Speaker 1: You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Speaker 1: Sports Radio. Hold on our two on this Meet Friday,
Speaker 1: Dan and m dans Dan Patrick Show. I'm not sure
Speaker 1: what we learned from the first hour. Talked a lot
Speaker 1: about Vince Carter, talked about TikTok videos. Todd of course
Speaker 1: leading the charge TikTok videos. He's now being called tick Todd.
Speaker 1: Tick Todd is what chat rows label you. Yeah, so
Speaker 1: you and my youngest daughter, you have the you know,
Speaker 1: same kind of entertainment expectations with TikTok. You know about
Speaker 1: fifteen seconds and then that's it. Yeah, that's all. You
Speaker 1: need a good cat and video and you are set
Speaker 1: for the rest of the day. All right? Eight seven
Speaker 1: seven three d P Show Email address DP and Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick dot com Twitter handle a DPS show. Let me
Speaker 1: see pull question mclovin, what do we have hard hitting
Speaker 1: as usual? Whose career would you rather have, Vince Carter
Speaker 1: or Scottie Pippen. The early leader is Scottie. It's I
Speaker 1: would take Scottie Pippen. You can't argue with the titles. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, different players though, but but Vince went to
Speaker 1: two final fours at North Carolina and it you go
Speaker 1: in to the Basketball Hall of Fame. It's not the
Speaker 1: NBA Hall of Fame, it's the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 1: I don't know why this was, you know, any kind
Speaker 1: of deal yesterday. I don't know if he's a big deal,
Speaker 1: but some talk shows were talking about is Vince Carter
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer. I'm like, he's in the top
Speaker 1: twenty in NBA history in games played, minutes played, three
Speaker 1: point field goals made, in total points. Yes, I'm changing
Speaker 1: the poll question. Okay, whose career Vince Carter or Allen
Speaker 1: Iverson neither of a title. At one point, they were
Speaker 1: the biggest thing in the sport, maybe all sports. Iverson
Speaker 1: went to a final. Yep, this is a tough one. Man.
Speaker 1: Iverson culturally changed the NBA. He didn't do a whole
Speaker 1: lot with Georgetown. Vince Carter did a whole lot pretty
Speaker 1: close with Iverson was only there one year at Georgetown.
Speaker 1: I think two years. Oh man, man, I'm gonna say Iverson.
Speaker 1: I think he was as much a one man show
Speaker 1: as anybody we've seen in the NBA. And to do
Speaker 1: it at that size. He led the league in scoring
Speaker 1: four times and he's six feet tall at best. I'd
Speaker 1: say Iverson. I'd say Iverson. Yeah, mclove. So in Philly
Speaker 1: there's a big radio local radius say she had a
Speaker 1: big pole, greatest Philadelphi sports athlete of all time, and
Speaker 1: Iverson beat out mic and it's causing like a huge rebellion.
Speaker 1: That's a little over it. So Iverson, You're right, you
Speaker 1: hit on something. Iverson's popularity is unquestioned with with a
Speaker 1: whole generation and a whole generation of players that the
Speaker 1: generation that came after Iverson, you know, because he had
Speaker 1: corn rows, he had tats, he had sleeves, he had swag.
Speaker 1: I mean he had he was different. He was he
Speaker 1: was different man. He had the great practice. It's like, um,
Speaker 1: you know Jim Mora when he did playoffs. You know,
Speaker 1: Iverson did practice. It was kind of the same same
Speaker 1: feeling there. Whys practice? I would say, Iverson? All right,
Speaker 1: phone calls are welcome, eight seven. I'm in three d
Speaker 1: P show email address dp A Dan Patrick dot com.
Speaker 1: Spent a little bit of time talking about the decision,
Speaker 1: and so we're coming up on the anniversary of the decision.
Speaker 1: Is that right time? Okay? And Don Vanetta of the
Speaker 1: Mothership they're doing at thirty for thirty and it's based
Speaker 1: off of what happened behind the scenes of Lebron's decision.
Speaker 1: We know where he went. I want to know who
Speaker 1: knew where he was going before that announcement there, And
Speaker 1: all I know is people at the Mothership. Some of
Speaker 1: my former bosses are on record talking about this. Lebron
Speaker 1: didn't cooperate with the thirty for thirty. Jim Gray is
Speaker 1: not in the thirty for thirty, but we'll talk to
Speaker 1: Don Vanetta about the decision. And I looked at it differently.
Speaker 1: I look at it differently now, and that is that Lebron.
Speaker 1: How many athletes are able to say, I want my
Speaker 1: own show to make my decision. This wasn't one of
Speaker 1: those quick announcements where you put on a cap and
Speaker 1: I'm taking my talents to He hadn't. I mean, he
Speaker 1: had the power and I'm trying to think of an
Speaker 1: athlete who has had that much power to be able
Speaker 1: to say to a network they wanted it on ABC.
Speaker 1: He's like, I don't want to be on ESPN, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna visit on ABC. And the amazing part is Lebron
Speaker 1: was twenty five years of age when he did that.
Speaker 1: He didn't have a title. He had, you know, pretty
Speaker 1: good resume up to that point. But he's twenty five
Speaker 1: years of age and he says to ESPN, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: do I want to make my decision. I wanted to
Speaker 1: be a TV show. And then he did it again
Speaker 1: with Sports Illustrated. If you'll remember when he was going
Speaker 1: back to Cleveland. So the summer of twenty fourteen, Sports
Speaker 1: Illustrated had the excl use that he was going to
Speaker 1: go back to Cleveland. Yes, Ton, and I think from
Speaker 1: what I read, ESPN wanted Bob Lee or Stuart Scott.
