Speaker 1: Welcome to the Greatest, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome to another episode of the Greatest. We're
Speaker 1: back from our little week break. Thank you for letting
Speaker 1: us do that, whether or not we needed a permission
Speaker 1: or not. I'm joined here by my co host, my
Speaker 1: wife Still somehow my writer die four months into quarantine,
Speaker 1: Megan writer, die writer or die? My day one? My no,
Speaker 1: there was. There was a Day one and we weren't
Speaker 1: dating for eight year. My day one. You know some
Speaker 1: of my day ones, and they were a mistake. Ny.
Speaker 1: How are you doing. I'm good. How are you? I'm
Speaker 1: doing great. It's good to be doing the pot again.
Speaker 1: Sports is coming back, so it's not a lot of
Speaker 1: like you know, remember when Lebron blocked Now, this podcast
Speaker 1: has already been um pigeonholed as as a podcast that
Speaker 1: pretends to be all sports but is really basketball. Do
Speaker 1: you think you'll be able to be I don't sports agnostic?
Speaker 1: Yeah no, no, no, I'll try. But I mean our
Speaker 1: guests for today is no better way to introduce him.
Speaker 1: You know, he used to tell me as I guess
Speaker 1: my boss, but my friend, you know, House of Highlights
Speaker 1: is primarily a basketball account. No no other sports really
Speaker 1: work that well. But he's no longer at House of Highlights,
Speaker 1: and we'll get into a little bit nothing controversial, but
Speaker 1: he's now a new employee at ESPN. Ladies and gentlemen,
Speaker 1: welcome Omar Rajah for having me. C J. When you
Speaker 1: said co host, I thought you were like talking about me.
Speaker 1: We were we were the first. You're talking about Megan
Speaker 1: the first co host. I'm the first co host, all
Speaker 1: three of us right now. This might be podcast history.
Speaker 1: We got three Twitter show hosts. Leg you know what,
Speaker 1: It'll never be done again. I promise you what. I
Speaker 1: like that Twitter inadvertently did I think Twitter would tell
Speaker 1: my show, you guys are the art most viewed show
Speaker 1: on Twitter, and then Twitter would tell you, guys, you
Speaker 1: guys are our most viewed show on Twitter. And it's like, now,
Speaker 1: how can that be true of both shows that no
Speaker 1: one is watching. Well, they were both coming on at
Speaker 1: the same time, too, so it couldn't have been like
Speaker 1: one of those most active show right now that's the
Speaker 1: most viewed. We were both kind of going around the
Speaker 1: same time. And I actually didn't know that they said
Speaker 1: to you, they you're the most viewed, because now I'm
Speaker 1: kind of jealous and hurt because I thought we were
Speaker 1: I thought it was legit. I was like, oh, c J,
Speaker 1: like we've done something here. It's like we did something.
Speaker 1: People liked it. People saw a few of the clipouts,
Speaker 1: they liked it. I mean, we had a season two,
Speaker 1: but you I mean you guys were not a part
Speaker 1: of season two. Yeah, there was a season two. It
Speaker 1: was also there was technically a season two of my show,
Speaker 1: and I was also not a part of that. Things happened.
Speaker 1: That's the business. We're still working right now, gratefully in
Speaker 1: in the pandemic. But um, for some of our listeners
Speaker 1: who don't know you, Omar, I wanted to get a
Speaker 1: little bit into your back story. Um, you did. You
Speaker 1: founded the popular Instagram sports account House of Highlights. How
Speaker 1: many years ago now, two thousand and fourteen, August two,
Speaker 1: Obama and so what happened? So you started the account?
Speaker 1: You were at University of Central Florida. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: honestly even starts a little bit before that. Like I
Speaker 1: think the story often tells like Lebron left the heat,
Speaker 1: but what's the media training? What's what's that's the media
Speaker 1: trained story? Now, I can be a little bit more
Speaker 1: honest about how it kind of went about. Um the
Speaker 1: years before that, in two thousand and eight, two thousand nine,
Speaker 1: I was trying to make YouTube videos for like NBA
Speaker 1: two K and basically so many video games back then,
Speaker 1: so it's call of duty too, and that was like
Speaker 1: the first time where you saw that, like, if you
Speaker 1: grew an Internet audience, you could make money off of it.
Speaker 1: I was just too young to like ever really figured
Speaker 1: out and have the money to like five equipment like
Speaker 1: microphones and cameras, so I kind of gave up on it.
Speaker 1: But when college came around, now I was a bit
Speaker 1: more mature, I had some money I could try it out,
Speaker 1: and Instagram was like kind of the YouTube of the
Speaker 1: time of two thousand and twelve two thousand thirteen, like
Speaker 1: having this rise. So when the Heat won the championship
Speaker 1: with two thousand and thirteen, there was this photo of
Speaker 1: Dwyane Wade popping champagne, and I'm gonna take all of
Speaker 1: these cool photos and make my own Instagram page because
Speaker 1: Instagram was really known for his photos at that time too,
Speaker 1: there was no so I put them all together. I
Speaker 1: made an account called Sports Posters, and I got like
Speaker 1: two thousand followers like two weeks. I was like I
Speaker 1: made it. I was like, I made it. I was good.
Speaker 1: And then I kept doing it, and I think over
Speaker 1: a year we went from zero to two d and
Speaker 1: thirty five thousand, and then the natural transition was like,
Speaker 1: all right, let me do this for a video as well.
Speaker 1: Um when lebron On left in July and augustly just
Speaker 1: started it. So then I had with pages, but Sports
Speaker 1: Posters was just primarily it was just like curated sports content,
Speaker 1: not just videos. It was like a lot of people
Speaker 1: we work with now like photo shops, yeah, and like
Speaker 1: memes and ship. The sports posters still exist. No, so
Speaker 1: I think about to three years ago it was become
Speaker 1: House of Highs were getting so big that it's hard
Speaker 1: to manage, like to three different pages. Um that I
Speaker 1: was just like, we hit up Instagram, like can you
Speaker 1: put these two accounts together? A lot of people on
Speaker 1: followed though from sports Posters that were like what is
Speaker 1: all these videos? Were like we do not like these
Speaker 1: moving pictures. I remember that I was like, I didn't
Speaker 1: notice that it was House of Highlights the only one
Speaker 1: doing it until I actually maybe even met you, where
Speaker 1: you were like no, we're we're primarily going to go
Speaker 1: video because it's like it's literally it's highlights. And I
Speaker 1: just remember, like, why why wouldn't you do what Bleach
Speaker 1: Report is doing, Like why not just like a quote
Speaker 1: card and stuff like that that those get numbers, But
Speaker 1: like you sort of figure out early on just videos,
Speaker 1: and that's sort of like the model that everyone's doing
Speaker 1: right now is it's the top ten. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: would say the major thing that even Instagram does, probably
Speaker 1: TikTok does a little bit, um, is they push videos
Speaker 1: so hard. Videos are super share able. People are actually
Speaker 1: like you can look at a photo in two seconds
Speaker 1: and keep scrolling like a video you might have to
Speaker 1: legit stay on the app sixty seconds. So they want
Speaker 1: stuff and they're gonna push stuff on the explore page
Speaker 1: and in the algorithm that are videos. Um. That's why,
Speaker 1: like at a certain point I felt like they were
Speaker 1: really pushing I g t V because then they just
Speaker 1: met you spend more time on Instagram. So I just
Speaker 1: remember pushing bad content HEV being like, let's just do it.
Speaker 1: No I G t V. E then numbers the number
Speaker 1: they're chiec in the numbers, man, come on, and so
Speaker 1: then you guys met in seventeen Wow, Okay, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: would just walk by each other at the office because
Speaker 1: I feel like you're a part of this bleach report
Speaker 1: acquired at So I do I do the journey like
Speaker 1: House of Highlights I started, And because I had all
Speaker 1: the success with sports posters, I knew how to kind
Speaker 1: of make it even faster the success I had over
Speaker 1: the last year. Um. So, one thing with highlight wrights
Speaker 1: is you need to have like you need to be
Speaker 1: a partner with the NBA. So I always knew I
Speaker 1: needed to partner with an ESPN or a bleacher Board
Speaker 1: from the beginning. Yeah, because YouTube had like because I've
Speaker 1: I've seen like NFL highlights and like two thousand and
Speaker 1: eight get copyrighted by the NFL. So like I was
Speaker 1: aware of like copyright a little bit, especially if you
Speaker 1: get bigger, Like if you were not growing in size,
Speaker 1: they probably would have looked the other way. But once
Speaker 1: you yeah, once you're monetizing it and huge, they're like, well,
Speaker 1: now we want to be a part of that. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: So once you hit like five thousand, you're like you're
Speaker 1: just waiting for the day to get shut down. Like, man,
Speaker 1: you got happed, right, Yeah, I got I mean on
Speaker 1: the last. So this is was crazy, is I got
Speaker 1: the offer from Bleach Report. I don't think I ever
Speaker 1: shared this. I actually wasn't gonna take it. Um yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I wasn't. It wasn't anything against Bleacher Report,
Speaker 1: And in hindsight, I should have definitely taken the offer.
