Speaker 1: Welcome to the Greatest, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to another episode of the Greatest. I'm Megan
Speaker 1: Gaily joined in my home. Um, surrounded by festive, beautiful
Speaker 1: decorations that have been put up by my co host.
Speaker 1: Um we don't. We don't just host the podcast together,
Speaker 1: we also decorate our home and make love together. Um.
Speaker 1: Please welcome my co host and husband, C. J. Colado.
Speaker 1: How's it going. My number one credit is I make
Speaker 1: love to Megan High to our parents in law who
Speaker 1: heard that. Um, wells, I mean legally they're your parents.
Speaker 1: But how how are you doing? Yeah? Very very festive
Speaker 1: around here. Um, we were like, we're gonna be trapped here,
Speaker 1: so we really went all outland reath, three multiple glittered
Speaker 1: gold reindeer statues. Um. My mom informed me that there
Speaker 1: are two bins, giant bins filled with snowmen. She didn't
Speaker 1: want anymore traveling from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. As we speak,
Speaker 1: I can't wait to welcome those cuddly cutie boys into
Speaker 1: our house. Our snowmen. Yeah, there's snow men. I honestly
Speaker 1: for it to be like a snow woman, she needs
Speaker 1: to have some sort of stereotypical woman. No, I was
Speaker 1: going to say, like an apron. All right, well, um whatever,
Speaker 1: because I do want our Our guests are very close
Speaker 1: friend uh fellows Los Angeles comedian uh runs a awesome
Speaker 1: show in West Covina called The chatter Box and has
Speaker 1: so many podcasts. We've got the Male Gaze, Who's Your God?
Speaker 1: Views from the Vista, which maybe on hiatus now because
Speaker 1: um no, it's not. It's not. All right, okay, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna talk about it. It's not on hold. It's going.
Speaker 1: Those are three podcasts right there. So the ladies and
Speaker 1: gentlemen please welcome our guest, Steve Hernandez. All right, thank
Speaker 1: you guys, so good to be here. Megan. Megan said,
Speaker 1: you guys make love I think together, which is not
Speaker 1: the same you said CJ that you had sex with her,
Speaker 1: but her way was more. It was like, oh, we're fun.
Speaker 1: This is a co co op kind of situation. I
Speaker 1: like them. Yeah, thank you. It was really just I
Speaker 1: messed up because make love together almost sounds like we
Speaker 1: make love with different people next to each other. Well
Speaker 1: that's that's you know, not yet, but we'll see in
Speaker 1: twenty years. Second second lockdown and we can't even make
Speaker 1: love in our backyard with straight so second lockdown, just
Speaker 1: ce J and me. We'll see in twenty years how
Speaker 1: it all ends up. Hopefully we'll all have enough money
Speaker 1: to be part of some kind of l a Illuminati thing.
Speaker 1: So I see, I'm down with that. I'm the current situation.
Speaker 1: This is a me and Megan situation. But in twenty years,
Speaker 1: if we're for loading and board, why not well yea, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: you're saying, if you get rich enough, you will become
Speaker 1: a swinger. I can't wait to watch this journey for you.
Speaker 1: I'll sit back and just just smile and laugh. Steve,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here. Hey, my pleasure.
Speaker 1: I love you guys. I'm so happy that the decorations
Speaker 1: are up. C J. Did you really hire somebody to
Speaker 1: help you put those up? The lights? The roof, because
Speaker 1: there's a whole like I gotta go buy a ladder
Speaker 1: or you can rent a ladder. And I went to
Speaker 1: home depot and got anxiety from how packed it was,
Speaker 1: and I got my car and turned around. I just
Speaker 1: found somebody who had a tall ladder could get on
Speaker 1: our roof. So so yeah good, I'm proud of Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm really proud of you. Yeah, I was
Speaker 1: sort of guy when I looked at that stuff. I've
Speaker 1: never had a home for myself. I mean when when
Speaker 1: I was older, my dad used to do it. So
Speaker 1: I just feel like that's what you've got married a
Speaker 1: year ago, You're putting up lights at this home now,
Speaker 1: like it's all that's like real man stuff. And I'm
Speaker 1: really proud of you. I'm really happy for you. Thank you.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, I that those are the things that
Speaker 1: I'm totally down for. Like when I watched sitcoms and
Speaker 1: like the dads are like falling off a ladder and
Speaker 1: stuff like that's what I signed up to get. My
Speaker 1: sleeve caught on a nail and it ripped off my
Speaker 1: whole shirt, Like I'm ready for that. To be a
Speaker 1: bumbling husband. Yeah. I could also see c J like
Speaker 1: changing a diaper and like opening it and then going
Speaker 1: like yeah yeah, and I'm trying to like, yes, stop it, um,
Speaker 1: but Steve, you are you are recently engaged. You are
Speaker 1: joining the force. Yes, nobody saw it coming. That's part
Speaker 1: of why I did it. Very punk for me. A
Speaker 1: lot of people don't understand that, but it's very punk
Speaker 1: rock for me. I think, you know, I've been blessed
Speaker 1: enough to have the love of many wonderful women in
Speaker 1: my life, and uh, I think I finally got to
Speaker 1: the age where I was like, what happens if I
Speaker 1: just let this wash over me instead of fight it?
Speaker 1: Because that's what I've done my whole life is to
Speaker 1: fight the love of all these beautiful, wonderful women. And
Speaker 1: then I was like, what if you just let it
Speaker 1: wash over? What's that like? And I finally was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll just let it. I mean, you know, anybody who
Speaker 1: knows my fiance, she's so beautiful, so funny, so smart,
Speaker 1: and she loves me, I think more than anybody what
Speaker 1: you're saying a lot has ever loved me. And she
Speaker 1: just looks at me sometimes, You'll like look up at
Speaker 1: me with this love, like she's trying to crush me
Speaker 1: with her fucking eyeballs with love. And I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: we gotta You've got to fucking tie this down. You've
Speaker 1: got if it'll nothing will make this person happier in
Speaker 1: the world than me committing my life to them, you've
Speaker 1: gotta give it to him. Yeah, I know, I know
Speaker 1: what you mean. And um, Yeah, I just know what
Speaker 1: you mean. You know, the crushing looks, the thing you
Speaker 1: feel like I look at you in a way where
Speaker 1: I could crush you with my love. Absolutely that is
Speaker 1: like that. That is, um, what you're describing, Steve, the
Speaker 1: crushing love and you're like, I have to react to
Speaker 1: this is a total It's totally a thing that I'm
Speaker 1: like still trying to figure out what you're how you're
Speaker 1: supposed to respond sometimes. Uh, you know, it's so funny.
Speaker 1: I would imagine that's how you are in private, but
Speaker 1: you two do something that I really love. I think
Speaker 1: you guys really play up like a sitcom couple in
Speaker 1: public where I have I probably five videos of you
Speaker 1: kissing Megan and her looking away and disgust. Uh. They're
Speaker 1: like some of my funniest the It's like one of
Speaker 1: the funniest things I think in the world. And I
Speaker 1: don't you guys are doing I think you just do
Speaker 1: it in public. Obviously, I believe Megan loves you as
Speaker 1: much like you're just you're talking about. But yeah, I
Speaker 1: do think. Um, I think it's a head you wait
Speaker 1: for a man to finally say, Okay, I'm going to
Speaker 1: take responsibility for this love, and so I've I've come
Speaker 1: to that point in my life where I you know,
Speaker 1: I was divorced before, and um, I handled that. I
Speaker 1: was a bad husband and I was irresponsible with that
Speaker 1: because I just thought dumb things. I was just an idiot.