Speaker 1: They wanted one of those guys. Yeah, the role of
Speaker 1: Jim Gray, but Lebron's team, I guess had some relationship
Speaker 1: with him, and Heyegas insisted Jim be the one doing
Speaker 1: the interview. Yeah. I think Jim was friends with Maverick
Speaker 1: Carter and and you know what, in fairness to Jim,
Speaker 1: he might have come up with the idea. He might
Speaker 1: have because we had Jim on after that. Can we
Speaker 1: check our notes on that. Yeah, because I want to
Speaker 1: give Jim credit. He's certainly been criticized because of this.
Speaker 1: I don't think it was Jim's idea to stretch this
Speaker 1: out as long as possible. I mean, I had a
Speaker 1: problem that you know, Okay, now I gotta wait, and
Speaker 1: then I gotta wait, and then here's another feature, and
Speaker 1: here's another feature. I know that you don't want to
Speaker 1: start a TV show and go and I'm taking my
Speaker 1: talents to South Beach and then it's over. But I
Speaker 1: was hoping it would have been a half hour show, yes, Todd, Yeah,
Speaker 1: from what I'm looking at it with the idea of
Speaker 1: Jim Gray or person Lebron's agent Maverickotta jouring the NBA
Speaker 1: Finals with the idea. Okay, that's I remember talking to
Speaker 1: Jim about that and that they love the idea, and
Speaker 1: that's why Jim was hosting it. But I do think
Speaker 1: that some of the my former bosses that the Mothership
Speaker 1: had a problem that it took that long to get
Speaker 1: to Lebron's decision, And I'm thinking, well, what else were
Speaker 1: you going to fill the hour with? If you didn't
Speaker 1: drag this out a little bit? It just became to
Speaker 1: the point where you're going, Okay, where are you going?
Speaker 1: Like you're excited because we didn't know always he's doing
Speaker 1: this in Greenwich, Connecticut. He's going to the next and
Speaker 1: we're not no, no, not going to the next You're
Speaker 1: not going to win anything there. And so Don Vanatta
Speaker 1: is doing the thirty for thirty and we'll talk to
Speaker 1: him about what are did Dwayne Wade not know that
Speaker 1: Lebron was going to Miami because there is nowhere in
Speaker 1: the world I'll believe that it's your that's your buddy,
Speaker 1: like they're friends. I don't think you show it up
Speaker 1: at somebody's house and say I'm going to stay for
Speaker 1: three years. Hey, I'm really good friends. Hey, I'm just
Speaker 1: going to knock on Pauli's door on Saturday and I'm
Speaker 1: going to say, hey, I'm moving in for three years.
Speaker 1: Oh boy, Yeah, I'm taking my talents to Fairfield. Oh
Speaker 1: we'd love to have you. Yeah, I know you would.
Speaker 1: I know you would. Jay in Arizona, Hi, j what
Speaker 1: do you have for me today? Hey, gentlemen, five eleven
Speaker 1: one five first time caller, who sees you're taking me?
Speaker 1: I just wanted to call in to make an argument
Speaker 1: for Vince Carter being inducted into the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: talking about how I don't soon made a cultural impact
Speaker 1: on the NBA, and I also felt like Vince Carter
Speaker 1: did too. I was debating this in my head last night,
Speaker 1: and I don't feel like I ever saw anybody dunk
Speaker 1: the basketball like Vince Carter did. I feel like he
Speaker 1: changed the excitement level of the NBA and the regard. Well,
Speaker 1: there have been a lot of great dunkers, and you're
Speaker 1: probably not old enough Jay to remember Dominique Wilkins, Sean
Speaker 1: Kemp was a great dunker. I mean he had a
Speaker 1: lot of great dunkers. Vince jumped over a seven footer,
Speaker 1: Frederick Weiss, And I think whenever you watched Vince you
Speaker 1: always thought he could have done more because he had
Speaker 1: all this talent. You know, Iversen was usually the smallest
Speaker 1: guy on the floor, but Vince was spectacular. He's been
Speaker 1: a great ambassador for the game. He went to two
Speaker 1: final fours when he was at North Carolina. If you
Speaker 1: want to say that, you know negative, you know, he
Speaker 1: didn't win, but he made himself into one of the
Speaker 1: better three point shooters in history. So arguably the greatest
Speaker 1: leaper in NBA history was also one of the great
Speaker 1: three point shooters of all time. And this might be
Speaker 1: one of those where you just accumulate stats and but
Speaker 1: There's part of that is, you know, being able to
Speaker 1: play for that amount of time. I mean he played too,
Speaker 1: He's forty three and he played. It's not like he
Speaker 1: embarrassed himself. So I'm I have no problem with Vince
Speaker 1: Carter going in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. I always
Speaker 1: get a little defensive about Dominique Wilkins. People don't give
Speaker 1: him his due. I know he was a scorer and
Speaker 1: a dunker, and he's more known for his dunking. But
Speaker 1: he averaged thirty at age twenty six than he averaged
Speaker 1: thirty at age thirty three. He had a longer window
Speaker 1: of greatness than Vince Carter did in a lot of
Speaker 1: other guys, did I mean he he averaged Luther League
Speaker 1: in scoring a couple of times, average thirty three times
Speaker 1: four times. He was a violent dunkery violent, but you
Speaker 1: know that he couldn't get past the Celtics. Yeah, mcclevin.
