campus. Man, it was amazing. One of
Speaker 1: the things I think doesn't get a lot credits. You
Speaker 1: know when you hear about Chapel Hill here about men
Speaker 1: and women basketball, but you don't see a lot of
Speaker 1: women's basketball. Um, why why do you think that is?
Speaker 1: Like we see you can see Oregon, we're seeing now, Uh,
Speaker 1: last couple of years in South Carolina. Why do you
Speaker 1: think that that's the million dollar question? I don't know,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna tell you this. No, flex when when
Speaker 1: I played those four years, oh we was. We was
Speaker 1: on TV. You know what I'm saying, because we was
Speaker 1: like number one versus number two, do versus Carolina Carolina
Speaker 1: versus Tennessee Connecticut. Oh, we was on. But it's like now,
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, my shirt, let us say female athletes matter.
Speaker 1: Why do we have to go through so much just
Speaker 1: to be seen. And we we we played, you know,
Speaker 1: we played a play play basketball. We have the weather sox,
Speaker 1: the uniform put this same way the guys do. But
Speaker 1: it's like we have to go through so many loops
Speaker 1: just to be seen and it's just like it's so tough.
Speaker 1: It's frustrating. But I can't even explain it. I really
Speaker 1: cannot explain it. But I'm I'm I'm happy that it's
Speaker 1: trying to get in the you know, going the right direction,
Speaker 1: but why it takes so long? Yeah, the frustration it is,
Speaker 1: it's it's very frustrating because you've got a lot of
Speaker 1: women out here that can whop, that can hoop. Just
Speaker 1: give them the opportunity to be on television. Yeah. Who
Speaker 1: are some of your most influential women's players, Oh, Cynthia Cooper,
Speaker 1: Cynthia Cooper, Lisa Lastly, even though she was a post,
Speaker 1: I didn't even care she was giving buckets, Tina Thompson,
Speaker 1: Girls Swoops, the whole Houston commentation. Hello, please, I missed it,
Speaker 1: you did? I heard it, though I knew exactly she
Speaker 1: was cold, Yeah she was. That conversation was loaded. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Reggie's Reggie Miller's sister was, Oh yeah, then then Reggie
Speaker 1: and you did though she was cold, she was and
Speaker 1: she's a bigger guard, Like yeah, he wasn't trying to
Speaker 1: play that one on absolutely not. What's it happening, Um,
Speaker 1: summarize your college career. I had a great college career.
Speaker 1: Is that nah, it's you know, it was great. Don't
Speaker 1: come up with this stuff like just explain who you were.
Speaker 1: When I say sum, I'm not a statement, which means
Speaker 1: you get to say what you valued in your college career.
Speaker 1: My whole college career, I'm gonna be really it was amazing, amazing.
Speaker 1: I mean even through the ups downs, Oh man, the
Speaker 1: running in the mornings and all of that, it was.
Speaker 1: It was awesome. Um never when I got there, never
Speaker 1: even been on a plane. Well, I've been on the
Speaker 1: plane once and that's that's to go to the McDonald's
Speaker 1: All American Game. So to be on a private plane
Speaker 1: that was a whole day. No, man, that was a
Speaker 1: whole different ball game. To be on a private plane.
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, is anybody else getting on here with us?
Speaker 1: Like no, I'm like, oh my god, this eye is
Speaker 1: gonna really gonna be for the next four years, it
Speaker 1: was like yeah, but on the court, I mean I
Speaker 1: was able to like do a lot of great things
Speaker 1: just being as small as small as I am, but
Speaker 1: having so many people saying, man, she's she's not gonna
Speaker 1: make it, she's a giant. She's she's a giant, but
Speaker 1: she too small. They're gonna kill in the a CC.
Speaker 1: She's gonna get killed in the a c C. That
Speaker 1: was motivation. Like literally four years I had that chip
Speaker 1: on my shoulder, like who donna kill? And you don't understand,
Speaker 1: like I'm a dog. I was mentioned the backstage earlier.
Speaker 1: What I remember about your game is you were one
Speaker 1: of the you were one of the early score first
Speaker 1: point guards that there was in the era before now
Speaker 1: you got all these like that's a thing. No, now
Speaker 1: you expect your point guard to score? How dare them
Speaker 1: you expect? But back but back then it was still
Speaker 1: more the it was still more the traditional point guard.