Speaker 1: I'm forty two years old. I've been around the block.
Speaker 1: I'm still an idiot in many ways. But I also know,
Speaker 1: like there's times when it's like, no, I don't do that.
Speaker 1: You remember, you remember that ten years ago, don't do
Speaker 1: that again. So yeah, I mean, you know, I stopped
Speaker 1: drinking two years ago. And there's so many times when
Speaker 1: I'm in a situation and uh, the you know, I'm
Speaker 1: a comedian, so the fucking ship will go in my
Speaker 1: brain and I'm like, so glad I don't have a
Speaker 1: drink in me right now, Just like, don't say it.
Speaker 1: Don't say you have no absolutely no reason to say.
Speaker 1: And I think it's worse as a comedian too, because
Speaker 1: a lot of times I want to say something funny,
Speaker 1: you know, even to Julia to get a lad and
Speaker 1: it's like, don't do it. You know, there's no reason
Speaker 1: for this. Yeah. Yeah. We we go through a lot
Speaker 1: in this house of us back and forth saying to
Speaker 1: each other. You know, you don't need to roast to
Speaker 1: me every day. Um, we are partners in love and
Speaker 1: you don't have to go whenever I say something, what
Speaker 1: do you I mean? Yeah, now go ahead, Okay, well no,
Speaker 1: you go ahead because I want to hear what you
Speaker 1: have to say. Okay, yeah, I mean it's just like
Speaker 1: she my wife, Megan, and she is my best friend,
Speaker 1: you know so, and that's how I hanged I you
Speaker 1: know you're gonna have to There's so much time in
Speaker 1: a day as well, and it's been multiplied by so
Speaker 1: much during this pandemic that we've either ran out of
Speaker 1: things to talk about or it's just like you are,
Speaker 1: we are truly meeting who we really are. And there's
Speaker 1: where we're interacting with each other in so many different roles,
Speaker 1: not just husband and wife, now friends, now co we're
Speaker 1: you know, in in a twenty four hour day together
Speaker 1: in pandemics, I have not run out of things to
Speaker 1: talk about, filled with topics we could get to know.
Speaker 1: I know you you guys are part of a crew
Speaker 1: to where it's there's a lot of married people when
Speaker 1: they're both comedians and stuff, and I do think it's
Speaker 1: one of the reasons the pandemic is one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I'm getting married too, because I feel like,
Speaker 1: for not just in personal areas, but professionally and everything,
Speaker 1: this is kind of like sped up how people are
Speaker 1: thinking about things. For maybe like five years. I mean,
Speaker 1: we've come to a stand still in a lot of
Speaker 1: the business of our lives, so I was able to
Speaker 1: think about things. But yeah, there's no person that I love,
Speaker 1: and I know you guys are best friends. Julie and
Speaker 1: I are best friends, and we laugh so much. We
Speaker 1: have such a good time together. So it's just like, well, okay,
Speaker 1: if if we ever split up, it will be as
Speaker 1: devastating as a divorce, so we should get married. And uh,
Speaker 1: I'm very excited. Yeah, I mean, like if we split up,
Speaker 1: and since I've made the decision where I turned the
Speaker 1: thing and say, well, I told you know what, because
Speaker 1: I was going to pick out the ring, I'm not.
Speaker 1: I just can't do that gifts for me a really,
Speaker 1: it's give It's one of the few things in life
Speaker 1: that gives me anxiety. So I told her, hey, you
Speaker 1: know what's start looking for a few rings, give me
Speaker 1: a few options, and then I'll pick something. And when
Speaker 1: I told her that and we've talked about it obviously
Speaker 1: at nauseam, she was like okay, And ever since then
Speaker 1: my love for her has grown more than it was before.
Speaker 1: I do feel like there's something about commitment, like in
Speaker 1: an open way where it allows you to be like
Speaker 1: I mean, she was always part of my team, but
Speaker 1: now I feel like we're going to be publicly a team.
Speaker 1: So it's like I will do what and I think
Speaker 1: you guys are the same way. We will do whatever
Speaker 1: it takes to win in this life. And I want
Speaker 1: to shove it down everyone's throat so they could fucking
Speaker 1: see we're gonna win. I can't even I can't even
Speaker 1: think of someone who would be against your and Julia's team.
Speaker 1: Do you guys think about that? I try and do
Speaker 1: this sometimes. I'm like c J, who hates us um
Speaker 1: I because we hate people that are obscure that you
Speaker 1: would have no idea, hates you know, Like, there's definitely
Speaker 1: people I hate that like would have no clue. I
Speaker 1: hate them. I don't lose that to me. I don't
Speaker 1: think that CIEGE. I don't think anyone could hate c J.
Speaker 1: Because he's so affable and kind of doesn't. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: that's just what I think. I think, Megan, I think
Speaker 1: people could hate you because you're a very successful woman,
Speaker 1: so got men could certainly hate you. And then women,
Speaker 1: you guys hate each other for the fucking weirdest reason.
Speaker 1: So there's that too, like women like I'm sure there's
Speaker 1: some woman's female Chicago comedian. You fucking did something eight
Speaker 1: years ago that you are ten years ago. The fact
Speaker 1: that you said one Chicago female I mean, I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: the legal pad of topics I have for things CJ
Speaker 1: and I to talk about is probably just as long
Speaker 1: as Chicago comedians anything has the best friend who hates me,
Speaker 1: you know, so it really is. We talk a lot
Speaker 1: about Chicago on here. That's where we, you know, comedically
Speaker 1: come from. Steve is born and raised Covina, West Covina.
Speaker 1: L A for those OFO that don't know, for those
Speaker 1: THO that don't watch Crazy Act Girlfriend, that is l
Speaker 1: A and you. You. I mean, you're wearing a shirt
Speaker 1: right now that I can see that says Latino Heat
Speaker 1: on it. You are you You're You're one like step
Speaker 1: below Danny Trejo at this point. For for l A mascots,
Speaker 1: I think, well, I'm very unknown outside of it, you know, Twitter. Slowly,
Speaker 1: my Twitter presence is slowly growing. I've got to take
Speaker 1: more topless picks, I think, to get really grow the
Speaker 1: leaps and bonds I need. But yeah, I was born
Speaker 1: at Pasadena at Huntington's Hospital. Grew up in Lincoln Heights,
Speaker 1: Highland Park Toys four years old. Then we moved to
Speaker 1: West Covina. My dad bought a little three bedroom, two
Speaker 1: two bathroom house out there with his g I Bill,
Speaker 1: and uh. Then I started doing stand up ten years ago,
Speaker 1: so I would have never left Covina. But I got married,
Speaker 1: my wife got a job in Pasadena. We moved to Pasadena,
Speaker 1: and then a bunch of things happened for me allow
Speaker 1: me to get into stand up in Los Angeles. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I am l a born and bread. I proposed to
Speaker 1: Julia off of in Um like the sal Park kind of.