Speaker 1: Um like I should have definitely like, thank god I
Speaker 1: did take it. But you know, on on a on
Speaker 1: the I got hacked on a Sunday two days before that. Um,
Speaker 1: I decided that I wasn't gonna agree to the br offer.
Speaker 1: Not that it was bad. I just wanted to see
Speaker 1: what would happen if I could just stick it out
Speaker 1: for another year. Yeah, I mean I was. I was
Speaker 1: figuring out different ways to do it, and I also
Speaker 1: I was curious what it was gonna be like to
Speaker 1: have a manager. And also I think when you watch
Speaker 1: TV shows or movies, the idea that like, oh, they're
Speaker 1: just gonna buy it and then ruin it always in
Speaker 1: the back of your head. So I think that that
Speaker 1: one primarily was in the back of my head, like yeah,
Speaker 1: they're just gonna buy it and then kicked me to
Speaker 1: the curb and I'm gonna regret all of this, so
Speaker 1: thanks for that didn't happen. But I made the decision
Speaker 1: on a Friday night to sell it. Two days later,
Speaker 1: I got hacked, and maybe it was not from God
Speaker 1: to be like, no, you idiots, you better sell this thing.
Speaker 1: You're maybe maybe it was bleacher Report. They're like if
Speaker 1: we said that. Half the people I tell the story
Speaker 1: to they're convinced that Bleacher Report hacked it. But I
Speaker 1: eventually figured out who did it. It was just like hacker.
Speaker 1: If if anyone's interested, you can look up something called
Speaker 1: sim swapping and it's kind of the way to hack
Speaker 1: a bunch of accounts, like the guy impersonated me contact
Speaker 1: and like a T and T into day a T
Speaker 1: and T Like, hey, I'm omar like me, that's a
Speaker 1: lot to do. I got hacked, but it was fishing,
Speaker 1: and I think fishing is just like, oh, if we
Speaker 1: can get one stupid person to click on something, And
Speaker 1: I said, boy, oh boy, here I am. I am
Speaker 1: your stupid person, and I will click on it. Because yeah,
Speaker 1: they were like, you have copyright infringement. I'm like a
Speaker 1: good my ass like I own it. But I clicked
Speaker 1: things and then a man in in Turkey had it well,
Speaker 1: people say, how do you know it was a man?
Speaker 1: I don't think a woman in Turkey would do that
Speaker 1: to me. I think it was a man of journey,
Speaker 1: I assume. But yeah, I did not have any offers
Speaker 1: to accept to get me out of it. Just a
Speaker 1: stranger on Twitter helped me. So no, but you gotta
Speaker 1: think about it. For me, I'm still in college and
Speaker 1: I have this big offer and now I think I
Speaker 1: lost it all. I was like, I'm done, and I
Speaker 1: think it was I got hacked on October eighteen and
Speaker 1: it wasn't like October twentieth. I got it back because
Speaker 1: I think, Megan, you got it back pretty quick. I
Speaker 1: didn't get the account back to Halloween, and at that
Speaker 1: point I actually given up. I was like, there's just
Speaker 1: no where God. So are you still talking the Bleacher
Speaker 1: Report during that time? Yeah? I mean they're the ones
Speaker 1: that helped out. They kept putting the connecting Facebook. Facebook
Speaker 1: at first was kind of being hesitant on helping, or
Speaker 1: they just weren't really responding, or they didn't seem really care.
Speaker 1: Facebook not being not being good people. Wow, we gotta
Speaker 1: call Mark. But eventually eventually they did, to their credit
Speaker 1: and they looked into it and they were like, you
Speaker 1: know what he got happened, So they got me the
Speaker 1: account and then honestly from the jump, I'd never regretted
Speaker 1: it after that because like, I got to do all
Speaker 1: of the things I dreamed of as a kid, and
Speaker 1: then I met c J. And and now now you
Speaker 1: keep running. You want to say something nice about c J,
Speaker 1: so I'll let you. I did. So one of the
Speaker 1: first memories I actually have of CJ because he he
Speaker 1: wasn't working on the Social Department at the time, so
Speaker 1: he would come down because he wanted to work with
Speaker 1: Social for Bleacher reports. Yeah, I was getting I was
Speaker 1: on social at first and then I got pulled onto
Speaker 1: and then remember that, so he would he would like
Speaker 1: when he would disappear, he would oftentimes go to like
Speaker 1: your shows. I remember one time it was like what
Speaker 1: West Palm Beach or so it was something Implora. Remember
Speaker 1: c J came down talked about your show in Florida
Speaker 1: like killed at YadA YadA, And then I was like, wait,
Speaker 1: like who is she? And I got the entire room
Speaker 1: to stop what they're doing and watch you stand up
Speaker 1: that you don't cone in and we all laugh I'll
Speaker 1: never forget PJ, who was working with us, laughed, who
Speaker 1: wouldn't stop laughing. Yeah, and I'm not so scary. That
Speaker 1: is like the situation you've just described as every comedian's
Speaker 1: like greatest fear, because now I'm hearing the positive. Oh
Speaker 1: yeah it was your boyfriend and now we're all friends.
Speaker 1: And but for every one of those, there's been ten
Speaker 1: where like someone I went to elementary school with was like, here,
Speaker 1: we'll put it on and their whole family reunion just
Speaker 1: clowned my ass afterwards, hated it. No, but they were
Speaker 1: into it, and that's so I was like, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is for real, not oh then you liked me once
Speaker 1: your friends laughed at my late nights and Omar, we've
Speaker 1: we've discussed this, like getting on TV is like people
Speaker 1: can do that, you know, but like you can bomb
Speaker 1: or you could be obviously not funny some of these
Speaker 1: TV spots. So it was like so scary. So you
Speaker 1: actually yeah, you came through, thanks Henny, Okay, Omar, Now
Speaker 1: you you run the sports Center Instagram account ESPN. That
Speaker 1: is crazy to even say. How like when we when
Speaker 1: someone a layman is looking at Instagram, looking at Sports Center,
Speaker 1: they are in your mind. Yes, um, I mean the
Speaker 1: when they offered it, I was kind of like taking
Speaker 1: it back. I thought it would be like, you know,
Speaker 1: work on something on the side and do some other stuff,
Speaker 1: maybe do another Twitter show. I wasn't expecting them, like
Speaker 1: the Sports Center brand, like when you sit down and
Speaker 1: go there, like it's a very very recognizable brand. It's
Speaker 1: probably you could argue, I don't know for sure, but
Speaker 1: it's definitely a top maybe one in for ESPN, maybe
Speaker 1: autely center. Right. So when when I first like I
Speaker 1: couldn't believe because like all your childhood memories are also
Speaker 1: linked with Sports Center, so it's only this big moment
Speaker 1: of like, oh wow, like I'm reliving. Like if I
Speaker 1: talked to ten year old Omar and I was like,
Speaker 1: this is what your journey is going to be, could
Speaker 1: be losing his mind. And I think the coolest part
Speaker 1: was probably in March when uh Lebron was having an
Speaker 1: I G Live and I kind of came into the
Speaker 1: Sports Center account and Lebron said, oh, like yo, you
Speaker 1: guys have been on point like sports running your social media,
Speaker 1: And I think that was a good point of like
Speaker 1: kind of put a stamp on you of like, oh,
Speaker 1: like what I've been doing over the last three months
Speaker 1: has been unique and different and stuck out. And when
Speaker 1: Lebron says, you know who's running the Sports Center account,
Speaker 1: like you're killing it. That that one melt meant a
Speaker 1: lot and you you have a few that was I mean,
Speaker 1: even back when you started House of Highlights, it was
Speaker 1: like Snoop Dogg followed right re post and you were
Speaker 1: kind of like it was that an indicator like, oh,
Speaker 1: this could be a for real thing. Yeah, I think
Speaker 1: when the celebrities that you like, I remember calling my
Speaker 1: dad and asking him if he knew who Snoop dog
Speaker 1: was once when I was like, yeah, I do. I
Speaker 1: was like, okay, like this is like a big moment.
Speaker 1: And then do I remember, like I remember like Dwayne
Speaker 1: Wade in two thousands sixteen followed Lebron and two thousands
Speaker 1: sixteen followed out s Highlights um, and then like when
Speaker 1: they started commenting and liking regularly, you're like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: I made it um. And then obviously with with Wade,
Speaker 1: like I grew up in Miami, so he always meant
Speaker 1: a lot to me, so to do that Jersey swap
Speaker 1: um at the end of two thousands. At the end
Speaker 1: of his career, he decided to do in Jersey swall
Speaker 1: with Me of all people now, and that meant a lot,
Speaker 1: especially because he was the first ever profile picture for House.
