1
00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:10,280
Speaker 1: This is kJ Live with Chris john Sallie and Critics

2
00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:13,680
Speaker 1: is having conversations with influencers in the sports world and

3
00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:20,520
Speaker 1: entertainment in this trade. Now Here's Chris Johnson. This is

4
00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,960
Speaker 1: kJ Live. Today's guests in the show is the Senior

5
00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:28,720
Speaker 1: India Writer, film producer and Folmic Chair the National Association

6
00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:32,520
Speaker 1: with Black Drummers as the NBA Senior India Radical Undefeated,

7
00:00:33,120 --> 00:00:36,680
Speaker 1: ESPN's digital platform, the focuses on the intersection with race,

8
00:00:36,720 --> 00:00:41,199
Speaker 1: sports and culture. Spears regularly breaks NBA news and publishers

9
00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:43,440
Speaker 1: long form content pieces on some of the lead's most

10
00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:47,280
Speaker 1: intriguing subject subjects. Our Guests has also covered the NBA

11
00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,479
Speaker 1: for more than twenty years, including eighteen NBA Off Our

12
00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:54,560
Speaker 1: Games and the two thousand and eight Beijing Olympics. The

13
00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:57,920
Speaker 1: San Jose State and l s U gradually has also

14
00:00:58,000 --> 00:01:01,400
Speaker 1: produced Katuna Cop in the Superdome, an award winning documentary

15
00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,800
Speaker 1: chronically the experiences of New Orleans police officer Reck Charles

16
00:01:05,800 --> 00:01:09,520
Speaker 1: and other city residents during their state in the Louisiana Superdome.

17
00:01:10,000 --> 00:01:15,520
Speaker 1: After Patrina. Please welcome to kJ Live. The legend Mark

18
00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:19,240
Speaker 1: Jay Spears is in the building. Y'all up, What's up, Bro,

19
00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:23,480
Speaker 1: what's up? Man now? Chilling Man like, yeah, y'all Bruins

20
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:25,920
Speaker 1: hurt my heart the other day. Man, we had to

21
00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,520
Speaker 1: get you. And you see, I didn't even like I

22
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:30,720
Speaker 1: just said you gottas you know what I mean. I

23
00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,000
Speaker 1: didn't even like, well, I have to act tough about it. Well,

24
00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:36,119
Speaker 1: that was our super Bowl, man. Any time you get

25
00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:37,720
Speaker 1: a chance to play like an L s U to

26
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:40,920
Speaker 1: kind of get your season catapulta. Bro, we came, all

27
00:01:40,920 --> 00:01:42,600
Speaker 1: the stars got a line. Man. It was just a

28
00:01:42,640 --> 00:01:45,120
Speaker 1: testament to like us really being up for the game. Bro.

29
00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,680
Speaker 1: But you know your coach was talking stuff too that,

30
00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:50,720
Speaker 1: you know what he Yeah, he did that, but he's

31
00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:52,960
Speaker 1: a trojan head. He got some trojan ties, So I

32
00:01:52,960 --> 00:01:56,480
Speaker 1: didn't you know he Yeah, he was felling himself a

33
00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,160
Speaker 1: little bit. I didn't too much like that, but know

34
00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:04,560
Speaker 1: when I got it was interesting that day in l A.

35
00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,000
Speaker 1: My two schools sound they stay lost, the USC gave

36
00:02:09,040 --> 00:02:11,720
Speaker 1: it with their coaches last win before he got fired,

37
00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:15,280
Speaker 1: and then L s U lost. And I was supposed

38
00:02:15,280 --> 00:02:18,400
Speaker 1: to go down there because you hit me. You're like yo, yeah,

39
00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:21,560
Speaker 1: And I like, nah, man, that's too many people to

40
00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:26,360
Speaker 1: be around right now. And I blame COVID, But yeah,

41
00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,480
Speaker 1: I'm glad I ain't go oh man, No, it was good.

42
00:02:30,720 --> 00:02:32,880
Speaker 1: A would have fun seeing y'all, y'all, I would have

43
00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,480
Speaker 1: fun with y'all. Man, it was good times. Man. You

44
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,840
Speaker 1: just came back from the Hall of Fame where you

45
00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:41,040
Speaker 1: you know, you you kind of hosted the whole situation

46
00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,359
Speaker 1: out there. Man. Talk about how special it was. This

47
00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,040
Speaker 1: is your second time doing it. Talk about how special

48
00:02:46,240 --> 00:02:48,960
Speaker 1: the opportunity was, and how special this Hall of Fame

49
00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:53,240
Speaker 1: class that's gonna inducted is well, I mean, you know,

50
00:02:53,400 --> 00:02:57,120
Speaker 1: these guys are our eraor right, these are dudes like

51
00:02:57,240 --> 00:03:02,160
Speaker 1: we we might have played against, you know, and perhaps

52
00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,240
Speaker 1: it's getting to the end of our era. So it's uh,

53
00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:09,720
Speaker 1: it's certainly been a special year because you gotta remember

54
00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:13,720
Speaker 1: the class of was delayed because of COVID. So I had,

55
00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,360
Speaker 1: you know, the honor the hosted in the spring. That

56
00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,720
Speaker 1: was Kobe you know, I just I missed him, man,

57
00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:27,120
Speaker 1: I wish he was here, just I could only imagine

58
00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:29,079
Speaker 1: what kind of Hall of Fame speech that was. But

59
00:03:29,840 --> 00:03:31,880
Speaker 1: to be able to be the host of that conference

60
00:03:32,320 --> 00:03:35,240
Speaker 1: press conference in the spring, and I covered Kevin Garnett

61
00:03:35,240 --> 00:03:38,000
Speaker 1: when he played for the Cultic, So KG gave me

62
00:03:38,040 --> 00:03:42,120
Speaker 1: this like like like you know what I mean, Like

63
00:03:42,240 --> 00:03:48,360
Speaker 1: that was from him. That's a lot of respect, you know, um,

64
00:03:48,440 --> 00:03:52,680
Speaker 1: And then you know it was just Tim Duncan was

65
00:03:52,720 --> 00:03:55,480
Speaker 1: in that class too, So that was certainly a special class.

66
00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,800
Speaker 1: And I think even with this class, these were guys

67
00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,760
Speaker 1: that I knew even better. Like I've spent a lot

68
00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:04,800
Speaker 1: of time with Ben Wallace recently doing this piece. Man,

69
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:06,000
Speaker 1: I don't know if you got to see it with

70
00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:09,440
Speaker 1: The Undefeated. Our video team didn't. We went back to

71
00:04:09,480 --> 00:04:14,880
Speaker 1: Alabama and went deep with him, and so like Ben

72
00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,880
Speaker 1: during the press conference, man, he came up to me

73
00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:20,440
Speaker 1: and hugged me before he answered questions and he was

74
00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:24,599
Speaker 1: in tears. He was emotional. Man, he was emotional the

75
00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,240
Speaker 1: whole weekend. See Webb came up to me, gave me

76
00:04:27,279 --> 00:04:30,120
Speaker 1: some lug, gave me a hug. You know, I remember

77
00:04:30,160 --> 00:04:33,480
Speaker 1: being that arco interviewing him with the Kings when he

78
00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:37,480
Speaker 1: was probably at the height of his career. And then

79
00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,920
Speaker 1: Pierce I covered him when he won a championship, and

80
00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:42,800
Speaker 1: you know, me and him been friends for a while.

81
00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:47,480
Speaker 1: And that's that's my dude. Man, He's he's crazy he's

82
00:04:47,480 --> 00:04:49,839
Speaker 1: that crazy dude. Did a good way though, man, Like

83
00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:57,000
Speaker 1: you know know how Paul feels asked, you want to

84
00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:01,880
Speaker 1: know what's going on? And if you ass people, he

85
00:05:01,920 --> 00:05:04,880
Speaker 1: loved you, man. So that was it was. It was

86
00:05:04,920 --> 00:05:06,839
Speaker 1: beautiful to be a part of that class. I think

87
00:05:06,880 --> 00:05:10,840
Speaker 1: my only thing that was kind of sad was when

88
00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:14,320
Speaker 1: they said that Russell was gonna get um in for

89
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,719
Speaker 1: coaches and getting going to Hall of Fame for the

90
00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,919
Speaker 1: second time. I was so excited about the opportunity to

91
00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:25,560
Speaker 1: interview Russell in the press conference, but because of COVID,

92
00:05:25,600 --> 00:05:28,440
Speaker 1: he counseled a couple of things, and he one of

93
00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:30,520
Speaker 1: the things he counseled was not doing the press conference,

94
00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:34,680
Speaker 1: so that I was like, I missed, obviously missed Kobe

95
00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:37,560
Speaker 1: and I got I didn't get the chance to interview Russell,

96
00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:40,599
Speaker 1: But the rest of the press conference was amazing. The

97
00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:43,240
Speaker 1: weekend was amazing. You know. It was good to see

98
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,720
Speaker 1: Lebron in the building during the Hall of Fame and

99
00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,880
Speaker 1: show respected Chris Bosh. It was. It was great to

100
00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,880
Speaker 1: see Jordan in the building and then also to see

101
00:05:51,960 --> 00:05:55,679
Speaker 1: Russell on stage, Like when how often do you see

102
00:05:56,240 --> 00:06:00,440
Speaker 1: you know, Lebron, Jordan's and Russell all in the same place,

103
00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:03,159
Speaker 1: and I don't know what happened behind the scenes. I

104
00:06:03,200 --> 00:06:05,719
Speaker 1: would I would assume that as soon as Jordan was

105
00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:08,120
Speaker 1: done sitting next to Tony Kukoach, he was in the

106
00:06:08,240 --> 00:06:15,200
Speaker 1: pj or or the springfield right afterwards? What are the two? Yeah?

107
00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:20,000
Speaker 1: And and like Lebron, just if I was a betting man,

108
00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:23,880
Speaker 1: the reason why Chris Bosh was last and Paul Pierce

109
00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:28,000
Speaker 1: wasn't who's like a Celtics legend. It was because I

110
00:06:28,080 --> 00:06:30,560
Speaker 1: think there were time in Lebron's arrival, because all of

111
00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:33,000
Speaker 1: a sudden he just showed up like, oh, Lebron's here

112
00:06:33,480 --> 00:06:36,599
Speaker 1: at the end. I didn't know. I didn't know that, okay,

113
00:06:36,600 --> 00:06:40,680
Speaker 1: so he just like, why was Bosch last? Like Lebron

114
00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:43,719
Speaker 1: showed up, Like come on man, like Lebron is pretty powerful.

115
00:06:44,440 --> 00:06:48,560
Speaker 1: Uh Brown again, my boy Rob? You know, Robb the

116
00:06:48,600 --> 00:06:53,800
Speaker 1: security guru from the Lakers was there. So I was like, yeah, okay,

117
00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:57,400
Speaker 1: I know what's happening tonight. But you know, how often

118
00:06:57,400 --> 00:06:59,400
Speaker 1: do you get to see those three guys in the

119
00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:02,400
Speaker 1: same room. And that's what I was gonna kind of

120
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,679
Speaker 1: touch on, Mark when you when you take us back

121
00:07:05,720 --> 00:07:09,200
Speaker 1: man to the origins of everything? When you first wanted

122
00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:11,480
Speaker 1: to be a sportswriter, did you ever think that you

123
00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,600
Speaker 1: was gonna be in a room with Jordan Russell Brown

124
00:07:14,680 --> 00:07:17,560
Speaker 1: on the stage introducing folks at all the things like

125
00:07:17,680 --> 00:07:20,320
Speaker 1: talk about the foundation of it all, how it started

126
00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:23,720
Speaker 1: for you? And you know what I'm saying, it's it's

127
00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:27,640
Speaker 1: interesting you say that because I knew I wanted to

128
00:07:27,640 --> 00:07:30,080
Speaker 1: be a sportswriter since I was in the seventh grade.

129
00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:33,560
Speaker 1: But you gotta remember, like, bro, when we were coming up,

130
00:07:33,600 --> 00:07:38,560
Speaker 1: like the internet was wearing diapers, like I remember what

131
00:07:38,640 --> 00:07:40,920
Speaker 1: I was that sold. They stay and they're like, yo,

132
00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:43,760
Speaker 1: we gotta give you this email. What the hell is

133
00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,480
Speaker 1: the email? And they're like, so you could send somebody

134
00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,680
Speaker 1: a message on the computer. I'm like, why not just

135
00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,240
Speaker 1: call them? Like I have a cell for that. I

136
00:07:53,280 --> 00:07:58,200
Speaker 1: got page them page to me. Baby. My point is,

137
00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:01,600
Speaker 1: like I really got into this to be a print reporter.

138
00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,360
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't go to school for television. I

139
00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:08,360
Speaker 1: didn't go to school for radio. I thought it was

140
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:12,080
Speaker 1: dope to just have my name in the newspaper internet

141
00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:16,080
Speaker 1: going around, But you know, I first started dreaming about

142
00:08:16,080 --> 00:08:19,160
Speaker 1: being a sportswriter in the seventh grade, we had a

143
00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,440
Speaker 1: career day at sylvan Dale Junior High School and Saint

144
00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:26,720
Speaker 1: Jose and Bro, I swear the guy one of my

145
00:08:26,800 --> 00:08:29,240
Speaker 1: teachers must have been dating some dude from the Warriors, right,

146
00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:33,360
Speaker 1: because San Jose is like a good like forty miles

147
00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:36,520
Speaker 1: from Oakland. Their traffic bad in the morning from the

148
00:08:36,559 --> 00:08:40,679
Speaker 1: Warriors came to our Junior high and spoke, and he

149
00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:42,080
Speaker 1: was one of the people that spoke. So I went

150
00:08:42,200 --> 00:08:44,480
Speaker 1: to listen to him. I'm like, I'm gonna get a

151
00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:49,160
Speaker 1: free jersey, free tickets, bumper stick or something. Basketball. Ain't

152
00:08:49,160 --> 00:08:51,560
Speaker 1: that nothing? Right? So when I speak to kids, I

153
00:08:51,559 --> 00:08:53,960
Speaker 1: try to give himself down because I remember that. But

154
00:08:54,559 --> 00:08:57,520
Speaker 1: for some reason, he pointed at me and he goes, well,

155
00:08:57,520 --> 00:08:58,880
Speaker 1: what do you want to do when you grow up?

156
00:08:59,640 --> 00:09:01,960
Speaker 1: And this is bro, this is what I said. I

157
00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,760
Speaker 1: want to play for y'all. And he said, well, I'm

158
00:09:05,800 --> 00:09:08,640
Speaker 1: not gonna say that you can't, but if you don't

159
00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:10,200
Speaker 1: make it to the NBA, what are you gonna do?

160
00:09:10,440 --> 00:09:12,959
Speaker 1: And I said, well, I don't know. And I remember

161
00:09:12,960 --> 00:09:15,679
Speaker 1: because I was reading Sports Illustrated in elementary school. My

162
00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:19,360
Speaker 1: dad got me a subscription because how much I love sports,

163
00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:21,840
Speaker 1: and I remember seeing this stat that said less than

164
00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,319
Speaker 1: two percent of all college basketball players made it to

165
00:09:24,320 --> 00:09:27,319
Speaker 1: the NBA. And I was as real as the kid now,

166
00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:31,920
Speaker 1: like like, hey, let's a two percent that that ain't

167
00:09:32,960 --> 00:09:36,200
Speaker 1: my mind would be playing in college, not playing in

168
00:09:36,240 --> 00:09:38,960
Speaker 1: the NBA. But that's that was in my mind. But

169
00:09:39,040 --> 00:09:41,640
Speaker 1: the guy turned to me and said, well, my advice

170
00:09:41,679 --> 00:09:44,160
Speaker 1: to you, young man is if you can find a

171
00:09:44,240 --> 00:09:47,840
Speaker 1: career where you combine what you love most in life

172
00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,199
Speaker 1: with what you do best in school, you have a

173
00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:55,160
Speaker 1: job that you will be happy to be in every day.

174
00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:58,120
Speaker 1: That was hell of an advice, right, So my teacher,

175
00:09:58,240 --> 00:09:59,959
Speaker 1: Miss Thompson, the next day she said, we had a

176
00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:06,000
Speaker 1: write somebody, uh, write a letter. There were no email yet, right,

177
00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:10,319
Speaker 1: we had actually write a letter anybody we're in UM,

178
00:10:10,360 --> 00:10:13,480
Speaker 1: interested in UM and the field that we're interested in.

