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Speaker 1: gambler dot net in West Virginia. All right, Welcome to
Speaker 1: Hoops Tonight, presented by Fan Duel Here at the Volume.
Speaker 1: I have a very very special guest for you guys today,
Speaker 1: Miss Rachel to meet a funny story. I met her
Speaker 1: at the Volume party back in February. We were just
Speaker 1: trying to kill time waiting for the party to get going,
Speaker 1: and of course my wife is the very social one,
Speaker 1: so she's running around introducing me to everybody she sees,
Speaker 1: and and it was cool because obviously I grew up
Speaker 1: playing two K and got I got to see you there,
Speaker 1: and to get to meet you there was a really
Speaker 1: cool experience. I'm very thankful for you joining us today.
Speaker 1: I'm excited to talk about your new show, UM with
Speaker 1: Courtside Club. So first of all, thanks for joining us,
Speaker 1: and if you can take a minute to tell us
Speaker 1: a little bit about what you're doing. Yeah, Well, it's
Speaker 1: it's funny. I feel like we've kind of come full
Speaker 1: circle because at the time when I spoke to you,
Speaker 1: you know, we had started court Side Club filming some episodes,
Speaker 1: but it wasn't really the reality that it is now
Speaker 1: as of yesterday and so and you obviously had been
Speaker 1: working on your podcast and and been in this space
Speaker 1: a little longer than me. Um. So cool to see us,
Speaker 1: you know, actually on a podcast now and on yours.
Speaker 1: So thanks for having me um. But yeah, Courtside Club
Speaker 1: launched yesterday. It's actually been an idea of mine for
Speaker 1: probably about two years now. So I had this idea
Speaker 1: during pandemic um and even a little bit before that,
Speaker 1: and we were kind of shopping around the idea. It
Speaker 1: was a different name at the time. But you know,
Speaker 1: I've my favorite part of every hosting job that I've
Speaker 1: done is is speaking with people and kind of bringing
Speaker 1: out their best stories. And I feel like I'm a
Speaker 1: I'm an interviewer if you if you want to call
Speaker 1: it that, in a producer at heart, even more so
Speaker 1: than just a traditional host. And you know, on every
Speaker 1: different platform and studio and network that I've worked with,
Speaker 1: there's always these parameters. And in two K included of
Speaker 1: of the kind of questions I can ask, the kind
Speaker 1: of things that get cut out of the interview and
Speaker 1: maybe topics that I would normally want to talk about
Speaker 1: but I just didn't have that free reign to do it.
Speaker 1: And so Courtside Club for me is a mix of
Speaker 1: obviously the athlete that I am and that I will
Speaker 1: always be, but bringing that into the entertainment space and
Speaker 1: the culture behind sports because that's something that I'm very
Speaker 1: interested in and I always have been. Um So yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's a mix of that. I have a lot
Speaker 1: of different guests coming on, not just exclusively to athletes.
Speaker 1: There will be you know, entertainers, creators, a lot of
Speaker 1: people in my world. And I'm actually excited to partner
Speaker 1: with ESPN because I feel like I will bring a
Speaker 1: different element than maybe ESPN uh is used to because
Speaker 1: you know, they have a lot of sports heads and
Speaker 1: and I'm excited to bring some creators and some people
Speaker 1: in my space into their demo, and then obviously I
Speaker 1: got to partner with Omaha Production as well have been
Speaker 1: absolutely amazing and helping me knock out all these episodes. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's that's Courtside Club in a nutshell. It's a super
Speaker 1: exciting project for me and I'm yeah, I'm excited that
Speaker 1: the world gets to see it now. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say that your best gift that I can tell
Speaker 1: from me watching your first episode and then getting to
Speaker 1: meet you in person is you have a remarkable talent
Speaker 1: for making people feel comfortable. And then when you combine
Speaker 1: that with the your love for the game, which you
Speaker 1: can sense. I feel like, especially when you're talking to athletes,
Speaker 1: like if they can sense that you actually care and
Speaker 1: that you actually share in that love for the game
Speaker 1: with them, that helps bring out, you know, their interests
Speaker 1: and their engagement. So in your first episode, which I
Speaker 1: watched this morning and it was very good, I watched
Speaker 1: you beat the Professor in your game while while he
Speaker 1: was talking ship you hopped in there and edit the game.