Speaker 1: Credit to c J Man Me and c J. I'm
Speaker 1: always gonna miss those memories because like we're two people
Speaker 1: that should never have NBA credentials or be your credentials
Speaker 1: is no, but we'll say it it yeah, And like
Speaker 1: all Star Break, we're like mad because you have to
Speaker 1: wake up at like seven am because we've been drinking
Speaker 1: pepsi of all things, still two am the night before,
Speaker 1: we can not even hungover. You're just like, no, it's
Speaker 1: not even that we're drinking pepsi watching movies ttootoo. This
Speaker 1: is also on my birthday, so he's not with his spouse,
Speaker 1: whose birthday it is always but that and this is
Speaker 1: an illegal because this is a meat like we get
Speaker 1: meal stipends and we use a corporate car. We're like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get I know, it's not a leak. I know,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't make it ever be held accountable for
Speaker 1: anything I said podcast. So you are forever a child
Speaker 1: whose parents have gone on vacation and you've been given to.
Speaker 1: Whatever the amount of money is, it's too much for
Speaker 1: you to be trusted with, even fifteen it's too much
Speaker 1: for you. Fifteen dollars is too much for you to
Speaker 1: be trusted with. Well, it's accurate. And then we were
Speaker 1: we get these media credentials. We realize that we can
Speaker 1: ask any NBA player we question we ever want. And
Speaker 1: I think C Jay enjoyed it the most. He was
Speaker 1: asking people if like you, was asking Blake Griffin, like,
Speaker 1: do you think people should really be impressed by like
Speaker 1: you jumping over a keya because the controversial thing and um,
Speaker 1: then he asked Wayne, wait if remember when he was
Speaker 1: the House of Highlights profile picks? So well, I just
Speaker 1: remember because like it's again, this is so crazy. What
Speaker 1: our jobs and lives have been since working this business
Speaker 1: is that because like at a TV network like ESPN,
Speaker 1: you make something or you pitch something and has to
Speaker 1: go through like eighteen different channels above you to make
Speaker 1: to get meaning to be in that room. You're probably
Speaker 1: a professional person, you know, you're probably a normal omar.
Speaker 1: And I don't want to I don't want to boast
Speaker 1: you up here because you've been boasted up enough or boosted,
Speaker 1: but you have the key. You have the keys to
Speaker 1: one of the biggest accounts at both places or at
Speaker 1: two places now. But that's how it's like, oh, omar,
Speaker 1: how am I going to get on the account? What
Speaker 1: do I gotta do? It's that became the game. Whenever
Speaker 1: we went to go like make stuff ourselves, it was
Speaker 1: he was like, asked Dwyane Wade how he felt. So
Speaker 1: I was like, oh, yeah, we could just go up
Speaker 1: and ask these people. Well, and I think for you,
Speaker 1: it's like stand up. We become so desensitized to saying
Speaker 1: crazy things two people, you know, like I have said
Speaker 1: to countless people, I will fucking kill you into a microphone.
Speaker 1: And I'm not going to kill that, absolutely not. But
Speaker 1: we just and that's not that's not even like a
Speaker 1: joke of mine. But there have been instances where that's
Speaker 1: so like our our normalcy of what is allowed and
Speaker 1: not allowed and what is like socially acceptable to say
Speaker 1: to people. Our gauge is fully broken. It's like when
Speaker 1: the radiators like, like, we have no idea, so you're
Speaker 1: willing to just ask people crazy things, whereas like a
Speaker 1: sports writer would be like, so you know, they're not
Speaker 1: going to be able to bosses who have like hired
Speaker 1: us and me like, oh, we're gonna get different stuff
Speaker 1: out of these guys as opposed to like the sound
Speaker 1: bite like you know we're doing different things shout out.
Speaker 1: It's not like it's not like it didn't work right, Like, no,
Speaker 1: we were jo like CJ had a bunch of clipouts
Speaker 1: from All Star Break, we did our Twitter show. Um,
Speaker 1: we had a bunch of clipouts because we did like
Speaker 1: the most like you got a haircut in the middle
Speaker 1: of your bizarre is it like like sports, Andy Milanakas. No,
Speaker 1: Like the thing is we spent so much time on
Speaker 1: this account that we know what's clippable, Like why we
Speaker 1: because a lot of these shows are a lot of filler.
Speaker 1: Everyone's reporting as is he hurt or is he not?
Speaker 1: Is he good to go? We're like, did you what
Speaker 1: I think television in general is so much filler like
Speaker 1: even and maybe that's a reality show thing too, so
Speaker 1: like sports and reality kind of, but it's like, just
Speaker 1: tell us what we long. Well, we had an hour
Speaker 1: and ten minutes shows, right, and we were like, if
Speaker 1: we think are going five minutes with the illusionist? Yeah,
Speaker 1: all we did was bringing animals. So like post we
Speaker 1: had this video where a toad was put on my
Speaker 1: lap while I was blindfolded, and it was a big hit.
Speaker 1: Literally I posted on TikTok. I was just like messing around.
Speaker 1: I was like, we're in quarantine. Let me make a TikTok.
Speaker 1: This is two days ago. That video now is a
Speaker 1: million views on TikTok two days um of a toad
Speaker 1: being put on my own without athlete, Like we didn't
Speaker 1: need a Nate Robinson or like a Nick Young in it.
Speaker 1: Like people knew your personality and was like, yeah, we
Speaker 1: want to see animals put on his head to see animals.
Speaker 1: At what moment did you go or I guess when
Speaker 1: you were younger and you were making these YouTube videos,
Speaker 1: did you ever think that the goal or what it
Speaker 1: ended up happening to you would be on camera stuff.
Speaker 1: I had to really get pushed to do on camera stuff.
Speaker 1: I know it was a little hard in the beginning.
Speaker 1: But any thoughts when you were younger, when when two
Speaker 1: thousand and eight, two thousand then when I was making
Speaker 1: YouTube videos, I did think it was going to lead
Speaker 1: to that point, but I never thought it was gonna
Speaker 1: be with like a corporation. But like all the if
Speaker 1: you look at all the YouTubers, they kind of just
Speaker 1: do it on their own and they have their own editor.
Speaker 1: They don't really work with companies unless like Nike or
Speaker 1: somebody wants to do like a quick little video with
Speaker 1: the sponsorship. So back then I did imagine it, and
Speaker 1: then what's funny is five, six, seven years later I
Speaker 1: didn't want to do it, and then credit to my
Speaker 1: boss at the time who pushed me to do it,
Speaker 1: and then we didn't done it years before I should
Speaker 1: have definitely done it. Well, I do think it's I mean,
Speaker 1: I say this as someone who's been like trying to
Speaker 1: get on camera since I was a fetus, but but
Speaker 1: I do think it's I'm not more than you, Okay.
Speaker 1: I do think it's kind of endearing for someone to
Speaker 1: be not want to be on you know, like when
Speaker 1: we take pictures of like our nieces and they really
Speaker 1: like our was saying, we're like Jesus, here we go.
Speaker 1: So it's it's totally fine to not want to be
Speaker 1: on camera and let your work and life speak for itself.
Speaker 1: But now you're as broken as we are, so welcome
Speaker 1: to the club. Yeah, does the game not the game
Speaker 1: or just you running Sports Center. Obviously you're bringing over
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff that you learned at House of Highlights,
Speaker 1: But does your priorities shift at all with on camera
Speaker 1: stuff or is it just like the job is bigger
Speaker 1: and the importance on curating this thing programming and also
Speaker 1: being ready for my own air segments. Yeah, the job
Speaker 1: definitely feels way bigger. Um. And I actually wasn't expecting
Speaker 1: that because the accounts at the time had like the
Speaker 1: same following. So I get that the sports that our
Speaker 1: brand is ten twenty a hundred times bigger than the
Speaker 1: House Highlights brand, But like I was like, oh, from
Speaker 1: a social perspective, they're kind of the same, like follower wise,
Speaker 1: so maybe people there won't be this big importance on it.
Speaker 1: But it was interesting even from the jump, like when
Speaker 1: my name was put in the bio, people were like, um,
Speaker 1: commentating about like commenting about whether that's right or whether
Speaker 1: it's wrong. They got proved pretty quickly that it was right,
Speaker 1: the right decision to make, but um, it was interesting
Speaker 1: that like, oh, like even though this account might have
Speaker 1: less followers than House of Highlights, people seem to have
Speaker 1: a lot more eyeballs on it for for whatever reason. UM,
Speaker 1: So that was the focus at first, Like the first
Speaker 1: three months, I was like, let me make sure this
Speaker 1: account isn't a good is in a good place. And
Speaker 1: then after that it was like, let me see, all right,
Speaker 1: ESPN has a real talent booking department. Let me see
Speaker 1: who I can work with. Um and then the pandemic
Speaker 1: kind of changes everything. So that's kind of been a bummer.
Speaker 1: But my first three or four months at ESPN were
Speaker 1: like amazing. Like I did a commercial with Magic Johnson
Speaker 1: Center commercial. Yeah, that was crazy. I was like, this
Speaker 1: is this is crazy? Um my, like Matgic Johnson literally
Speaker 1: made my head ball. This is this is ridiculous, Like
Speaker 1: this is ridiculous of the time. And then you guys
Speaker 1: went to the Onward premiere, UM, and you know what,
Speaker 1: I love that movie. I'm not guilty. I watched it.