179
00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:15,760
Speaker 1: So I wrote a calmness by the name of Mark

180
00:10:15,840 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 1: Party from the Sounds and Mercury News and asked them

181
00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:22,959
Speaker 1: how can I be a sportswriter? He wrote me back,

182
00:10:23,960 --> 00:10:25,520
Speaker 1: sent me a letter and told me how to be

183
00:10:25,559 --> 00:10:30,440
Speaker 1: a sportswriter in the seventh grade. He gave me basically

184
00:10:30,559 --> 00:10:34,000
Speaker 1: a bible a roadmap from seventh grade through college on

185
00:10:34,040 --> 00:10:36,400
Speaker 1: what to do to be a sportswriter. So let me

186
00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:40,439
Speaker 1: ask you this smart for people out there aspiring sportswriters

187
00:10:40,559 --> 00:10:42,880
Speaker 1: right now, can you share some of the secrets of

188
00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:46,400
Speaker 1: this bible or just the basic foundation of it? Yeah,

189
00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,320
Speaker 1: you know he he told me to write. This was

190
00:10:49,400 --> 00:10:53,240
Speaker 1: on the letter right on the school paper. Now, so

191
00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:57,160
Speaker 1: if you score in the Silverdale Junior High library somewhere.

192
00:10:58,200 --> 00:11:02,440
Speaker 1: My first job, I tell people is I covered the

193
00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:07,040
Speaker 1: sylvan Dale Junior High Bears eighth grade flag football team.

194
00:11:07,080 --> 00:11:09,160
Speaker 1: I was going to their practice. I was writing stories

195
00:11:09,200 --> 00:11:11,880
Speaker 1: for the school paper while I was in the seventh grade.

196
00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:15,000
Speaker 1: He said, when you go to high school, take all

197
00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:17,480
Speaker 1: the typing classes you could take, which probably was the

198
00:11:17,520 --> 00:11:19,800
Speaker 1: most valuable thing I did in high school was take

199
00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:23,400
Speaker 1: typing classes type took Type of one, two and three.

200
00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:26,319
Speaker 1: He said, either joined the school yearbook or the school newspaper.

201
00:11:26,559 --> 00:11:29,000
Speaker 1: I joined the school newspaper. We had a guy from

202
00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:31,320
Speaker 1: the Sounds of Mercury News who ran our school paper,

203
00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:33,520
Speaker 1: came in once a week. His name was he was

204
00:11:33,559 --> 00:11:36,319
Speaker 1: a writer named McK van Balcomburg. So I got to

205
00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,960
Speaker 1: touch an actual writer in the Sounds Mercury News. And

206
00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:41,760
Speaker 1: then Mr Purdy said at the end, he said, when

207
00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:44,880
Speaker 1: you go to college, take as many internships as possible,

208
00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:48,600
Speaker 1: and also, you know, right on the school paper. So

209
00:11:48,679 --> 00:11:51,680
Speaker 1: I chased the college basketball dream. I went to three

210
00:11:51,679 --> 00:11:55,560
Speaker 1: different schools, but you know how crazy art lies are.

211
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:59,600
Speaker 1: I still wrote on the school paper every single year.

212
00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,240
Speaker 1: I did internships every single year San Jose Metro for

213
00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:08,120
Speaker 1: Free Grand Rapids Press, Dallas Morning News. Was an intern

214
00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:12,080
Speaker 1: with the National Association and Black Journalists. So I wasn't

215
00:12:12,120 --> 00:12:15,479
Speaker 1: drafted in the NBA, but by the time I graduated

216
00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:17,960
Speaker 1: from Santa State, I felt like I was a first

217
00:12:18,040 --> 00:12:21,400
Speaker 1: round draft pick and being a sportswriter and a lot

218
00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,760
Speaker 1: of that. I give credit to Mark Party for writing

219
00:12:23,760 --> 00:12:26,640
Speaker 1: me that letter that you know, basically gave me a

220
00:12:26,720 --> 00:12:32,319
Speaker 1: road map and lit a fire. So at what point,

221
00:12:33,080 --> 00:12:35,320
Speaker 1: because you hoop in college, at what point did you

222
00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,280
Speaker 1: just say, you know what, I'm not tripping on hooping

223
00:12:38,280 --> 00:12:41,080
Speaker 1: no more. It's literally I'm literally gonna focus on my

224
00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,240
Speaker 1: intention of becoming a sportswriter or what are you doing?

225
00:12:43,320 --> 00:12:48,520
Speaker 1: Both from the day I showed up, so you got this?

226
00:12:48,679 --> 00:12:52,000
Speaker 1: Did you get a scholarship? Mark? Are you? So this

227
00:12:52,080 --> 00:12:55,520
Speaker 1: is we'll go back. I graduated from Andrew Hill High

228
00:12:55,520 --> 00:12:59,040
Speaker 1: School in San Josey. I was, I'll say as I

229
00:12:59,080 --> 00:13:03,400
Speaker 1: was pretty damn good school basketball player. Um, I wasn't

230
00:13:04,600 --> 00:13:09,160
Speaker 1: kJ you know what I'm saying, But but I did

231
00:13:09,200 --> 00:13:13,720
Speaker 1: get the better one of your guys, Chris Demon. Oh yeah,

232
00:13:14,320 --> 00:13:17,679
Speaker 1: six six six six posts. He was. He used to

233
00:13:17,720 --> 00:13:20,960
Speaker 1: go to Bellman College prep for the schools in Sunday

234
00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:24,240
Speaker 1: called Santa Teresa. I was a senior. He was a junior,

235
00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,560
Speaker 1: and I heard about this bad white boy with hops.

236
00:13:26,960 --> 00:13:31,160
Speaker 1: He was bad. Kevin was bad before he heard his back. Yeah.

237
00:13:31,320 --> 00:13:34,040
Speaker 1: So he had like a big top chef down he go.

238
00:13:34,240 --> 00:13:36,079
Speaker 1: Hear the story, he's gonna be mad. But the first

239
00:13:36,080 --> 00:13:39,800
Speaker 1: time we played him, I turned into the post and

240
00:13:39,840 --> 00:13:41,920
Speaker 1: I put the ball in the glass and he batted

241
00:13:41,920 --> 00:13:46,040
Speaker 1: my my shot off the glass. Bro, And I was like, Okay,

242
00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:50,240
Speaker 1: this dude can play these for real, Like yeah, yeah, yeah.

243
00:13:50,520 --> 00:13:53,240
Speaker 1: I started body on my body and we beat him.

244
00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,880
Speaker 1: I think we beat them twice again like the body, yeah,

245
00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:00,480
Speaker 1: you can't hang it. He didn't like too much physical

246
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:02,480
Speaker 1: and I was that kind of player. I was like,

247
00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:08,760
Speaker 1: you were physical boy, Like sixteen and fifteen in high school.

248
00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,160
Speaker 1: I think my best game I had, Um, Piemont Hills

249
00:14:14,080 --> 00:14:18,719
Speaker 1: at thirty two points in two rebounds or something like that.

250
00:14:20,480 --> 00:14:25,920
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah game. Um, but my grades were bad.

251
00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:30,240
Speaker 1: Um I had I broke my my leg my sophomore

252
00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:32,680
Speaker 1: year in high school, so that held me back a lot.

253
00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,080
Speaker 1: At two great players when they were seniors my junior year,

254
00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:40,160
Speaker 1: so I was like behind them. So it wasn't until

255
00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:44,720
Speaker 1: a you, um, before my senior year that people even

256
00:14:44,720 --> 00:14:47,560
Speaker 1: really knew who I was. But the one thing that

257
00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:52,080
Speaker 1: really you know, and I was like all leagues, Um,

258
00:14:52,240 --> 00:14:53,880
Speaker 1: I was third and them. I remember I was third

259
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:55,720
Speaker 1: in m VP vote and I was really proud of

260
00:14:55,720 --> 00:14:58,240
Speaker 1: that because the two guys ahead of me, a guy

261
00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:01,640
Speaker 1: named Terry Martin who played at IONA and a guy

262
00:15:01,760 --> 00:15:05,800
Speaker 1: named Brian Bell who played a Chico. They were on

263
00:15:05,840 --> 00:15:07,720
Speaker 1: the team that won the league. In our league finished

264
00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:09,640
Speaker 1: in fifth. So I was like, if I'm third in

265
00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:12,320
Speaker 1: m v P and our team finished in fifth in

266
00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,160
Speaker 1: our league, that's that's the compliment from the compliment. Yeah.

267
00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:18,760
Speaker 1: And so I played in what it's called the Central

268
00:15:18,800 --> 00:15:23,080
Speaker 1: Section Central Coast Section All Star Game and with UH

269
00:15:24,240 --> 00:15:28,040
Speaker 1: which basically is from San Francisco through the Peninsula through

270
00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:32,680
Speaker 1: San Jose, Automa way to Monterey um and that was

271
00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:34,440
Speaker 1: a big honor for me. I played in the Pump

272
00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:41,160
Speaker 1: Classic Unsigned Seniors Classic. Um um Brent Berry played in that.

273
00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:46,520
Speaker 1: I remember that. Um. But I Columbia University wanted me.

274
00:15:47,800 --> 00:15:52,720
Speaker 1: Ivy League school, best journalism program in the country. Now

275
00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,240
Speaker 1: your grades, now, could you say you had bad grades?

276
00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:57,000
Speaker 1: But then you had worked on them to get to

277
00:15:57,000 --> 00:15:59,120
Speaker 1: the point where Colombia was rocking? What you no? This

278
00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:09,720
Speaker 1: is danc transcribe yet Oh I said they wanted me. Yeah,

279
00:16:09,760 --> 00:16:11,720
Speaker 1: I had a coach from sound They state that I

280
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:17,960
Speaker 1: went and become an assistant there. Uh sny um Eric Sawney,

281
00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:20,960
Speaker 1: and I got a good a call to He reached

282
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:23,120
Speaker 1: out to be recently and he wanted me to come

283
00:16:23,720 --> 00:16:27,360
Speaker 1: at a two point to g p A man at

284
00:16:27,360 --> 00:16:29,000
Speaker 1: a two point through g p A and at east

285
00:16:29,000 --> 00:16:35,040
Speaker 1: Side and the Ivy Lea School. And that's when I

286
00:16:35,080 --> 00:16:38,640
Speaker 1: woke up. That's when I woke up. I'm still crushed

287
00:16:38,680 --> 00:16:41,640
Speaker 1: by that. Yeah, I mean I didn't get a good

288
00:16:43,760 --> 00:16:46,440
Speaker 1: I got bad advice going into like I went to

289
00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,280
Speaker 1: a high school where there were a lot of kids

290
00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,440
Speaker 1: who were like section their kids to live across the street.

291
00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:57,200
Speaker 1: Um My family was I call it lower middle class

292
00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:03,000
Speaker 1: like I always had. I didn't have the newest, but

293
00:17:03,080 --> 00:17:09,000
Speaker 1: I had clothes, I had food, right, you get it. Um.

294
00:17:09,040 --> 00:17:11,919
Speaker 1: But I didn't realize that I needed a certain g

295
00:17:12,040 --> 00:17:14,040
Speaker 1: p A to go to college. Nobody told me that

296
00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:16,439
Speaker 1: in the beginning, and so when I found out it

297
00:17:16,520 --> 00:17:18,880
Speaker 1: was too late. Man, I had all these seeds because

298
00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:20,760
Speaker 1: they said you had needed a two point oh to

299
00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,600
Speaker 1: be eligible, and so Colombia wanted me. I didn't have

300
00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,840
Speaker 1: the grades. I got recruited by several different schools, sound

301
00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:31,239
Speaker 1: they stayed at that time. I was trying to get

302
00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,639
Speaker 1: me to walk on, but I ended up going to

303
00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,239
Speaker 1: junior college, and I went to Foothill College and Long

304
00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:41,600
Speaker 1: South those Hills, California, which was called the Harvard on

305
00:17:41,640 --> 00:17:43,639
Speaker 1: the Hill because their academics were really good, and a

306
00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:46,679
Speaker 1: lot of the UH students there ended up going to

307
00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:50,440
Speaker 1: Stanford or even Ivy League schools. And I was like, well,

308
00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,440
Speaker 1: I was woke up then realized I wasn't going to

309
00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,960
Speaker 1: the NBA I needed. I was using college to pay

310
00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,040
Speaker 1: for school and I love basketball, um, and I just

311
00:18:02,160 --> 00:18:04,359
Speaker 1: I just remember, man, that first day of class they

312
00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:06,239
Speaker 1: brought us in. They like to set person to your

313
00:18:06,320 --> 00:18:11,600
Speaker 1: right and left, they're not gonna graduate, like I got

314
00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:14,320
Speaker 1: scared straight I was. I think I was on the

315
00:18:14,359 --> 00:18:16,480
Speaker 1: Dean's list of first semester. I never made the Dean's

316
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,719
Speaker 1: list again because I figured out that Yeah yeah, but

317
00:18:20,920 --> 00:18:23,440
Speaker 1: I mean, I was just always that when I played

318
00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:26,440
Speaker 1: UM went there for two years, Foothill College, and I

319
00:18:26,520 --> 00:18:29,399
Speaker 1: went to a Division two HBCU. I was supposed to

320
00:18:29,440 --> 00:18:33,600
Speaker 1: go to Tuskegee, committed there, and then the coach got fired,

321
00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:37,600
Speaker 1: so I ended up going to another HBCU and DC

322
00:18:37,840 --> 00:18:41,639
Speaker 1: called the District of Columbia played their first season. The

323
00:18:41,680 --> 00:18:45,760
Speaker 1: academics were horrible. UM. I ended up having a great

324
00:18:45,800 --> 00:18:48,480
Speaker 1: second half of the season, scored thirty two and what

325
00:18:48,560 --> 00:18:52,320
Speaker 1: would be my last college basketball game. But the coach there,

326
00:18:52,359 --> 00:18:56,160
Speaker 1: I remember him at as got rested. So he told me, man,

327
00:18:56,200 --> 00:18:59,159
Speaker 1: if you cared about basketball as you much as you

328
00:18:59,200 --> 00:19:01,600
Speaker 1: do that goddamn journalism, you be a hell of a player.

329
00:19:02,119 --> 00:19:05,399
Speaker 1: M And I'm like, coach, if the NBA was interesting me,

330
00:19:05,400 --> 00:19:09,280
Speaker 1: I wouldn't be here making up as think about it.

331
00:19:09,840 --> 00:19:12,520
Speaker 1: I was realistic, man, like I wouldn't be playing at

332
00:19:12,600 --> 00:19:17,760
Speaker 1: UDC coach, and I ended up leaving there and transferring

333
00:19:17,760 --> 00:19:21,040
Speaker 1: the Salley State and then it got crazy. Then you

334
00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:23,879
Speaker 1: got crazy, and so you graduated from San Jose State.

335
00:19:24,720 --> 00:19:27,720
Speaker 1: You what was your first gig as far as being

336
00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:31,520
Speaker 1: a sportswriter professional? Very first. My first job, I covered

337
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:38,199
Speaker 1: Arkansas's football and basketball team for the World. Wow. I

338
00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:41,600
Speaker 1: think y'all just beat them? Yo? Yes, they just won

339
00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:46,280
Speaker 1: a championship in right, right? No, I think it was

340
00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:49,359
Speaker 1: because they beat no. No, yes, they wanted to and

341
00:19:49,400 --> 00:19:54,200
Speaker 1: they lost to y'all. Yeah. Yeah, right, So that's the era. Okay.

342
00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:58,359
Speaker 1: So when I came in, Corlos was gone. Scottie Thurman

343
00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:01,480
Speaker 1: was like all these dudes that left of the NBA

344
00:20:01,760 --> 00:20:04,119
Speaker 1: and then and I used to be on campus and

345
00:20:04,160 --> 00:20:07,200
Speaker 1: people be like corre less, correlets. I'm like, I'm not corless, Williamson,

346
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:14,040
Speaker 1: you know, you say by you know what I'm saying

347
00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:20,320
Speaker 1: it say kind of Bill like, you know, like I'm

348
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:28,080
Speaker 1: I'm prettier than like stop. But you well, AULSA was

349
00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:32,080
Speaker 1: because I basically lived in Tulsa and I just went

350
00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,400
Speaker 1: up for football games and practices. So I lived in Tulsa.

351
00:20:36,080 --> 00:20:41,800
Speaker 1: Actually Tulsa it's closer to Fedville, Arkansas than it is Norman, Oklahoma.

352
00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 1: University of Oklahoma is so I would. I would drive up,

353
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,440
Speaker 1: I go to all the football games, which was I mean,

354
00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:52,159
Speaker 1: like I covered the sec out of college, which is

355
00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,160
Speaker 1: not normal kids out of college, especially at that time,

356
00:20:55,680 --> 00:20:59,080
Speaker 1: especially a black kid for that matter. And um, but

357
00:20:59,119 --> 00:21:01,640
Speaker 1: I got no one Richard and man, my first job

358
00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:05,520
Speaker 1: I was covering Nolan, which was to this day one

359
00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,600
Speaker 1: of the the greatest things I've ever done in my

360
00:21:08,680 --> 00:21:12,119
Speaker 1: career to spend two years with Nolan Richardson, and he

361
00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:15,200
Speaker 1: took me under his wing man and really looked out

362
00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:19,920
Speaker 1: for me. And um, it was like after that, why

363
00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:22,400
Speaker 1: why do I need to be intimidated covering any coach?