Speaker 1: There's this area where my my dad grew up, near
Speaker 1: the White Fence Hazzar Gang neighborhood, and my grandma used
Speaker 1: to live there, and there's the most beautiful view I've
Speaker 1: ever seen. It might be the one on blooded and
Speaker 1: Blood out if anybody's familiar with that. But it's a
Speaker 1: most beautiful view I've ever seen. My dad said, I
Speaker 1: he used to go there and after high school and like,
Speaker 1: look at the city. You could see the ocean, you
Speaker 1: could see Dodgerston, you could see everything. I'll take you
Speaker 1: guys there some point and I I took Julia there
Speaker 1: and I remember my when my dad showed it to me,
Speaker 1: maybe twenty years ago. I was like, oh, I would
Speaker 1: love to propose to my wife here because it's such
Speaker 1: a It's one of those few places I feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm kind of a jaded person like many
Speaker 1: people in a lot of ways, but where I still
Speaker 1: feel magic up there. And so I was like, I
Speaker 1: would love to share this magic with the person I'm
Speaker 1: going to marry. And so I took over there, right
Speaker 1: off a Soda street, right by the Lincoln Heights COVID
Speaker 1: testing Center behind that. Oh yeah, that's where I go now, Okay, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's so fast. But um yeah. I moved out to
Speaker 1: Los Angeles proper after my divorce, probably about seven or
Speaker 1: eight years ago, and um yeah, it's really made me
Speaker 1: fall in love with the city in a way that
Speaker 1: just being from West Covina didn't. So I love this place.
Speaker 1: I love Los Angeles comedy. It's fucked up in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, but I do believe in the next
Speaker 1: ten years we're going to see a generation of comics
Speaker 1: raised uh that are very, very good and it's better
Speaker 1: than anybody else. Wow, because like we um, you know,
Speaker 1: Chicago comics are myself c included some of the most
Speaker 1: insufferable people, and you know, we're just like we're the
Speaker 1: best where we have the most friends, we have the
Speaker 1: most fun, we have, we drink the most, we stay
Speaker 1: up like you know, we're this is a lot. And
Speaker 1: then so when we would come to New York, people
Speaker 1: were like excited to have us, and then there was
Speaker 1: this like massive influx and people are like, we're good
Speaker 1: on you actually, And but when l A Comics would
Speaker 1: come to New York, people would just we would just
Speaker 1: stand at the room, arms crossed, like, who's this hot
Speaker 1: fucking hack? Like you just when someone is in l
Speaker 1: A Comic, especially someone who like started here and then
Speaker 1: ends up getting any amount of buzz, whether it be
Speaker 1: like new faces or something, you're just like so ready
Speaker 1: to hate them. But the reality is it would be really,
Speaker 1: really really hard to start here. And I'm happy that
Speaker 1: I did not have to. Yeah, it's definitely its own thing.
Speaker 1: I remember I went to Chicago maybe two and a
Speaker 1: half years in and you realize how hard it is
Speaker 1: here because you get everyone just keeps coming here. So
Speaker 1: I start. I start here and the open mics, you know,
Speaker 1: our thirty people, you get three minutes and you start
Speaker 1: here and you just do as many of those. When
Speaker 1: I started, I did ten to fifteen mics a week,
Speaker 1: and they just keep coming, stars just keep coming. But
Speaker 1: if you can hold out and get good and like
Speaker 1: figure out what's going on in like and within three years.
Speaker 1: I feel if you can get like pretty good in
Speaker 1: l A and three years, then you'll be okay and
Speaker 1: you're like very competent. So when I went to Chicago
Speaker 1: that first time, I realized, oh, I've been playing with
Speaker 1: weights on. Like it's been fucked up to not have
Speaker 1: real real people all those times, because you learn to
Speaker 1: be funny. I know a lot of people say, uh,
Speaker 1: open mic comedy, if you may get last though, you
Speaker 1: won't get them anywhere else. But I feel like in
Speaker 1: l A the open mic scene is very you're like
Speaker 1: chopping heads, so there's like very competitive, very much, especially
Speaker 1: you know something like the chatter Box where that open
Speaker 1: mic on Thursdays is like a show where we get
Speaker 1: regular to get a crowd of regular people. So we're
Speaker 1: chopping heads, you know. And I'm bartending on Thursday nights too,
Speaker 1: so I've got to like serve Acholo a beer and
Speaker 1: I go up and start talking about sucking dick, and
Speaker 1: I come back and get get the Trolo another beer.
Speaker 1: I mean, I really am like that, I very much.
Speaker 1: My I'm the thing I'm most proud of so far
Speaker 1: is the crew coming up at the chatter Box where
Speaker 1: now you know, when I started, there was one other
Speaker 1: alternative Latino guy guy named what's John's last name? He
Speaker 1: was Kyle Kanane's roommate for years. And then, um, now
Speaker 1: we have a bunch and I've got a bunch of
Speaker 1: those guys are talking about being by and shipped over
Speaker 1: there now, and I'm like, okay, this is cool. We're
Speaker 1: like incubating something over there that that like it's okay
Speaker 1: to like be weird, and crolos are once you get
Speaker 1: clos talking, there's some of the fucking weird. Before the shutdown,
Speaker 1: we had newer like cholo comics that were like seeing
Speaker 1: it's okay to talk about weird ship and they're like
Speaker 1: they're like fucking Martians. So I'm very excited, like I said,
Speaker 1: in the next five to tay years to like see
Speaker 1: what comedy is going to come out of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: But for right now, absolutely nothing's happening. It's it's kind
Speaker 1: of reminding me of like Hannibal and Blurred almost of
Speaker 1: like finding this niche within a community that has been like,
Speaker 1: oh no, we do stuff this way, but it's like,
Speaker 1: oh no, there are I mean, there's a guy that
Speaker 1: would be at chatter Box just like head to toe
Speaker 1: Dodgers gear and then yeah, talking about his depression and
Speaker 1: you're like this is wild. So yeah, I am very
Speaker 1: stoked about that. I'm very proud of the chatter Box
Speaker 1: and everything we've done over there, but you know, we'll see.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm actually very grateful for this time in COVID too,
Speaker 1: because it's allowed me to be thoughtful and to figure
Speaker 1: out my career trajectory and everything I really want to do.
Speaker 1: So I'm very excited to be here. I'm excited to
Speaker 1: be your friends, and uh it feels like yeah doing stuff.