Speaker 1: I got in big debate yesterday, is Vince Carter dunking
Speaker 1: over Frederick Fights the best dunk of all time? And
Speaker 1: I said it was Doctor j Cradle on Michael Cooper,
Speaker 1: and then other people brought up Jordan going Baseline on
Speaker 1: Ewing and there were a few that were out there
Speaker 1: on social media yesterday that was all over the place.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's hard to remember every dunk, but Tom
Speaker 1: Chambers dunking on Mark Jackson is pretty good. That's why
Speaker 1: are you doing that to your buddy? Well, Mark's not
Speaker 1: up this early. I can do it. I'll hear about
Speaker 1: it later. Here A you're talking about me? No, no,
Speaker 1: not really, just your chest where Tom Chambers put his
Speaker 1: foot on your chest. Yeah, Paul, I think my two favorites,
Speaker 1: and even I'm a Bulls fan, I thought John Stark's
Speaker 1: baseline dunking most of the Bulls team left handed in
Speaker 1: the playoffs for the Knicks, that place went insane. That
Speaker 1: was spicy. And he's six three tops. It's spicy. And
Speaker 1: there's Jordan's there, and Pippin's there and horses there. There's
Speaker 1: also one and I don't remember the year and the name,
Speaker 1: Kevin Johnson, the Sons he dunked over like I think
Speaker 1: he dunked over Elijuan once. He also dunked over Mark
Speaker 1: Eaton once. And Kevin Johnson's again not even six four. Oh,
Speaker 1: he's Kj's probably six one underrated dunker, Yeah, greatest dunk
Speaker 1: of alt time. Yeah, see the John Stark's dunk. I'm
Speaker 1: not going not to be a but but you are.
Speaker 1: I am, well, I'm not pooh pooing, but it's slightly
Speaker 1: overrated as playoff dunk. Right. It is a playoff dunk.
Speaker 1: It does put them up by five. It is against
Speaker 1: the balls. But he had like a wide open free
Speaker 1: lane to the hoop and got there. There was there
Speaker 1: was actually while somehow he dunked over the entire team
Speaker 1: while no one was playing defense on him. By the
Speaker 1: time he got to the rim. I get there's a
Speaker 1: lot of hands there, but everything leading up to it,
Speaker 1: there was nothing. I see what's seem sane because he's
Speaker 1: not over anybody, He's alone in the corner. He's amongst Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then he goes in that everybody the defense sort
Speaker 1: of comes crashing from the other side, but they're too late. Okay,
Speaker 1: uh yes, Is this the same game where he got
Speaker 1: cold the two for eighteen? No? No, no, no, no no,
Speaker 1: it's a different finals. So in my mind I always
Speaker 1: get it too. I'm that Doug was great, but then
Speaker 1: he's a guy who went to freight teen. I was
Speaker 1: against Houston. That hurt. Oh, and he kept shooting, and
Speaker 1: I know as a shooter you're told to keep shooting.
Speaker 1: It's a time when you go, I gotta stop shooting.
Speaker 1: I think I've shot enough here Royal in Iowa, Hey Royal,
Speaker 1: what do you have for me today? Hey Dan, A
Speaker 1: long time listener, first time caller. You guys were talking
Speaker 1: about a comparison between Iverson and Vince and great comparison.
Speaker 1: I agree with you on Iverson on that I really
Speaker 1: didn't even have the second guess it. But I think
Speaker 1: the better comparison is Iverson and Tiny all Archibald, which
Speaker 1: I know you'll you'll remember Tiny because we're about the
Speaker 1: same age, and I'll take Tiny. I think he was
Speaker 1: for his stretch there. He was as dangerous as anybody
Speaker 1: and pretty cool sized Allen Iver said. I know Tiny
Speaker 1: didn't get any titles either, and neither did Iver said,
Speaker 1: but I'm going with Tiny. Thank you, Royal. Nate Archibald
Speaker 1: one of the more underrated players in NBA history, and
Speaker 1: I got to see him. I probably saw seven to
Speaker 1: ten games each year, so two years I saw Nate
Speaker 1: Archibald play and you couldn't shut him down. He didn't
Speaker 1: back down from anybody. He went left every single time.
Speaker 1: He might have been five to eleven because I stood
Speaker 1: next to him because we waited till they came out
Speaker 1: of the locker room to get autographs back then, and
Speaker 1: you saw him and you went, how is that guy
Speaker 1: doing it? And he was spectacular, and you go back
Speaker 1: to he led the league in scoring and assist in
Speaker 1: the same season for a team that I think might
Speaker 1: have been a last place too. But he was a
Speaker 1: wonderful talent. But he you know, he played for the Royals.
Speaker 1: He eventually got to the Celtics, but he was nowhere near.
Speaker 1: It's like Marovich got to the Celtics as well. They
Speaker 1: were nowhere near what they once were. When Doctor Jay
Speaker 1: got to the Sixers, Doctor j was still a force
Speaker 1: to be reckoned with. But you know, with Marovich and Tiny,
Speaker 1: they were not great players when they ended up with
Speaker 1: Boston Celtics. So I would take Iverson because Iverson did
Speaker 1: it on a big stage. And you know, there were
Speaker 1: a lot a lot of other things that went along
Speaker 1: with that with Iverson, because the NBA instituted the dress code,
Speaker 1: because Iverson and Steve Nash, remember Iverson would wear like
Speaker 1: a hockey jersey and Nash would wear t shirts and jeans.
Speaker 1: And I remember talking to Nash about that. I said,
Speaker 1: you know, Iverson gets all the blame he goes, I know,
Speaker 1: don't thank God, because Nash would show up as if
Speaker 1: he was, you know, going to a rager, like he
Speaker 1: flipped flops, and you know, he didn't care. And the
Speaker 1: NBA instituted the dress code, and people thought, oh, you know, hey,
Speaker 1: the commissioner's singling out Alan Iverson here and in reality,
Speaker 1: and even the commissioner told me, Commissioner Stearn said, Steve
Speaker 1: Nash is the one that he made him think about
Speaker 1: how we're going to dress, how we want our players
Speaker 1: to show up at a press conference. And I remember
Speaker 1: saying at the time, why not show up and be
Speaker 1: able to show off like designers and wear a suit?