364
00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:27,920
Speaker 1: I covered Nolan. He was the strongest personality as anybody

365
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:32,880
Speaker 1: at any coaches that that I've ever been around, Right, Mark,

366
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,080
Speaker 1: let me ask let me ask you this, particularly about Nolan.

367
00:21:35,119 --> 00:21:39,360
Speaker 1: Do you think that that time covering him, um for Tulsa,

368
00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:41,640
Speaker 1: for the Tulsa world, do you think that that shaped

369
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,000
Speaker 1: sort of like the direction you would the direction you

370
00:21:46,040 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: went with things you were interested in, Like so like

371
00:21:48,160 --> 00:21:51,159
Speaker 1: Prince is the Undefeated. Some of the things that you

372
00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,480
Speaker 1: cover in the long form content that you present or

373
00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,399
Speaker 1: I won't say taboo subjects, but they're of the racial,

374
00:21:57,560 --> 00:21:59,960
Speaker 1: racial nature and their stuff. Do you just don't see

375
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,639
Speaker 1: know where else really people talking about ever Dirk on

376
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:05,199
Speaker 1: this Dirk and Whiskey's interracial marriage. I mean, you just

377
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: touch on things that you know kind of people will

378
00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,919
Speaker 1: think about. Do you think the time of Nolan Richardson

379
00:22:10,160 --> 00:22:12,919
Speaker 1: kind of helped shape that narrative or where you are

380
00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:16,679
Speaker 1: ready that way? I mean, look, I'll give Nolan as

381
00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,399
Speaker 1: my guy, but that started from childhood, man like just

382
00:22:22,400 --> 00:22:27,400
Speaker 1: dealing with racist racism. My family dealt with um. Like

383
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,119
Speaker 1: my mom she couldn't go to nursing school in New Orleans,

384
00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:34,399
Speaker 1: uh that she wanted to go to because and this

385
00:22:34,480 --> 00:22:37,760
Speaker 1: was a Catholic school because she was black. So she

386
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:42,280
Speaker 1: ended up having to go to a nursing school in St. Louis, Missouri,

387
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,360
Speaker 1: where she met my father, because to go to all

388
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:48,119
Speaker 1: black nursing school so she could follow her dream of

389
00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:52,080
Speaker 1: being a nurse. My dad in the nineties early nineties

390
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:56,000
Speaker 1: worked for New United Motors Um, which was basically where

391
00:22:56,040 --> 00:23:01,280
Speaker 1: Tesla Dealership, Tesla Manufacturers and and Fremont, California in the

392
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:05,639
Speaker 1: Bay and one of racism lawsuit because him and a

393
00:23:05,680 --> 00:23:10,000
Speaker 1: bunch of other black managers, we're training white people, and

394
00:23:10,040 --> 00:23:12,320
Speaker 1: the white people were getting promoted over him after they

395
00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:20,560
Speaker 1: learned the trade. Um. So you know, as a kid, um, sadly,

396
00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:25,520
Speaker 1: I dealt with a lot of racism um from people

397
00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:28,600
Speaker 1: of all races. I grew up around a lot of Mexicans,

398
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,960
Speaker 1: I grew up a lot of around around a lot

399
00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:39,320
Speaker 1: of Asians. Um. I had a basketball coach who um

400
00:23:39,359 --> 00:23:43,359
Speaker 1: my freshman sophomore year, who we took me to a

401
00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:45,560
Speaker 1: Mexican restaurant. He goes, you know, they ain't fried chicken

402
00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:49,520
Speaker 1: in there, right, you know there, you know, watermelon in there.

403
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 1: And this is my coach and talking to a kid

404
00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 1: like that. I remember I went into a Vietnamese restaurant

405
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 1: once it's on a hot day to get a soda

406
00:23:57,240 --> 00:23:58,760
Speaker 1: and the man went in the back and gave me,

407
00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:02,639
Speaker 1: came back and gave me a couple kiss like. So

408
00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:05,560
Speaker 1: it was there was stuff I was dealing with like

409
00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,280
Speaker 1: my whole life. But you know, my mom used to

410
00:24:08,359 --> 00:24:13,520
Speaker 1: be a part of this Black Nurses Association in San Jose. UM,

411
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 1: and we used to go to the Afro American Center

412
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,639
Speaker 1: in San Jose, and I had to find time to

413
00:24:18,680 --> 00:24:20,760
Speaker 1: waste time, so I would go into the film room

414
00:24:21,280 --> 00:24:26,560
Speaker 1: I'm like ten and eyes on the Prize Zone that

415
00:24:26,800 --> 00:24:30,160
Speaker 1: that amazing award winning documentary where it basically talked about

416
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:34,200
Speaker 1: the civil rights movement, and I learned everything about Martin Luther, King,

417
00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:39,440
Speaker 1: Malcolm X, black folks getting bit by dogs, the white fountains,

418
00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:45,000
Speaker 1: the Black fountains, um, the civil rights marches and all

419
00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:49,160
Speaker 1: that stuff and all these you know, horrible deaths and lynchings.

420
00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:51,320
Speaker 1: And I'm like ten years old learning all this stuff,

421
00:24:51,359 --> 00:24:55,280
Speaker 1: watching these movies, and it just had an impression on me.

422
00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,879
Speaker 1: And I think what was valuable about my college at

423
00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:04,560
Speaker 1: cation is it allowed me to It's one thing to

424
00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:08,879
Speaker 1: speak out, but it's nothing to know what you're saying

425
00:25:09,119 --> 00:25:12,600
Speaker 1: and you don't know how to say it eloquently. And

426
00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:16,359
Speaker 1: I think that, you know, college certainly helped prepare me

427
00:25:16,400 --> 00:25:20,320
Speaker 1: and and helped me to think out my thoughts before

428
00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,639
Speaker 1: I say them and be more factual and less emotional.

429
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:28,879
Speaker 1: And so I think all these things when when this

430
00:25:29,000 --> 00:25:33,320
Speaker 1: job opened with The Undefeated, like there were some black

431
00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:35,840
Speaker 1: journalists that were scared to have that job. Like this

432
00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,280
Speaker 1: is like several years before George Floyd like, do you

433
00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:44,159
Speaker 1: want to go out there and talk about race? You know,

434
00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,200
Speaker 1: this is pre Trump, right, and you still got people

435
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,280
Speaker 1: then like, ain't no racism? What are you talking about?

436
00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:52,920
Speaker 1: Ain't no racism? And there were a lot of people

437
00:25:52,960 --> 00:25:56,600
Speaker 1: that didn't like what I was writing. I'm writing about

438
00:25:56,600 --> 00:25:59,560
Speaker 1: the you know, there's so many stories about the lack

439
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,720
Speaker 1: of black people playing baseball. Okay, I'm gonna write about

440
00:26:02,760 --> 00:26:05,600
Speaker 1: the lack of white players in the NBA, which is factual.

441
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:10,920
Speaker 1: Like UM talk about racists issues, talk about what it's

442
00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:13,840
Speaker 1: like to be black playing for the Utah Jazz, Um

443
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:18,560
Speaker 1: talk about the elephant in the room. And I've enjoyed

444
00:26:18,600 --> 00:26:23,240
Speaker 1: that this road. I've enjoyed working there. And obviously when

445
00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,200
Speaker 1: the previous president was there, there was probably a lot

446
00:26:28,240 --> 00:26:32,919
Speaker 1: more fire that it showed that the racism issues in

447
00:26:32,960 --> 00:26:36,200
Speaker 1: this country, the pain black people, the pain of people

448
00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:40,280
Speaker 1: of all colors, and people like yo, because they were

449
00:26:40,320 --> 00:26:43,239
Speaker 1: hating on the undefeated at first, but now they're like,

450
00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:47,800
Speaker 1: we should have had this long ago, this is necessary.

451
00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:50,080
Speaker 1: Then you've seen places like the New York Times and

452
00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:54,560
Speaker 1: l A Times, different websites, Uh, New York Times like

453
00:26:54,640 --> 00:26:57,159
Speaker 1: follow up and get some kind of undefeated kind of

454
00:26:57,200 --> 00:27:02,920
Speaker 1: like jobs. And so I'm honored that Kevin Merida UM

455
00:27:02,960 --> 00:27:05,520
Speaker 1: and Rain and Kelly hired me to be a part

456
00:27:05,520 --> 00:27:08,879
Speaker 1: of this because this is like the greatest job that

457
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,280
Speaker 1: I've ever had, because it's it's bigger than basketball and

458
00:27:13,080 --> 00:27:17,159
Speaker 1: writing about who's traded or you know, the next trend

459
00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 1: on your jump shot. No, I'm like telling stories about

460
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:25,280
Speaker 1: real life and pain and racism that these players have

461
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:28,600
Speaker 1: dealt with and telling their stories, like having just told

462
00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 1: the Ben Wallace story recently and he used to pick

463
00:27:31,080 --> 00:27:34,200
Speaker 1: cotton and go to school with no shoes on, Like

464
00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: Ben Wallace been out of the league for over five

465
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,200
Speaker 1: years and Ben Wallace started playing this in the league

466
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:44,639
Speaker 1: in NINETI but you never heard that story, you know.

467
00:27:44,760 --> 00:27:47,359
Speaker 1: So I'm blessed with the ability to have a job

468
00:27:47,400 --> 00:27:50,159
Speaker 1: and comfort from a lot of NBA players that they

469
00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:53,440
Speaker 1: will open up and release their pain to me. And

470
00:27:53,800 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 1: I take a lot of pride and and um, I

471
00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:04,439
Speaker 1: take a lot of care in that. Yeah, as you

472
00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:08,320
Speaker 1: should Mark when you when we talk about the subject

473
00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:12,840
Speaker 1: of black coaches and black executives in the NBA, it starts,

474
00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:14,920
Speaker 1: you know, it's kind of one of those topics where

475
00:28:15,800 --> 00:28:17,919
Speaker 1: it's like who do you who would you rather have

476
00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,520
Speaker 1: a black executive or a black head coach? Because the

477
00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:24,000
Speaker 1: exect the black executive, you know, may be more likely

478
00:28:24,040 --> 00:28:26,480
Speaker 1: to hire a black head coach, etcetera. When you look

479
00:28:26,480 --> 00:28:29,520
Speaker 1: at that conversation, what are your thoughts on that isn't

480
00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:33,800
Speaker 1: what's the level of importance of hiring a black executive

481
00:28:33,840 --> 00:28:37,240
Speaker 1: in the NBA versus a black head coach. I want

482
00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:44,840
Speaker 1: a black owner. The black olders or the older is

483
00:28:44,880 --> 00:28:48,520
Speaker 1: the one that controls all of that, right, because even

484
00:28:48,560 --> 00:28:50,920
Speaker 1: if you're the general manager or the president or whatever,

485
00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:55,720
Speaker 1: ultimately it's the ownership that decides what you wanna do.

486
00:28:56,040 --> 00:28:59,360
Speaker 1: You can have a bunch of great ideas, but if

487
00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,840
Speaker 1: the owner of the company says, nah, hey what about

488
00:29:02,880 --> 00:29:07,680
Speaker 1: this guy James Garfink, I like him, you know what

489
00:29:07,760 --> 00:29:14,120
Speaker 1: I mean? Like, you know, it's important that even if

490
00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:16,040
Speaker 1: you're in a position of power, that you're able to

491
00:29:16,040 --> 00:29:20,120
Speaker 1: implement what you want to do. And so I do

492
00:29:20,240 --> 00:29:25,320
Speaker 1: think though sadly being realistic, you know, Michael George's only owner.

493
00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 1: We're not black folks ain't own them teams. People of

494
00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:30,480
Speaker 1: color aren't really starting to own some teams, you know,

495
00:29:31,080 --> 00:29:38,880
Speaker 1: nets kings Um. I think though that these owners are

496
00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:42,520
Speaker 1: starting to realize that's kind of interesting. You're seeing this

497
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:47,920
Speaker 1: with like Dion Sanders too, Um, how black athletes are

498
00:29:48,520 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 1: responding to black executives and black coaches right now? I

499
00:29:55,880 --> 00:30:00,000
Speaker 1: think there's if I'm not mistake, in fifteen and seven

500
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,640
Speaker 1: team coaches a color in the league, more than half

501
00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 1: the coaches in the league of color now, which is amazing.

502
00:30:07,680 --> 00:30:10,440
Speaker 1: You know, we we have also have a Hispanic coach

503
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:14,800
Speaker 1: and Latin X coach in Charlotte and and Asian coach

504
00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,920
Speaker 1: in Miami. We got to remember that too, like uh,

505
00:30:19,080 --> 00:30:23,640
Speaker 1: and like when you hear Devin Booker and DeAndre Ayton

506
00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:28,400
Speaker 1: saying that having a black general manager who used to

507
00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,720
Speaker 1: play in the league, having a black coach they used

508
00:30:32,760 --> 00:30:37,480
Speaker 1: to play in the league makeing it helps me out

509
00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:39,960
Speaker 1: because I can feel like I could communicate with them better,

510
00:30:40,680 --> 00:30:47,440
Speaker 1: right Like, Ultimately, I think change happens when I hate

511
00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:52,560
Speaker 1: to say it, like when when the players players got

512
00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:55,480
Speaker 1: to speak out more man like, I think if they

513
00:30:55,480 --> 00:31:00,520
Speaker 1: are impacted by, you know, having more black coaches and

514
00:31:00,560 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 1: executives and they got to say it, or like it

515
00:31:03,520 --> 00:31:06,440
Speaker 1: won't happen. I remember having a conversation with an All

516
00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 1: Star who I leave nameless about are you involved in

517
00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,600
Speaker 1: who your team is hiring for? President. Man, I don't

518
00:31:13,600 --> 00:31:15,440
Speaker 1: want to get involved in that. I'm like, you're the star,

519
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:20,760
Speaker 1: they'll listen to you. You have power. Two. At least

520
00:31:20,760 --> 00:31:23,560
Speaker 1: get somebody black in the building. I mean doesn't mean

521
00:31:23,600 --> 00:31:26,840
Speaker 1: like the white dude ain't the best person for the job, right,

522
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:30,080
Speaker 1: but at least get us in the building and let

523
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:32,760
Speaker 1: us convince them that we are the best person for

524
00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:37,360
Speaker 1: the job. That's that's what I think hopefully happens from

525
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:40,680
Speaker 1: now on, is a true ability to show that we

526
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,120
Speaker 1: are the most qualified, that we are the best fit.

527
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,240
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean like it cancels white America from coaching

528
00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: the black player. If the white coach is the best guy,

529
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,680
Speaker 1: hire him. But if the black woman is the best

530
00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,000
Speaker 1: person for the job, hired he. You know what I mean.

531
00:31:56,120 --> 00:32:02,200
Speaker 1: And hopefully you know you got these mostly old school

532
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:09,360
Speaker 1: conservative owners in this league, but they want success in

533
00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:12,160
Speaker 1: the same way. They don't look at color. The only

534
00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:15,560
Speaker 1: color they see what money is great? Right, If that

535
00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:17,920
Speaker 1: black dude is gonna help them win games and help

536
00:32:17,960 --> 00:32:21,959
Speaker 1: their players respond, yeah, that that you know woman is,

537
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,640
Speaker 1: then I think they're gonna ultimately decide kind of like

538
00:32:25,800 --> 00:32:29,080
Speaker 1: when Alabama started getting black football players, like you want

539
00:32:29,080 --> 00:32:31,760
Speaker 1: to win I want to make money. So if the

540
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,760
Speaker 1: black man or this woman could get us there the best,

541
00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:38,960
Speaker 1: and that's who I want to hire. And if that's

542
00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 1: the case, and hey man, bro, that's what all we

543
00:32:41,120 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: should ask for, right is a a fair shape. Don't

544
00:32:44,320 --> 00:32:46,280
Speaker 1: hire me just because I'm black. Hired me because I'm

545
00:32:46,320 --> 00:32:49,920
Speaker 1: the best. And oftentimes we don't have an opportunity to

546
00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,560
Speaker 1: show that we are the best for the job. But

547
00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,640
Speaker 1: it's started to tie, it's starting to change a little bit.