Speaker 1: I mean, the thing I am so glad you said that.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like it was maybe a couple
Speaker 1: of years ago, but I was always so intimidated by
Speaker 1: you because like early, I mean I I always I
Speaker 1: moved here like three times, and I probably met you
Speaker 1: in the first time, and you very much were like
Speaker 1: l A. You were, I mean, you wore a Dodger's
Speaker 1: hat and stuff, but also like you were part of
Speaker 1: that crew of like the l A comedians that were
Speaker 1: starting to get a break. And I was like, I
Speaker 1: think I was here by myself. There weren't a lot
Speaker 1: of Chicago comedians, and I was like, I knew I
Speaker 1: wanted to stay here in l A. And I also
Speaker 1: wanted to be a part of the community. And I
Speaker 1: was like, and I would go to Chatterbox like hangout
Speaker 1: with wit and I think maybe I did a showcase
Speaker 1: there early on, and I wasn't friends with you yet,
Speaker 1: but I was like, shit, I don't care anyone laughs
Speaker 1: in this room except for Steve behind the bar, like
Speaker 1: and so like that was like you you were really
Speaker 1: like a write of passage back then. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've been here for what like eight years on and off,
Speaker 1: and and yeah, that's very my only problem with you
Speaker 1: as you just kept quitting, So I did not know
Speaker 1: if you think. So I'm like, I love stand up.
Speaker 1: I love stand up like you know, I used to
Speaker 1: be a youth pastor, so a lot of that like
Speaker 1: bleeds out in my stuff, and I like, I love
Speaker 1: stand up like I used to love Christ. And so
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't care about the business. I care
Speaker 1: about really the spirit of the thing I think of
Speaker 1: stand ups is like Jedi nights. I think about what
Speaker 1: we really do is so separate from the business. Trust me, though,
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean, in a way, I'm kicking myself
Speaker 1: because I would love to have dental insurance right now,
Speaker 1: and so I'm pivoting to that kind of stuff. But
Speaker 1: there is a thing where I'm like, I don't care
Speaker 1: about any of it. I care about what happens in
Speaker 1: the room. And what happens in the room we comedians
Speaker 1: can do one of the It's one of those rare
Speaker 1: things in this fucking dumb modern world where we can
Speaker 1: make magic happen and so um when so you, to
Speaker 1: me are like someone who kept backsliding. I was like,
Speaker 1: does this fool love Christ? You know? And then I'm
Speaker 1: over there like cutting my skin for christ you know,
Speaker 1: to win to stand up. You know, I was fully
Speaker 1: committed to quitting but I can't. But then but all
Speaker 1: of my friends were in stand up. And then I
Speaker 1: went out and try to hang out with the regular
Speaker 1: people and it just wasn't happening, you know. So there
Speaker 1: I'm like the definition of trapped in this community. So
Speaker 1: I was like, I just got to do it. Then
Speaker 1: my heart has opened up though since then I have
Speaker 1: gotten very good where I realized that it can't be
Speaker 1: it's different things to different people at different times for
Speaker 1: it to be as wonderful as it is. It's just
Speaker 1: like Christianity, you know, you don't need a bunch of pastors.
Speaker 1: Sometimes if people are just good people and they're funny
Speaker 1: and they're present when they're at an open mic. If
Speaker 1: you're digging around and open mic, fuck you. But if
Speaker 1: you're present and you're trying to make the room laugh,
Speaker 1: like I said in this moment, if you're doing your best,
Speaker 1: then that's enough for me. I mean, who cares about
Speaker 1: what I think? But also in my I've realized like, okay,
Speaker 1: even you know, at Chatterbocks, we've got a couple of
Speaker 1: old guys that are like sixty five that come and
Speaker 1: half of what they say is like some stupid Sometimes
Speaker 1: half that they say it's very funny, and it's like,
Speaker 1: I mean, what am I gonna say? This guy's not
Speaker 1: trying to get JF also fun this guy like this
Speaker 1: is stand up is a gift. And so if someone
Speaker 1: thinks of it as a hobby and they live to
Speaker 1: do it, as long as they're trying to grow, as
Speaker 1: long as they're trying to get better, that's all that
Speaker 1: matters to me. A sixty five year old guide an
Speaker 1: open mic love stand up more than all of us.
Speaker 1: You know, it's like they're sorry, you may not know
Speaker 1: that there is no future for you. Um. They you know,
Speaker 1: my niece who's four has a better shot at this point.
Speaker 1: So like you're his love for it is so pure. Um.
Speaker 1: We had you on today because we wanted to do
Speaker 1: an l A specific episode. We are the City of
Speaker 1: Champions as a UM truck in our neighborhood is painted,
Speaker 1: so you know that and love him, love him. I've
Speaker 1: got on my Dodgers, my Los Angeles Dodgers shirt that
Speaker 1: then has a basketball on it, his Dodgers hat. We
Speaker 1: are fully adopted, fully adopted. The l a sports scene,
Speaker 1: and no one even really gets that mad at me
Speaker 1: because they've lived through lots of tortures games and I
Speaker 1: can pick this and they have the same colors. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just fun. Steve. Yeah, no one's gotten mad at us.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that? Like, I'm like publicly known
Speaker 1: as a Bowls fan like years ago, and like my
Speaker 1: only legitimate reason is that I love Lebron and he
Speaker 1: came to the Lakers and now I'm a doctor's fan. Like,
Speaker 1: but no one's mad at me. Can you explain why? Maybe?
Speaker 1: I just I mean, I think if your love is
Speaker 1: pure and you don't seem to be like a tail
Speaker 1: writing anyone's tails or anything, although arguably you're doing that
Speaker 1: with Lebron. But but but Lebron is such a good man,
Speaker 1: uh to go along with his talent. I don't think
Speaker 1: anyone could hate on that at all. So plus, you're
Speaker 1: I mean, this is it. You're done as comedians, as entertainers.
Speaker 1: You guys have both done the things where you moved
Speaker 1: from there to there and then LA is the final place.
Speaker 1: So you're gonna live here for the rest of your life, probably,
Speaker 1: So how can no one hate on you for that's well.
Speaker 1: And CJ has fully adopted the Lakers fandom where he
Speaker 1: ships on the clippers all the time, so he you know,
Speaker 1: he's really walking the walk in that way. And then
Speaker 1: also we live in Highland Parking Rock and anyone with
Speaker 1: AILI like it essentially the Philippines and Igor Rock. And
Speaker 1: I didn't know until I moved here that part of
Speaker 1: being Filipino is loving the Lakers. Like Kobe is bigger
Speaker 1: than Jesus. I found out. Yeah, yeah, And if you
Speaker 1: go to the Igor Rock plazet, it's all it's all
Speaker 1: Kobe jerseys. You know. I didn't like Kobe for years.
Speaker 1: I actually stopped after the sexual assault, all the sexual
Speaker 1: salt stuff come out. I just kind of checked out,
Speaker 1: and I didn't like ultimately. I didn't like how he
Speaker 1: was kind of a ball hog like I just it
Speaker 1: really bothered me. I remember we had an open mic
Speaker 1: at the glendo Ark Continental during this past game and
Speaker 1: he scored what he scored seventy points or something crazy
Speaker 1: like that, and I was just like, for like fifty
Speaker 1: and he went like fifty for like I mean like
Speaker 1: shot sixty shots or something where I was just like
Speaker 1: to me, I'm just like who are very much loved teams.