Speaker 1: You know, does Nike come up with their own suits
Speaker 1: or Adidas get sponsors? And then years later these guys
Speaker 1: show up as if they're going to Milan, they're gonna
Speaker 1: walk the cat cat walk. D I mean, look at
Speaker 1: Russell Westbrook Junior the third He gives more time, more
Speaker 1: thought to what he's gonna wear than improving his jumper.
Speaker 1: What what did you just say? Yes, mc clem, they
Speaker 1: did you see yesterday they announced a change that you
Speaker 1: don't have to wear a suit on the sideline at
Speaker 1: the bubble it was a big deal. You can wear
Speaker 1: an NBA polo and said, because I guess there's a
Speaker 1: rule you have to wear a jacket on the bench.
Speaker 1: I didn't know that at all. Coaches do players? If
Speaker 1: you're injured, you have to wear a jacket. What, Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's I'm reading Shams. They loosened the dress code. So
Speaker 1: among the changes are players not being required to wear
Speaker 1: a sport coat on the bench, players being able to
Speaker 1: wear polo shirts for official business, and coaches wearing NBA
Speaker 1: polo shirts. Okay, so and Shams is saying it's like
Speaker 1: going to be Summer League. Look, yeah, I'm just gonna
Speaker 1: say that's what it feels like. Yeah, Todd, but they
Speaker 1: do want them all to wear a Mickey Mouse hears,
Speaker 1: which I think, I see what you're doing. Let me
Speaker 1: take a break here. We'll get to more phone calls.
Speaker 1: The decision Don Vanetta of the Mothership will join us.
Speaker 1: What are some of the questions that were left unanswered.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at this quote. I'll save it has to
Speaker 1: do with Dwayne Wade, not knowing about what Lebron was
Speaker 1: going to do with the decision, and the fact that
Speaker 1: why was it held in Greenwich, Connecticut? Twenty after the hour?
Speaker 1: And who knew they had a Boys and Girls club
Speaker 1: of Greenwich, Connecticut. That must be a really nice boys
Speaker 1: and girls club. Extra vineyard vines. Next, we'll take a break.
Speaker 1: Let's see twenty after the Hour. This is the Dan
Speaker 1: Patrick Show. Thanks for listening to The Dan Patrick Show podcast.
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Speaker 1: s R. You're going to love our Discover Moment of
Speaker 1: the Week. I'll have that for you in about twenty
Speaker 1: minutes from now. More phone calls coming up. I got
Speaker 1: everybody giving their opinions on the best dunk of all time.
Speaker 1: We brought up Frederick Weiss with his dunk, Vince Carter
Speaker 1: dunking over Frederick Weiss. That was in the Olympics, so
Speaker 1: I think it got even more coverage because of that worldwide.
Speaker 1: But man, look, you can go down the list in
Speaker 1: NBA history of great dunks of all time. You know,
Speaker 1: Daryl Dawkins brought down the backboard with the dunk. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's on the list for people. Don
Speaker 1: Vanatta the ESPN investigative reporter, host of Backstory, and he
Speaker 1: is looking at the backstory of the decision airs Sunday
Speaker 1: night at nine Eastern on ESPN and Don joins us. Now, Don,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us. Let me ask you what is
Speaker 1: was more overcovered deflate Gate or the decision? Because you
Speaker 1: were involved in deflate Gate as well. That's a hard
Speaker 1: question to start with, and I think they're probably out
Speaker 1: of equal footing. They certainly enraged different parts of the
Speaker 1: country an equal measure right. The England was furious about
Speaker 1: my coverage of the flake gate and the decision. People
Speaker 1: in Cleveland will never forget it, despite Lebron coming back
Speaker 1: and winning a championship. But a good question. Both both
Speaker 1: upset fan bases more than were there anything? Do you
Speaker 1: know everything about the flate gate that you want to know? Oh? No,
Speaker 1: there's always questions. As an investigative reporter, Dan, there's always
Speaker 1: new questions, there's always new information you could find out.
Speaker 1: I mean we drew a through line, as you may remember,
Speaker 1: to Spygate. So much of what happened with Tom Brady
Speaker 1: and that four game suspension traces back to Spygate and
Speaker 1: the fact that Roger Goodell slapped the Patriots on the
Speaker 1: wrist in that scandal, and owners wanted this time with
Speaker 1: the flake Gate for there to be an oversized punishment.
Speaker 1: That's really what that was all about. So if we
Speaker 1: didn't have Spygate, tom Brady doesn't get suspended four games.
Speaker 1: I don't think so, No, I don't, I mean come out.
Speaker 1: It was such a silly scandal, those deflated footballs. But
Speaker 1: there were owners around, the most powerful owners in particular
Speaker 1: like Jerry Jones, that really wanted the Patriots to pay.
Speaker 1: And Roger Goodell listens to the people like Rooney Goodell Hunt.