Speaker 1: Uh so you had the Professor on for your inaugural episode.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit more about that interview and
Speaker 1: what your favorite thing was about it. Yeah, so Grayson
Speaker 1: and I have known each other for years and then
Speaker 1: we talked about that a little bit on the podcast. Um.
Speaker 1: But it's cool because when I was a kid, I
Speaker 1: looked up to Grace And there's a lot of people
Speaker 1: that I looked up to when I was a kid
Speaker 1: that I now know and I'm friends with now and
Speaker 1: have worked with. So it's kind of surreal for that
Speaker 1: to be my reality. But Grayson is somebody who we've
Speaker 1: collaborated a million times. He's an incredible athlete, and he's
Speaker 1: also just one of the best human beings that I've
Speaker 1: ever met, and so I wanted to have him on
Speaker 1: because we've done a lot of you know, TikTok videos,
Speaker 1: YouTube series stuff with two k all these different projects together,
Speaker 1: but I've never really sat down and just talked him
Speaker 1: about his story. You know, I know a little bit
Speaker 1: about it because we're friends, but I was just excited
Speaker 1: to dive into that. And I feel like we both
Speaker 1: have a lot of similarities in our careers as well,
Speaker 1: because we've been on big stages and then kind of
Speaker 1: transitioned and now he's kind of in this creator landscape
Speaker 1: that I'm in and him coming from one and some
Speaker 1: people only knowing him from and one mix tape like
Speaker 1: I did. And then there's some kids now who follow
Speaker 1: him on TikTok and YouTube and have never don't even
Speaker 1: know what an one mix tape is. And so just
Speaker 1: to talk about that transition, have a little bit of
Speaker 1: fun and just get his like, yeah, the story from
Speaker 1: his mouth, I guess from from from his side and
Speaker 1: what other people might know. So we had a lot
Speaker 1: of fun together. I like to compete with Grace and
Speaker 1: we normally do some sort of dribbling move and he's
Speaker 1: like teaching me something because I'll be the first one
Speaker 1: to say that I have no handles, which I do,
Speaker 1: but like to my standards, my shooting is elite. My handles,
Speaker 1: you know, could use some work. So he's normally teaching
Speaker 1: me something in that sense. But when it's a shooting game,
Speaker 1: I have to win, even if it's a many many
Speaker 1: hoope shooting game. Yeah. I thought one of the most
Speaker 1: interesting parts of that interview was you guys talking about
Speaker 1: the industry and having to be adaptable because you know,
Speaker 1: like I only knew the professor from and one and
Speaker 1: to to see how successful he's been after that because
Speaker 1: he audible, which is like I think that you have
Speaker 1: to do to succeed in this business, specifically to what
Speaker 1: I thought he talked about that was really interesting when
Speaker 1: he talked about a fifty fifty split between what you
Speaker 1: love and what the fans love. And that's such a
Speaker 1: delicate balance because like with my show, for instance, I'm
Speaker 1: such a basketball nerd that I could get so far
Speaker 1: in the weeds sometimes that I need Ryan, my producer,
Speaker 1: to pull me back into reality sometimes because a lot
Speaker 1: of the people that listen aren't that interested in that
Speaker 1: type of in depth type of analysis. And it's very
Speaker 1: it's a very delicate balance because you want to be
Speaker 1: passionate and care about what you're talking about, but you
Speaker 1: also want to give the people what they want. It
Speaker 1: was a super super interesting interview and I recommend all
Speaker 1: of you guys check it out. It is on the
Speaker 1: ESPN YouTube channel. Um, so you played college ball at
Speaker 1: at Old Dominion. Yes, Um, I obviously played it in
Speaker 1: college as well. How do you think that call? I
Speaker 1: played an ai A at Arizona Christian University and Phoenix,
Speaker 1: So I was at a lower level for sure, Um,
Speaker 1: but are fun than my Sorry? That's true. I got
Speaker 1: to take a lot more shots when I was But
Speaker 1: how how would you say your college basketball experience helps
Speaker 1: you in your career. I think my basketball experience just
Speaker 1: in general helped me so much. And and this is
Speaker 1: a story. I've actually told it on my TikTok and
Speaker 1: it might piss off a few people, but honestly, the
Speaker 1: best advice that I ever got was from my high
Speaker 1: school coaches. I was. I was a freshman playing on varsity,
Speaker 1: and I played a lot of minutes, starting half the game.