Speaker 1: As you'll see in my choices later on, I very
Speaker 1: much loved teams and collectives, and I just kind of
Speaker 1: thought he was like, like you piece of ship, Like
Speaker 1: I just he bothered me. So it was very hard
Speaker 1: for me to get in to the Lakers until Lebron
Speaker 1: came and he is such a good man at such
Speaker 1: a good team player. And then of course when Kobe died,
Speaker 1: I had to like have a spiritual reckoning where I
Speaker 1: was like, we all funk up. You know, we've all
Speaker 1: gotten ourselves into terrible situations. Uh, you know, especially as
Speaker 1: a man and understanding now you know, I thought it
Speaker 1: used to be funny to try to make a girl
Speaker 1: not use a condom. I thought that was funny. Now
Speaker 1: I know now I know, like, oh, you know, I
Speaker 1: would never speak one off or anything, but I would
Speaker 1: just try to talk about like come on, please. But
Speaker 1: now I realized that all of these things are fucked up.
Speaker 1: So I've been at least, you know, maybe not as
Speaker 1: bad as Kobe, but I've been terrible in my waist too,
Speaker 1: And so I've accepted Kobe into my heart as a
Speaker 1: son now of the city. And I do think that's
Speaker 1: one of the great things he did and in his
Speaker 1: death is unify the city in such an amazing way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: but uh yeah, you know. Yeah. I grew up with
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, huge Dodger fan. Didn't get into the Dodgers
Speaker 1: big time until maybe about seven or eight eight years
Speaker 1: ago when they got Spectrum got the exclusive Time Warner
Speaker 1: got the exclusive cable cable rights to them. This is
Speaker 1: such a funny thing. My older brother and my uncle
Speaker 1: obsessed with the Dodgers. I've always been around Dodgers, would
Speaker 1: go to one or two games a thing, but I
Speaker 1: always thought it was so boring. And then I, um,
Speaker 1: they bought that, and the chatter Box had Time Warner,
Speaker 1: and nobody had Time Warner. Everyone had Direct TV. And
Speaker 1: so we would start suddenly get like three or four
Speaker 1: cholos would come in. When I would work at the
Speaker 1: chatter Box on Thursdays and Fridays at six o'clock, they
Speaker 1: would let's just be there, and so I'm just watching
Speaker 1: this game with them, and then you're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: like this guy with the red hair. Oh, and then
Speaker 1: I like this it's funny. Oh I like this song,
Speaker 1: and you're just like, I think this is what my
Speaker 1: dad wasn't into sports. I was like, this is I
Speaker 1: guess how little kids get into sports. Is how everyone
Speaker 1: gets like, oh, this guy's funny. I like when he smiles,
Speaker 1: Like I just like a little kid. I started to
Speaker 1: get into the Dodgers seven or eight years ago. Also
Speaker 1: was a way to connect with my brother, who I
Speaker 1: love dearly and he loves Dodgers too much. And so
Speaker 1: then we started going to games, and then Julius from
Speaker 1: l A. So it's like, now I'm as die hard
Speaker 1: as anybody. But it was a real choice. Uh, and
Speaker 1: it was you know, I don't know if I'd be
Speaker 1: a diehard fan of Time Warner wouldn't have bought the
Speaker 1: exclusive rights to their cable. But that's how That's how
Speaker 1: everybody feels about w g N and the Cubs, like
Speaker 1: the it's baseball specifically is so almost like dependent on
Speaker 1: these cable deals in a way that other sports don't
Speaker 1: seem to be. And maybe because they're more mainstream and
Speaker 1: like just reach more people. But yeah, you're basically gonna
Speaker 1: be a baseball fan of the team that they're showing
Speaker 1: on your local station, like regards, yes, and I just
Speaker 1: love that. Um, should we take a break and then
Speaker 1: we come back with our picks. Okay, we'll right back.
Speaker 1: We are back, Steve, you are gonna lead us off
Speaker 1: no pun intended um with your third pick four. I
Speaker 1: don't even think I've said the topic yet. Greatest l
Speaker 1: A Athletes. A lot of a lot of wiggle room
Speaker 1: in that in that headline too. Yeah, I can. Oh, no,
Speaker 1: I'm ready, and uh, I don't. I don't know how
Speaker 1: I've heard. I've listened to you guys podcast, so I
Speaker 1: know how it goes. I don't feel like it's as
Speaker 1: competitive as other shows like this, and so I want
Speaker 1: to know my my third one. I'm going to pick
Speaker 1: third just so I can say it, because I don't
Speaker 1: want any of you guys to beat beat me to it.
Speaker 1: But I do think Serena Williams is uh the is
Speaker 1: like one of l A's like sons and daughters. She's
Speaker 1: the best woman tennis player and arguably one of the
Speaker 1: best tennis players that's ever lived out of Compton, California.
Speaker 1: Her dad at you know, just made a decision. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you guys do this before they
Speaker 1: were born, those two Venus and Serena and I even
Speaker 1: have a I have a hard time saying Serena without
Speaker 1: saying Venus because, um, Serena, obviously, if you're playing against
Speaker 1: if your older sisters, the best tennis player in the world,
Speaker 1: she is going to make you that good. So I
Speaker 1: do feel I do have trouble saying but but you
Speaker 1: know Serena's one twenty three Grand Slam titles. Her dad
Speaker 1: wrote a seventy eight page plan before they were born
Speaker 1: and said, I AM going to shape these and women
Speaker 1: and mold them into this white sport where they can
Speaker 1: win and make be successful and make a ton of money.
Speaker 1: And he actually did that. Arguably he's a monster. But um,
Speaker 1: in so many ways I don't think because they moved
Speaker 1: out of here pretty quick. But you know they're from Compton,
Speaker 1: for Christ's sake, man, That to me is what, like,
Speaker 1: you know, we Los Angeles should be fucking proud of
Speaker 1: these women. Yeah. I played on a tennis court must
Speaker 1: have been two years ago, and it had like a
Speaker 1: giant banner that said it was like their childhood core
Speaker 1: or maybe they had like played there. It was it
Speaker 1: was over on the West side like it was Inglewood,
Speaker 1: Compton adjacent for sure, and it brought tears to my eyes,
Speaker 1: like even two. And it was in kind of this
Speaker 1: park that didn't seem like it had been kept up
Speaker 1: in the way that a park maybe in the Palisades
Speaker 1: would have, you know, like the pools kind of fucked up.
Speaker 1: There were kids like running everywhere, and I'm like, this
Speaker 1: tennis court complex exists because of these two sisters, soletly
Speaker 1: and it was just really really beautiful and you you
Speaker 1: you see their mark on the city still. Um. They
Speaker 1: their dad used to go around to all the private
Speaker 1: clubs and baked to let them use have their used balls,
Speaker 1: and they were brought up on the public court of
Speaker 1: Los Angeles of places like Compton. Uh. The their first
Speaker 1: coach who they kind of jacked over in a lot
Speaker 1: of ways, manned by the name of Rick Macky, flew
Speaker 1: out here from Florida. He had some of the best
Speaker 1: tennis players at the time. And he said he watched
Speaker 1: Venus and he was like, wow, this is kind of
Speaker 1: a waste or whatever. He just didn't see anything that great.