Speaker 1: Those guys really wanted the Patriots to pay for to
Speaker 1: flake Gate and Tom Brady. And that's what happened. If
Speaker 1: I gave you one question with a truthful answer coming
Speaker 1: from Tom Brady, what would you ask? What would I
Speaker 1: ask Tom Brady? I would ask Tom Brady how many
Speaker 1: games does he think he won? Based on Spygate. The
Speaker 1: Spygate scandal was far greater than we ever knew. Remember,
Speaker 1: Jeff Pash, the General Council of the NFL, was provided
Speaker 1: by the Patriots only three or four spygate tapes. That's
Speaker 1: all the Patriots said there was. And when he was
Speaker 1: given them in Foxborough, Jeff Pash crunched them under his
Speaker 1: wingtips and got rid of the evidence. And our story
Speaker 1: that I did back with Seth Whittersham that're referring to,
Speaker 1: there was at least forty games that the Patriots use
Speaker 1: spying techniques. So I would ask Tom Brady how many
Speaker 1: games did you win? Did you win a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: based on information given to you through spying on opposing
Speaker 1: team signals? I remember the last time the commissioner was
Speaker 1: on this show, that might have been how many years ago,
Speaker 1: palling like seven, seven or eight, seven or eight, and
Speaker 1: I said, why would you destroy tapes? Spike? He goes, well,
Speaker 1: there's no reason for him, And I'm thinking, okay, Like
Speaker 1: it was such a strange answer that he was like, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course we destroy it. I don't know, don't they
Speaker 1: have a storage bin where they keep all the things
Speaker 1: that you know or NFL films would want something like
Speaker 1: this absolutely, And remember the NFL took the word of
Speaker 1: the Patriots that this was the only evidence of this scandal.
Speaker 1: There was really no real investigation that was ever conducted
Speaker 1: a spy gate. It was wrapped up within a week.
Speaker 1: They just wanted it to go away. And this was
Speaker 1: only the first year of Roger Goodell's commissionership, and Bob Kraft,
Speaker 1: the owner of the Patriots, helped Fidell get his job.
Speaker 1: The whole thing stunt, all right. The reason why we're
Speaker 1: having you on is backstory of the decision that airs
Speaker 1: this Sunday night at nine Eastern. I'm looking at a
Speaker 1: quote here with Dwayne Wade. Dwayne Wade telling Rachel Nichols
Speaker 1: of ESPN, Lebron kind of went into his cave, went
Speaker 1: radio silent, kind of had to deal with his own process.
Speaker 1: But we were a little nervous on the other side, like, wait,
Speaker 1: are we still in this? Did Dwayne Wade know that
Speaker 1: Lebron was coming to Miami? Sounds like a cover story,
Speaker 1: doesn't it. What Dwayne told Rachel Nichols. These guys had
Speaker 1: talked about playing together way back in two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: when Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and Lebron James were teammates
Speaker 1: on the World Championships team, and again in two thousand
Speaker 1: and eight when they were teammates on the Olympics team.
Speaker 1: They could have signed five year max deals. Instead, all
Speaker 1: three of them signed three year rookie extensions, which made
Speaker 1: them eligible free agent free agency in two ten. We
Speaker 1: look into it, Dan, I can't prove on it quivocally
Speaker 1: that that night when Dwayne Wade was tuning in, he
Speaker 1: really didn't know what Lebron was going to do. But
Speaker 1: the day before the decision, remember Chris Bosh said I'm
Speaker 1: going to play for the Miami Heat with Dwyane Wade,
Speaker 1: and a lot of insiders were like, all right, that's
Speaker 1: all the proof we need that tomorrow night, on the decision,
Speaker 1: Lebron James is going to say, I'm going to Miami.
Speaker 1: All right. What's the one thing that'll stand out more
Speaker 1: than anything else that you've found out the backstory of
Speaker 1: the decision? Well, you know, there's a lot of new
Speaker 1: information on our show, Dan, but one of the things
Speaker 1: that I so love about what we found out is
Speaker 1: the origin story. You know, Jim Gray was the host,
Speaker 1: as you may remember, the veteran broadcaster. He had said
Speaker 1: it was his idea that he raised it with Ari Emmanuel,
Speaker 1: the Hollywood agent, and Maverick Carter in June of twenty
Speaker 1: ten during the NBA Finals Game two at halftime in La.
Speaker 1: It turns out actually the idea was from a guy
Speaker 1: named Drew in Columbus, Ohio. In November two thousand and nine,
Speaker 1: he wrote a letter to Bill Simmons's Albag column at
Speaker 1: ESPN dot com and said, what if Lebron had announced
Speaker 1: would announce his decision his free agency decision live on ABC.
Speaker 1: Bill Simmons responded in that column and said, great idea.
Speaker 1: Lebron should put it on pay per view. And then
Speaker 1: Bill Simmons took the idea pitched it in February at
Speaker 1: the All Star Weekend in Dallas to Maverick Carter, Lebron's
Speaker 1: business partner, Leon Rose, Lebron's agent Worldwide West, Lebron's adviser
Speaker 1: at the time. He also Simmons also pitched it to
Speaker 1: ESPN executives as for months Simmons was trying to basically
Speaker 1: get this show done, and then sort of in a
Speaker 1: moment of serendipity, I guess Maverick Carter, Ari Emmanuel, and
Speaker 1: Jim Gray are at the All Star Game or at
Speaker 1: the NBA Finals, I should say and come up with
Speaker 1: this idea. So what really happened there and whose idea
Speaker 1: it was is really fascinating. But the other part of it, Dan,
Speaker 1: is just a revolution was going on that night. We
Speaker 1: saw a bad hour of TV, an awkward hour of TV.
Speaker 1: This was Lebron and Maverick Carter becoming producers can control
Speaker 1: of their own storytelling in a remarkable way, really because
Speaker 1: you look at it now ten years later, the through
Speaker 1: line that you draw and uninterrupted Springhill Entertainment. Just this week,
Speaker 1: just yesterday, Bloomberg reported one hundred million dollars is being
Speaker 1: raised for storytelling by black artists through Lebron and Maverick's
Speaker 1: media company. And this was them. Look it was it
Speaker 1: was probably a good idea, really badly executed. They made
Speaker 1: a lot of mistakes that night. It was some bad TV,
Speaker 1: but they were spreading their wings and trying this out.