Speaker 1: You came in the game at your stature, kidding buckets,
Speaker 1: getting buckets. But that's the thing, Like everybody recruited me,
Speaker 1: all the colleges they knew I was scoring, you know,
Speaker 1: point guard first. I'm gonna pass it, don't get it
Speaker 1: twisted and you're hoping you're gonna get the ball. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, I'm a score because like now
Speaker 1: you still got traditional point guards and you're playing Yeah,
Speaker 1: but you're playing five against four. They can't score, so
Speaker 1: you're bagging off on them and they still looking out there.
Speaker 1: You back up off me. I'm pulling I am, but
Speaker 1: this is the thing I am about to do my
Speaker 1: flex right quick. Listen, man, everybody talking, they shoot from
Speaker 1: the half court line, and in doing that, they're gonna
Speaker 1: see my seventy point games. I've been doing that. I've
Speaker 1: been doing it, and like everybody now like this ain't
Speaker 1: no flex. I'm just I'm proud of my Listen, I'm
Speaker 1: proud of my accomplishman. But I'm like, I'm looking at
Speaker 1: it like, yo, I've been doing it. I was doing it,
Speaker 1: like I actually did it at the Dale Curry Classic
Speaker 1: and stuff is sitting there as a young child like
Speaker 1: just looking at like h uh no, no, no, that
Speaker 1: was when it was at uh Charlotte Charlotte Latin. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so all all records still hold today with me, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So I'm like, yo, I've been
Speaker 1: I've been shooting back then crossing people over. Like now
Speaker 1: everybody like, oh this person crossing this person over? Ye
Speaker 1: tell me something did man, It's crazy. I've been doing good.
Speaker 1: Hey Gerard, why did you get that T shirt? You
Speaker 1: mean this thing? Oh yes, I got it from cut
Speaker 1: to a podcast dot com where we have exclusive merchandise.
Speaker 1: Shout out to our guys and seven or four shot.
Speaker 1: But yeah, you can go on, buy you a T shirt,
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. So draft
Speaker 1: eleventh overall by the Detroit Dream in two thousand seven.
Speaker 1: How had that dream come true? Let me tell you something.
Speaker 1: Senior year playing dude, Yeah, yeah, I gotta flect. Katie
Speaker 1: Ain't got back step. Don't know what? Man, listen, senior year,
Speaker 1: you know, top player coming out of college playing dude,
Speaker 1: muggsy bowl sitting side. Charlotte Stein has the number one
Speaker 1: pick at the time. I guess my girl is South
Speaker 1: Carolina was the coach. She was, you know, hitting retirement.
Speaker 1: So they're looking for a guard. Done to go. I'm like,
Speaker 1: oh shoot, I'm going one. Actually they had me going one,
Speaker 1: but Charlotte Stain folded. Oh yeah, yep, they folded, and
Speaker 1: then the muggy was sitting courtside that game because I
Speaker 1: hit somebody with and I looked at him and I pointed,
Speaker 1: and all you see is just clapping. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So then I draw like I failed, which
Speaker 1: is which wasn't bad felt in the draft. So you know,
Speaker 1: I went Levin to Detroit and was coached by Bill m. Beer.
Speaker 1: Great experience. I think our average um second, why why
Speaker 1: do you believe that I played? Um? The team was stacked, man,
Speaker 1: It was a learning experience for me. I was playing
Speaker 1: in front of Katie Smith, Olympian. So I love what
Speaker 1: you're saying because a lot of times you hear players
Speaker 1: they go, I don't get an opportunity what you're playing against?