Speaker 1: We were a state state ranked team, we were good
Speaker 1: varsity squad, and I was the only freshman on varsity
Speaker 1: playing a ton. But my teammates were picking on me.
Speaker 1: My coaches would be so tough on me, like I'd
Speaker 1: miss a shot and I'd get dreamed at another girl
Speaker 1: missed a shot and you know, didn't matter. Or I'd
Speaker 1: throw a turnover, were on the line running another you know.
Speaker 1: So I just really felt like I was getting singled
Speaker 1: out and and me, at fourteen years old, I would
Speaker 1: I would leave practice is like crying half the time
Speaker 1: because it was just a really hard situation to be in.
Speaker 1: And so I scheduled this meeting with my coaches, and
Speaker 1: I just wanted to talk to them about it because
Speaker 1: I'm like, you know, why are you guys being so mean?
Speaker 1: Essentially just you know, saying I'm having a hard time
Speaker 1: with all this. And my my coach looked me right
Speaker 1: and right in the face and said, well, Rachel, you
Speaker 1: can get thick skin, or we can put you on JV, like,
Speaker 1: let us know what you want to do. And at
Speaker 1: that time, I was like, well, I'd rather cry every
Speaker 1: single day than play on JV. And I know that
Speaker 1: I could. You know, we're making this impact on varsity
Speaker 1: and that was something for me, just having thick skin
Speaker 1: in this industry. And I'm not saying anybody should, you know,
Speaker 1: put up with bullying and there's things like worse than
Speaker 1: what I was actually dealing with, but it's just just
Speaker 1: that notion of being tough is so important for any
Speaker 1: athlete and then for my industry because I didn't pick
Speaker 1: an easy one. The entertainment industry is is not forgiving.
Speaker 1: You know, it's ever changing, and um, you know, you
Speaker 1: win some, you lose some. You you get some jobs,
Speaker 1: you don't get others. Some of some things succeed, some
Speaker 1: things don't. And so that that's just been something that's
Speaker 1: really stuck with me, and just a work ethic that
Speaker 1: I am five almost five eight, um not naturally that athletic.
Speaker 1: I'm not super fast, I can't jump, and so all
Speaker 1: of these things were even against me in basketball, and
Speaker 1: so I had to work a lot harder than some
Speaker 1: of my teammates who also went D one. But I
Speaker 1: had a girl on my AU team who was five eight,
Speaker 1: and she was snapping the rim like I wasn't even
Speaker 1: I was barely touching the net and some of the
Speaker 1: gym's you know what I mean. And you know, she
Speaker 1: went to Michigan State and was an amazing ball player,
Speaker 1: But I had to work twice as hard as her
Speaker 1: just to be able to earn that Division one scholarship.
Speaker 1: So I just think work ethic in general and that
Speaker 1: toughness has just really helped me in business. For sure.
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Speaker 1: That story from high school is really interesting because I
Speaker 1: coach high school basketball too, and I talked to the
Speaker 1: coach of runs the program. Obviously, because I work nights,
Speaker 1: I can't be super involved, but I help as much
Speaker 1: as I can with workouts and practices that I can
Speaker 1: go to, and he talks all the time about how
Speaker 1: what he has a plan for the way he's going
Speaker 1: to treat players from freshman year on, and he's deliberately
Speaker 1: harder on them early so that they can build the
Speaker 1: type of of toughness to be prepared when they get
Speaker 1: to the point where they're juniors and seniors. And it
Speaker 1: is it's it's hard when you're in the moment as
Speaker 1: a player to see the forest for the trees, but
Speaker 1: there is like a larger plan there. And I always
Speaker 1: feel like I feel like college basketball for me, it's
Speaker 1: the discipline and the work ethic and the competitiveness. Just
Speaker 1: it makes you willing to fight for every inch and
Speaker 1: I definitely think that it that it helps. Plus it's
Speaker 1: about the love for the game, you know. So you
Speaker 1: had mentioned in the interview with the professor that you
Speaker 1: walked away from Old Dominion, So I have not heard
Speaker 1: this story. You had mentioned before that you had told
Speaker 1: this before, but I'm really curious to hear what that
Speaker 1: story is. Yeah, I did, and my goal from seventh
Speaker 1: grade on was to get a full ride Division one
Speaker 1: scholarship UM, and that was always my goal. I never
Speaker 1: wanted to play beyond college. I never wanted to play
Speaker 1: professionally and uh, and probably around my freshman or school,
Speaker 1: I realized I wanted to go into this entertainment space.