Speaker 1: And then when Venus said, can I go to the
Speaker 1: bathroom or whatever, and the dad said yeah, and he
Speaker 1: said he watched her handstand walk to the bathroom like
Speaker 1: twenty feet away. This is real and he said that's
Speaker 1: what Richard made them do. Yes, and then he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: he told him, oh, you're gonna have you have the
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's of tennis on your hands. And then the Richard.
Speaker 1: Their dad said, I have to Michael Jordan's on my hands.
Speaker 1: Younger sister of course being Serena, who's won twenty three
Speaker 1: Grand slams to venus seven Grand slams. Uh, she's amazing.
Speaker 1: She was number one in two thousand two for the
Speaker 1: first time and then again in two thousand seventeen. How
Speaker 1: many fucking acts could say something like that, It's completely
Speaker 1: insane and tennis, your your cap is like twenty two,
Speaker 1: Like you can you truly do not play. This is
Speaker 1: why fifteen year olds can win Wimbledon because the window
Speaker 1: is so small. And they've Her, you know, and Federer
Speaker 1: to his credit and an adult and that mass. They
Speaker 1: have extend. They've extended the playing career for tennis players.
Speaker 1: They've totally changed the game and real quickly, what what
Speaker 1: is their standing relationship with their father? Uh? They talked.
Speaker 1: They would say like, just don't come to the games anymore.
Speaker 1: We don't want anything like that, which is these are
Speaker 1: healthy boundaries to have. Um. Yeah, it's funny, you know,
Speaker 1: to your point, Megan, I just finished the John mcinroe
Speaker 1: book at it's called like it's I'm not joking or
Speaker 1: something like that, aren't being serious? And he he talks
Speaker 1: about being twenty five and being like, I'm I was
Speaker 1: an old man at twenty five or when I was thirty.
Speaker 1: In fact, literally at thirty five you become you join
Speaker 1: like the old guy's circuit. I forget what it's called,
Speaker 1: but for her to be that good yeah yeah, the
Speaker 1: Senior Tour, that's what it's called. Yeah, um, I I
Speaker 1: would I like old guy Tour better called um you
Speaker 1: can't be serious? Yes, yeah, that's like what he yelled.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that's, by the way, a great book.
Speaker 1: I'm not a huge tennis fan, but that book made
Speaker 1: me where I'm like, oh shit, I guess I'm getting
Speaker 1: old because I'm gonna start getting into watching the tennis
Speaker 1: and ship because he was he was talking about everything,
Speaker 1: and he did bring up the Williams sisters of course,
Speaker 1: and just we all know how they changed the game
Speaker 1: in terms of physicality and strength and power and uh
Speaker 1: and you know, I did mention it briefly, but this
Speaker 1: is a white sport. Let's is a traditionally white sport.
Speaker 1: They went in there and faced you know, I just
Speaker 1: watched a dock with them, and I forgot. I think
Speaker 1: it was somewhere in San Diego where you know, they
Speaker 1: were booing uh or Serena and she people were calling
Speaker 1: it was in Um it was an Indio, but it's
Speaker 1: called like Indian Wells, you know, Indian Wells, Indian Wells. Yes, yea, yeah.
Speaker 1: They they promised, they vowed to never play it again
Speaker 1: and then they since went back and it was extremely
Speaker 1: emotional when Serena returned. Um. Yeah, so yeah. I mean,
Speaker 1: they're incredible the they've made so much money. Serena overe
Speaker 1: million dollars venus over forty three million dollars. That's just
Speaker 1: in prize money. Forget about endorsements. I love to see
Speaker 1: two women from two black women from Compton making a
Speaker 1: shipload of money. Uh. Serena is married to the co
Speaker 1: founder of Reddit. Now who I mean this to me?
Speaker 1: As is a real rags rich is American story and
Speaker 1: I'm proud like that they are from Los Angeles. Gosh,
Speaker 1: I must feel like we don't go on after that, Um,
Speaker 1: you want me to go? Okay, so great number three pick, Steve.
Speaker 1: My number three pick is kind of obscure, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to put football players on the list. I thought
Speaker 1: I was going to go with a Rams player and
Speaker 1: I didn't. I ended up going a different direction. And
Speaker 1: this person made my list because he is involved with
Speaker 1: the O. J. Simpson trial and the Real Housewives of
Speaker 1: Beverly Hills Simpsons. I know, No, that's just the one
Speaker 1: to punch. I can't deny. And it's Marcus Allen, who
Speaker 1: I who I like. So his ex wife was on Housewives, um,
Speaker 1: which I'll get to. Marcus born in San Diego but
Speaker 1: then played at USC and is one of like four
Speaker 1: players ever to win the Heisman and the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: m v P. He still um is tied for the
Speaker 1: n C double A record for most for like over
Speaker 1: two thousand yards with Ricky Williams and Ron Dane. I
Speaker 1: mean these this is n C double a royalty. And
Speaker 1: then he went on to be on the Raiders, which
Speaker 1: I genuinely forgot we're in Los Angeles, and was offensive
Speaker 1: Rookie of the Year and then went on to lead
Speaker 1: them to the Super Bowl win the Super Bowl when
Speaker 1: they were in l a UM. I think like the
Speaker 1: first eight years of his NFL. Maybe it was less
Speaker 1: than that, but he ended up having a falling out
Speaker 1: with al Davis and they had a lot of issues.
Speaker 1: Al Davis publicly called him a cancer of the team. Um.
Speaker 1: Marcus Allen made a claim that al Davis was trying
Speaker 1: to ruin his career and keep him out of the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. He was not successful in doing that.
Speaker 1: He went elsewhere and his stats are truly incredible. I mean,
Speaker 1: he is like a powerhouse and a hunk. So then
Speaker 1: he married this woman named Catherine Edwards I think that's
Speaker 1: her name, and it is rumored and it's it was
Speaker 1: brought up at the trial that Marcus and Nicole Brown
Speaker 1: Simpson were having an affair and o J you know
Speaker 1: knew that, and that like added to blah blah. Apparently
Speaker 1: Marcus and Catherine were subpoena to testify and fought the
Speaker 1: subpoena and ended up not testifying at the trial. But
Speaker 1: they're mentioned in Faye Resnick's book. I think he's mentioned
Speaker 1: in some of the you know, like the David Schwimmer
Speaker 1: trial series that happened and it was brought up on
Speaker 1: the Real Housewives A Lot, a lot. They got married
Speaker 1: Him and Kavin got married at O J's house too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm listening at pro now pro Ja, So are you
Speaker 1: looking at now? Yeah? She's beautiful. Uh yeah. Marcus Allen
Speaker 1: one of the best running backs of all time. One
Speaker 1: of he kind of was he was tangential to one
Speaker 1: of my picks that I'm not gonna do because you
Speaker 1: picked Marcus Allen. But at one point Bo Jackson and
Speaker 1: Marcus Allen were playing on the same team, an amazing Raiders,
Speaker 1: I think, and this was happening. I think when I
Speaker 1: was like Tann eleven years old, wasn't a big football fan,
Speaker 1: but this is I remember little kids coming in to
Speaker 1: fucking in Raiders jerseys, either Marcus Allen, either Bo Jackson.