Speaker 1: And now you know, arguably Lebron is the most influential
Speaker 1: and outspoken athlete in the country. And what he's doing
Speaker 1: with his storytelling through these Varius shows that he does
Speaker 1: and as an executive producer, is really remarkable. Who decided
Speaker 1: how long they were going to wait before Lebron made
Speaker 1: the decision. Well, Lebron and Maverick Carter were their producers
Speaker 1: of the show, though I interviewed John Skipper, the former
Speaker 1: president ESPN who greenlip the show, and Vince Doria, the
Speaker 1: head of the news division of ESPN. You know, they say,
Speaker 1: the only way to hold an audience is to kill
Speaker 1: some time. It's a one hour show. Wasn't until nine
Speaker 1: twenty eight Eastern that Jim Gray finally got around to
Speaker 1: asking what's your decision? That's after twenty three questions, by
Speaker 1: the way, Dan, including are you a nail biter? And
Speaker 1: did you bring the powder? So there was a lot
Speaker 1: of time killing going on. I think ESPN partly had
Speaker 1: some motive there, but a lot of this was Maverick
Speaker 1: Carter and Jim Gray. They were really in control. The
Speaker 1: cameras got turned on, they belonged to ESPN, and the
Speaker 1: satellite uplink belonged to ESPN, But it was really Maverick
Speaker 1: Carter and Jim Gray calling the shots that night. But
Speaker 1: did you talk to John Skipper and Vince Dorry about
Speaker 1: their role of because Jim Gray wasn't working for ESPN
Speaker 1: but so this is right, ESPN executives did they have
Speaker 1: any control over when Jim Gray was going to ask
Speaker 1: Lebron what's his decision? Well, it's interesting they had some
Speaker 1: They say they certainly understood what was going on, but no, really,
Speaker 1: they say, this was a Maverick Carter production. Remember, ESPN
Speaker 1: was basically donated that hour, gave Maverick Carter, Lebron James
Speaker 1: that hour for free. So an hour of free television
Speaker 1: on ESPN was traded for an exclusive. And so, you know,
Speaker 1: an old school journalist like me at the time, I
Speaker 1: was at the New York Times, I thought there's something
Speaker 1: wrong there, you know, I don't like the way this looks.
Speaker 1: But both Doria and Skipper, if you watch the show
Speaker 1: on Sunday Night, they sort of justify, if they understand
Speaker 1: it from a TV perspective, why Lebron and Maverick and
Speaker 1: Jim Gray did what they did. How did they keep
Speaker 1: it quiet? Like how many people knew that where Lebron
Speaker 1: was going? Well, very few knew about it. And that
Speaker 1: was another interesting thing, Right, you had these ESPN insiders
Speaker 1: like Chris Brossard tasks with trying to find out where
Speaker 1: Lebron was going and if they did find out, they'd
Speaker 1: scoop their own network. And I asked Skipper about that
Speaker 1: and Dory about that as well. A very small circle
Speaker 1: of people knew. Lebron said that night in the chair
Speaker 1: that he didn't make the decision until that morning after
Speaker 1: he spoke with his mother, and he said that the
Speaker 1: number of people that knew the decision as he sat
Speaker 1: in the chair was you could count it on one hand.
Speaker 1: Now again, whether d Wade and Chris Bosh and others,
Speaker 1: pat Riley, the people in Miami knew more than that.
Speaker 1: They probably did, I would guess, and we delve into
Speaker 1: that a little bit. But how they kept it secret
Speaker 1: it is It is pretty remarkable when you consider in
Speaker 1: this day and age, how nothing that is ever known
Speaker 1: by anybody stays a secret for very long. Did Jim
Speaker 1: Gray know? I don't think Jim Gray knew. I really don't.
Speaker 1: You know. There was very little preparation. One of the
Speaker 1: things we found out is Lebron would was at his
Speaker 1: basketball camp that week in Akron. He didn't arrive in
Speaker 1: Greenwich until about six o'clock that night, just a few
Speaker 1: hours before the decision broadcast. People around Lebron told me,
Speaker 1: he had no idea. There were going to be so
Speaker 1: many questions. I mean, you see him in the chair,
Speaker 1: it's so awkward. But he also looked so uncomfortable, almost
Speaker 1: as if in the moment he's thinking, this is a
Speaker 1: bad idea. The other thing Dan we found out is
Speaker 1: that Leon Rose, Lebron's agent at the time, end Worldwide West,
Speaker 1: both warned people around Lebron in his inner circle that
Speaker 1: this had the potential to backfire. They knew that he
Speaker 1: was not going to stay in Cleveland, and they knew
Speaker 1: if you announced I'm leaving my hometown on national television
Speaker 1: with ten million people watching, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: potential for an enormous backlash and undercutting your brand. Why Greenwich,
Speaker 1: Connecticut for the announcement, Okay, that's a very good question
Speaker 1: that I am almost certain this is the right answer.
Speaker 1: Keith klink Scales at executive at ESPN at the time,
Speaker 1: and the lays on between the Lebron camp and the network.