Speaker 1: And when I got to college, I played at Old Dominion.
Speaker 1: I think we're eleventh in the nation at the time.
Speaker 1: Coach Weddy Larry was coaching, who's a very famous women's
Speaker 1: coach UM, and I realized really quickly that I was
Speaker 1: not going to be able to pursue my career and
Speaker 1: get the education that I wanted while playing basketball. And
Speaker 1: it could have just been the wrong school. Um, it
Speaker 1: could have been just us being naive because no one
Speaker 1: in my family has ever played sports in college, so
Speaker 1: we the recruiting process was crazy for us. You're getting
Speaker 1: all these letters from all these different schools and going
Speaker 1: to these different tournaments, doing these visits and this and that,
Speaker 1: and then I get something from Old Dominion, which was
Speaker 1: the biggest offer for me at the time, because I
Speaker 1: did have a lot of a lot of smaller do
Speaker 1: you want places that I could have gone, but Old
Speaker 1: Men I was like, well, this is a big stage.
Speaker 1: They were a lead eight last year, you know. And
Speaker 1: and very quickly I realized I couldn't major in the
Speaker 1: and what I wanted to major, and I couldn't take
Speaker 1: the class says that I wanted to. And so I'm
Speaker 1: I'm in my freshman year saying Okay, I can graduate
Speaker 1: from here and continue these four years and be a
Speaker 1: really good basketball player and then try to figure out
Speaker 1: what I want to do in my career, or I
Speaker 1: could walk away now and just you know, figure out
Speaker 1: my career, and there were some other things too. I
Speaker 1: don't think the team in general was the best fit
Speaker 1: for me. Um talk about like bulling and stuff. It
Speaker 1: wasn't the greatest experience with the other girls on my team.
Speaker 1: Um and so I think that also played a part
Speaker 1: in it did. Just it wasn't like I was having
Speaker 1: the time of my life either, so and and you know,
Speaker 1: at nineteen years old, I believe I was. It's still
Speaker 1: up there with the toughest decision I've ever had to
Speaker 1: make in my life, because my whole identity since I
Speaker 1: was you know, for the past ten years, was basketball,
Speaker 1: and so stepping away it took a lot of courage
Speaker 1: and I felt lost probably for about three years, if
Speaker 1: I'm going to be completely honest with you, and trying
Speaker 1: to figure out who is Rachel. Now, you know, I
Speaker 1: transferred schools, went to America University, studied broadcast on anialism,
Speaker 1: got a fantastic, you know, education, and it was really
Speaker 1: going hard at my career, but I was still trying
Speaker 1: to figure out who I was, and it just really
Speaker 1: took that time because it was it was a heartbreak
Speaker 1: and away. Now I'm at a point that I can
Speaker 1: love the game of basketball again. I just love it differently,
Speaker 1: not as a player anymore. So that's so interesting. I
Speaker 1: was just gonna ask you one last follow up question
Speaker 1: because someone asked me this the other day, um, and
Speaker 1: I thought it was a really interesting question. So I'm
Speaker 1: curious to hear your answer. Where is your love for
Speaker 1: the game of basketball right now? How does it compare
Speaker 1: to when you were playing. Do you feel like you
Speaker 1: ever get sick of it? Or do you feel like
Speaker 1: you love it more every day? I definitely do not
Speaker 1: love it more every day. No, No, basketball is great
Speaker 1: and and it's one of those things like I've always
Speaker 1: also been that person that says, like ball is not life.