Speaker 1: I watched on Disney Plus again. I think it was great.
Speaker 1: I swear to you. I think it's maybe c J
Speaker 1: didn't like it because he was asked to move out
Speaker 1: of the pictures. People were taking about them. Okay, yeah
Speaker 1: you were, You're so cute on a little stiff and repeat. Um, anyways,
Speaker 1: should we get to the topic. Let's roll on the
Speaker 1: topics and some more of these stories will pop up
Speaker 1: because this topic is very relevant to your expertise. Uh.
Speaker 1: Today we're talking greatest athletes on social media, so kind
Speaker 1: of just like who has the best presence on social
Speaker 1: media of an app for an athlete. So there's a topic.
Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break and then we'll come back
Speaker 1: with our picks. And we're back with our picks for
Speaker 1: greatest athletes on social media. Omar as our guests will
Speaker 1: give you your third pick, but your first to go
Speaker 1: my third pick. Yeah, we're gonna hate this one. I
Speaker 1: didn't know I was supposed to tear them out in
Speaker 1: the three to one, And it's because there's no other
Speaker 1: star like him that's active on social media the way
Speaker 1: he is. Right like Steph Curry, James Harden Westbrook, they
Speaker 1: don't only do Instagram stories. He's always showing off his family.
Speaker 1: He's doing Instagram lives, He's joking around with everybody, and
Speaker 1: he also shouted me out on social media. So that's
Speaker 1: why he's got at least top I mean, so his
Speaker 1: family is such a huge part of like I almost
Speaker 1: want to say his brand, but that's not but like
Speaker 1: I do think his family is they're the most showcase
Speaker 1: on on Instagram. That's where you get to like see
Speaker 1: their house and the Taco Tuesday, and like even when
Speaker 1: you made that short about when like Lebron missed the playoffs,
Speaker 1: you're able to do that because we know so much
Speaker 1: about his life of social media. I actually had Lebron
Speaker 1: as my honorable mention for one specific moment, which is
Speaker 1: when he called Trump a bum on Twitter and then
Speaker 1: he's Trump said nothing back, Like that's that is how,
Speaker 1: you know how powerful? Because Trump was going after Steph Curry,
Speaker 1: who was, you know, also an m v P, a
Speaker 1: Hall of Famer of multiple championship winner, like has an
Speaker 1: incredible resume, and then Lebron calls him a bum and
Speaker 1: he's just silent, and it's like, yeah, what do you
Speaker 1: want to say that to Lebron? What Like Trump is
Speaker 1: like I can I can talk ship to Steph Curry
Speaker 1: because he's a little guy. I think I think that's
Speaker 1: what he's doing now. It might be I don't know
Speaker 1: if it was Lebron who made me think this, but
Speaker 1: like for a long time, especially when athletes first started
Speaker 1: getting on social I was like, there's no way, they're
Speaker 1: the ones running this. There's no way to the ones
Speaker 1: clip and stuff, posting videos or typing out. But then
Speaker 1: like a Lebron seeing the Trump things, seeing the way
Speaker 1: he doesn't now, I'm like, it's he thinks of it,
Speaker 1: he types it, he hasn't read at his at his hands,
Speaker 1: and it's it's from him to Instagram. Because sometimes it's
Speaker 1: corny too, you know, like that's he's almost like vulnerable.
Speaker 1: It's endearing. He he puts it all out there. They
Speaker 1: also do the TikTok's, like his whole family does the
Speaker 1: tiktoks for like the last three months. They're all dancing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's yeah, some people will roast them on Twitter sometimes,
Speaker 1: so he'll he'll put it all out there, all right.
Speaker 1: Well that that leads perfectly into my pick. Okay, you
Speaker 1: thought you were gonna get made fun of mine. My
Speaker 1: number three pick is Brawny. Listen, because Brownie for other
Speaker 1: I'm just worried about c J M. Brawny. But it's
Speaker 1: like this is a trial, Okay, listen. We we've seen
Speaker 1: the phenomenon, especially with accounts like Overtime, like People Care
Speaker 1: and like Hoop Dreams, a documentary People caring about a
Speaker 1: high school athlete. But man, it is crazy. This kid
Speaker 1: is famous. He's Lebron's kid, but he is as big
Speaker 1: as like the Stranger Things kids. He's like, he's like
Speaker 1: on like teeny bopper magazines. I don't even know if
Speaker 1: those exactly because he's son. Yeah, but he's genuinely funny,
Speaker 1: like the otherstball did you did you you saw this
Speaker 1: omar where someone on stories Are on his live asked
Speaker 1: who his dad was and he said Steph Curry. Like
Speaker 1: I like that, he like it seems like he has
Speaker 1: a pretty normal teenager life and I like that. That
Speaker 1: almost makes me like Lebron even more that he has
Speaker 1: created a household like that. But it's gonna be crazy.
Speaker 1: We're we're excited when when Brawny first dunked and then
Speaker 1: they cut to his dad, like, it's crazy that we
Speaker 1: have that access, and it's it's interesting. You want to
Speaker 1: get Freaky Friday And with Brownie, I wouldn't a second
Speaker 1: I went in a second life right now for Brownie James.
Speaker 1: No going back to me. You're Brownie who on this
Speaker 1: podcast right now wouldn't do that. I wouldn't. You wouldn't
Speaker 1: trade lives not with I don't want to be a
Speaker 1: sixteen year old boy. You say no with Bronnie Omar.
Speaker 1: Who would it be then? Who would you trade lives with? Oh,
Speaker 1: lebron Le bron and Drake would probably the two people
Speaker 1: that probably a great life. They just have this great
Speaker 1: life where you can do anything they want. Megan, I
Speaker 1: keep my life with you. I keep my life with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: me too. I was just kidding, all right, Megan, this
Speaker 1: your guys just picked set up my pick in some
Speaker 1: ways to um. So my third pick is Kevin Durant.
Speaker 1: And this is only I know this seems strange. This
Speaker 1: is only because of the burner account phones and because
Speaker 1: like he's so he's so invested in social media. He
Speaker 1: was willing to lie, you know, like he cares about
Speaker 1: and no, social media is so important. He's like, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna pretend to be other people on so initial media,
Speaker 1: defending myself because I don't want people being mean to
Speaker 1: me on social media like that that. Actually it really
Speaker 1: shows dedication to social People are also like he's fun
Speaker 1: and does things. No, the burner accounts was so funny
Speaker 1: to me. And it was at this time when they
Speaker 1: were like, didn't the seventies six GM his like wife
Speaker 1: and him why it doesn't seem like it doesn't seem
Speaker 1: like the other leagues have burner count scandals like the
Speaker 1: n B A, Yeah, weird, this is It's a great
Speaker 1: way to bring this up because we all get comments
Speaker 1: on our content, especially when we're on screen. And I
Speaker 1: don't know about you guys, but like I obsess over
Speaker 1: the comments. Do I do anything about it most of
Speaker 1: the time? No, But what are you gonna do? Not
Speaker 1: be Filipino, but yeah, a lot of mine are just like,
Speaker 1: you got a weird shirt, I'm gonna find your He's
Speaker 1: like quick, complaining bitch, and I'm like, my whole life
Speaker 1: is complaining. But I can't not do that. But for
Speaker 1: someone at Katie's level to then find ways to react
Speaker 1: to those comments is beautiful. And I don't like, I
Speaker 1: didn't like Katie going to the Warriors, but I do
Speaker 1: like this side of Katie that is like, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: go and respond to my haters. And he got called
Speaker 1: out for it, they found him, and he's continued to
Speaker 1: do it. Yeah, because he quote he had a quote
Speaker 1: where he said I'm not going to stop. He's like,
Speaker 1: I just got caught that one time. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna keep doing and I love that he's still
Speaker 1: out there responding it's it's it's honestly funny because there
Speaker 1: is no it's it. It's not even it's not even
Speaker 1: a victimless crime because it's not a crime. It's just
Speaker 1: him like being like, don't be mean to me. It's
Speaker 1: it's on like a on a fun scale. He doesn't
Speaker 1: have Burner saying don't be mean to me. He's just like, up,
Speaker 1: it's great. Yeah, I think it's so funny. They're more like, no,
Speaker 1: Kevin Durant was super underrated and no help, but he
Speaker 1: deserves more. Phrase like that are all saying, yeah, it's
Speaker 1: like too specific. There's a comic, and I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: multiple comedians that have Burner accounts that defend them. But
Speaker 1: like I that's something people have to point out to
Speaker 1: me because I would never even imagine, like, there just
Speaker 1: seemed to be enough crazy people that do say weird
Speaker 1: things on the Internet that I wouldn't think you'd have
Speaker 1: to invent them. But Katie, I mean, he's a Trailblazerah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wonder what other NBA players might have one that
Speaker 1: we just haven't found out about. Yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: think the only reason why we Sorry, it's hard to
Speaker 1: like it's hard to catch some one. Yeah, right, the
Speaker 1: two instances, there has to be more. No, it's really
Speaker 1: the board kids of the internet who are doing that
Speaker 1: detective work to find it. And I think Katie's the
Speaker 1: only reason why he got found out because maybe he
Speaker 1: did a little too much, and because he is a
Speaker 1: player of that level, like he is one of the
Speaker 1: best basketball or on, like if I was as good
Speaker 1: as how did they catch co Angelo? Is that co Angelo?