Speaker 1: I believe picked Greenwich for its proximity to Bristol. Of course,
Speaker 1: I'm a long suffering Knicks fan, so when I heard
Speaker 1: Greenwich get like a lot of Dicks fans, I thought, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know, it's like the mother of all headstates, right,
Speaker 1: I mean, he's coming to New York, Yes, but but
Speaker 1: I think it really was that. But you know, the
Speaker 1: whole look of it. I heard you guys talking about
Speaker 1: it before the break, I mean Greenwich, Connecticut. The criticism
Speaker 1: was even to the kids in the background. Critics said
Speaker 1: they were used as props, you know, the Greenwich the Greenwich,
Speaker 1: Connecticut Boys and Girls Club, you know, looks like a
Speaker 1: country club compared to a lot of the boys and
Speaker 1: girls clubs around the country. So even the backdrop just
Speaker 1: didn't work. Nothing worked that night. What's the next story
Speaker 1: you want to dive into? So we have already begun.
Speaker 1: We've done a lot of interviews, and we're really excited
Speaker 1: about our next backstory. It's the Manti Tea cat fishing scandal,
Speaker 1: and we're delving into that. We hope to have that
Speaker 1: done later this year. There's a lot of unanswered questions there.
Speaker 1: How much did Manti Teo know? What did he know? When?
Speaker 1: When did he know it? I guess is what I'm
Speaker 1: trying to find out. I think viewers are going to
Speaker 1: be really surprised and we'll enjoy that. Did he cooperate. No,
Speaker 1: he hasn't yet as and yet still trying, but he
Speaker 1: knows we're on the hunt. Did you interview his girlfriend?
Speaker 1: You meet his fake dead girlfriend? Yes, that'd be a
Speaker 1: great get the fake debt. We're trying. We're speaking to
Speaker 1: her people. Dan, We're trying your investigative reporter. I love
Speaker 1: that's right, Don. Thank you. We'll look forward to that
Speaker 1: on Sunday night. Thank you, Dan, It's great to be
Speaker 1: with you. Don Van Nada ESPN investigative reporter and host.
Speaker 1: A backstory that comes out this Sunday night at nine Eastern,
Speaker 1: The Decision, We'll take a break, phone calls coming up,
Speaker 1: and the Discover Moment of the week, which was really
Speaker 1: funny with Darius Rucker, that's right after this. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to The Dan Patrick Show podcast. Be sure to
Speaker 1: catch us live every weekday morning nine until noon eastern
Speaker 1: six to nine Pacific on Fox Sports Radio, and you
Speaker 1: can find us on the iHeartRadio app at FSR, or
Speaker 1: stream us live every day at YouTube dot com slash
Speaker 1: The Dan Patrick Show. Time for the Discover Moment of
Speaker 1: the week. Go back to Tuesday's show, popular singer Darius
Speaker 1: Rucker telling us why his wife was okay with naming
Speaker 1: their daughter after Dan Marino. She was okay with it
Speaker 1: because my daughter was conceived at uh at Uh Don
Speaker 1: shol Is, I think retirement or Dan at Dan's retirement
Speaker 1: and uh in our hotel room there was a life
Speaker 1: size picture of Dan over my over bed. So she
Speaker 1: thinks Dan's reason that you you got in the mood
Speaker 1: because you were looking at it. Oh, look at number thirteen.
Speaker 1: It's so hot. That's one of the creepiest things you've
Speaker 1: ever told me. That's our Discovered Card moment of the week.
Speaker 1: Get your free credit scorecard today, even if you're not
Speaker 1: a customer. It includes your FICO credit score. Checking your
Speaker 1: scorecard won't hurt your credit. Learn more discover dot com
Speaker 1: lash credit scorecard limitations do apply. Don Vanatta of the
Speaker 1: Mothership was talking about the next story, backstory. They're going
Speaker 1: to dive into the Manti tale story. That story was
Speaker 1: so big at the time, I mean out of nowhere
Speaker 1: and I remember seeing and this is back in January
Speaker 1: of twenty thirteen. So this is a guy who's up
Speaker 1: for the Heisman. I think he finished top three in
Speaker 1: Heisman voting that year. He's bringing Notre Dame back, good
Speaker 1: looking guy out of Hawaii wearing number five, and I
Speaker 1: remember seeing dead spin Manti Teo's dead girlfriend. The most
Speaker 1: heartbreaking and inspirational story of the college football season is
Speaker 1: a hoax. And you you're gonna wait a minute, what
Speaker 1: happened here? I mean he played the season. I think
Speaker 1: he lost his grandmother, that that really happened. But he's
Speaker 1: this Mormon linebacker. He's at a Catholic school, Notre Dame,
Speaker 1: and he learned that his grandmother had died, and then
Speaker 1: his girlfriend a couple of days later died. Lenae Kakua
Speaker 1: twenty two years of age. She was in a serious
Speaker 1: car accident in California and then diagnosed with leukemia. Sports
Speaker 1: illustrated Pete Thamil described how Tail would put the phone
Speaker 1: her phone in the hospital room, and he would stay
Speaker 1: on the line with her as he slept. So there
Speaker 1: was a phone in her room, in the hospital bed,
Speaker 1: and he would just listen throughout the night. Her relatives
Speaker 1: told him that at her lowest points, she fought to
Speaker 1: emerge from a coma, her breathing rate would increase at
Speaker 1: the sound of his voice. When did man tie tale?
Speaker 1: You know? College game day? Man Man Tye Tale was
Speaker 1: on college game day to talk about the letters she
Speaker 1: had written him during her illness. He would send a
Speaker 1: heartfelt letter to the parents of a sick child, discussing
Speaker 1: his experience with the disease and the grief. The South
Speaker 1: Bend Tribune wrote an article describing the young couple's fairy
Speaker 1: tale meeting. She a Stanford student, he a Notre Dame star,
Speaker 1: and they met. This is after a football game outside
Speaker 1: Palo Alto. Man tie Teo did lose his grandmother. He
Speaker 1: did not lose his girlfriend, as we came to find out. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this is one of those where you read it and
Speaker 1: you go, I gotta read it again, and then you
Speaker 1: just go, I'm shocked here, I'm absolutely shocked the man.