Speaker 1: I know of a lot of people like balls life.
Speaker 1: It wasn't even life. When I was trying to get
Speaker 1: into college, I would I would go to practice and listen.
Speaker 1: I trained a lot of trained before school, during school,
Speaker 1: after school, practice, all the things. But then I would
Speaker 1: go home and watch cartoons or watch entertainment television. I
Speaker 1: don't even watched that much college basketball when I was
Speaker 1: playing until I started getting recruitment letters and I was like,
Speaker 1: oh crap, I gotta figure out which teams are good
Speaker 1: because I don't even know who these teams are. So
Speaker 1: I've always been that person who has a lot of
Speaker 1: different interests. I was also like studying animals, and that's
Speaker 1: that's still me to this day. So I'm not that
Speaker 1: person who's at dinner always talking hoops. I will, and
Speaker 1: that's fun for me at times, but no, it's it's
Speaker 1: not life. I love basketball, always have an appreciation for it.
Speaker 1: I'll always want to watch games, go to games, this
Speaker 1: and that, but it's it's not my whole life. I
Speaker 1: have a lot of other interests to that. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: was playing with a buddy of mine who was on
Speaker 1: my men's on my men's league team. He played in
Speaker 1: the Big Sky Conference, so he actually played at a
Speaker 1: higher level than I did, and he was I was
Speaker 1: telling him about my job because he had asked about it,
Speaker 1: and he was like, He's like, do you ever read
Speaker 1: sick of it? And I was like, I was like no, Like,
Speaker 1: but I'm a psychopath, Like I I live and breathe
Speaker 1: this every day of my life. I wake up in
Speaker 1: the morning and I trained high school kids, and then
Speaker 1: I do my own workouts and then I do my
Speaker 1: own playing. And then I talked about the game for
Speaker 1: a living and then they play in my men's leagues
Speaker 1: and things like that. Like for me, I'm just very
Speaker 1: very weird in the sense that I'm okay with living
Speaker 1: and breathing it. But I talked to really good basketball players,
Speaker 1: players that were more successful and more talented than I am,
Speaker 1: and they're just like, yeah, I eventually got sick of it.
Speaker 1: It's it's just super interesting cause I was really curious
Speaker 1: to see what your opinion was. So that's one of
Speaker 1: those things with with five on five too, because I
Speaker 1: play I only play if I play in two celebrity
Speaker 1: games a year, and it's the NBA All Star Celebrity Game,
Speaker 1: which I ever retired from, and it is the of
Speaker 1: celebrity game at the final parts. So there's one that
Speaker 1: I will play in and that is my only time
Speaker 1: I play five on five ever. And people always like wonder, like, oh,
Speaker 1: do you want to go like play pick up, and like,
Speaker 1: actually don't, Like I'll shoot around and have fun in
Speaker 1: the backyard or do trick shots or a game of
Speaker 1: horse and stuff. But I know a lot of people
Speaker 1: like yourself who like love playing five on five and
Speaker 1: even my friends and just have continued on. But like
Speaker 1: that part of me has retired. I guess well. The
Speaker 1: thing that's weird about it too, is like, once you've
Speaker 1: played high level college basketball, every pickup game sucks. Like
Speaker 1: there's just nothing that even comes remotely close to recapture.
Speaker 1: Like my entire life is like scratching and clawing for
Speaker 1: the tiniest feelings that slightly resemble what it was like
Speaker 1: when I was playing. Like it's just this endless pursuit
Speaker 1: that I could never actually accomplished. So I don't believe you,
Speaker 1: and I that's why so many of those people that
Speaker 1: played at a high level, they just don't They just
Speaker 1: don't want to play pick up anymore because it's like,
Speaker 1: what am I gonna do with these people? Don't even
Speaker 1: know how to play the game the right way? Know?
Speaker 1: That kind of thing hurt exactly exactly. So who's your
Speaker 1: who's your dream guest to have on Courtside Club? So
Speaker 1: I thought about this a little bit and somebody so
Speaker 1: this came up randomly yesterday. I was like, you know,
Speaker 1: who would be a really cool guest? Nobody would ever
Speaker 1: expect this. Tony Hawk, Oh man, I like that upset.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with his video game. We re downloaded it.