Speaker 1: It was just like he was talking about seventies sixers
Speaker 1: players though, right, um, yeah, a little bit, just like
Speaker 1: he was just yeah, he was criticizing the organization and
Speaker 1: stuff and with someone like yeah, it's also like information
Speaker 1: that only he would know. Ye, well, come on then,
Speaker 1: like it was very very specific information that only he
Speaker 1: would know. But it turns out it was his wife,
Speaker 1: I believe, but like, yeah, yeah, I would do that
Speaker 1: for you. See, J appreciate You're welcome you. I like
Speaker 1: my feelings. It keeps me working hard, it keeps my
Speaker 1: drive going. I'm gonna I'll go in there. I'll be
Speaker 1: saying way too specific stuff, how your fart sound, your
Speaker 1: phone number, your social security don't men. And that's how
Speaker 1: I stand up for you. How because comics seem to
Speaker 1: get you know, even hate. It doesn't matter who you are, me, anybody,
Speaker 1: and even like Chappelle just comes this angry mob. How
Speaker 1: do you deal with it? Like does it ever bother you?
Speaker 1: Or do you kind of know like every comic at
Speaker 1: this point gets it, might as well just kind of
Speaker 1: keep moving on. Some stuff it does bother me. Like
Speaker 1: someone posted something talking shipped to me on like my
Speaker 1: Father's Day post to my dad, and I just was like,
Speaker 1: what do you do? Like you honestly you can come
Speaker 1: and talk ship to me about anything. Please don't say
Speaker 1: crazy shit like on posts with my family. There's enough
Speaker 1: photos of me by myself or me like in groups
Speaker 1: of comics, please like come there. Like now that's how
Speaker 1: that's how much it is. I'm having to police like
Speaker 1: how they do it. And so yeah, it's bad. My
Speaker 1: my d m s are actually like where where the
Speaker 1: bad stuff goes down? I remember, which kind of sucks
Speaker 1: because it's like now I'm the only one seeing this
Speaker 1: and you're you're saying insane things. I remember when we
Speaker 1: first started getting comments when our stuff started going, like
Speaker 1: our Twitter show stuff started going a pal mark, and
Speaker 1: then Megan was like check out my d ms where
Speaker 1: I would just see a DM come in and it
Speaker 1: was just like horrific. So I was like, yeah, there
Speaker 1: that period like me and you kind of got some
Speaker 1: flak in the beginning, like the first couple of episodes
Speaker 1: of like for whatever reason for a few days, and
Speaker 1: then you kind of get over it. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: true classic caters. Um. Yeah, so I've started a rule
Speaker 1: now I'll only talk ship and respond to people on Fridays. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So like other than that, I just kind of like
Speaker 1: keep it moving. But I definitely yeah, I mean my
Speaker 1: Tonight show comments are the worst. They're bad. They're really bad.
Speaker 1: It hurts, Yeah, it hurt your feelings. But then you're
Speaker 1: also like, I don't no one ever calls me a
Speaker 1: fat bitch anymore, Like that's kind of nice. Um. So
Speaker 1: I'm happy that my career sort of, um hit a
Speaker 1: new plane once I've lost weight, because if I would,
Speaker 1: if they're just like you, dumb bitch, that's a lot
Speaker 1: better than like you fat, like being called fat seventy
Speaker 1: five times a day. It does start to get to you,
Speaker 1: you know, people calling you fat. It's like for Omar
Speaker 1: and I, it's whatever brown like fictional characterism. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 1: like a Laddin or Jackie Chance. Oh, they make fun
Speaker 1: of my knees, like a guy made fun of my knees. Um,
Speaker 1: and I was like, wow, like that's how hot I
Speaker 1: am that you have to go to my knees to
Speaker 1: find something like I Actually that's a win for me. Okay, Omar,
Speaker 1: give us your number two. My number two is actually
Speaker 1: honest onto Okay, not because of anything he really does
Speaker 1: on like Twitter or Instagram. It's really his TikTok's. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you've seen him and his brother started
Speaker 1: dancing around the house. But also he has a newborn.
Speaker 1: Never the person to say this, but those like the
Speaker 1: cutest videos. Yeah, son is a good mix of like
Speaker 1: cute videos, but also him and his brother who's also
Speaker 1: in the NBA. Now was the we were watching one
Speaker 1: of his TikTok's and the little bit baby was like
Speaker 1: checking somebody out or was accusing the baby of that.
Speaker 1: And that's what Yeah, him and his wife, Um and
Speaker 1: his brother, it just all seems very very genuine. It's
Speaker 1: like never put on because it is corny, like and
Speaker 1: it's crazy that he is. Him and Lebron are the
Speaker 1: two contenders for m v P. But they're like really
Speaker 1: corny on social media or a lot of corny. But yeah,
Speaker 1: they're corny is such an interesting word because they are
Speaker 1: specimens of like athletic feats, you know, like they're six
Speaker 1: seven six eight chiseled muscles. So it's like you can
Speaker 1: be It's like when the Rock is corny, It's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: you could kill all of us, like be corny. It's
Speaker 1: it's kind of fun. Now do you feel that way
Speaker 1: when you're corny? Because you're just through, just in all
Speaker 1: aspects of life. Omar has told me to delete stuff
Speaker 1: from my Instagram account, like what me eating at cheeseburg
Speaker 1: I thought you were. It's this one. It's the picture
Speaker 1: where he's doing this. I know this is an audio
Speaker 1: podcastle I has Burger and I texted him, I think
Speaker 1: I texted. I was like, I just want you to know,
Speaker 1: like I saw this post. I ever see a CJ
Speaker 1: post on my timeline immediately double tap. I'm avoiding this.
Speaker 1: I'm not supporting it. I hate so damn much. Would
Speaker 1: you ever make fun of him for posting like sentimental,
Speaker 1: cheesy stuff about our relationship. You know what, I don't
Speaker 1: remember doing it with you. Maybe CJ can call me out.
Speaker 1: I have a friendly Warris that like we bashed in
Speaker 1: every time because it's just like there there's an acceptable
Speaker 1: amount of like you know that that person has to
Speaker 1: do these things birthday anniversaries. It's kind of like the Staples. Yeah, like,
Speaker 1: oh I love you even like the random I love you.
Speaker 1: That's like one of our friends that I think CJ
Speaker 1: has even met him. Oh he actually, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: Warris actually went to your show in Brooklyn and I
Speaker 1: an iconic night, lost it. He lost and he was like,
Speaker 1: this is hilarious. You're really good that night, Megan, and
Speaker 1: she I hate when you say that because you also
Speaker 1: are amazing at thinking on your feet. Um, because I
Speaker 1: remember someone said something about a dumb white girl who
Speaker 1: looked just like me tried to school me on racial
Speaker 1: relations just sitting with glasses in Williamsburg. And that's honey,
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to pack a lunch. Okay, you're not
Speaker 1: going to be able to do mad about it? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: let it go. Okay, So boris yours boris his girlfriend
Speaker 1: all the time, all the time. They're finally married now,
Speaker 1: but it still hasn't stopped because they're like living together.
Speaker 1: They got married during the quarantine, so it's been like
Speaker 1: three months. We're going to the beach and I'm like,
Speaker 1: gotta live every little moment they have. Ye me and
Speaker 1: Drew have done that shout out to our other or
Speaker 1: my former co worker, Drew, but we've done a lot
Speaker 1: of that around you of like, I very much mean
Speaker 1: everything I say about you on on social media, Megan,
Speaker 1: But in the back room, I'm like, I'm gonna get
Speaker 1: roasted by Omar for this and then you go. But
Speaker 1: it's worth it. But it's worth it. I think if
Speaker 1: Omar and Drew on all my friends at Bleach Report
Speaker 1: that first time when I was like leaving because I
Speaker 1: wanted to forward this relationship, wanted to figure out this
Speaker 1: life in l A. They were all four. They never
Speaker 1: went like, dude, I think you're making a big mistake. Well,
Speaker 1: I think because you were the mobiest, saddest person in
Speaker 1: New York like you were no no one had a
Speaker 1: six figure job and been sadder than c J, especially
Speaker 1: in New York City. If you think about it like
Speaker 1: I met a lot of like cool people in New
Speaker 1: York that seemed really loved the city. Yeah, and you
Speaker 1: lived in Detroit and seemed like, rather we are in
Speaker 1: the city, man, people dream of living here and you
Speaker 1: hate it. Well, no, c J would rather live into Peka, Kansas,
Speaker 1: the New York City a bit of that. So I
Speaker 1: always want to talk to Brian Wynn Horse and be like,
Speaker 1: so you're like one of the top guys and you
Speaker 1: live in Omaha, Like, tell me about it, because I
Speaker 1: want we'll see like a horse just like on the
Speaker 1: road somewhere and he's like, we gotta move out here,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, we're not moving out here, honey, this
Speaker 1: is fine. Okay, who's your number two? My number two pick?