Speaker 1: This was huge in Los Angeles at the time. I've
Speaker 1: always loved Marcus Allen and have been tempted to buy
Speaker 1: a Marcus Allen jersey, but I just can't rep the
Speaker 1: Raiders like that. Well what about what if you got
Speaker 1: a usc um jersey? He was number thirty three and
Speaker 1: they've retired that number because of him. Um, that's not
Speaker 1: a bad idea. I have a problem wearing a university
Speaker 1: jersey and I haven't gone to college. I've just seen
Speaker 1: too many doing it, and I'm like, this is sad.
Speaker 1: You see they'll have like the plate like the plate placards,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, bro, you did not go to that
Speaker 1: school to It's like it's like, I don't mind representing
Speaker 1: a protein because I'm from the city, but representing a
Speaker 1: school feels like I'm lying to someone. So I don't
Speaker 1: know if I could do that. Oh. So, the record
Speaker 1: he holds still in the n C Double A is
Speaker 1: most games with two hundred rushing yards, so he has
Speaker 1: that tie with Ron Dane and Ricky Williams. That's I mean, yeah,
Speaker 1: he's he was incredible and then and to be incredible
Speaker 1: in college as a running back and then incredible in
Speaker 1: the pros to the point where you win Super Bowl
Speaker 1: m v P. That is very very hard to do.
Speaker 1: Almost impossible. Oh okay, oh yeah, no kidding, yeah no.
Speaker 1: I mean. And also you can speak on this is
Speaker 1: that the Raiders, like in pop culture, just became so
Speaker 1: huge and he was part of that of like n
Speaker 1: w A, like the script Raiders had. I mean, obviously
Speaker 1: Marcus Allen, like Bo Jackson. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: where were they. They were in l A at the
Speaker 1: time during like the n w as origin, I think,
Speaker 1: but it just became such an l A staple Raiders gear.
Speaker 1: I mean, yeah, l A people really rep the Raiders
Speaker 1: no matter what I mean. It's so it's so cool
Speaker 1: if they were here like that. Now I would be
Speaker 1: a die hard Raiders fan. But when I was little
Speaker 1: and we went to church, you know, the idea of
Speaker 1: like pirates and Raiders and being rowdy, it was like
Speaker 1: these people do not love Christ correctly. So I remember,
Speaker 1: I think that was really in my heart where I
Speaker 1: was like, this does not feel christ like to me.
Speaker 1: But now I think it would be very cool like
Speaker 1: to have a team like the Raiders, especially now that
Speaker 1: we have what do we have two proteins here and
Speaker 1: they both fucking suck. So that's and I used to
Speaker 1: be a Rams fan. I would I I've been to
Speaker 1: games recently too, so I guess I would say that.
Speaker 1: But they just still don't feel like Los Angeles is yet.
Speaker 1: Uh so hopefully that and he's been to the Super Bowl. No,
Speaker 1: And I feel really bad for the Chargers, so crazy
Speaker 1: because at least the Rams have some amount of history
Speaker 1: here the Chargers. They've just moved the team. What is
Speaker 1: happening my brother? Sorry, guys on this podcast began, if
Speaker 1: your brother calls you, like right now, what do you
Speaker 1: think he's calling you about? Is he calling you about football?
Speaker 1: He just know, well, yeah, he definitely wants to talk
Speaker 1: about the Colts. But then, um for me to face
Speaker 1: time with my nieces. Okay, that's very sweet. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: FaceTime probably every other day with my nieces. I love
Speaker 1: my nephews, but they don't eat. I mean, that's the
Speaker 1: difference between boys and girls traditionally, is that my nephews
Speaker 1: don't give a funk about me. There nine and twelve. Now,
Speaker 1: the twelve year old talks to me some, but the
Speaker 1: nine year old is like nagging me half the time.
Speaker 1: He's like really hot. The nine year olds like a model.
Speaker 1: And he looks like Keano because he's like half Japanese
Speaker 1: a quarter white, like all this cool ship and uh,
Speaker 1: the dude, I finally bought him up. He has his
Speaker 1: birthday last week. I bought him some like weird box
Speaker 1: of Pokemon, you know, for like eighty bucks. And he
Speaker 1: was flipping out about that, and he actually face time
Speaker 1: me for that and thanked me, and I was like,
Speaker 1: well ship, thank god. Yeah, but it's present based, you know,
Speaker 1: my nephew, I'll be like Bobby. He will will not
Speaker 1: be speaking to anyone. And I'm like, you need to
Speaker 1: come over and face time if you want me to
Speaker 1: buy you a tap. Okay, that's what we're doing now.
Speaker 1: I need a little bit of attention and it'll get
Speaker 1: you an iPad. Parental settings off for a wild dog.
Speaker 1: I don't even care. Okay, you want to give us
Speaker 1: your number three? Yeah, I mean it's hard for me
Speaker 1: not to do all basketball. I was assuming you were,
Speaker 1: and so I went, so I'm gonna start off. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna say cream abdul jabbar, and this will start a
Speaker 1: little bit of a trend of so not only six
Speaker 1: uh six m v p s five NBA titles with
Speaker 1: the Lakers, but also and I got into the little
Speaker 1: bit last night, he like also entered Hollywood, like he
Speaker 1: he really embraced being you know, this big player in
Speaker 1: the NBA, but also living in l A and really
Speaker 1: feeding into that, you know, showtime moniker like he was
Speaker 1: training with Bruce Lee, was in Game of Death obviously,
Speaker 1: but then also an Airplane, in a bunch of other movies,
Speaker 1: and recently he he was a staff writer on Verona Kamar.
Speaker 1: So like this is you know, years after, but he
Speaker 1: is still And I met his daughter once and she
Speaker 1: was like a screenwriter. So he to me is like
Speaker 1: a quintessential just like L A athlete, L a icon
Speaker 1: and so yeah, one of the greatest L so very
Speaker 1: cool and like yeah, just progressive and and just responsible
Speaker 1: for a ton of movements. And yeah, I saw him.
Speaker 1: I saw him in like am in like an authentic
Speaker 1: Game of Thrones costume for they were having for that reason,
Speaker 1: it was self so tall, and then he's in this
Speaker 1: just like a wild wing outfit, and I'm like, this
Speaker 1: is the greatest moment of my life. Well, he's also
Speaker 1: you didn't mention it, but part of some of the
Speaker 1: greatest U. C. L A basketball teams that have ever lived.
Speaker 1: He was one of the greatest collegiate UH basketball players
Speaker 1: of all time. Not to mention, he had a really
Speaker 1: great couple of seasons on twenty one Jump Street. I
Speaker 1: don't know if you guys caught any of those episodes,
Speaker 1: but John I didn't know he was a regular. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Johnny Depp would go talk to him or Richard Grieko.
Speaker 1: Would they go, I don't, I forgot why, but I
Speaker 1: believe he played a coach. I don't believe he was
Speaker 1: a cop, but they would go, like talk to much
Speaker 1: of it sometimes. So I like him too. He's a
Speaker 1: very independent thinker. He'll do a lot of contrarian pieces.