548
00:32:55,760 --> 00:32:58,440
Speaker 1: It is. I think the opportunity to show is the

549
00:32:58,760 --> 00:33:01,200
Speaker 1: most important thing. The foot in the door I guess

550
00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,440
Speaker 1: I wanted to get from you was And obviously the

551
00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:07,120
Speaker 1: player that you mentioned remains nameless. But do you feel

552
00:33:07,160 --> 00:33:09,960
Speaker 1: like some of the sentiment that he shared. You think

553
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,719
Speaker 1: most of all the all star caliber players in the NBA,

554
00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,200
Speaker 1: outside of you know, obviously the outspoken ones that we

555
00:33:17,280 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 1: know about, you think they a lot of them feel

556
00:33:19,720 --> 00:33:21,680
Speaker 1: that way. They don't want to speak up in one

557
00:33:21,720 --> 00:33:26,280
Speaker 1: offul Feathers, I think that a lot of them don't

558
00:33:26,320 --> 00:33:32,960
Speaker 1: realize their power, right or um they're too young to

559
00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:39,320
Speaker 1: really understand what influence that they could have. UM. A

560
00:33:39,400 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 1: lot of times you don't realize it to your older

561
00:33:41,360 --> 00:33:43,440
Speaker 1: in your career, and you don't have that power anymore.

562
00:33:44,280 --> 00:33:46,600
Speaker 1: You don't have that kind of influence anymore. I mean

563
00:33:46,640 --> 00:33:52,040
Speaker 1: obviously in Brooklyn, you know, Durant and and Kyrie had

564
00:33:52,080 --> 00:33:59,080
Speaker 1: power to influence the hiring of Nash. Right, Um, I'm sure,

565
00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,120
Speaker 1: respectfully I say this little lebron James had had influence

566
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:09,320
Speaker 1: on who gets on that staff, Like I'm sure he

567
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:15,560
Speaker 1: Fizdale is there for a reason, right absolutely, or but

568
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:17,560
Speaker 1: I'm sure he had influence on had who the head

569
00:34:17,560 --> 00:34:21,080
Speaker 1: coach is gonna be like, but he understands his power,

570
00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:27,319
Speaker 1: he understands his strength. Um, Chris Paul is close with

571
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:32,600
Speaker 1: you know, Monty and with James Jones, so that played

572
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:35,400
Speaker 1: an influence on him wanting to go to Phoenix and

573
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:40,279
Speaker 1: wanting to stage in Phoenix. You could have left, he

574
00:34:40,360 --> 00:34:45,920
Speaker 1: could have left. Um, but I do think that oftentimes

575
00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:52,839
Speaker 1: when you're year old dude, you and we're in this

576
00:34:52,920 --> 00:34:55,719
Speaker 1: world where we got more money than we ever thought

577
00:34:55,760 --> 00:34:58,640
Speaker 1: we were gonna make, you're not really thinking about how

578
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:02,279
Speaker 1: to you know, the bread is a and how you

579
00:35:02,320 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: can influence that because you can't tell me that, Like

580
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:10,640
Speaker 1: if Steph Curry goes into a room that he can't

581
00:35:10,640 --> 00:35:14,399
Speaker 1: tell the Warrior's front office. We need more black representation here,

582
00:35:14,440 --> 00:35:18,920
Speaker 1: We need more people color here, you know what I mean? Yeah,

583
00:35:18,960 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: like every superstar has that ability to make an impact,

584
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,279
Speaker 1: and I do think that. You know, Hey, look, man,

585
00:35:28,360 --> 00:35:30,680
Speaker 1: I could beat the ground all the time about the

586
00:35:30,719 --> 00:35:34,080
Speaker 1: lack of black coaches and executives. You do the same.

587
00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:40,840
Speaker 1: But ultimately we're just we're not making a decision. But

588
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,440
Speaker 1: I know, like when Lebron was in Cleveland, boy, they

589
00:35:44,440 --> 00:35:46,839
Speaker 1: were walking on egg shells both times he was there.

590
00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:49,320
Speaker 1: When it came time for him to make a decision

591
00:35:49,320 --> 00:35:53,200
Speaker 1: about his future, he had power there. All these players

592
00:35:53,200 --> 00:35:56,920
Speaker 1: have power, but will they exercise their ability to use it?

593
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:02,759
Speaker 1: But when they lose that power, And here's another thing

594
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,120
Speaker 1: that these guys got to think about. They think they're

595
00:36:06,120 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: gonna play forever and they're not. But then when you

596
00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:14,640
Speaker 1: look at a lot of these coaches, they're not former players.

597
00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:19,520
Speaker 1: So if you fight for former players to get these jobs,

598
00:36:19,560 --> 00:36:24,520
Speaker 1: now that pipeline, you open up the pipeline and potentially

599
00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,480
Speaker 1: open up the ability for you to have that job

600
00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:29,960
Speaker 1: when you're done. And that's what I'm saying. Then they

601
00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 1: don't they're not thinking like that. They're thinking today. The

602
00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,239
Speaker 1: one best thing they have done, the players have done,

603
00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:38,040
Speaker 1: I think in the last ten years in terms of

604
00:36:38,080 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: the future, was getting medical insurance. Your father who played

605
00:36:44,080 --> 00:36:48,840
Speaker 1: in the league over ten years, right, he and his

606
00:36:49,000 --> 00:36:52,480
Speaker 1: wife and his young daughter. I mean, you're good, but

607
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,600
Speaker 1: they got the best of medical insurance, very very good,

608
00:36:55,840 --> 00:37:01,680
Speaker 1: very good. Yes, the best of medical insurance. Right. So

609
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:05,879
Speaker 1: that's something that Chris Paul did that was amazing, Right,

610
00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:08,880
Speaker 1: it was get that. But they got to remember, like

611
00:37:09,800 --> 00:37:12,880
Speaker 1: the same way you wanna, which is good with the

612
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:16,600
Speaker 1: minimum contracts in terms of letting veterment veterans stay in

613
00:37:16,640 --> 00:37:20,320
Speaker 1: the league longer by paying half their salary start getting

614
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:24,960
Speaker 1: we we shouldn't see Jerry Stackhouse at Vanderbilt. He should

615
00:37:24,960 --> 00:37:29,920
Speaker 1: be coaching in the NBA, right, we shouldn't see but

616
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:33,840
Speaker 1: Jowan should be coaching. He played it, he paid his dues.

617
00:37:34,800 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 1: How does Patrick you and not get a chance? Right?

618
00:37:37,600 --> 00:37:39,800
Speaker 1: But you see a lot of coaches, and this is

619
00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,920
Speaker 1: all due respect who never played one game in the league,

620
00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:46,040
Speaker 1: who've got an opportunities. And I'm not saying they didn't

621
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: pay their dues and get their opportunities. But the players.

622
00:37:49,760 --> 00:37:53,240
Speaker 1: You gotta protect this league for you in the future too,

623
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:57,200
Speaker 1: and you I've seen players who have big names that

624
00:37:57,360 --> 00:38:01,840
Speaker 1: can't get in. I'm remember Bro. I remember telling Robert Patt,

625
00:38:02,400 --> 00:38:06,280
Speaker 1: my god, Robert pat we had this big debate about

626
00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:08,160
Speaker 1: whether he should coach in the G League or not

627
00:38:09,080 --> 00:38:11,880
Speaker 1: as an assistant, and I said, Rob, just get in

628
00:38:11,920 --> 00:38:14,520
Speaker 1: the door, man, just get in the door and see

629
00:38:14,520 --> 00:38:17,440
Speaker 1: what happens. And then Rob ended up getting in the door,

630
00:38:17,960 --> 00:38:19,839
Speaker 1: ended up making it to the NBA. We gotta get

631
00:38:19,920 --> 00:38:21,640
Speaker 1: him back in as a coach because he was at

632
00:38:21,640 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 1: the Washington staff. But a lot of NBA players don't

633
00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:27,960
Speaker 1: want to do that, don't know, they don't know, they

634
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:29,759
Speaker 1: didn't want to put their foot in the door. The

635
00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,360
Speaker 1: start at the ground floor type of role. But do

636
00:38:33,560 --> 00:38:36,759
Speaker 1: they send the ranks pretty quickly? Mark, I've seen the

637
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,640
Speaker 1: ones that are willing to grind. They raised the rise

638
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:43,480
Speaker 1: in the ranks pretty quickly. And then they might feel

639
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:48,719
Speaker 1: like like Kenyan Martin, who I think hasn't tremendous basketball

640
00:38:48,760 --> 00:38:53,959
Speaker 1: mind all, he's too tough, too crazy, you know. God

641
00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:56,200
Speaker 1: bless the Nuggets for giving the opportunity this summer, but

642
00:38:56,239 --> 00:38:59,839
Speaker 1: he needs to be a coach. He's got a well now,

643
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,720
Speaker 1: Rashid Wallace and we'll let him go to Memphis. Bonds, wells,

644
00:39:03,840 --> 00:39:07,399
Speaker 1: he'll go to some any like how did they were

645
00:39:07,520 --> 00:39:11,920
Speaker 1: young guys with a lot of power. Who but you

646
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 1: can't tell me that those guys can't come into the

647
00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:18,040
Speaker 1: NBA and help somebody. What's interesting is that the guys

648
00:39:18,120 --> 00:39:23,759
Speaker 1: you just named from Shed to bondsi Um to who

649
00:39:23,800 --> 00:39:27,160
Speaker 1: else did you name? You name somebody but Martin kmart

650
00:39:27,320 --> 00:39:29,480
Speaker 1: all three or like we're in the league where like

651
00:39:29,520 --> 00:39:33,000
Speaker 1: fiery tough dudes didn't take no ship. You know, those

652
00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,080
Speaker 1: type of cats. So it's like you think cats are

653
00:39:35,120 --> 00:39:38,279
Speaker 1: afraid to bring a dude like that in at the

654
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:41,240
Speaker 1: helm or or bring you in on the staff because

655
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,799
Speaker 1: like that in any capacity. Like I think one of

656
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:49,120
Speaker 1: the great under the radar hirings this summer was Nick

657
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:52,080
Speaker 1: van Exell being hired by Atlanta. You know, I love

658
00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:57,960
Speaker 1: it Quick Now Quick was an asshole when he played

659
00:39:58,000 --> 00:40:01,000
Speaker 1: for the Nuggets, and I love him and he respects us.

660
00:40:01,000 --> 00:40:03,120
Speaker 1: He will tell you that he can I say that

661
00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:07,680
Speaker 1: I'm sorry he was asshole. He was. He was tough

662
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:10,160
Speaker 1: to deal with. He had a big ego, but he

663
00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:12,840
Speaker 1: was a bad ballplayer. Now you saw it in l

664
00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:17,520
Speaker 1: A he got buckets. And if it wasn't for like

665
00:40:17,560 --> 00:40:22,479
Speaker 1: a guy named maybe John Stockton, uh, perhaps we would

666
00:40:22,600 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: be and Gary Payton, we would be talking about Nick

667
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:31,400
Speaker 1: more Um. But Nick was an amazing dynamic score and passer.

668
00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,480
Speaker 1: So now, how can we bring Trey Young to the

669
00:40:34,520 --> 00:40:40,640
Speaker 1: next level? They brought Quicken and I think Quick perhaps

670
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:42,960
Speaker 1: was held back as a coach a little bit because

671
00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:46,080
Speaker 1: of the past. Man, He's a totally different dude. This

672
00:40:46,160 --> 00:40:50,600
Speaker 1: dude is more worried about his coffee, how much sugar

673
00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:52,720
Speaker 1: he got in it, because he liked cold brew coffee.

674
00:40:52,719 --> 00:41:00,480
Speaker 1: Then yeah, he no more. Quicks basketball mind is brilliant,

675
00:41:01,400 --> 00:41:05,600
Speaker 1: and Atlanta was smart enough to realize that maybe Travis

676
00:41:05,600 --> 00:41:08,719
Speaker 1: Slink knows them from quicksdays and Golden State, the quick

677
00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:11,719
Speaker 1: time he had with the Warriors. How could I bring

678
00:41:12,960 --> 00:41:16,040
Speaker 1: Tray up? Let me bring somebody in who was bad

679
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 1: like Tray that could just work with him and make

680
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:22,920
Speaker 1: him better, which is under so many former players now

681
00:41:23,400 --> 00:41:25,680
Speaker 1: that even if you use them in an assistant coach

682
00:41:25,840 --> 00:41:30,480
Speaker 1: role like can help teams, could help young stars right now.

683
00:41:31,080 --> 00:41:34,439
Speaker 1: And also you teach them the perils of how your

684
00:41:34,719 --> 00:41:38,920
Speaker 1: your immature young mistakes could be held against you. Young fella.

685
00:41:39,000 --> 00:41:42,000
Speaker 1: Let me. You know how the young fathera back learn

686
00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:44,719
Speaker 1: from me. Young They need more of those guys in

687
00:41:44,760 --> 00:41:48,200
Speaker 1: the locker room, those old heads, no quote, hey, no

688
00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:50,960
Speaker 1: question about it. That's how you learn and figure out

689
00:41:51,040 --> 00:41:53,480
Speaker 1: how to move in these rooms and these circles of

690
00:41:53,560 --> 00:41:56,319
Speaker 1: these pros. You know, it's the young fella. They put

691
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,719
Speaker 1: the arm around you, start talking and stuff, and they

692
00:41:58,800 --> 00:42:00,560
Speaker 1: just try to give you some game. Here's here's the

693
00:42:00,560 --> 00:42:03,120
Speaker 1: thing that I wanted to ask you, and it kind

694
00:42:03,120 --> 00:42:05,799
Speaker 1: of goes along in this same sort of will house.

695
00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,360
Speaker 1: It's about mental health, do you think like so, mental

696
00:42:09,360 --> 00:42:11,160
Speaker 1: health can kind of take on a bunch of different

697
00:42:11,160 --> 00:42:14,040
Speaker 1: faces and shapes. It can be an issue that's personal

698
00:42:14,200 --> 00:42:17,960
Speaker 1: or a larger or whatever. But I feel like we

699
00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:22,440
Speaker 1: define it as a negative too much, right as far

700
00:42:22,440 --> 00:42:26,280
Speaker 1: as it in terms of our athletes, where positive mental

701
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,359
Speaker 1: health isn't necessarily focused on. So just like this point

702
00:42:29,400 --> 00:42:32,439
Speaker 1: about having a mentor that will be in your ear,

703
00:42:32,480 --> 00:42:35,680
Speaker 1: an old head that's trying to teach you positive ways

704
00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:37,880
Speaker 1: to deal with stuff, cope. Whatever it is that you

705
00:42:37,880 --> 00:42:41,640
Speaker 1: guys are talking about. How come that's not sort of

706
00:42:41,719 --> 00:42:44,960
Speaker 1: pushed more or talked about more In particular in the

707
00:42:45,080 --> 00:42:48,400
Speaker 1: NBA mentorships that have to do with mental health, you

708
00:42:48,440 --> 00:42:52,640
Speaker 1: know what I mean starting with mentoring. Want one thing

709
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:58,400
Speaker 1: that Pikey Vandoy actually Acknowledgy made a mistake on was

710
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:04,239
Speaker 1: Mellows rookie Year. You'll you'll laugh at this story. Mellows

711
00:43:04,400 --> 00:43:10,239
Speaker 1: rookie Year. Canby was on the team. Yeah, but the

712
00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:12,160
Speaker 1: roster was a lot of young dudes and a lot

713
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: of dudes that trying to hang on right, and so

714
00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:20,640
Speaker 1: after one of the practice Canby goes yo, Julie's junior

715
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,040
Speaker 1: hearing goes birthday. I don't know if you remember Junior.

716
00:43:23,520 --> 00:43:25,440
Speaker 1: Bro I was out there, Mark Mark I went to

717
00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:27,399
Speaker 1: a mini camp. So I remember, Junior. This is when

718
00:43:27,480 --> 00:43:32,239
Speaker 1: mc dice raith after this is after them, Okay, okay, no,

719
00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,239
Speaker 1: this is this is this is Mellows rookie year. Oh,

720
00:43:35,280 --> 00:43:38,799
Speaker 1: this is oh oh three, this is oh three. So

721
00:43:39,080 --> 00:43:40,680
Speaker 1: when did you go to mini camp with the nugget?

722
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:43,440
Speaker 1: So I think I think it was so Kiki Clyde, Drexel,

723
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:46,399
Speaker 1: Louis damp I was an assistant. So I was there too.

724
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:54,200
Speaker 1: Bro I went for like a little mini camp busted. Yeah. Yeah,

725
00:43:54,280 --> 00:43:57,200
Speaker 1: Croke was around. He was on the bike was on

726
00:43:57,320 --> 00:44:02,359
Speaker 1: the bike. You don't remember me. I know you was there,

727
00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:07,320
Speaker 1: but that's dope, that's dope. I need to see some

728
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:11,600
Speaker 1: some preseason stats. Yeah we do. We were in the

729
00:44:11,640 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: Powder Blues. But so Mellow comes in Junior Harrington's birthday

730
00:44:17,440 --> 00:44:20,040
Speaker 1: and after practice can be goes all right, I need

731
00:44:20,080 --> 00:44:24,360
Speaker 1: all the rookies to sing Happy birthday, Okay, Mellows like

732
00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:26,120
Speaker 1: I ain't singing. And this is when they used to

733
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:28,560
Speaker 1: let us in practice, Like we used to be able

734
00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,239
Speaker 1: to go to like practice the whole time and like

735
00:44:31,920 --> 00:44:33,960
Speaker 1: show up when the players were starting. And I loved it.