Speaker 1: And I want backstory from Omar on this is Carmelo
Speaker 1: Anthony and it's not particularly of what he did. I
Speaker 1: think he really changed the game for all of us,
Speaker 1: just like I don't know you or whoever just zeroed
Speaker 1: in his training videos with Brickley back in the Day's
Speaker 1: trainer just zero end on what could have been like
Speaker 1: boring videos back in the day, but then found why
Speaker 1: they're entertaining. Like with then I'm speaking about like Hoodie Mellow.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking about like the sort of this nickname thing,
Speaker 1: and I want to hear a little bit omar about
Speaker 1: what you were thinking about in that moment, because I
Speaker 1: really do think that House of Highlights is was very
Speaker 1: instrumental in Hoodie Mellow being a thing, Mellow's comeback in general,
Speaker 1: and then just also the phenomenon of just like we
Speaker 1: always say, like Henny j R. Or like, you know,
Speaker 1: just that that nickname device. So and I've always enjoyed
Speaker 1: and I've always thought Mellow was sort of the beginner
Speaker 1: of that. And social was Yeah, I mean two thousand seventeen,
Speaker 1: that summer was like when Hoodie Mellow became a thing,
Speaker 1: and like he was at the end of his New
Speaker 1: York Knick career and no one was talking about like
Speaker 1: no one seemed to even care about what he was
Speaker 1: up to, and it felt like he was kind of
Speaker 1: washed and done with. So, you know, one of my
Speaker 1: best friends also is his trainer and put out all
Speaker 1: these videos and I was like, I don't know if
Speaker 1: it was me, if it was Chris that was like,
Speaker 1: let's just do like this is an alter ego. And
Speaker 1: you know, there was a hashtag Hoodie Mellow, and it
Speaker 1: kind of became this like alter ego of like Mellow
Speaker 1: is now better than he ever was. Um, he got
Speaker 1: a ninety eight overall rating and NBA two K Jordan
Speaker 1: Brand started telling the Hoodie Mellow hoodie I never got
Speaker 1: a cut of that, which bullshit. But um, that was
Speaker 1: like a two or three month period that didn't end.
Speaker 1: Because what happened was all the players that would come
Speaker 1: to New York, because every NBA player stops in New
Speaker 1: York during the summer, at least at one point, it
Speaker 1: was like Lebron, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden. They
Speaker 1: all wanted to come to the court that Hoodie Mellow
Speaker 1: was playing at and play against Hoodie Mellow, and it
Speaker 1: became a thing. And I was like, oh, it's gonna
Speaker 1: be like this one summer, but every year people want
Speaker 1: to see like Hoodie Mellow and he's pickups. China Clay
Speaker 1: became a thing like bearded Clay. Also do rag glance
Speaker 1: Like it's just become this bizarre thing that never ends.
Speaker 1: That's wild. And do you think mellows he's embraced it
Speaker 1: like he he loves it now, because I mean he
Speaker 1: gets like made fun of for being old. He's like
Speaker 1: one of the oldest superstars now. I think people were
Speaker 1: people were kind of roasting the pickup games when he
Speaker 1: kind was in and out in Houston, And there was
Speaker 1: a point where that summer, the next summer after you
Speaker 1: got cut, people were like, he should play in the
Speaker 1: Big Three and not play, not do these pickup games.
Speaker 1: But they turned out to be wrong because then like
Speaker 1: he got signed by Portland and then has been flourishing since. So, um,
Speaker 1: you got the last laugh on that one. Yeah, Portland's
Speaker 1: flying to the bubble was some fun social media. The
Speaker 1: bathroom and mellows in the background when people are singing
Speaker 1: and he looks mad like he's kind of someone who.
Speaker 1: Durant does this too when they need to be the heel.
Speaker 1: They play the heel with like a little bit of
Speaker 1: like a wink and a smile. Um, and so it's
Speaker 1: kind of like, ah, they're in on it right, which
Speaker 1: is which is in comedy that's like the best, you know,
Speaker 1: So they're they're sappy in that way too. Okay, My
Speaker 1: number two very topical. We're leaving basketball for the first pick, wow,
Speaker 1: and lots of them. Um and I went with Bubba Wallace,
Speaker 1: who is one i've like recently become a huge fan of.
Speaker 1: But I also think, you know, like when he is
Speaker 1: in a sport where he is the only black person,
Speaker 1: it is historically white, historically Southern, historically racist. Like, there
Speaker 1: is no battle bigger than what Babba Wallace has faced.
Speaker 1: And he got NASCAR to ban Confederate flags almost overnight
Speaker 1: because because of you know, that's extremely courageous and brave
Speaker 1: to even ask them to do. But I also think
Speaker 1: he's really savvy and is able to reach people on
Speaker 1: social media that are not NASCAR fans, but that are
Speaker 1: fans of Black Lives Matter, and they're being a quality
Speaker 1: in sports and society as a whole. Because it's like,
Speaker 1: I I wasn't ASCAR fan. I went to NASCAR racist
Speaker 1: with my dad, like and and we actually stopped going because, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I heard some of the most vile things yelled at
Speaker 1: NASCAR races. I'm like, we liked Jeff Gordon, and I
Speaker 1: didn't know, you know, my parents are from New York
Speaker 1: living Indiana, and my dad went into like embrace being
Speaker 1: a Hoosier and so he was like, oh, yeah, I
Speaker 1: like the number twenty four car. They always say the
Speaker 1: car number. And so we got into NASCAR and then
Speaker 1: we went to the race. We like Jeff Gordon. Jeff
Speaker 1: Gordon wins. All these people hate Jeff Gordon and we
Speaker 1: were like, we can't figure it out. And it's just like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: he is truly attractive and smart and they hate that,
Speaker 1: like they just couldn't stand that he wasn't one of
Speaker 1: them and like, uh like spitting whatever they spit on
Speaker 1: the track. And and so I think what Bubba will
Speaker 1: end up doing and and this is just a positive
Speaker 1: side effect, is he's going to bring a lot of
Speaker 1: people back to NASCAR that maybe we're never gonna be
Speaker 1: into it or we're into it and didn't like the
Speaker 1: vibe like me, And yeah, I think he's been able
Speaker 1: to change the reputation of an entire sport in a
Speaker 1: matter of weeks. And that obviously is like a huge
Speaker 1: testament to the other NASCAR drivers, to the owners, to
Speaker 1: Richard Petty, who I would not have imagined this ever
Speaker 1: coming from. But he he posts things that are like cool, funny,
Speaker 1: he looks awesome, Like it's a perfect storm of like
Speaker 1: oh yeah you are you are black panther of Nascar.
Speaker 1: You are like a superhero to us. Now, no, it
Speaker 1: is uh. I thought Bubba Wallace was white, you know
Speaker 1: this whole ti before, just because he was a NASCAR driver,
Speaker 1: know when when someone was like can when he spoke
Speaker 1: up and they it was all kind of happened really fast. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and then and then they were like, the Confederate flag
Speaker 1: is banned from NASCAR due to you know, speaking up
Speaker 1: from Bubba Wallace and his team. And I was like, man,
Speaker 1: it's really a big deal when a white dude name
Speaker 1: Bubba gets this. And then someone was like he's not white,
Speaker 1: and I looked. I was like, oh ship, And now
Speaker 1: I'm like fan. And that's why I like M Kaepernick too.
Speaker 1: It's like these players who have been told to like
Speaker 1: shut up and dribble or just put your sport and
Speaker 1: not speak up because you know, just also the thinking
Speaker 1: of like nothing's gonna happen, like Bubba Wallace has shown
Speaker 1: in these short you know, month or a month and
Speaker 1: a half that you know you can you can change,
Speaker 1: you can cause some real chill, and you can say
Speaker 1: if you don't want to be a part of that change,
Speaker 1: bald weird man who'd never want a race, right, and
Speaker 1: you get the funk out of here. Yeah, it was cool.
Speaker 1: Was the amount of drivers that were immediately supporting him,
Speaker 1: Like that walk to the front was amazing. The photo
Speaker 1: is like that selfie that he took was amazing. Um.