Speaker 1: Tito's story moved beyond the world of sports. On the
Speaker 1: day of the BCS title game, because it was Notre
Speaker 1: Dame in Alabama, CBS This Morning ran a three minute
Speaker 1: story that featured a direct quote from Lena Kakua, Babe,
Speaker 1: if anything happens to me, you promise that you'll stay
Speaker 1: there and you'll play, and you'll honor me through the
Speaker 1: way you play. Yeah, Paully, and this happened. The death
Speaker 1: of the girlfriend that was trying to be true happened
Speaker 1: in early September. The South Bend Tribune did a piece
Speaker 1: on it. It appeared mantathad. Then right after that became
Speaker 1: a big story because there's more to his story, the
Speaker 1: bad side of it. Sports Illustrai put him on the
Speaker 1: cover on October one, which jump started as Heisman campaign.
Speaker 1: And then there's a numerous reports where he talks about
Speaker 1: his girlfriend and the issues and it's not someone else
Speaker 1: but him talking about it for months before it came
Speaker 1: out in January. But so then they did the movie Catfish.
Speaker 1: Was Catfish already out, there's a TV show on MTV,
Speaker 1: I think, but when they did a documentary, there was
Speaker 1: a documentary about it that then became a TV show. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: In different games during the season, the broadcast of Notre
Speaker 1: Dame games had a picture and a quotes about man
Speaker 1: Tito's dead girlfriend. There's a CBS game that Notre Dame
Speaker 1: played and they're recapping Taou and they said his grandmother died.
Speaker 1: They have a picture of a woman who who knows
Speaker 1: that that picture is of and quotes of man Titito
Speaker 1: talking about his dead girlfriend. They said that the hoax
Speaker 1: began crumbling around November of twenty twelve. Supposedly, his girlfriend
Speaker 1: sister popped up on Twitter under the name Yuilani ray Kukua,
Speaker 1: and man T Tao immediately tweeted out the following. One
Speaker 1: of the realist people I know shout out to her.
Speaker 1: She's new to Twitter. Yeah. See, so the woman who,
Speaker 1: like Paul, was to talk about the picture that they
Speaker 1: were showing on TV. That woman became aware of. Her
Speaker 1: identity hasn't been released because they're trying to protect her
Speaker 1: from all this stuff. But like she saw that picture
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, that's me. That's a picture
Speaker 1: of me from Facebook that they're using as this the
Speaker 1: face of this dead girl. Can you imagine? Oh? Man
Speaker 1: and Notre Dame found out about this in late December
Speaker 1: before the National title game, and everyone sat on it.
Speaker 1: They basically hold held their breath, and then dead Spin
Speaker 1: got the tip and went to work. Yeah, that's the
Speaker 1: craziest story. I'm rereading the story right now and it's
Speaker 1: just as surreal as that day. Go back and read
Speaker 1: it again if you have it. It's such a long
Speaker 1: story and it's so detailed on dead Spin, and you're
Speaker 1: just going how how did this happen? But we had
Speaker 1: on the author of the story, Tim Burke, on the
Speaker 1: next morning, and he even said, he goes, I couldn't
Speaker 1: believe it when I got the tip, he said, well,
Speaker 1: I'm being baited into looking into a story that can't
Speaker 1: be true. And then they looked up social security numbers
Speaker 1: and names and they started there any court records for
Speaker 1: this person and all Wentzell. He didn't win the Heisman. No,
Speaker 1: he was a Heisman final but I have a picture
Speaker 1: of him holding up the heisman, and I'm wondering what
Speaker 1: this did to his Heisman campaign, because I mean, that
Speaker 1: was such a huge story. What was bigger that feel good,
Speaker 1: crazy Hollywood story and you're doing this for your girlfriend
Speaker 1: who's dying, and or was it the fact that it
Speaker 1: was all fake? He lost the Heisman to Johnny Manziel
Speaker 1: whose career would you rather well, man Ti Teo is
Speaker 1: still playing right, Yeah, but I'd rather have Johnny Manziel's
Speaker 1: I would. I mean, Johnny, he's got baggage. But there's
Speaker 1: no fake dead girlfriend in there, No, not that we
Speaker 1: know of. Oh Man. And then I remember watching that
Speaker 1: documentary Catfish, and you know, then all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: he started to do a show. Did man Tai Tail
Speaker 1: reach out to the did I thought he had communication
Speaker 1: with the people from Catfish. Whether it's the documentary, I
Speaker 1: don't know if you see that or not. But in
Speaker 1: the story Paulie, but I thought that he reached out
Speaker 1: to them, But he deleted a tweet to them checking
Speaker 1: on that. I remember the show we did the day
Speaker 1: after the story came out, and we discussed what it
Speaker 1: would take for people to forget about this, and we said,
Speaker 1: you know, if Manti Tayo has a you know, eight
Speaker 1: time All Pro Hall of Fame career, it's a footnote.
Speaker 1: It's a funny footnote. He has never made a Pro Bowl.
Speaker 1: Who's she played for? New Orleans? I think he's done though,
Speaker 1: backup linebacker. Oh he's out. I'm not sure he's still
Speaker 1: with them. We should check. He says I had a
Speaker 1: great career, wants to spend more time with his dead girlfriend.
Speaker 1: That's not I didn't know the mic was on. I
Speaker 1: thought I thought we were off the air. Bob Yucker
Speaker 1: coming up, Dan Patrick Show,