736
00:44:34,040 --> 00:44:35,600
Speaker 1: I hated it. I loved it because we had to

737
00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:38,760
Speaker 1: be there for three hours. But then I started learning

738
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:41,320
Speaker 1: so much more and why guys, certain guys who weren't playing,

739
00:44:41,880 --> 00:44:44,640
Speaker 1: who had a great or ethic, who was lazy, right,

740
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:49,000
Speaker 1: and Mellows like I ain't, I ain't, I ain't singing.

741
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 1: And I was thinking if Mellow had gotten drafted by Detroit,

742
00:44:52,480 --> 00:44:53,960
Speaker 1: and if you would have said that the bench she

743
00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:57,879
Speaker 1: chaunce ripped, Hey, they would have been on his head.

744
00:44:58,680 --> 00:45:01,160
Speaker 1: Canby was by himself, right, because there was really like

745
00:45:01,200 --> 00:45:04,160
Speaker 1: a lot of veterans of the team, and he's like

746
00:45:05,440 --> 00:45:08,480
Speaker 1: all right, man, And all of a sudden, so the

747
00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:18,040
Speaker 1: other rookies are saying a happy birthday, Mellow was beatboxing. Okay,

748
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:23,000
Speaker 1: he was beatboxing happy birthday. Right. So the point of

749
00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:26,960
Speaker 1: the story is at that point I was like, oh,

750
00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:31,239
Speaker 1: Mellows running the team. He's running the team. Like if

751
00:45:32,040 --> 00:45:35,880
Speaker 1: he's basically saying I ain't doing this and the Vets

752
00:45:35,960 --> 00:45:38,600
Speaker 1: let it go, then he was running the team. And

753
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:41,160
Speaker 1: that was like the biggest mistake that Nuggets had Because

754
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,120
Speaker 1: Camby was a starter, he didn't have time to worry

755
00:45:44,160 --> 00:45:51,400
Speaker 1: about Mellow, right, but they they Kiki almost signed Lofonso

756
00:45:51,560 --> 00:45:54,879
Speaker 1: Ellis to basically be in the locker room and keep

757
00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:58,319
Speaker 1: an eye on him on Mellow, and Mellow said he

758
00:45:58,480 --> 00:46:01,640
Speaker 1: wished that he had had some VET that he respected

759
00:46:02,280 --> 00:46:05,279
Speaker 1: that had that time to kind of like be in

760
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,720
Speaker 1: his tail, make sure he got in early left leg work,

761
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,760
Speaker 1: kept an eye on them when they went out because

762
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:14,799
Speaker 1: you know, the team players typically went out together. He

763
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:17,480
Speaker 1: didn't have that, and I think that's why I had

764
00:46:17,480 --> 00:46:20,000
Speaker 1: a lot of struggles early in his career. And I

765
00:46:20,440 --> 00:46:22,680
Speaker 1: told him that Lofonso Ella stories like, man, I wish

766
00:46:22,719 --> 00:46:25,600
Speaker 1: they would have did bring somebody like that in. So

767
00:46:25,640 --> 00:46:30,200
Speaker 1: I do think it's important for teams, especially with young stars,

768
00:46:30,480 --> 00:46:33,960
Speaker 1: to have some older player at the end of their

769
00:46:34,040 --> 00:46:37,279
Speaker 1: career that could be in there and help and got

770
00:46:37,320 --> 00:46:40,080
Speaker 1: him and have time. Camby didn't have time. Camby was

771
00:46:40,080 --> 00:46:42,600
Speaker 1: trying to live his life. He was in the peak

772
00:46:42,600 --> 00:46:44,200
Speaker 1: of his career, right. He didn't have time to worry

773
00:46:44,239 --> 00:46:50,560
Speaker 1: about mellow. Same way being Kobe, Like luckily he had

774
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:52,680
Speaker 1: a Byron Scott. But I was around that team a

775
00:46:52,680 --> 00:46:54,160
Speaker 1: little bit because I was at the l a daily

776
00:46:54,200 --> 00:46:57,440
Speaker 1: news man checking them. Dudes didn't have time for Kobe

777
00:46:57,680 --> 00:47:00,600
Speaker 1: at the practice back then it was in the Century

778
00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:07,120
Speaker 1: Club bro the Gate Guarden. Yeah, like quick, your dad

779
00:47:07,160 --> 00:47:12,440
Speaker 1: time for him. You know what I'm saying. Dudes are

780
00:47:12,440 --> 00:47:14,799
Speaker 1: still there. They was like we had we had these

781
00:47:14,800 --> 00:47:18,560
Speaker 1: streets he was and you know, tally they look at

782
00:47:18,560 --> 00:47:21,600
Speaker 1: your age. Now they ain't sneaking you in there. You

783
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:25,359
Speaker 1: can't get the licensed. So but think it was good

784
00:47:25,360 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: for the Lakers that they did have Virus Scott there,

785
00:47:28,080 --> 00:47:33,480
Speaker 1: and so it's important that every NBA team, I think

786
00:47:34,239 --> 00:47:37,319
Speaker 1: which helps a young player stick around has an old head.

787
00:47:37,880 --> 00:47:40,960
Speaker 1: To the other part about mental health, I actually think

788
00:47:42,360 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 1: there is better mental health help than there ever has

789
00:47:46,800 --> 00:47:50,120
Speaker 1: been in the NBA when you were coming up, when

790
00:47:50,120 --> 00:47:53,520
Speaker 1: you were trying to make the Nuggets, that didn't exist. Remember,

791
00:47:53,640 --> 00:47:56,359
Speaker 1: like the Nuggets did have this guy who was like

792
00:47:56,400 --> 00:48:00,279
Speaker 1: the brain doctor or something like that. Yeah, l A,

793
00:48:00,400 --> 00:48:04,560
Speaker 1: he could tell your personality. Yeah, but but did he

794
00:48:04,600 --> 00:48:07,640
Speaker 1: really help you? Did he did he understand what a

795
00:48:07,680 --> 00:48:10,319
Speaker 1: black young black man was going through? Right? It was

796
00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:12,839
Speaker 1: just it was it's identification. But it wasn't any type

797
00:48:12,840 --> 00:48:15,719
Speaker 1: of solutions that were offered, you know what I'm saying.

798
00:48:15,960 --> 00:48:20,600
Speaker 1: But but but no. But my point is every team

799
00:48:20,680 --> 00:48:23,920
Speaker 1: now they don't publicize it, but pretty much every team

800
00:48:23,960 --> 00:48:30,480
Speaker 1: now has their own on call or full time UH psychologists.

801
00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,480
Speaker 1: Several of them are black, UM, which I think is important.

802
00:48:35,560 --> 00:48:39,440
Speaker 1: So like several more black females, which I think the

803
00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:42,160
Speaker 1: players open up to more. It's like they're talking to

804
00:48:42,200 --> 00:48:45,640
Speaker 1: their mom, their sister. There aren't. Yeah, And so I

805
00:48:45,719 --> 00:48:50,640
Speaker 1: think they have resources now that when you were, you know,

806
00:48:51,760 --> 00:48:54,040
Speaker 1: getting in the NBA working on getting an NBA did

807
00:48:54,080 --> 00:48:57,000
Speaker 1: not exist. I don't think they really existed ten years ago,

808
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:00,120
Speaker 1: but they do exist now. There is help now if

809
00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:04,120
Speaker 1: they wanted, UM, and that some teams do a much

810
00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:07,359
Speaker 1: better job than others. But there. I do think that

811
00:49:07,400 --> 00:49:12,040
Speaker 1: there is an ability to get help quietly that uh,

812
00:49:12,080 --> 00:49:15,040
Speaker 1: we probably don't see. I've been wanting to write a

813
00:49:15,080 --> 00:49:16,839
Speaker 1: story about it, but a lot of these teams don't

814
00:49:16,840 --> 00:49:19,719
Speaker 1: want their people to talk. M Well, it's it's a

815
00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:23,160
Speaker 1: delicate subject probably, you know, as far as that type

816
00:49:23,160 --> 00:49:24,920
Speaker 1: of thing. But I do. I do like the fact

817
00:49:24,920 --> 00:49:27,640
Speaker 1: that they are making steps to address and at least

818
00:49:27,640 --> 00:49:29,719
Speaker 1: there's resources because if you remember back in our day

819
00:49:29,719 --> 00:49:32,640
Speaker 1: when we hooped, it was a major stigma associated with

820
00:49:32,680 --> 00:49:34,439
Speaker 1: mental health and it was something that you know, you

821
00:49:34,440 --> 00:49:36,720
Speaker 1: guys wouldn't want to talk about, especially going through stuff

822
00:49:36,719 --> 00:49:39,560
Speaker 1: like black black men in particular, like we you know,

823
00:49:39,560 --> 00:49:42,439
Speaker 1: because we already yeah, you already, don't you know how

824
00:49:42,480 --> 00:49:48,359
Speaker 1: many of us have PTSD from just like they saw

825
00:49:48,520 --> 00:49:52,520
Speaker 1: growing up. Yes, man in the streets. It's a real thing, man,

826
00:49:54,800 --> 00:49:57,000
Speaker 1: And and to cope on our own, to be able

827
00:49:57,000 --> 00:49:59,960
Speaker 1: to cope without this stuff. It speaks to the characteris

828
00:50:00,000 --> 00:50:01,560
Speaker 1: I can see it, like, you know, we still be

829
00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:03,919
Speaker 1: trying to do the right thing. That's the craziest part

830
00:50:03,960 --> 00:50:06,000
Speaker 1: of it. And laugh and tell these stories now, but

831
00:50:06,080 --> 00:50:08,000
Speaker 1: oh man, they had this drive by or I was

832
00:50:08,040 --> 00:50:12,360
Speaker 1: in this club and he's dudes fighting. Man, it sounds

833
00:50:12,400 --> 00:50:14,880
Speaker 1: funny to talk about it down or some of the

834
00:50:14,960 --> 00:50:17,680
Speaker 1: gang stuff you saw growing up in l A. Yeah,

835
00:50:17,680 --> 00:50:20,680
Speaker 1: it was wild, Like shoot, man, I remember being in

836
00:50:20,760 --> 00:50:24,040
Speaker 1: high school and getting chased five five dudes from East

837
00:50:24,080 --> 00:50:27,600
Speaker 1: Palalto and had that like hide in the gas station

838
00:50:27,640 --> 00:50:30,759
Speaker 1: to keep from getting beat up, like the funny the

839
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:34,160
Speaker 1: funny story Bob Myers always talks about. Tells us back

840
00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:35,920
Speaker 1: at u C. L A. Was like, yeah, man, my

841
00:50:36,000 --> 00:50:38,000
Speaker 1: dad dropped me off at this court in East Palo

842
00:50:38,040 --> 00:50:39,680
Speaker 1: Alto and I had to go hoop and it was

843
00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:42,520
Speaker 1: like one of the craziest experience he had. He gave

844
00:50:42,600 --> 00:50:45,200
Speaker 1: some he gave some respects, So I understand what East

845
00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,520
Speaker 1: Palo Alto is all about. Bro. There was one time

846
00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:50,000
Speaker 1: we got you know, because we used to drive around

847
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,719
Speaker 1: the different parks, you know, five us at a time,

848
00:50:52,800 --> 00:50:56,080
Speaker 1: two cars. You know what I'm saying, Get yo. You

849
00:50:56,120 --> 00:50:57,480
Speaker 1: had to be deep. You had to have a lot

850
00:50:57,480 --> 00:50:59,200
Speaker 1: of people with you, and you had to be you know,

851
00:50:59,200 --> 00:51:01,360
Speaker 1: you couldn't really run your mouth like that because you

852
00:51:01,400 --> 00:51:04,520
Speaker 1: never knew who has some moan what you know she was?

853
00:51:04,560 --> 00:51:07,640
Speaker 1: Your dad taught us in the movie Man Catch Up

854
00:51:07,680 --> 00:51:11,040
Speaker 1: about about even go get another gun and that was

855
00:51:11,120 --> 00:51:14,680
Speaker 1: that was hilarious. But man, um, staying on that sort

856
00:51:14,719 --> 00:51:17,520
Speaker 1: of mental health, I wanted to get your take. This

857
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:19,839
Speaker 1: is somebody that works in the league, public league for

858
00:51:19,880 --> 00:51:22,400
Speaker 1: so long, so you've watched short of the evolution of

859
00:51:22,440 --> 00:51:26,680
Speaker 1: this cannabis use amongst NBA players as a way to

860
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:30,160
Speaker 1: cope with different aches and pains when they're not comfortable

861
00:51:30,160 --> 00:51:32,640
Speaker 1: to deal with traditional medicines, et cetera. I know the

862
00:51:32,719 --> 00:51:38,280
Speaker 1: league they banded it in what nine and then along

863
00:51:38,280 --> 00:51:41,279
Speaker 1: with the dress code to sort of re shift the

864
00:51:41,320 --> 00:51:44,720
Speaker 1: image of the NBA, But now it's at a different place.

865
00:51:44,840 --> 00:51:49,160
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts on the cannabis in the bubble? Oh?

866
00:51:49,239 --> 00:51:55,239
Speaker 1: I heard, I heard. I think I went into the

867
00:51:55,680 --> 00:51:58,919
Speaker 1: and uh towards the final days of the bubble when

868
00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,600
Speaker 1: a lot of the team most teams were liminated. I

869
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:04,040
Speaker 1: swear it was a big old package of weed that

870
00:52:04,160 --> 00:52:06,239
Speaker 1: was like a box full of weed that somebody just

871
00:52:06,239 --> 00:52:09,080
Speaker 1: didn't pick up. Oh my good, it was just stinking

872
00:52:09,200 --> 00:52:11,800
Speaker 1: up the whole that was just it was well packaged.

873
00:52:12,440 --> 00:52:14,560
Speaker 1: You I mean, like you could have spell anything, but

874
00:52:14,640 --> 00:52:18,080
Speaker 1: you do what it was. It's like, man, look, man,

875
00:52:18,520 --> 00:52:22,120
Speaker 1: I'm I'm not a h somebody that smokes weeds and

876
00:52:22,160 --> 00:52:27,320
Speaker 1: I never have, uh, but I live in Cali and

877
00:52:27,960 --> 00:52:30,799
Speaker 1: anybody that. But I love a glass of wine. I

878
00:52:30,840 --> 00:52:33,640
Speaker 1: think you know that. Who am I to tell somebody

879
00:52:33,680 --> 00:52:37,759
Speaker 1: not to smoke weed? Right? Like my weed friends, Wine

880
00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:40,799
Speaker 1: is more dangerous. And I'm like, brothers smoking weed, I

881
00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:45,600
Speaker 1: don't that makes you do it? Man like? And I

882
00:52:45,640 --> 00:52:50,080
Speaker 1: think those we're in a progressive state, like we we've

883
00:52:50,120 --> 00:52:52,479
Speaker 1: always liked so in the rest of the world, we

884
00:52:52,480 --> 00:52:56,480
Speaker 1: we we We hadn't thought twice about weeds since in

885
00:52:56,520 --> 00:53:01,239
Speaker 1: the nineties, bro, since Dr Dre came out, Like we

886
00:53:01,280 --> 00:53:05,319
Speaker 1: don't care. So it's kind of like funny, like it's

887
00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:10,040
Speaker 1: still a big deal now, Like it's funny because now

888
00:53:10,040 --> 00:53:13,920
Speaker 1: it's called cannabis. You call it cannabis. They had to

889
00:53:14,000 --> 00:53:15,680
Speaker 1: change the name, you know, they had to change it.

890
00:53:17,760 --> 00:53:21,400
Speaker 1: Do you remember cannabis? Cannabis is cannabis. We we have

891
00:53:21,480 --> 00:53:24,879
Speaker 1: cannabis delivery. I see these billboards. I'm like, no, y'all

892
00:53:25,000 --> 00:53:28,640
Speaker 1: got some people. Y'all y'all to arrested all these brothers

893
00:53:28,640 --> 00:53:33,080
Speaker 1: for selling weed on the quarter. We like Stephen A.