Speaker 1: And yeah, I think what you said also about like
Speaker 1: bringing you fans like I never would have watched the
Speaker 1: NASCAR race. Ive never been watching NASCAR race. The amount
Speaker 1: of people that you saw, whether it was on Twitter
Speaker 1: or just social media in general that tuned in to
Speaker 1: watch it, like I was at a restaurant standing up
Speaker 1: like at the TV, like rooting for him. Um. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean we'll see, but I think it definitely a
Speaker 1: is bringing way more. And I think that pressure, like
Speaker 1: people will call this virtue signaling or like oh they're
Speaker 1: just doing it because the cameras are there. Well okay,
Speaker 1: but they still did it. They still walked with him,
Speaker 1: and and the pressure of social media probably encouraged them
Speaker 1: to do that, like do you want to be the
Speaker 1: last one standing with the Confederate flag and your with
Speaker 1: your pit crew Like no, you're gonna be shamed. And
Speaker 1: and so I do think social media is like that
Speaker 1: that mob mentality sometimes does lead to positive things, even
Speaker 1: if it's you don't think it's genuine. If enough of
Speaker 1: them were genuine, then then maybe the disingenuous ones will
Speaker 1: come along. But let's say that as a white girl
Speaker 1: named Megan, So who knows. Um, should we take a
Speaker 1: break and then we'll come back with our number one
Speaker 1: picks and we are back. Um, we're gonna be doing
Speaker 1: our number one picks. Greatest athletes of social Media? Oh
Speaker 1: are you are our guests? So you will be our
Speaker 1: grand finale CJ. That means you're up any honorable mentions?
Speaker 1: I had an honorable mention Juju Smith Schuster. I don't
Speaker 1: know about so much anymore, but like when I was
Speaker 1: working like the bike I like the bike stuff. I
Speaker 1: think he was like one of the first sort of
Speaker 1: Fortnite like what Fortnite athletes you know he was, Yeah,
Speaker 1: he was like doing celebrations based on Fortnite dances or whatever.
Speaker 1: And and now there's just like such a movement of
Speaker 1: players playing video games like playing we we run more
Speaker 1: Josh Hart highlights playing war Zone than him. So Drag
Speaker 1: Race All Stars is on right now, and my one
Speaker 1: of my favorite queens like ever is on it, and
Speaker 1: her name is Jujuby and she goes by Juju, and
Speaker 1: so I tweeted about Juju. I was like, I love Juju.
Speaker 1: I wish Juju was my coworker. And then all these
Speaker 1: people were like Shuster and I was like, oh, wow,
Speaker 1: there's a drag queen and famous football player. And then
Speaker 1: there's a woman who's an activist who I worked with,
Speaker 1: whose name is Juju too, and I'm like, wow, jujus
Speaker 1: are batting a thousand drag queen, activist and Steelers player
Speaker 1: to get me to l That's a big deal. It's
Speaker 1: a huge deal. So but my number one pick is
Speaker 1: I'm sorry it's basketball again, but it's j R. Smith.
Speaker 1: J R. Smith is I And I don't want to
Speaker 1: say like I don't want because I I love JR.
Speaker 1: Love that he's on the Lakers, Like this means a
Speaker 1: lot for the bubble, this means a lot for the
Speaker 1: NBA when he's active. But yeah, I mean he was
Speaker 1: with the do you want to get this pipe? And
Speaker 1: again people are trying trying to get the pipe. You
Speaker 1: can look it up on your own, but it's like
Speaker 1: that was some of the earliest sort of NBA pop
Speaker 1: culture crossover overlap that I've ever experienced, and I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like there's a more There's an entertaining aspect
Speaker 1: about these players off off court that I'd like to explore.
Speaker 1: And like JR was one of the first people to
Speaker 1: show me that how great. I mean, he's been in
Speaker 1: the bubble what three days, and it's already been a
Speaker 1: guest amazing. He's already given us so much. His iglave
Speaker 1: was something special, even like he can read stuff off
Speaker 1: of damn menu and it's just entertaining. So also he
Speaker 1: provides like a free behind the scenes of that Lakers team,
Speaker 1: and like, I don't think any other player was going
Speaker 1: to do that but j R B and j R.
Speaker 1: And he has no problem going on I G Live
Speaker 1: and answering every question about anybody like the one waiters
Speaker 1: had to be like, yes, no one's gonna think I'm
Speaker 1: gonna fuck anything up because and and him just being like, man,
Speaker 1: already got in trouble, Like he's like, because I got
Speaker 1: the call, the last thing you should do after you
Speaker 1: get in trouble for being on I G Live is
Speaker 1: go on I G Live again. And he's like, guys,
Speaker 1: I can't be doing this every He's just so yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean him with his shirt off. He's obviously one
Speaker 1: of the greatest like memes of all time. Him not
Speaker 1: knowing the score, so like him just being himself has
Speaker 1: elevated our social media just getting to use him, and
Speaker 1: it makes me root for him real hard though, it
Speaker 1: really does. Like, I hope he averages ten twelve and
Speaker 1: makes every three and wins more funny. I hope Lebron
Speaker 1: does not break a hand this year. Yeah, I hope
Speaker 1: it's a I hope it's a positive. I hope it's
Speaker 1: a beautiful reunion. Yeah, alright, okay, uber one, al right,
Speaker 1: my number one pick. Oh, I do have one honorable
Speaker 1: mention in basketball and bead. I just love his um
Speaker 1: the Rihanna, the Kim Carter. I loved all that um
Speaker 1: but I don't think his social media has actually been
Speaker 1: that fun since then. So vintage embiid um my number
Speaker 1: one pick in tennis. I find a way to put
Speaker 1: her on almost every single UM list we do. It
Speaker 1: is Serena Williams. But I'm gonna tell you why. So
Speaker 1: Serena twelve and a half million followers, amazing, she does fashion,
Speaker 1: tennis and then most importantly for I think her Instagram
Speaker 1: Alexis Olympia, who is her daughter, who has I think
Speaker 1: almost a million, like six hundred seven hundred thousand. Um,
Speaker 1: she a baby, I mean she's under two, but she's
Speaker 1: so cute and they recently their little tennis outfits together.
Speaker 1: But then Alexis Olympia's Instagram is so good that her doll,
Speaker 1: quake Way, has its own Instagram. Have you ever seen Quakeways,
Speaker 1: So quake Way became me maybe a since the first
Speaker 1: time she was a sensation was the Australian Open a
Speaker 1: few years ago where Alexis Olympia had quake Way with
Speaker 1: her and she is just obsessed with this doll that
Speaker 1: now quake ways Instagram has a hundred and forty three
Speaker 1: thousand followers. It's the real quake Way. It's quake Way
Speaker 1: is doing amazing works for Black Lives Matter. She has
Speaker 1: a bunch of places that you can donate. She's quake
Speaker 1: Ways made some really good videos like explaining a quality
Speaker 1: and um, what quake Ways going through during quarantine. And
Speaker 1: obviously Serena's husband created Reddit, which doesn't feel like a
Speaker 1: social media but it kind of feels like a gas
Speaker 1: station for social media trolls, you know, like they got
Speaker 1: to go fill up there before they can go back
Speaker 1: out into the world. So it's maybe it's just sort
Speaker 1: of like the Williams A Hannah as that you say,
Speaker 1: the same family as a whole, quake Way Alexis, Mr
Speaker 1: Serena Williams, Serena Williams and quake Way together, the four
Speaker 1: of them, they're an unstoppable, an unstoppable quit quartets. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean quake Way impressive and fighting for equality. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she's so. I think you will love quake Ways page.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be like, this is somebody doing something real.
Speaker 1: I'd also love to know, like who is really running
Speaker 1: the quake Way page. I just don't know how. I
Speaker 1: was getting made fun of for brawny, but then you're
Speaker 1: shouting out a doll owned by a two year old Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Serena Williams daughter's doll is part of a larger grand
Speaker 1: scheme of influencers on social media and their content is
Speaker 1: always heartwarming and pushing for social justice. Love it, Thank you,
Speaker 1: c J Alright, Omar, bring us home. So my honorable
Speaker 1: mention was Dwyane Wade. Okay, because the hair obviously all
Speaker 1: the things have been doing now also on T and T,
Speaker 1: Gabrielle Union, say Gabrielle Union there that will include everybody
Speaker 1: and his whole like his whole lifestyle just seems very interested.
Speaker 1: So Wade's my honorable mention. But my number one is
Speaker 1: Shaquille O'Neil. Yeah, because of all the DJ videos, it's
Speaker 1: him dancing and picking up rock groundkowski and messing around.
Speaker 1: Even two weeks ago he dunked and broke the ring
Speaker 1: and then threw it down and was like talking a
Speaker 1: bunch of crap um and then it like, literally, what
Speaker 1: I've been doing during quarantine is I've been going through
Speaker 1: the best Shaquille O'Neill Instagram post and posting them on
Speaker 1: Sports Center And there's some of our best posts of
Speaker 1: the year, so we don't give away too much. O'Neill
Speaker 1: is the number one personal social media And you know,
Speaker 1: I was thinking about him, but I honestly think of
Speaker 1: him as such a massive TV star like that, you know,
Speaker 1: we almost take for granted everything else he does. But
Speaker 1: like you showed me his feet the other day. It
Speaker 1: was that on I don't know that might have been
Speaker 1: on Sports Center House Highlands. Oh god, his feet are wild.
Speaker 1: And when he lost the bet, and then he went
Speaker 1: like balled or he all about bond and messing around
Speaker 1: and it's great. No, I mean, so I want to
Speaker 1: ask you. I guess because I was thinking about shock too.