Speaker 1: The stacked group of group of athletes? And then how
Speaker 1: are you practicing? Though, oh compared to the girls you
Speaker 1: were going against? Oh Man, practice was it was like open.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm going literally, I had four Olympians on
Speaker 1: the team, and I mean my first day of practice,
Speaker 1: Bill put me on one of the Olympians and I
Speaker 1: got lost, lost in the sauce, lost in by five screens,
Speaker 1: and he was like, welcome to the w See. You
Speaker 1: know what I love. I love I love what you're
Speaker 1: saying because sometimes you will interview. You know, we've had
Speaker 1: Zack mass Jesse Bates like you hear these guys and
Speaker 1: they talked about Man, you know, I'm We had Zack
Speaker 1: on here one time and he was talking about how
Speaker 1: when he got yelled at, you never had to be
Speaker 1: yelled at before. And I'm like, well, what have you
Speaker 1: done in this league that you believe that you can't
Speaker 1: be yelled at now? So I love the fact that
Speaker 1: you're saying I should have been number one pick. I
Speaker 1: failed and I averaged a couple of seconds because I
Speaker 1: was overwhelmed, not prepared for the stage in which I
Speaker 1: was propelled on projected to be on and I and
Speaker 1: you didn't manage it well, not because you were a
Speaker 1: fool or you mismanage your time. He's just you weren't
Speaker 1: good enough at that moment in your life. Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: a lot of people want to meet it. I will, man,
Speaker 1: I was, I'm coming out of college is like top player,
Speaker 1: and then I get to the w n B A
Speaker 1: is like the twelve player, like what the like? But
Speaker 1: you know what, it's a humbling experience and a lot
Speaker 1: of athletes need to go through that to get that
Speaker 1: early experience instead of that psychologically. How did that impact you? Oh, honestly, truth,
Speaker 1: we man, it impacted me a good bit. My mom
Speaker 1: came up and stayed with me mentally because I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: I know I'm good enough, but I got three four
Speaker 1: and Olympians that's playing in front of me. Is like
Speaker 1: the system is tough. Other than being Olympians, what else
Speaker 1: about their game? It's like they've they've been playing together
Speaker 1: for so long. So the sets that they do I
Speaker 1: can remember now. It just says that they do. Man,
Speaker 1: remember when it don't count now right? Right, I've that
Speaker 1: like I can I can remember, Yeah, I can do it. Well,
Speaker 1: don't help me now right. I mean it's the truth, man,
Speaker 1: it really is. They was clicking and I'll get in
Speaker 1: and be like, oh, well what happened later? Dribble to
Speaker 1: the left. I'm like yeah, and then I end up
Speaker 1: going to the right. I'm like, oh, what what is
Speaker 1: going on out here? But you don't stop. I knew
Speaker 1: it's coming out and set myself up and that when
Speaker 1: you're right, So, yeah, the pace is fast. Girls are bigger.
Speaker 1: But then I had to um, I had to regroup, man.
Speaker 1: I went to Israel. That next to regroup. What happened
Speaker 1: because I had to realize that the style of played
Speaker 1: that I did in college, you can take it to
Speaker 1: the w b A, but you gotta you gotta work extra, extra,
Speaker 1: extra hard. The speed like I thought I was fast? Like,
Speaker 1: what is going on? Strange average, I'm not a different
Speaker 1: always levels to this. They don't understand its levels to this. Seriously,
Speaker 1: people think they can, you know, especially guy, I see
Speaker 1: you'll go, oh, it's always always here. Oh man, I
Speaker 1: thought you were a bigger put your put your a
Speaker 1: little weekend. Go gonna put that pomptoon if you want to.
Speaker 1: That worked for a lake bowing. Please please, ain't thank you.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. So I regroup with to Israel.
Speaker 1: Worked on my game because you have time, worked on
Speaker 1: my game, got traded to Atlanta. Hold on, so you're
Speaker 1: in Detroit, yeah, but playing in Israel. Yeah, bring that
Speaker 1: down for him. You know, I ain't I ain't the stupidest,
Speaker 1: but I ain't the smartest. So help me figure out.
Speaker 1: How are you you the eleventh overall pick. You're getting
Speaker 1: snow playing time zero, but I'm getting shots up when
Speaker 1: I get in forty when I get the forty five seconds,
Speaker 1: get about three shots in telling if you get the
Speaker 1: rebound pass, boy right back out. I'm right, you're getting
Speaker 1: out of the game, but you're gonna go out what
Speaker 1: I go over three forty five sac that's a big implument.
Speaker 1: I was on that though I touched it. I not
Speaker 1: playing absolutely, I'm gonna get my shot. Eight was in
Speaker 1: that corner clapping like, but you know what time I
Speaker 1: had No, No, that's embarrassing. But I just came from
Speaker 1: North Carolina d MP who only time the DNP is
Speaker 1: I gotta spring ankle as on but not me getting
Speaker 1: them shots. She ain't made a shot, so listen telling
Speaker 1: them even before the game. Look, if I get in,
Speaker 1: y'all know what time is. Hey, my teammate, the ones
Speaker 1: who got in with me, they'd be like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: launch your fast you lout of you good? Alright? Cool?