894
00:53:33,200 --> 00:53:39,000
Speaker 1: Smith say, we all these brothers went to jail for

895
00:53:39,080 --> 00:53:42,040
Speaker 1: selling weed. But now you legally can deliver cannabis to

896
00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:45,239
Speaker 1: somebody house. Come on, man, come on and let them

897
00:53:45,239 --> 00:53:50,680
Speaker 1: brothers out of jail. Right. But it's uh, yeah, I

898
00:53:50,719 --> 00:53:54,480
Speaker 1: think it's uh it's funny because I actually you see,

899
00:53:54,520 --> 00:53:58,760
Speaker 1: if you remember this, remember when Mellow got in trouble

900
00:53:58,800 --> 00:54:01,359
Speaker 1: for bringing got usaid for bringing weeat on a plane

901
00:54:01,400 --> 00:54:05,600
Speaker 1: when he was with Denver oh Man. Yeah, and he

902
00:54:05,640 --> 00:54:09,080
Speaker 1: had a backpack that has some weed in it, and

903
00:54:10,280 --> 00:54:13,879
Speaker 1: he had this dude name Slim that took the rap

904
00:54:13,960 --> 00:54:17,040
Speaker 1: for him because it was he said it was Slim's backpack.

905
00:54:17,239 --> 00:54:19,080
Speaker 1: I've been wanting to talk about about this because this

906
00:54:19,120 --> 00:54:21,480
Speaker 1: is like funny to be it's funny now, well it

907
00:54:21,600 --> 00:54:24,040
Speaker 1: was like this big deal, but Melo had weed in

908
00:54:24,080 --> 00:54:28,000
Speaker 1: his bag and some dude named Slim. I think Slim

909
00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:30,600
Speaker 1: got a nice check. You know, it took the wrap,

910
00:54:31,480 --> 00:54:33,760
Speaker 1: which is like now you think about it was just silly.

911
00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:35,960
Speaker 1: It was stupid, like he had to weed in his bag.

912
00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:42,640
Speaker 1: And then now he has a weed company, like like

913
00:54:42,800 --> 00:54:47,560
Speaker 1: it's so but it was funny, Like fifty years ago,

914
00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:52,239
Speaker 1: Mellow basically almost went to dang jail for having weed

915
00:54:52,280 --> 00:54:54,759
Speaker 1: in this bag, and now he's haking money off. And

916
00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:57,600
Speaker 1: it's amazing to see all the athletes that are involved

917
00:54:57,600 --> 00:54:59,880
Speaker 1: on the Canada side, on the professional level that a

918
00:55:00,000 --> 00:55:06,000
Speaker 1: making money off of it. Of a Harrington's Matt, you know,

919
00:55:06,040 --> 00:55:09,040
Speaker 1: these guys advocates, their advocating for the right reason that

920
00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:11,080
Speaker 1: when you hear him talk about it, man, you you

921
00:55:11,120 --> 00:55:13,160
Speaker 1: really get an understanding that they really took take it

922
00:55:13,200 --> 00:55:16,360
Speaker 1: serious and they're really concerned about, you know, the health benefits.

923
00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:18,439
Speaker 1: And I'm glad they're making money off of it, man.

924
00:55:20,400 --> 00:55:27,120
Speaker 1: And there they're experts, try it and test it. Okay,

925
00:55:27,160 --> 00:55:29,400
Speaker 1: you had to go like learn about They don't need

926
00:55:29,440 --> 00:55:33,520
Speaker 1: to get to those class they don't. They can tell

927
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: you anything you want to know about Eddie ka. Oh

928
00:55:36,800 --> 00:55:38,719
Speaker 1: that's so they know more about we did they do?

929
00:55:38,800 --> 00:55:42,279
Speaker 1: Who just say a lot? That'd be the crazy part.

930
00:55:42,320 --> 00:55:46,200
Speaker 1: But yeah, Harrington, who was way ahead of the game.

931
00:55:46,600 --> 00:55:49,560
Speaker 1: He's been ahead of it. He's killing it. And I

932
00:55:49,640 --> 00:55:55,920
Speaker 1: hope that any NBA player who decides to invest in

933
00:55:56,120 --> 00:56:00,040
Speaker 1: something and invest in now, yeah, invest in one of

934
00:56:00,080 --> 00:56:04,000
Speaker 1: your guys man, like absolutely, Like, hey I did, I'm

935
00:56:04,000 --> 00:56:09,400
Speaker 1: glad AI teamed up with him. Yeah, yeah, Mark, I

936
00:56:09,440 --> 00:56:13,759
Speaker 1: wanted to get an understanding of why you went back

937
00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:17,239
Speaker 1: to school and decided to get your master's degree in

938
00:56:17,280 --> 00:56:19,600
Speaker 1: sports management. I know you, you you graduate from LGU in

939
00:56:19,640 --> 00:56:21,600
Speaker 1: two thousand and eighteen. Why did you do that? As

940
00:56:21,800 --> 00:56:24,560
Speaker 1: you're already established, you know, so why would you add

941
00:56:24,600 --> 00:56:28,160
Speaker 1: that to your repertoire um? You know. One of my

942
00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:31,680
Speaker 1: favorite things I got from former Nuggets head coach Jeffers

943
00:56:31,719 --> 00:56:35,000
Speaker 1: Delic is always stayed two steps ahead of the posse hmm.

944
00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:40,120
Speaker 1: And I kind of felt like, I don't like just

945
00:56:40,239 --> 00:56:44,279
Speaker 1: standing still. I always want to better myself. My mom

946
00:56:44,360 --> 00:56:47,800
Speaker 1: has a master's degree, my sisters has a master's degree.

947
00:56:48,640 --> 00:56:51,920
Speaker 1: I don't like them being ahead of me either. I

948
00:56:51,960 --> 00:56:55,080
Speaker 1: got an a a degree from Foothill College. I got

949
00:56:55,080 --> 00:56:57,560
Speaker 1: a bachelors from Sante State, and I've always wanted to

950
00:56:57,560 --> 00:57:00,680
Speaker 1: have one. But I wanted to better of myself. So

951
00:57:00,880 --> 00:57:03,479
Speaker 1: how could I not only get my masters but better

952
00:57:03,560 --> 00:57:07,520
Speaker 1: myself in the process. And I thought that in my

953
00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:11,320
Speaker 1: line of work, learning more about the business and sports

954
00:57:11,360 --> 00:57:16,360
Speaker 1: and I already did know certainly could benefit me. Um.

955
00:57:16,360 --> 00:57:19,200
Speaker 1: So that's why I decided to go into sports business management.

956
00:57:19,520 --> 00:57:21,240
Speaker 1: Believe it or not, I actually tried to go to

957
00:57:21,400 --> 00:57:25,480
Speaker 1: Columbia for a second, and uh, just the right a

958
00:57:25,600 --> 00:57:30,800
Speaker 1: rug from high school and they got me in or

959
00:57:31,120 --> 00:57:32,480
Speaker 1: but it was like I had to take the g

960
00:57:32,720 --> 00:57:36,320
Speaker 1: R and it was expensive. And you know, my families

961
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:38,880
Speaker 1: from Louisiana. My parents live in New Orleans. I always

962
00:57:38,920 --> 00:57:41,680
Speaker 1: had New Orleans ties and loved L s U and

963
00:57:41,720 --> 00:57:46,040
Speaker 1: the Tigers spent summers and Bunny fram Park in New Orleans,

964
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:49,320
Speaker 1: and you know the Seventh Ward in the Night War.

965
00:57:50,320 --> 00:57:55,400
Speaker 1: You know the gumbo and you know eating you onion,

966
00:57:55,680 --> 00:57:58,160
Speaker 1: hucka puck is you know hucka puck is? No, I

967
00:57:58,160 --> 00:58:00,400
Speaker 1: don't know what it's like the Dixie ups and they

968
00:58:00,480 --> 00:58:02,320
Speaker 1: used to put kool Aid in them and freeze them,

969
00:58:02,320 --> 00:58:04,480
Speaker 1: and the White Lady used to something tense cent. We

970
00:58:04,520 --> 00:58:06,920
Speaker 1: used to go get the hunder parks. So like I

971
00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:08,560
Speaker 1: have a lot of like a lot of people think

972
00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:11,600
Speaker 1: I'm from New Orleans. I'm from the Bay. I can

973
00:58:11,640 --> 00:58:14,240
Speaker 1: tell you how to get the Chopoltoola Street, like news

974
00:58:14,280 --> 00:58:17,400
Speaker 1: is my second home, right, And so I just started

975
00:58:17,680 --> 00:58:20,640
Speaker 1: talking to the L. S U people, and they had

976
00:58:20,680 --> 00:58:24,240
Speaker 1: this great sports business program and they're like, yo, what's

977
00:58:24,240 --> 00:58:27,080
Speaker 1: your experience. They waved to g R E for me,

978
00:58:27,160 --> 00:58:31,040
Speaker 1: which was like cool, I love that's like that they

979
00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:34,160
Speaker 1: wanted me to be up like they recruited me tell

980
00:58:34,280 --> 00:58:36,640
Speaker 1: shoe like recruited me to be a part of it,

981
00:58:36,680 --> 00:58:40,120
Speaker 1: to be a part of that program. And man, it

982
00:58:40,240 --> 00:58:43,920
Speaker 1: was a great two years. Shout out to Professor Martinez.

983
00:58:43,920 --> 00:58:47,240
Speaker 1: Man I learned a lot. And man, the football program

984
00:58:47,400 --> 00:58:50,880
Speaker 1: is like embraced me. The basketball programs embrace me, they

985
00:58:50,920 --> 00:58:55,880
Speaker 1: said me swag like the best. They stayed. Football has

986
00:58:55,880 --> 00:58:58,000
Speaker 1: embraced me too, and they like they still love me,

987
00:58:58,040 --> 00:59:01,040
Speaker 1: and they stayed. But I got in footy of college,

988
00:59:01,040 --> 00:59:02,920
Speaker 1: they got some like all of them take care of you.

989
00:59:03,320 --> 00:59:07,000
Speaker 1: But l s U like embraced me as a family um.

990
00:59:07,040 --> 00:59:10,320
Speaker 1: And I learned a lot. So I thought that there's

991
00:59:10,360 --> 00:59:12,640
Speaker 1: gonna be a day when perhaps I don't do this anymore.

992
00:59:14,080 --> 00:59:16,240
Speaker 1: Maybe a team might want me to work for him,

993
00:59:16,360 --> 00:59:18,080
Speaker 1: or a league might want me to work for him

994
00:59:18,080 --> 00:59:20,960
Speaker 1: in a senior role, or I could be a professor.

995
00:59:21,840 --> 00:59:24,320
Speaker 1: So as you know, like I can't teach it U

996
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:28,000
Speaker 1: c l A without a master's, right, I can't teach

997
00:59:28,040 --> 00:59:32,000
Speaker 1: it Sundse State without a master. So it's me trying

998
00:59:32,080 --> 00:59:36,360
Speaker 1: to stay two steps ahead of the posse. And that's

999
00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:38,200
Speaker 1: why I wanted to get my master's degree and It

1000
00:59:38,320 --> 00:59:41,600
Speaker 1: wasn't easy. It was hard, but I was so proud

1001
00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:44,320
Speaker 1: when I got it, and you know, I ended up.

1002
00:59:44,560 --> 00:59:47,360
Speaker 1: I went to the ceremony even though I did it online.

1003
00:59:47,440 --> 00:59:50,680
Speaker 1: I went to Baton Rouge with my mom and she

1004
00:59:50,800 --> 00:59:54,440
Speaker 1: was really proud. And my now wife we went and

1005
00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:58,400
Speaker 1: you know it's funny, Like we get there, I'll tell

1006
00:59:58,440 --> 01:00:01,320
Speaker 1: you the story real quick, and I'm driving up in

1007
01:00:01,360 --> 01:00:05,080
Speaker 1: this brother comes up to the window and he goes,

1008
01:00:05,800 --> 01:00:08,600
Speaker 1: what's uping, man, how are you doing? Man? I'm like,

1009
01:00:08,640 --> 01:00:11,320
Speaker 1: hey man. He goes, Mark, you don't remember me. I

1010
01:00:11,360 --> 01:00:13,680
Speaker 1: met you at the All Star Game in New Orleans

1011
01:00:13,720 --> 01:00:16,120
Speaker 1: and you were really really nice to me. I was like, okay, good,

1012
01:00:16,160 --> 01:00:19,200
Speaker 1: good to see you. He's like, yo, I'm working the

1013
01:00:19,680 --> 01:00:23,160
Speaker 1: l s U Football um department. You want to come

1014
01:00:23,160 --> 01:00:25,600
Speaker 1: in and take pictures in your cap and gown in

1015
01:00:25,640 --> 01:00:29,200
Speaker 1: a in a in a locker room. Oh in the

1016
01:00:29,200 --> 01:00:33,080
Speaker 1: football He said, we got recruits and you know the recruits.

1017
01:00:33,080 --> 01:00:35,640
Speaker 1: You're taking all those pictures and stuff. He's like, you

1018
01:00:35,640 --> 01:00:38,840
Speaker 1: could take them with you're camping down, Like yeah, I

1019
01:00:38,880 --> 01:00:40,640
Speaker 1: was supposed to be standing in the line getting ready

1020
01:00:40,680 --> 01:00:44,959
Speaker 1: for graduation. Bro. I go on the Tiger Stadium, going

1021
01:00:45,000 --> 01:00:47,440
Speaker 1: the locker room. You know how like all the players

1022
01:00:47,520 --> 01:00:50,080
Speaker 1: take the recruiting like, I'm in the I'm in the lockers.

1023
01:00:50,400 --> 01:00:53,240
Speaker 1: I'm a body's footballs. It's like all the purple and yellow,

1024
01:00:53,840 --> 01:00:57,440
Speaker 1: you know. And then I'm taking all these pictures like

1025
01:00:57,720 --> 01:00:59,480
Speaker 1: I gotta go get ready for the graduation to go.

1026
01:01:00,320 --> 01:01:03,120
Speaker 1: You don't want to going to feel I'm like, what

1027
01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:06,880
Speaker 1: do you mean? He's like, you can take some pictures

1028
01:01:06,880 --> 01:01:11,680
Speaker 1: on the field, Dan so man, I came out this

1029
01:01:11,920 --> 01:01:13,760
Speaker 1: video of it. I hit the wind bar, I'm in

1030
01:01:13,800 --> 01:01:16,000
Speaker 1: my cap and gown. Yeah, I go on the field,

1031
01:01:16,000 --> 01:01:19,880
Speaker 1: that Tiger Stadium by myself. They take pictures on me.

1032
01:01:20,320 --> 01:01:23,720
Speaker 1: We walked back in. Guess who's standing there that that

1033
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:27,280
Speaker 1: was wrong? Jeez. So, I mean, he had no idea

1034
01:01:27,320 --> 01:01:30,320
Speaker 1: of who I am. Probably it was just fine. You

1035
01:01:30,360 --> 01:01:32,840
Speaker 1: don't need to know who I am. He meets my

1036
01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:39,360
Speaker 1: mom and they start talking about um my mom. My

1037
01:01:39,480 --> 01:01:42,320
Speaker 1: mom is a saint. But I think she lied. She

1038
01:01:42,440 --> 01:01:45,360
Speaker 1: told that old drink I prayed for you before every game.

1039
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:54,240
Speaker 1: Look at her like you do for L. S U

1040
01:01:54,320 --> 01:02:00,040
Speaker 1: Football before every game. That's funny. I would go with it,

1041
01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:02,240
Speaker 1: and she said, yeah, you dude. She's like, you're Christian.

1042
01:02:02,480 --> 01:02:06,560
Speaker 1: But he's like, yeah, they started talking religion at Odron

1043
01:02:06,680 --> 01:02:09,760
Speaker 1: and my mom walked onto the football field start having

1044
01:02:09,760 --> 01:02:18,120
Speaker 1: this long conversation about religion. I gotta graduate. Mom, come back. No,

1045
01:02:18,400 --> 01:02:21,959
Speaker 1: I left her at on the football field and took

1046
01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:26,400
Speaker 1: off and we and they ended up watching it everything.

1047
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:28,240
Speaker 1: I don't know. I must love that she talked to him.

1048
01:02:30,320 --> 01:02:32,680
Speaker 1: Don't say nothing about it, old, no, No, that's a

1049
01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:35,400
Speaker 1: great story. That's a great sty But l you showed

1050
01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:37,760
Speaker 1: me a lot of love. But they showed me love

1051
01:02:37,800 --> 01:02:40,960
Speaker 1: with that the education, and I feel like I know

1052
01:02:41,120 --> 01:02:43,760
Speaker 1: a lot more about the business of basketball, about the

1053
01:02:43,800 --> 01:02:47,520
Speaker 1: business sports, and like it's funny when we talk about

1054
01:02:47,560 --> 01:02:49,520
Speaker 1: we wanted to get in the teams moving and stuff

1055
01:02:49,560 --> 01:02:52,480
Speaker 1: like that. But I started breaking down to my friends,

1056
01:02:52,520 --> 01:02:55,640
Speaker 1: like why this makes sense, Why this doesn't make sense?