Speaker 1: I am we have three parks left to beat the
Speaker 1: second game. We beat the first game. Obsessed with it.
Speaker 1: I'm obsessed with his social media. It's hilarious and I
Speaker 1: just saw him doing one v ones online his video game.
Speaker 1: But also just someone who's been the space again. He's
Speaker 1: a sports icon. But I feel like Courtside Club is
Speaker 1: this nix right, So he's one. Uh. Nicki Minaj is another.
Speaker 1: I love Nicki Minaj. She's hilarious and she's also she
Speaker 1: had her radio show and she's kind of one of
Speaker 1: those celebrities who's she's like so sassy and untouchable in
Speaker 1: a way, and I just want to see what our
Speaker 1: energies would be like. That might be one that I
Speaker 1: would be like a little bit star struck just because
Speaker 1: it's Nicki Minaj Um. I would also love to have
Speaker 1: Logan Paul on the show. And I know he's polarizing.
Speaker 1: Some people hate him, some people love him. We're both
Speaker 1: from Ohio. He I'm I'm really interested in his character
Speaker 1: arc because him his brother. I feel like I've come
Speaker 1: a long way and I was one of those people
Speaker 1: years ago who was like, who the hell are these
Speaker 1: kids that are just doing messed up stuff all the time.
Speaker 1: I don't want to curse on your podcast, um, but
Speaker 1: to see where he's kind of grown too, and the
Speaker 1: things that he's doing in business. And then with Impulsive,
Speaker 1: which I think is a really good show. So those
Speaker 1: are three that that I've thought about. I feel like
Speaker 1: in the basketball space, there's a lot of people that
Speaker 1: I think down the line once Courtside Club grow a
Speaker 1: bit that I have met or talked to before that
Speaker 1: I could get on because we've worked together and had
Speaker 1: a good time together. So you know, if you want
Speaker 1: to go big or go home like Michael Jordan's, I
Speaker 1: don't know if he would even consider that ever, even
Speaker 1: if it was like the biggest show in the world.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I just listened to a bunch of people.
Speaker 1: But we have a long list, we have the whole
Speaker 1: like Google doc of it. But you should come on also,
Speaker 1: by the way, for basketball, I'd love to interview Kevin
Speaker 1: Durant because like, I would just want to talk basketball,
Speaker 1: Like I wouldn't want to like talk about all your
Speaker 1: side ventures and stuff like. Don't get me wrong, there's
Speaker 1: interest in that for certain people, but for me, it's
Speaker 1: like I just want to and I know Kevin Durant
Speaker 1: loves basketball, so I'd love to just pick his brain
Speaker 1: about all those different things. The Tony Hawk thing is
Speaker 1: interesting to me because I just can't imagine playing a
Speaker 1: sport where practicing every day involves repeatedly falling down and
Speaker 1: hurting yourself. Like that's that's the wild part to me.
Speaker 1: It's because we might sprain our ankle or get a
Speaker 1: little sore, but like, these dudes put their body on
Speaker 1: the line every single day. He's still doing it, though.
Speaker 1: Do you follow him on Twitter? Yeah? So, wasn't he
Speaker 1: doing a thing recently where it was like, I'm going
Speaker 1: to try to get all of my tricks one last time,
Speaker 1: I think? And then he was like like, because he's
Speaker 1: he's aging a little bit obviously, and he's like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna just try to all of my signature tricks one
Speaker 1: last time, and each time he gets it, he fails
Speaker 1: a bunch of times before it, and then he gets
Speaker 1: it and has like this emotional moment. It's really cool,
Speaker 1: I think. I think his whole social media presence over
Speaker 1: the last couple of years has been super fascinating. He's
Speaker 1: honestly like one I would be so excited to meet him,
Speaker 1: and I know that that's so out of left field.