Speaker 1: If I hit one, pass it to me. I heard,
Speaker 1: I heard. I heard uh former inab NBA player tell
Speaker 1: me about the elite NBA player. They said, man, if
Speaker 1: that dude made a three, that would be the worst
Speaker 1: thing ever. So he said I would pass him a
Speaker 1: bad shot so he couldn't set and shoot No, I
Speaker 1: didn't get those They it was right on target. They
Speaker 1: wanted me to shoot that thing, but they ain't nothing
Speaker 1: on it wasn't I don't want to shoot that ain't regardless,
Speaker 1: I'm setting the business whole time. I am over there cold,
Speaker 1: it's on the way. That's about needing them three to
Speaker 1: one more. I was so mad when that clock, like, man,
Speaker 1: I'm like the game shot man, y'all trip. I don't
Speaker 1: trying to least get to the free through a lot
Speaker 1: of stuff. Many it's cold over there on that business.
Speaker 1: It's cold when I'm chanting, but it's cold, and I'm
Speaker 1: over there looking at being like, ain't hold on, I'm
Speaker 1: getting out of that minute there. I get up, you know,
Speaker 1: you stop bouncing. It's been times when I got up
Speaker 1: and bouncing the clock went off. I just went to
Speaker 1: short games. I ain't get to get in that game.
Speaker 1: But it's like, though I learned so much, though I
Speaker 1: learned so much about myself. Detroit. Yeah, as soon as
Speaker 1: that season over with you, you seek an agent. You
Speaker 1: tell you agent, and you say, hey, I want to
Speaker 1: go because I know there's different you have to have
Speaker 1: most of the time, and I'm assuming because my my
Speaker 1: my cousin did a little bit of europe Um in
Speaker 1: China where you have to have different agents because they
Speaker 1: don't left the U S agents all represent so you
Speaker 1: had to have a European agent. And then this is
Speaker 1: a little bit that he told me. It was like, man,
Speaker 1: if you go to a big time school, you'd be garbage.
Speaker 1: Those Europeans who want you on your team because on
Speaker 1: that roster Cincinnati, Louisville, u C l A, Chapel Hill, Yukon.
Speaker 1: And so I'm assuming you're not in your head. So
Speaker 1: I'm assuming that helps you. Going to you eat, going
Speaker 1: to Chapel Hill. They looking for you because you know,
Speaker 1: the the culture Sky Sports is only showing so many teams.
Speaker 1: You see that SA they showed women's games. We was
Speaker 1: on there every night. It's great. But being at North Carolina,
Speaker 1: he has helped me throughout my whole career. First year
Speaker 1: in Israel. Um, you know, I go to practice in
Speaker 1: North Carolina. You see kids Michael Jordan's, Michael Jordan. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I went to Michael Jordan's school. Oh my god, we
Speaker 1: love you, we love you. Okay. I know how it
Speaker 1: was for men, so most of them, you're you're considered
Speaker 1: a good prospect because of the school. So you had
Speaker 1: your houses paid for, right, yeah, possibly car ain't no,
Speaker 1: possibly paid for and then you had your salary and
Speaker 1: then they took care of you. And most of the time,
Speaker 1: because you're a big school, probably two years deal. Most
Speaker 1: of them were one year deals, and you have food
Speaker 1: and all that stuff taken care of. We literally got
Speaker 1: treated like NBA guys. But then they were girls who
Speaker 1: were not from bigger schools that were not treated the
Speaker 1: same way. Kind of Yeah, I mean it was just
Speaker 1: the stipend was left. The stipend may have been a
Speaker 1: little bit less, but they still got the you know,
Speaker 1: the the house and car, you know, the same treatment. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it was tough, man, because you're playing in the
Speaker 1: summer and I'm telling you, the team's overseas. They may
Speaker 1: give you two weeks to be at home with your
Speaker 1: family right after the season and then you're gone for
Speaker 1: like seven months. So you gotta learn how to Skype.
Speaker 1: At the time, you know, Skype was big. Have face time,
Speaker 1: so Skype and you get your little a little phone,
Speaker 1: the little Nokia joined with a snake, you know that
Speaker 1: it was big. You get a little SIM card that's
Speaker 1: how you communicate with your family. What made you come
Speaker 1: family to play in the w b A. I love
Speaker 1: playing in front of my family. That's the only time
Speaker 1: they can really see see me play. I mean, don't
Speaker 1: get a twisted I'm playing. Tickets to come. It's it's
Speaker 1: a lot of us, you know what. It's not cheap
Speaker 1: at all, but you know they can get a car,
Speaker 1: drive to Atlanta, drive the d C closest, you know.