1057
01:02:56,040 --> 01:03:00,160
Speaker 1: TV markets and revenue sharing and all, like damn you

1058
01:03:00,240 --> 01:03:05,200
Speaker 1: on it, hey, come on, bro love it. I love

1059
01:03:05,240 --> 01:03:07,080
Speaker 1: to hear it. Mark Man. That was that's that was

1060
01:03:07,120 --> 01:03:10,960
Speaker 1: a great story. Um so, man, we're about an hour in. Man,

1061
01:03:11,240 --> 01:03:13,640
Speaker 1: I just got really one more one more comment from me,

1062
01:03:13,720 --> 01:03:16,480
Speaker 1: broh that that I wanted to grab and I and

1063
01:03:16,480 --> 01:03:19,160
Speaker 1: I and I asked everybody that I've interviewed over the

1064
01:03:19,240 --> 01:03:21,880
Speaker 1: last six months, the same question has been about seventy

1065
01:03:21,880 --> 01:03:25,440
Speaker 1: five different interviews. Um, if you could just share with

1066
01:03:25,520 --> 01:03:32,440
Speaker 1: us your most memorable story about Kobe Bryant. Huhm wow,

1067
01:03:34,840 --> 01:03:38,280
Speaker 1: Well that's something I can't put on the ones we

1068
01:03:38,360 --> 01:03:44,840
Speaker 1: can't share the ones we can can. I tell to yes, please, UM,

1069
01:03:44,840 --> 01:03:51,800
Speaker 1: please do One time I went to interview and he

1070
01:03:51,880 --> 01:03:54,480
Speaker 1: took care to take care of me. Chirst man like

1071
01:03:55,320 --> 01:03:59,160
Speaker 1: I would meet him talk via email, and I'm big

1072
01:03:59,200 --> 01:04:02,840
Speaker 1: on email because players change their phone numbers all the time,

1073
01:04:02,880 --> 01:04:05,520
Speaker 1: but they don't change their emails. That's that's a little

1074
01:04:05,560 --> 01:04:09,120
Speaker 1: gift for the journalism people listening. They don't change their email.

1075
01:04:09,440 --> 01:04:11,400
Speaker 1: So an email, Hey I'm coming to town, him coming

1076
01:04:11,440 --> 01:04:13,880
Speaker 1: to practice. I would go to media day and he

1077
01:04:13,880 --> 01:04:16,520
Speaker 1: would always he talked to everybody, but then he would

1078
01:04:16,560 --> 01:04:18,720
Speaker 1: put me on the side for ten minutes and I

1079
01:04:18,720 --> 01:04:20,800
Speaker 1: remember all the media people be looking at me, pissed

1080
01:04:20,800 --> 01:04:23,160
Speaker 1: and everything. I don't hate to player hate the game.

1081
01:04:24,360 --> 01:04:27,320
Speaker 1: Then used to take care of me. Man to break

1082
01:04:27,360 --> 01:04:30,920
Speaker 1: one on one interviews, and so one time he was

1083
01:04:30,960 --> 01:04:33,480
Speaker 1: with my man Nico Harrison. Shout out to Niko, congrats

1084
01:04:33,560 --> 01:04:36,640
Speaker 1: on the Dallas job him and Nico's Niko was always

1085
01:04:36,640 --> 01:04:39,240
Speaker 1: by his side. They're leven practice amount of practice that

1086
01:04:39,280 --> 01:04:41,720
Speaker 1: I go to interview being I said, cold, you got

1087
01:04:41,760 --> 01:04:45,880
Speaker 1: a couple of minutes before you leave, and um, he said,

1088
01:04:46,480 --> 01:04:49,120
Speaker 1: you know, not not for you today. I'm like, what

1089
01:04:49,160 --> 01:04:51,760
Speaker 1: are you talking about? Bro? I had this beautiful Adida

1090
01:04:51,800 --> 01:04:58,240
Speaker 1: sweats and though, yeah, you know, we like big dude,

1091
01:04:58,320 --> 01:05:02,640
Speaker 1: so it's all just um that fit right, you know.

1092
01:05:02,880 --> 01:05:05,720
Speaker 1: But it was this school. It was this black Adidas

1093
01:05:05,760 --> 01:05:09,040
Speaker 1: sweat suit with the black shoes a match. I was

1094
01:05:09,080 --> 01:05:12,040
Speaker 1: looking good at that day and it fits right. It

1095
01:05:12,080 --> 01:05:14,360
Speaker 1: was almost like it was Taylor made it fit that good.

1096
01:05:14,920 --> 01:05:17,120
Speaker 1: He's like, I ain't interview. I ain't doing an interview

1097
01:05:17,120 --> 01:05:20,680
Speaker 1: what you're wearing. And I'm like why He's like really

1098
01:05:20,720 --> 01:05:23,920
Speaker 1: dog and he and he's Nike dripped. He had the

1099
01:05:24,000 --> 01:05:27,560
Speaker 1: toe and it hit me like damn. He did have

1100
01:05:27,640 --> 01:05:32,600
Speaker 1: a bad break up with Adidas. Like he's like, I'm

1101
01:05:32,640 --> 01:05:34,880
Speaker 1: just not doing that in and I needed to be bad.

1102
01:05:35,280 --> 01:05:36,880
Speaker 1: Like come on, man, He's like, look, this is what

1103
01:05:36,880 --> 01:05:41,400
Speaker 1: you're gonna do. I said, what's that you're gonna go?

1104
01:05:41,920 --> 01:05:44,160
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give you the interview, but when you go home,

1105
01:05:45,240 --> 01:05:47,200
Speaker 1: you're gonna throw all that away and you're gonna take

1106
01:05:47,200 --> 01:05:50,560
Speaker 1: a video of you throwing it away, and you know

1107
01:05:53,120 --> 01:05:56,240
Speaker 1: I wouldn't see it in the trash, that sweatsuit in

1108
01:05:56,360 --> 01:06:01,240
Speaker 1: the trash, and I need proof to you threw it away.

1109
01:06:02,720 --> 01:06:07,520
Speaker 1: Do you want the interview or not? I was like, yeah, bro,

1110
01:06:07,840 --> 01:06:10,200
Speaker 1: I want the interview. So I did the interview and

1111
01:06:10,240 --> 01:06:13,440
Speaker 1: literally when I went home, I had somebody videotaped me

1112
01:06:13,560 --> 01:06:16,280
Speaker 1: throwing it down. The trash shoot wasn't even had the

1113
01:06:16,360 --> 01:06:19,680
Speaker 1: trash can. It was a trash shoot because I lived

1114
01:06:19,680 --> 01:06:23,040
Speaker 1: in an apartment in jack London. That was it for

1115
01:06:23,960 --> 01:06:26,040
Speaker 1: It wasn't coming back, It wasn't coming back. It was

1116
01:06:26,080 --> 01:06:28,080
Speaker 1: in a trasho. You didn't want going in that trash.

1117
01:06:28,080 --> 01:06:32,000
Speaker 1: It was the apartment complex trash. How did that make Mark?

1118
01:06:32,080 --> 01:06:35,960
Speaker 1: How did but how did that make you feel? Was

1119
01:06:35,960 --> 01:06:38,760
Speaker 1: it worth it? Mark? Yes, at the end of the day, yes,

1120
01:06:39,800 --> 01:06:44,320
Speaker 1: any being interviewed at that time, yes. And what I

1121
01:06:44,400 --> 01:06:48,560
Speaker 1: learned from that is there's another little journalism tip. Anytime

1122
01:06:48,600 --> 01:06:52,760
Speaker 1: I interview a player, I either put my cold hands

1123
01:06:52,760 --> 01:06:56,760
Speaker 1: on because the co hands is like remember in South

1124
01:06:56,800 --> 01:07:00,000
Speaker 1: ceter of the hood, like East Side Saddle say he's

1125
01:07:00,080 --> 01:07:02,520
Speaker 1: pa you better know what colors are a different neighborhood.

1126
01:07:03,480 --> 01:07:06,800
Speaker 1: But if you wore a white, if some like blue jeans,

1127
01:07:06,800 --> 01:07:10,400
Speaker 1: you can probably get away anyway, right, blue jeans and

1128
01:07:10,440 --> 01:07:16,040
Speaker 1: blue jeans. Right. So my point is I would wear

1129
01:07:16,240 --> 01:07:20,080
Speaker 1: shoes or clothing that if I talked to Curry, I'm

1130
01:07:20,080 --> 01:07:23,600
Speaker 1: wearing under armor, like if I'm talking to Dame or

1131
01:07:23,600 --> 01:07:28,080
Speaker 1: where Adidas, And if I talk to Draymond Durant and

1132
01:07:28,160 --> 01:07:30,440
Speaker 1: wear a Nike, like, I wear it based on who

1133
01:07:30,440 --> 01:07:33,600
Speaker 1: I'm talking to because I learned about what lesson. And

1134
01:07:33,680 --> 01:07:36,080
Speaker 1: you if you think these dudes is not following that,

1135
01:07:37,680 --> 01:07:40,000
Speaker 1: you got another thing coming. You got another thing coming.

1136
01:07:41,320 --> 01:07:43,640
Speaker 1: So now that's that's the lesson I learned from that.

1137
01:07:43,680 --> 01:07:47,720
Speaker 1: Like I'm very like I interviewed CP yesterday, but I

1138
01:07:47,720 --> 01:07:51,880
Speaker 1: had Cohens, So that was I was neutral, right, stressed

1139
01:07:51,960 --> 01:07:58,160
Speaker 1: up them dudes, pay attention to that. Um. The only

1140
01:07:58,240 --> 01:08:01,000
Speaker 1: other story, I we got time when you gotta ruin. Yeah,

1141
01:08:01,040 --> 01:08:04,960
Speaker 1: we got plenty of time. Bro. So when he played

1142
01:08:05,680 --> 01:08:09,440
Speaker 1: his last game at Golden State, I was at the

1143
01:08:09,520 --> 01:08:12,160
Speaker 1: game and he saw me waiting for him in the

1144
01:08:12,200 --> 01:08:14,360
Speaker 1: locker room. And you know that Golden State locker room.

1145
01:08:14,400 --> 01:08:16,840
Speaker 1: You visiting locker room at that time was like the

1146
01:08:16,880 --> 01:08:20,760
Speaker 1: biggest in the league is huge, visiting team is huge,

1147
01:08:20,880 --> 01:08:25,479
Speaker 1: and he goes. Somebody came up to me said, Kobe

1148
01:08:25,520 --> 01:08:28,160
Speaker 1: said to come in the training room. I ain't never

1149
01:08:28,200 --> 01:08:31,160
Speaker 1: been a no chan like a media person, but if

1150
01:08:31,240 --> 01:08:34,599
Speaker 1: Kobe said to come in the training room, take your

1151
01:08:34,640 --> 01:08:37,719
Speaker 1: butt to the training room. So we be going there

1152
01:08:38,320 --> 01:08:41,680
Speaker 1: and we have like this long conversation. And the one

1153
01:08:41,760 --> 01:08:43,759
Speaker 1: thing about him, if you was one of his people,

1154
01:08:44,640 --> 01:08:48,479
Speaker 1: that I loved about him, is he he really cared

1155
01:08:48,479 --> 01:08:51,920
Speaker 1: about you as a person and care and and and

1156
01:08:52,920 --> 01:08:55,200
Speaker 1: cared how you're doing and how your family was doing.

1157
01:08:55,240 --> 01:08:58,040
Speaker 1: And I think the first time we really we're able

1158
01:08:58,080 --> 01:09:02,639
Speaker 1: to connect well was after Hurricane Katrina and he he

1159
01:09:02,680 --> 01:09:05,519
Speaker 1: played there's this if somebody wants to look it up,

1160
01:09:06,200 --> 01:09:09,639
Speaker 1: there's this great game on YouTube that you could probably

1161
01:09:09,680 --> 01:09:12,439
Speaker 1: find now. But it was a charity game for Hurricane

1162
01:09:12,520 --> 01:09:16,560
Speaker 1: Katrina that took place in Houston. All these NBA superstars

1163
01:09:16,560 --> 01:09:24,280
Speaker 1: played in it. Kobe Shock, Yeah, Yer played it like

1164
01:09:24,400 --> 01:09:27,680
Speaker 1: I was all almost in it. And that's when me

1165
01:09:27,720 --> 01:09:30,240
Speaker 1: and Kobe connected because he was. He actually pulled me

1166
01:09:30,280 --> 01:09:32,800
Speaker 1: to the side and was asked me about my family

1167
01:09:32,880 --> 01:09:37,400
Speaker 1: and my parents who had evacuated. Um, so we had

1168
01:09:37,400 --> 01:09:41,439
Speaker 1: this long conversation and he actually he actually asked you

1169
01:09:41,479 --> 01:09:45,040
Speaker 1: about that. He actually told and he heard my families

1170
01:09:45,080 --> 01:09:48,640
Speaker 1: in New Orleans and like literally asked me about and

1171
01:09:48,640 --> 01:09:53,400
Speaker 1: stuff like that. So anyways, um, fast forward. At that time,

1172
01:09:53,800 --> 01:09:56,000
Speaker 1: kind of felt like something was changing with my career

1173
01:09:56,800 --> 01:09:59,080
Speaker 1: and the undefeated stuff was slowly starting to come up

1174
01:09:59,600 --> 01:10:01,280
Speaker 1: and I kind in the game of heads up on it,

1175
01:10:02,240 --> 01:10:08,320
Speaker 1: and um, after I got the job, he was one

1176
01:10:08,320 --> 01:10:10,600
Speaker 1: of the first people I emailed because we had a

1177
01:10:10,640 --> 01:10:13,960
Speaker 1: real I was actually worried about our conversation getting on

1178
01:10:14,080 --> 01:10:18,400
Speaker 1: air because that's when um, um, Spike Lee was filming

1179
01:10:18,439 --> 01:10:22,759
Speaker 1: all that stuff for his documentary and they were camera

1180
01:10:22,760 --> 01:10:24,720
Speaker 1: crew was in the room with me and him spoke. Now,

1181
01:10:24,720 --> 01:10:28,519
Speaker 1: I would love to have that video personally now if

1182
01:10:28,560 --> 01:10:31,479
Speaker 1: I could about that conversation. I which, if you ever

1183
01:10:31,560 --> 01:10:33,519
Speaker 1: run across somebody who worked on that doc I bet

1184
01:10:33,560 --> 01:10:36,200
Speaker 1: you they could probably find it deep deep in the archives.

1185
01:10:36,240 --> 01:10:40,040
Speaker 1: But we talked about the teen minutes and but I

1186
01:10:40,080 --> 01:10:43,519
Speaker 1: sent him an email basically told him I got the job,

1187
01:10:43,600 --> 01:10:46,439
Speaker 1: and he sent me email back saying, a man, I'm

1188
01:10:46,479 --> 01:10:49,680
Speaker 1: proud of you. Continue to use your voice and if

1189
01:10:49,720 --> 01:10:52,400
Speaker 1: you need anything for me, man, don't hesitate. And I've

1190
01:10:52,400 --> 01:10:56,400
Speaker 1: been meaning to print out that email and like put

1191
01:10:56,439 --> 01:10:59,640
Speaker 1: it on this wall somewhere. You know, I need to

1192
01:10:59,640 --> 01:11:03,000
Speaker 1: do that at um. But the last time I saw

1193
01:11:03,120 --> 01:11:06,960
Speaker 1: him was about a year after I was in the Undefeated.

1194
01:11:07,120 --> 01:11:09,400
Speaker 1: He when he got his jersey retired. That was not

1195
01:11:09,479 --> 01:11:11,000
Speaker 1: the last time I saw him, but the last time

1196
01:11:11,040 --> 01:11:14,800
Speaker 1: we got to speak. I think you got the video

1197
01:11:14,920 --> 01:11:18,000
Speaker 1: there he came up to me. Is that big spirit?

1198
01:11:18,040 --> 01:11:23,040
Speaker 1: Is that big spirit? And he actually was congratulating me

1199
01:11:23,120 --> 01:11:25,400
Speaker 1: from my career and what I was doing with Undefeated.