Speaker 1: I can't even I've skateboard at once when I was
Speaker 1: a kid. I fell cracked my ankle open, never did
Speaker 1: it again. I've literally never been on a skateboard since,
Speaker 1: so like, it's not even a sport that I do
Speaker 1: or know much about. But I love the freaking video
Speaker 1: game and I think he's so dope. So anyway he
Speaker 1: would be, he would be so cool. That's courts all
Speaker 1: cut for you, though, it's you never know who the
Speaker 1: guests is going to be. So let's let's talk a
Speaker 1: little bit of NBA hoops. So obviously, last week on Thursday,
Speaker 1: the Warriors won their fourth title in the last eight years,
Speaker 1: six trips to the finals in the last eight years.
Speaker 1: Do you think Steph Clay and Draymond get one more together? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I think they can. I think they can. Can. I
Speaker 1: just say that I called the Warriors winning the finals,
Speaker 1: and I called them winning in six like early, like
Speaker 1: first round playoffs. Sorry, I know my predictions aren't always correct,
Speaker 1: And I was like, you know what, I need to
Speaker 1: brag about this one a little bit. No, you said,
Speaker 1: you gotta take your victory laps when you can, because
Speaker 1: the trolls will let you know every time you're wrong.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, every time they'll find my old tweets and
Speaker 1: and show me it was a bad take. But here's
Speaker 1: what I think about them, Um, I really I was
Speaker 1: rooting for them, and I was rooting for them because
Speaker 1: I think they're a really good example of good basketball
Speaker 1: and and what it means to keep a team together.
Speaker 1: And these guys, their chemistry really paid off. And I
Speaker 1: was actually doing a show with the NBA on Twitter
Speaker 1: Spaces and I got to interview Andrea Gudala and Draymond
Speaker 1: and you know, Andrea Gudala obviously didn't play much, and
Speaker 1: when he did finally get back on the court, he's like,
Speaker 1: I haven't played with these guys, you know, and however
Speaker 1: many games, but the chemistry that we have off the
Speaker 1: court easily translates and I and I feel like I'm
Speaker 1: falling right back in. Maybe I'm a step behind, you know,
Speaker 1: physically or whatever, but I still know where these guys are.
Speaker 1: And I think that's something not to take advantage of
Speaker 1: because in the past, however many years in the NBA,
Speaker 1: we've seen guys go to this team, this team, this team,
Speaker 1: getting their friends to come with him to this team,
Speaker 1: you know, and it it's proven with Milwaukee and the Warriors,
Speaker 1: that doesn't really work. These these super teams, these friends
Speaker 1: and family teams that that some of the guys are
Speaker 1: trying to create and say it's the g MS, but
Speaker 1: we all know it's not. You know, I like good
Speaker 1: basketball and that system of basketball to be rewarded, and
Speaker 1: I think it's really cool what they've done well, and
Speaker 1: you could see most importantly, you can see it in
Speaker 1: the fan base. Like I was talking about this with
Speaker 1: Colin after the Finals. But to me, it's not a
Speaker 1: coincidence that the Warriors get such good TV ratings. Yeah,
Speaker 1: obviously Steph is such a brilliant basketball player to watch,
Speaker 1: but also their fan base is as loyal and ravenous
Speaker 1: as you'll find around the league. Because you they rode
Speaker 1: through the highs and lows with that group, they became
Speaker 1: extremely attached to each of the players and they don't
Speaker 1: have that mercenary type of feel like they're My favorite
Speaker 1: calendar example to this is Lebron when he passed I
Speaker 1: think it was when he passed Karl Malone or Kobe
Speaker 1: or something like that, and on the scoring list the
Speaker 1: year that they missed the playoffs in two thousand nineteen,
Speaker 1: and there's just kind of this awkward feel in the
Speaker 1: arena because it's like, yes, Lebron's a Laker, but like
Speaker 1: the Laker fans are like, you're just passing through man,
Speaker 1: like you're not you know, you're not, You're not really
Speaker 1: one of us. Now he's earned that right over the
Speaker 1: last few years. But I don't think it's a coincidence
Speaker 1: that the Warriors are the way the way that they are.
Speaker 1: And I agree with you that that it's good to
Speaker 1: see that type of basketball rewarded. All right, So I've
Speaker 1: got one last question for you. Okay, So we we
Speaker 1: have seen NBA players such as Draymond host their own podcast.