Speaker 1: And I think he really does have the thing in
Speaker 1: his head where he goes, I'm gonna do this or
Speaker 1: we gotta do this because it will go viral. Like
Speaker 1: I think he yes, I think he plays into that.
Speaker 1: I think he wants to go viral. I think a
Speaker 1: lot of the guys you know I've talked, I've talked
Speaker 1: to someone, they've been pretty open about like especially the
Speaker 1: NBA rookies going into like going into a season. If
Speaker 1: you talk to one, they'll ask, what do I have
Speaker 1: to do to take the paper go viral? And I
Speaker 1: always tell them, like, fifty percent is that you be
Speaker 1: really good at your sport, and the other fifty percent
Speaker 1: is like people say, oh, they're just like us, they're
Speaker 1: relatable or like, yo, he seems so fun to hang
Speaker 1: out with. So those are the two things that people
Speaker 1: really seem to gravitate towards. And checked this both right,
Speaker 1: it's cool to hang out with, but also relatable because
Speaker 1: you'll make fun of himself and seemed like it will
Speaker 1: feel like, what, you're a goofy friend, even though he's
Speaker 1: like the least relatable person in so rich, he's so giant,
Speaker 1: his life couldn't be any more different, But we're like
Speaker 1: what a pal? Now are our players? Athletes do? Do
Speaker 1: they want to make the paper go viral boost their
Speaker 1: social media because there's a point now where they're actually
Speaker 1: seeing it impact their playing career too. Maybe, like I
Speaker 1: think it also helps with Like I think it might
Speaker 1: just be like I can make more money and people
Speaker 1: like attention. People like you would be surprised. I think
Speaker 1: I was like one of the All Star games, the
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen or the two thousand seventeen NBA All
Speaker 1: Star Game, and I was like, oh my god. Half
Speaker 1: of the people on this roster have d M House
Speaker 1: of highlights trying to be featured on the page. So
Speaker 1: it's not always about like it's gonna help their playing careers.
Speaker 1: They're all stars, they're gonna play forever, and they're never
Speaker 1: they're gonna they're making so much money that doesn't even matter.
Speaker 1: It seems like sometimes people just like attention and some
Speaker 1: of the drama, even like there was an ESPN article
Speaker 1: about Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, and seemed like some
Speaker 1: of the issue was like who's getting more attention, even
Speaker 1: though like one, I think Gobert is getting like a
Speaker 1: max contract million, Donovan Mitchell is getting like four million,
Speaker 1: But Rudy Gobert seems to have some issue about Donovan
Speaker 1: getting a little bit more attention. So that's what Rudy,
Speaker 1: guess what, you got a lot of attention this year.
Speaker 1: You know, you got the most attention of maybe any
Speaker 1: NBA player. That's a good point. What's that. I didn't
Speaker 1: even think about that. I forgot like he got the
Speaker 1: most attention out of any NBA player in the history
Speaker 1: of mark every which ever he wins and loses. But also,
Speaker 1: you know there's people that are first rightfully so mad
Speaker 1: at him. I also think that him testing positive and
Speaker 1: vocal probably got stuff shut down a lot. You know,
Speaker 1: people believe, but now we're here in July and people
Speaker 1: still don't believe. So I don't know, maybe we need
Speaker 1: another Rudy Gobert. Well, I felt like Rubert Rudy got it.
Speaker 1: That was like for me to like that I didn't
Speaker 1: believe in or anything like that, but I was like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need yeah, So the NBA shuts down and two
Speaker 1: days later, every single sport ever shuts down. And I
Speaker 1: think if the NBA didn't take that lead, it would
Speaker 1: have been another month or three weeks before these leads
Speaker 1: should now. Yeah, and while we're speaking about kind of
Speaker 1: a de honorable mention, I want to I want to
Speaker 1: shout out and I know you know this guy and
Speaker 1: as Cantor, he just steals tweets. Yeah, yeah, so d
Speaker 1: last night he was like yeah, and it's still another
Speaker 1: tweet that went viral, and come on, you gotta stop.
Speaker 1: He is the fat Jew of the Eastern, an existing character.
Speaker 1: I don't want anyone that, yes, that you're called that
Speaker 1: Jew is the man with the tall hair who makes
Speaker 1: white Girl rose and steals tweets, and Cantor is him. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just don't know why he needs to do that.
Speaker 1: But you know, people want to be like they want
Speaker 1: to go viral pop. There's something about like going viral
Speaker 1: that makes people's day. Yeah. You would think my thing
Speaker 1: was like, okay, once you go get go viral, once
Speaker 1: it should be enough, like you realize it's nothing. And
Speaker 1: people seem to like just want to keep going viral.
Speaker 1: You know it doesn't that much. No, it's just essentially
Speaker 1: in quarantine. You know, it's just you at home, like,
Speaker 1: well these are my likes now? Well, no, c J,
Speaker 1: I would say it does. Going viral for like a
Speaker 1: normal person quote unquote can make their day, make your reer,
Speaker 1: Like look at all the TikTok stars, But like for
Speaker 1: Ennis Canner, he's sweet. Getting thousand retweets doesn't change anything.
Speaker 1: It's because he's been called out, I don't know a
Speaker 1: few times and he's still doing it. So it's like, well,
Speaker 1: and you would see people commenting on the one he
Speaker 1: stole from c J, and they'd be like, come on, man,
Speaker 1: I really liked you when you came to the Celtics,
Speaker 1: but now this is like the third tweet you've stolen.
Speaker 1: So he's like losing basketball fae once for stealing tweets
Speaker 1: this and this is a whole another podcast. I want
Speaker 1: to end things here because I know you've got some
Speaker 1: stuff to do. Oh more. But Rex Chapman is just
Speaker 1: another shout out to it, like, yeah, unbelievable. I think
Speaker 1: everyone who follows him now, like on on Instagram, I
Speaker 1: mean on Twitter, like they don't know he was a
Speaker 1: former NBA player like had a decent career where I
Speaker 1: didn't know that Rex Chatman was an NBA player into
Speaker 1: like three or four months ago. And my job is
Speaker 1: to live on social media and like know all this stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he has like a E sixty. He's had like a
Speaker 1: trouble back, and it's really cool to see like he
Speaker 1: seems to really be flourishing on on Twitter. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: it's getting bigger, Like it wasn't like this niche NBA thing.
Speaker 1: It's become a lot bigger than that. Oh yeah, he's
Speaker 1: mainstream now for sure. Yeah alright, well, Omar, thank you
Speaker 1: so much. Like what do you want to plug? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we don't need a nothing's gonna help you help your plugs.
Speaker 1: But what can we look forward to, whether we're in
Speaker 1: pandemic or when we get out of it from ut
Speaker 1: ESPN Oh, I mean just the NBA coming back. I
Speaker 1: think one of the really nice things has been that,
Speaker 1: like I don't have to just do NBA. So college
Speaker 1: football like fingers crossed, but I'm not sure if it's
Speaker 1: gonna come back. But the UFC stuff has been super interesting,
Speaker 1: um Connor McGregor, even last night with Org mos Vidal,
Speaker 1: Like there seems to be this NBA similar with the UFC.
Speaker 1: Of like, it's a very international audience. It's a huge
Speaker 1: audience and people seem to really care about this stuff
Speaker 1: and there's a bunch of personality. So pay attention to
Speaker 1: what's going on with the NBA, but also like these
Speaker 1: UFC fights cool. So at Omar on Instagram, you got
Speaker 1: that Omar at Omar on TikTok to putting on TikTok.
Speaker 1: Here's what happened. I got at Omar on TikTok and
Speaker 1: now that's put kind of pressure on me to put
Speaker 1: out content on TikTok. So I haven't figured it out.
Speaker 1: I'm going on two posts. The last post has a
Speaker 1: million views. It was with CJ. Literally um the toad
Speaker 1: video where a toad is put on LA so check out.
Speaker 1: You know what, don't even worry about my Instagram account.
Speaker 1: Just follow at Omar on TikTok because I have to.
Speaker 1: That will put pressure on me to figure out TikTok. Listen, Omar,
Speaker 1: who did you hire when you wanted original content on
Speaker 1: House of Highlights? I hired CJ, So listen. I'll fly
Speaker 1: to l A right, I'll wear a mask, I'll quarantine
Speaker 1: and we'll figure out something. It's all good. I'm having
Speaker 1: a nice time at House of Highlight. Thank you again
Speaker 1: for that. Thank you for your time. Megan. Anything to plug, um, gosh,
Speaker 1: turn him to laughs any more? You got eliminated? Come
Speaker 1: on up? Um yeah, just just my Instagram and my Twitter. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I like that. I'm that I'm one of the greatest
Speaker 1: alright at CJ Toldono at Begar better at Better Megan
Speaker 1: Gailey and Megan Gaily at Megan Gailey. Uh, there has
Speaker 1: been another episode of the Greatest. Thanks for listening and
Speaker 1: keep us suggestions for subscribing and rating, and and yeah
Speaker 1: sending us topics. We love that. Stay safe, stay healthy,
Speaker 1: Hi guys. The Greatest is a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
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