1200
01:11:25,960 --> 01:11:27,920
Speaker 1: And I'm like, bro, you did you see me? I'm like,

1201
01:11:27,960 --> 01:11:31,080
Speaker 1: you just retired, like your jersey. This is about the

1202
01:11:31,120 --> 01:11:33,120
Speaker 1: saying about me. But that showed you what kind of

1203
01:11:33,160 --> 01:11:38,120
Speaker 1: man he was. That he hadn't seen me. We had

1204
01:11:38,160 --> 01:11:41,320
Speaker 1: the email or talk whatever, but and done in interviews

1205
01:11:41,320 --> 01:11:46,000
Speaker 1: and everything on, but we hadn't seen each other. And

1206
01:11:46,000 --> 01:11:50,479
Speaker 1: he was like, Amen, congratulations, and I was like, and

1207
01:11:50,680 --> 01:11:54,280
Speaker 1: even in this time of getting his jersey retired, he

1208
01:11:54,320 --> 01:11:57,920
Speaker 1: thought it was important to tell me congratulations. Man. So

1209
01:11:58,200 --> 01:12:02,280
Speaker 1: I'm still not there with it yet, you know what

1210
01:12:02,360 --> 01:12:05,360
Speaker 1: I mean, I still haven't figured it out yet in

1211
01:12:05,439 --> 01:12:10,400
Speaker 1: my mind um, but no, I I was. I was

1212
01:12:10,439 --> 01:12:12,160
Speaker 1: sad when he retired. I think that was the only

1213
01:12:12,200 --> 01:12:14,160
Speaker 1: time when the player retired and I was like, damn,

1214
01:12:15,560 --> 01:12:17,120
Speaker 1: he was great, he was great to me, and and

1215
01:12:17,600 --> 01:12:22,080
Speaker 1: him being gone. I still haven't come to like a

1216
01:12:22,080 --> 01:12:25,479
Speaker 1: complete realization about that. No, that's one of the toughest

1217
01:12:25,520 --> 01:12:27,639
Speaker 1: things that we've had to do with. Man, Like, it's

1218
01:12:27,640 --> 01:12:32,080
Speaker 1: a basketball community, bro, that ain't going away. Oh no, man,

1219
01:12:32,120 --> 01:12:34,439
Speaker 1: it's deep. It's too deep. You go to l A

1220
01:12:35,240 --> 01:12:37,920
Speaker 1: and y'all got a reminder on every corner. Yeah, I

1221
01:12:37,960 --> 01:12:40,760
Speaker 1: can't even Yeah, you can't walk anywhere without thinking about

1222
01:12:40,840 --> 01:12:44,519
Speaker 1: any neighborhood in l A. That's love too, love any

1223
01:12:44,920 --> 01:12:47,840
Speaker 1: neighborhood in l A. You're gonna see a mural. Some

1224
01:12:47,960 --> 01:12:53,080
Speaker 1: are better than others. Some resembled to me a little

1225
01:12:53,080 --> 01:12:57,439
Speaker 1: more than others. Year. But man, it's funny though, when

1226
01:12:57,560 --> 01:13:00,000
Speaker 1: when you talk to people and how all these stories

1227
01:13:00,160 --> 01:13:03,760
Speaker 1: about Kobe's character, the unbelievable nature of his character and

1228
01:13:03,880 --> 01:13:07,040
Speaker 1: now starting to come out, it makes you realize that

1229
01:13:07,120 --> 01:13:11,160
Speaker 1: the Black Mamba, his own court persona, that whole thing

1230
01:13:11,240 --> 01:13:13,439
Speaker 1: that was that was just really what it was. But no,

1231
01:13:13,560 --> 01:13:16,760
Speaker 1: if that was work ethic, Yeah, actually that that was

1232
01:13:16,800 --> 01:13:21,960
Speaker 1: like work ethic um. But when you know when you

1233
01:13:22,000 --> 01:13:26,840
Speaker 1: saw Jordan the last dance like go to come to tears,

1234
01:13:26,880 --> 01:13:28,760
Speaker 1: like that was like the moment of the last dance

1235
01:13:28,800 --> 01:13:33,360
Speaker 1: I always remember because he wanted greatness so much that

1236
01:13:34,040 --> 01:13:36,160
Speaker 1: in order to get it out of the people, he

1237
01:13:36,240 --> 01:13:38,000
Speaker 1: felt like he had to be a jerk to get

1238
01:13:38,080 --> 01:13:42,320
Speaker 1: down to respond. And then a lot of that was

1239
01:13:42,360 --> 01:13:45,880
Speaker 1: in Kobe too, Like I could imagine the conversations that

1240
01:13:46,000 --> 01:13:49,320
Speaker 1: Jordan and Kobe had late at night because I don't

1241
01:13:49,320 --> 01:13:52,400
Speaker 1: know that anybody really had anybody else to relate to

1242
01:13:52,439 --> 01:13:57,240
Speaker 1: that mentality, that Mamba mentality, that jordan Esque mentality, like

1243
01:13:58,080 --> 01:14:01,000
Speaker 1: that I want greatness at all costs. I know you're

1244
01:14:01,040 --> 01:14:03,760
Speaker 1: not as great as me, but I'm a push and

1245
01:14:03,840 --> 01:14:07,320
Speaker 1: prode you to bring you to a place that you

1246
01:14:07,360 --> 01:14:12,280
Speaker 1: didn't think you could get to. And uh So it

1247
01:14:12,360 --> 01:14:15,320
Speaker 1: was funny because so many people thought that Being was

1248
01:14:15,360 --> 01:14:18,800
Speaker 1: a jerk and that, oh my goodness, he was one

1249
01:14:18,840 --> 01:14:21,559
Speaker 1: of the greatest people in the world, like smartest people

1250
01:14:21,560 --> 01:14:25,439
Speaker 1: in the world. Another thing he did behind the scenes

1251
01:14:25,479 --> 01:14:30,080
Speaker 1: that was brilliant, and I implore any NBA player, especially

1252
01:14:30,080 --> 01:14:33,439
Speaker 1: the stars, to do this. One of the reasons I mean,

1253
01:14:33,479 --> 01:14:36,000
Speaker 1: being in l a afford you treasures. Right, You're gonna

1254
01:14:36,040 --> 01:14:39,000
Speaker 1: meet people wearing that laking for your uniform afford you treasures.

1255
01:14:39,560 --> 01:14:42,040
Speaker 1: But when he would go meet with people after games,

1256
01:14:42,040 --> 01:14:45,960
Speaker 1: it was always these influential people. He would scout them

1257
01:14:45,960 --> 01:14:49,120
Speaker 1: in the same way he scouted their opponents. So if

1258
01:14:49,160 --> 01:14:51,640
Speaker 1: you were sowing so from Microsoft and you got to

1259
01:14:51,680 --> 01:14:55,000
Speaker 1: meet Kobe after the game, because the only people he

1260
01:14:55,080 --> 01:14:57,680
Speaker 1: was meeting after game were either people that you know,

1261
01:14:57,880 --> 01:15:02,559
Speaker 1: kid too, something to was happening with them, right, or

1262
01:15:02,600 --> 01:15:07,280
Speaker 1: somebody of ILK somebody of note like got to meet him.

1263
01:15:08,360 --> 01:15:11,280
Speaker 1: And you would see these people several times after Lakers game.

1264
01:15:11,360 --> 01:15:14,600
Speaker 1: You see these like very important people like nervous. He

1265
01:15:14,640 --> 01:15:17,599
Speaker 1: would come in and be like, oh, hey, so and so,

1266
01:15:18,240 --> 01:15:20,160
Speaker 1: pleasure to meet you. Meant, oh man, what you're doing

1267
01:15:20,320 --> 01:15:23,519
Speaker 1: Microsoft is amazing. Yeah, you guys did this this and

1268
01:15:23,560 --> 01:15:26,559
Speaker 1: this and this and that's like so he was like

1269
01:15:27,600 --> 01:15:32,040
Speaker 1: calming them down, taking away the nervousness because they would

1270
01:15:32,040 --> 01:15:34,639
Speaker 1: be shocked, like, damn, you know as much about me

1271
01:15:35,120 --> 01:15:38,720
Speaker 1: as as I do about you. And I'm sure that

1272
01:15:38,840 --> 01:15:42,200
Speaker 1: opened all kind of business stories for him because once

1273
01:15:42,240 --> 01:15:46,000
Speaker 1: he was meeting all these powerful people and showing them

1274
01:15:46,040 --> 01:15:50,519
Speaker 1: respect and knowing who they were. Hey, man, Kobe, whatever

1275
01:15:50,560 --> 01:15:53,240
Speaker 1: you want, you call me, have your people call me

1276
01:15:53,280 --> 01:15:56,920
Speaker 1: in that door open. There was so much great that

1277
01:15:57,000 --> 01:16:01,040
Speaker 1: he was going to do that I think us surpassed

1278
01:16:01,640 --> 01:16:07,519
Speaker 1: everything he did legendary already, like the book that these

1279
01:16:07,560 --> 01:16:11,600
Speaker 1: books that he had written he wrote about superheroes, like

1280
01:16:11,720 --> 01:16:16,559
Speaker 1: who writes about superheroes are different races? Because his kids

1281
01:16:16,560 --> 01:16:18,800
Speaker 1: were mixed, he wanted them to be able to read

1282
01:16:18,880 --> 01:16:25,520
Speaker 1: books about, you know, superheroes or or um mythical characters

1283
01:16:25,560 --> 01:16:29,040
Speaker 1: that were of different colors so they could relate to him.

1284
01:16:29,320 --> 01:16:32,240
Speaker 1: I wish we could have heard him talk about race today.

1285
01:16:32,520 --> 01:16:34,240
Speaker 1: I wish we could have heard them during all this

1286
01:16:34,400 --> 01:16:37,360
Speaker 1: hate and you'd have all these like the people that

1287
01:16:37,439 --> 01:16:40,600
Speaker 1: were are racist, but don't listen to Kobe Bryant, Like

1288
01:16:40,960 --> 01:16:46,840
Speaker 1: I think his best work would have been done now. Yeah,

1289
01:16:46,920 --> 01:16:52,559
Speaker 1: and unfortunately he didn't get a chance to do that. No,

1290
01:16:52,760 --> 01:16:55,479
Speaker 1: but yeah he didn't. But it's up to the next

1291
01:16:55,520 --> 01:16:59,519
Speaker 1: generation of men to kind of keep that up. I

1292
01:16:59,600 --> 01:17:03,439
Speaker 1: know for me personally, just being a dad and having

1293
01:17:03,520 --> 01:17:07,120
Speaker 1: daughters and just watching him with his little girls and

1294
01:17:07,240 --> 01:17:09,320
Speaker 1: just that whole side of him. I mean, it really

1295
01:17:09,360 --> 01:17:12,920
Speaker 1: just it's sort of just disarms you and assens because

1296
01:17:13,040 --> 01:17:15,280
Speaker 1: you know you're used to him as this certain dude,

1297
01:17:15,320 --> 01:17:17,639
Speaker 1: but you see him with you know, Natalia and Gianna

1298
01:17:17,680 --> 01:17:19,920
Speaker 1: and how he talks about him, and so it just

1299
01:17:20,000 --> 01:17:22,080
Speaker 1: makes you be like, man, I gotta be a better dude.

1300
01:17:22,080 --> 01:17:24,840
Speaker 1: And it's not a lot of people that inspire you,

1301
01:17:25,240 --> 01:17:27,439
Speaker 1: especially when you get to my age anymore. Like I

1302
01:17:27,479 --> 01:17:30,040
Speaker 1: don't have as many inspirations, but I will say that

1303
01:17:30,120 --> 01:17:33,920
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant is a man, not basketball player. He definitely

1304
01:17:33,960 --> 01:17:36,240
Speaker 1: was one of the most inspirational dudes that I had,

1305
01:17:36,320 --> 01:17:38,120
Speaker 1: you know, because I was awful them for a little bit,

1306
01:17:38,160 --> 01:17:41,080
Speaker 1: but then I just had no choice but to be like, man,

1307
01:17:41,120 --> 01:17:44,160
Speaker 1: this dude is just you know, sharp as attack always.

1308
01:17:44,200 --> 01:17:46,439
Speaker 1: He took a lot of things from Michael suiting and

1309
01:17:46,520 --> 01:17:49,120
Speaker 1: booted after the game. And you saw the love for

1310
01:17:49,200 --> 01:17:50,880
Speaker 1: his family because he was like one of the few

1311
01:17:50,920 --> 01:17:53,639
Speaker 1: players and perhaps it was because of his star too

1312
01:17:53,760 --> 01:17:56,839
Speaker 1: that he could do it. Like you would see often

1313
01:17:56,920 --> 01:17:59,080
Speaker 1: when he's leaving the game, his wife and kids would

1314
01:17:59,080 --> 01:18:02,920
Speaker 1: be sitting outside a lot we wait always and you

1315
01:18:02,960 --> 01:18:05,120
Speaker 1: know that the love for him because they were patient

1316
01:18:05,120 --> 01:18:07,040
Speaker 1: about it. It wasn't like they were waiting in the

1317
01:18:07,120 --> 01:18:09,080
Speaker 1: family room for him. They were waiting outside the locker

1318
01:18:09,160 --> 01:18:12,519
Speaker 1: room for him. Wow, that's dope, man. So I saw

1319
01:18:12,520 --> 01:18:16,599
Speaker 1: them little girls all the time because they were waiting there.

1320
01:18:16,720 --> 01:18:18,240
Speaker 1: They would sit there and wait for him for a

1321
01:18:18,240 --> 01:18:20,360
Speaker 1: half hour or whatever. You know, he was one of

1322
01:18:20,360 --> 01:18:22,960
Speaker 1: the last people to walk out. Oh the things you

1323
01:18:23,040 --> 01:18:27,240
Speaker 1: had to do. But yeah, man, that's uh yeah, there

1324
01:18:27,240 --> 01:18:30,040
Speaker 1: were so many beautiful chapters to be written that way.

1325
01:18:30,120 --> 01:18:34,760
Speaker 1: That was stolen from the world. Absolutely well, Mark, Man,

1326
01:18:34,880 --> 01:18:38,519
Speaker 1: I appreciate you your time today. We wait hold On'm

1327
01:18:38,520 --> 01:18:41,200
Speaker 1: gonna leave with this because we gotta leave on a

1328
01:18:41,240 --> 01:18:45,720
Speaker 1: good note. Let's good. Yeah. He used to always tell

1329
01:18:45,760 --> 01:18:48,000
Speaker 1: me I asked a lot of Doctor Seuss asked questions.

1330
01:18:49,479 --> 01:18:52,560
Speaker 1: What do you mean with the riddles? You come in

1331
01:18:53,080 --> 01:18:56,240
Speaker 1: as a compliment, man, because because you know, like I

1332
01:18:56,280 --> 01:19:00,120
Speaker 1: also like bighted in psychology, so by by question to

1333
01:19:00,120 --> 01:19:06,120
Speaker 1: have depth tool. A lot of times you always ask

1334
01:19:06,200 --> 01:19:10,640
Speaker 1: me all this, damn Dr Seuss asked questions, man. So

1335
01:19:10,720 --> 01:19:13,120
Speaker 1: I refused to think of it as a put down.

1336
01:19:13,360 --> 01:19:18,280
Speaker 1: I do think it was a complement, man. But that's hilarious.

1337
01:19:19,120 --> 01:19:23,240
Speaker 1: You always ask some goddamn Dr Seuss asked questions. One

1338
01:19:23,240 --> 01:19:28,800
Speaker 1: of the kind being man. Yeah, rest in peace, fars me. Brother.

1339
01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:32,719
Speaker 1: I appreciate you, my man. Um, thank you for coming

1340
01:19:32,720 --> 01:19:35,640
Speaker 1: on kJ Live today and thanks for bringing on some

1341
01:19:35,800 --> 01:19:37,800
Speaker 1: you know, just journalists man. Like you know, I don't

1342
01:19:37,800 --> 01:19:40,040
Speaker 1: know if anybody cares what I have to say. Yeah,

1343
01:19:40,080 --> 01:19:41,840
Speaker 1: they do, they do. You got a voice, You got

1344
01:19:41,880 --> 01:19:44,000
Speaker 1: a voice. Man. You're one of the most interesting dudes man,

1345
01:19:44,320 --> 01:19:46,840
Speaker 1: and I love your work. Keep up the great work, bro.

1346
01:19:47,160 --> 01:19:49,280
Speaker 1: I'm a big, big fan man, and it's been an

1347
01:19:49,280 --> 01:19:52,720
Speaker 1: honor to have you on the show. Love you, love

1348
01:19:52,760 --> 01:19:57,400
Speaker 1: your family, y'all, Basketball royalty. Keep doing everything you guys

1349
01:19:57,439 --> 01:20:03,240
Speaker 1: are doing on all platforms. Apreciate you, your brother, y'all. Y'all,

1350
01:20:03,320 --> 01:20:07,360
Speaker 1: y'all define what basketball means. Man. So I love you all.

1351
01:20:07,479 --> 01:20:10,760
Speaker 1: Love you can continue success, Bro, Thank you Mark. I

1352
01:20:10,760 --> 01:20:12,200
Speaker 1: appreciate you man, all right,