Speaker 1: We've seen like CJ. Mccollumn and Danny Green and some
Speaker 1: other other examples. Would NBA player would you like to
Speaker 1: see have a podcast? Mm hmm. That's a good one.
Speaker 1: Well this is not what I thought about. So I
Speaker 1: say someone along the same lines of like a Draymond
Speaker 1: Green type of energy as a Patrick Beverley. If you
Speaker 1: want pure entertainment, you know, sometimes I'm here for the
Speaker 1: pure entertainment and just but I'm sure he would. If
Speaker 1: we're going to see some viral clips, it would come
Speaker 1: from his but from a standpoint of just I don't know.
Speaker 1: But but then again for me, like what players do
Speaker 1: you think of when you think of of of players
Speaker 1: who are kind of well rounded and and doing some
Speaker 1: other things beyond basketball, Because that's again you're interested in,
Speaker 1: like the straight hoops and you would love to hear
Speaker 1: you know, like he said, you want to talk to
Speaker 1: Katie because you guys could really get into the nitty
Speaker 1: gritty at basketball. I love all the stuff surrounding it
Speaker 1: that leads into basketball. So even if it was like
Speaker 1: Steph Curry, what if it was like a family podcast,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, If it's like him his
Speaker 1: wife and his kids. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's you've got.
Speaker 1: You've got Dame Lillard with the rap stuff. You've got
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook with all the style stuff. There's a bunch
Speaker 1: of players around the league that have interests off the court.
Speaker 1: I think, I think to your point, like like different
Speaker 1: types of content will appeal to different types of people,
Speaker 1: but I think the number one thing that would matter
Speaker 1: is authenticity. Like I have no interest in seeing a
Speaker 1: Lebron James podcast because I would just be meeting his
Speaker 1: representative the whole time, Like I like, I don't I know,
Speaker 1: he's not going to come out and be Lebron, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean? So like my thing would be
Speaker 1: like someone has interest off the court for for for
Speaker 1: the sake of what you're talking about, but they have
Speaker 1: to be willing to be authentic and to drop down
Speaker 1: the facade and just be you on camera and let
Speaker 1: us know who you are, which I think Pat Beverley,
Speaker 1: who is That's a great example, right, And that's that's
Speaker 1: one of the guys that's like if I'm rooting for
Speaker 1: the team that he's not playing on, I can't stand
Speaker 1: that guy, you know, But when he's on your team,
Speaker 1: just kind of like, man, you know he might he
Speaker 1: might just knock someone out this game. Every every time
Speaker 1: you see his name come up. Every time you see
Speaker 1: his name come up, it's like the same people that
Speaker 1: were talking about him while they're watching him player, like
Speaker 1: we can get him, Like can we trade from what
Speaker 1: is it? What kind of number is he gonna fetch
Speaker 1: in the free agent market? Alright? So that thank you
Speaker 1: so much Rachel for coming to hang out with us.
Speaker 1: Did you take one last minute to just kind of
Speaker 1: plug where we can find your show and when your
Speaker 1: next episode comes out and things along those lines of course.
Speaker 1: So Courtseye Club is live now. You can find it
Speaker 1: anywhere that you listen to your podcast, so Spotify, Apple,
Speaker 1: The full episodes are on ESPN's YouTube channel. You can
Speaker 1: find also, I believe on ESPN app you can find
Speaker 1: some stuff there. And then clips are on all my
Speaker 1: social channels and my YouTube channel. All my social media
Speaker 1: is at our a demeta, so Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat,
Speaker 1: all the things. And yeah, a new episode of Courtsye
Speaker 1: Club coming out Thursday. So for the first couple of weeks,
Speaker 1: we are throwing a bunch at you. So we have
Speaker 1: two episodes a week for the first few weeks, and
Speaker 1: I just want, I just want people to be able
Speaker 1: to experience this show. Binge it if you want to.
Speaker 1: Our catalog will build quickly and then we'll go till
Speaker 1: once a week. But yeah, Monday Thursday. For the next
Speaker 1: few weeks, the volume