Speaker 1: So that's the main thing with the w b A
Speaker 1: is like, you know, for my family, what would you
Speaker 1: say is your greatest achievement? You know what? To be honest,
Speaker 1: my greatest achievement, and I'm just basketball wise, is winning
Speaker 1: three a c C championships in a row. And because
Speaker 1: of that my first year, my first year we lost
Speaker 1: to Duke MHM. Coachato made us sit out and watch
Speaker 1: them celebrate, get the trophy and everything. It was told
Speaker 1: I was hot. But guess what I did. I went
Speaker 1: and set beside. I said, as long as I'm here, Carolina,
Speaker 1: we would never lose this a c C championship again.
Speaker 1: So we won three years in a row. I was
Speaker 1: m v P three for those three years, and I'm
Speaker 1: the only man a woman now in the a c
Speaker 1: C to have three a c C championships with three
Speaker 1: m v ps. So that's like a huge accomplishment for
Speaker 1: me still being that smart. I'm not flexing. May He
Speaker 1: asked me, are you That is huge for me because
Speaker 1: I was yeah, he you asked me, didn't Now it's
Speaker 1: huge because I'm just like small town kid from mcconno,
Speaker 1: South Carolina, Like I ain't never drink on anything like
Speaker 1: this on the big stage and winning like this, it
Speaker 1: was huge. I mean I remember going back McConnell's. It
Speaker 1: was a little parade in the in the snow, you
Speaker 1: know about at the world worshe it. He may congratulation
Speaker 1: on people, but it's just like, man, I go back
Speaker 1: and everybody's just like I was watching it, but in
Speaker 1: your head you're like you really watched the game of basketball,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. It's like they had a
Speaker 1: reason to exactly, man. And that was like, that's a
Speaker 1: huge accomplishment for me, out of all any championships whatever
Speaker 1: I want. That right there was huge for me. Huge. Man.
Speaker 1: The hype Yes this book that you that that that's
Speaker 1: by you, and also Charles are Smith Jr. Crazy met
Speaker 1: this guy at the White House for a reading. Yeah,
Speaker 1: who was the President Bush. I met him at the
Speaker 1: White House and he was just like, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: you played with the mystics. You know everything's going I'm
Speaker 1: like yeah, He's like, you should write a Cheulder's book,
Speaker 1: children's book man founding. Like a year later, he hit
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, you're ready, le Smith, but you know
Speaker 1: what's going on? No, not him, he did not, but
Speaker 1: not Ch'all's hit me up a year later it was like,
Speaker 1: you're ready, you know what. I was like, Yeah, let's
Speaker 1: do it. Literally, he called me, recorded me. I told
Speaker 1: him my life story boom. I wrote this book to
Speaker 1: be an inspiration to so many people. And it's not
Speaker 1: only about basketball. That's my story. Despite the height, I've
Speaker 1: been the smallest player on every team I played on
Speaker 1: since I was young, but I've accomplished so many things,
Speaker 1: just you know, despite people saying I was too small.
Speaker 1: But when I go talk to kids, I'm like, listen
Speaker 1: with my situation. It's my height, despite your color, despite
Speaker 1: your wait, despite your circumstances whatever. You know, being from
Speaker 1: the hood, this you still can accomplish someone if you
Speaker 1: just put in the work and that's what I did.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, right meal children's book man, and then
Speaker 1: this is my joy. This is my baby, my joy.
Speaker 1: So that's that's that's a huge accomplishment for me. My baby,
Speaker 1: that's my baby. That's pretty cool. Well, we really appreciate
Speaker 1: you coming on, man, and this is fun. That's a vibe.
Speaker 1: I told you you have fun. Yeah, Oh, I had
Speaker 1: a great time. You are a unique person. You are
Speaker 1: well worth it, you are competent and most of all,
Speaker 1: your lovable. I'm Steve Smith Singer, I'm Gerard Little John
Speaker 1: and this is cut to It. Cut to It with
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior. That Is Me is a production of
Speaker 1: Cut to It, LLC, ball Told Creative Media, The Black Effect,
Speaker 1: and I Heart Radio. For more podcast from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio, Apple Apple Podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows from Cut to It.
Speaker 1: Executive producer Steve Smith, Singer, co host Gerard Little John,
Speaker 1: talent in booking manager Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley
Speaker 1: Robinson and John Show from Balto Creative Media. Cut to
Speaker 1: It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter, with
Speaker 1: production assistance by Alex Lebrec Production coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme
Speaker 1: music by Alex Johnson, Lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: You ain't heard about it, then we're about to let
Speaker 1: you know. It's all