Speaker 1: I don't agree with him all the time, but I
Speaker 1: do think it's very healthy to have independent thinkers, and
Speaker 1: a lot of times, you know, we are out here now,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of stuff we wouldn't say publicly that
Speaker 1: we talk about amongst ourselves. And I think it's really
Speaker 1: cool that he has the balls to like write an
Speaker 1: op ed piece for a time that kind of goes
Speaker 1: against like stereotypical views a lot of times. So Kareem
Speaker 1: Abdul Jabbar is an amazing athlete, one of the best
Speaker 1: of all times, and he appears to be a really
Speaker 1: great human being as well, great pick. Obviously a talented
Speaker 1: writer too. I mean, I want to know who's his
Speaker 1: agent he w A Did he have to fire them
Speaker 1: because of the do you know what's going on there? Um?
Speaker 1: Should we give him a staffing boost? Yeah? What's staffing boost? Kareem.
Speaker 1: We need to get him on, young Sheldon. Okay, it's
Speaker 1: been too long. Um, should we just go into our
Speaker 1: second Okay, So Steve, you're up again with your number two.
Speaker 1: All right, my my number two. It's controversial because I'm
Speaker 1: kind of picking a team, but I just couldn't figure
Speaker 1: out which one of these three guys to pick. But
Speaker 1: it's got to be the Zephyr Skate team out of
Speaker 1: Long Beach. I'm talking about Tony Alba, Jay Adams, and
Speaker 1: Stacy Peralta, who reinvigorated, who basically created what we know
Speaker 1: skate boarding to be now it was virtually dead. They
Speaker 1: were surfers and they became you know, the there's parts
Speaker 1: of Santa Monica south of Wilshire used to be poor.
Speaker 1: The area between Venice and Santa Monica was run down,
Speaker 1: and they took a lot of techniques from surfing, created
Speaker 1: street skating as we know it, created pool skating as
Speaker 1: we know it, and then we're the first steps to
Speaker 1: vertical skating as well. So that I'm talking about these boys, Yeah,
Speaker 1: the downtown and z Z town boys. Uh, Jay, I
Speaker 1: mean they're all, like I said, all three of them
Speaker 1: have done such like amazing cool things. Jay Adams was
Speaker 1: kind of the punk version of them. I forget, I
Speaker 1: forgot the name of the guy who he's the he's
Speaker 1: the hairdresser and once upon a time in Hollywood, what's
Speaker 1: that guy's name? Oh, um, yeah, it's that guy. He
Speaker 1: plays Jay Adams in the movie. And he ends up
Speaker 1: being real like quasi Cholo. Yeah, that whole ghetto scene
Speaker 1: is like they took a lot of Cholo and Latino
Speaker 1: kind of influenced and created the art and all of
Speaker 1: that stuff. They were just poor and uh, that's one
Speaker 1: one reason why I love them so much is that
Speaker 1: they were just poor and skateboarding, and um, they ended
Speaker 1: up getting rich and super influential. Did Like I said,
Speaker 1: Jay Adams was like a punk rocker. He never made
Speaker 1: that much. But Stacy Peralta created Powell Poor Alta, the
Speaker 1: Bones Brigade, some of the hugest things discovered, Tony Hawks,
Speaker 1: Steve Caballero, all those guys, and then Tony Alva made
Speaker 1: his own company. Alva got super rich, one of the
Speaker 1: greatest skaters of all times. So those guys created modern
Speaker 1: skateboarding as we know it right down the street not
Speaker 1: that far away. And I don't think they really get
Speaker 1: the credit. There was the movie and of course the documentary,
Speaker 1: but theo if you look at them, there's like my
Speaker 1: kind of white guys you could tell, like white guys
Speaker 1: that grow up and brown neighborhoods. You know, like white
Speaker 1: guys they are still Dodger fans or like I'll die
Speaker 1: for you full like that kind of thing that guys like,
Speaker 1: you know they're in like Fast and Fury is franchise.
Speaker 1: That's why Paul Walker was so made so much too,
Speaker 1: like so many Mexicans, because we all there's always like
Speaker 1: a few white guys like that where it's like that's
Speaker 1: like he wears vans and ship and it's like I
Speaker 1: love you for like you're Yeah. So I think the
Speaker 1: Zephyr Boys, all three of them, if I had to choose,
Speaker 1: I guess I would pick Tony Alva because he was
Speaker 1: more cool than Stacy. Don't have to you can. You
Speaker 1: can have all of them now is l A Is
Speaker 1: l a skateboarding capital of the world in California? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's See, I've never lived in a place where it's
Speaker 1: like skateboard culture, skateboard photo shoots, and I'm so intimidated,
Speaker 1: like we have a famous skateboard right by our house,
Speaker 1: and when I walked by, I'm like, I hope you
Speaker 1: think I'm not a mom, Like I just want them
Speaker 1: to think I'm like cool, Like I'm almost like inclined
Speaker 1: to just like have a blunt hanging out of my
Speaker 1: mouth to be like I'm down, but I don't. I
Speaker 1: just sort of like move away from them, and they
Speaker 1: see my Lily, you know, my Lulu Lemon and are like,
Speaker 1: suck this bag. But it's for sure l A feels
Speaker 1: so much like into skateboarding. Yeah, I mean it's it's
Speaker 1: derived from surfing. So they basically would wake up and
Speaker 1: you can only surf from you know, surfing's dad here
Speaker 1: in in l A in southern California by like ten am,
Speaker 1: So they needed something to do with the rest of
Speaker 1: the day, along with the invention of because they used
Speaker 1: to use like I think the wheels used to be clay,
Speaker 1: so it was a meeting of technology as well. At
Speaker 1: the same time when they were coming up, the poly
Speaker 1: eurth thing wheel was created, so they were able to
Speaker 1: used to have to eat ship hard, which they do now,
Speaker 1: but at least the poly eurething whale allowed them to
Speaker 1: like cover more ground and be a little more off
Speaker 1: roady with the ship really truly create the street style
Speaker 1: that we know of today. Yeah, we gotta watch We
Speaker 1: gotta watch that documentary again. I saw it like fifteen
Speaker 1: years ago. Um, and yeah, I mean it's crazy. I
Speaker 1: mean yeah, whit Night moved to Highland Park before it
Speaker 1: started to get gentrified because of the skate park. Garvon's
Speaker 1: over here, like skate culture is so big, and the
Speaker 1: thing is Steve, Like, that's just such a great pick
Speaker 1: because you know, when we're doing research, we go through
Speaker 1: like the top fifty lists that are are on the internet.
Speaker 1: It's not even mentioned, and it's like that should be
Speaker 1: in the top ten. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, That's why I
Speaker 1: knew you were going to pick all the fucking Lakers.
Speaker 1: So I was like, all right, what can I bring
Speaker 1: to the table and so yeah, and uh yeah, I
Speaker 1: was never I was always too fat. I had multiple
Speaker 1: boards when I was in fourth and fifth grade. Always
Speaker 1: too fat to even ali. Uh. But I love a
Speaker 1: fat skateboarder, Oh my god, I love it. Like I
Speaker 1: almost want a Christmas ornament that's a fat skateboarder. I
Speaker 1: think they're so surfing Santa. That's pick thank you. What's
Speaker 1: your pig? No? No, no, no no. Um, Well, we
Speaker 1: were just having too much fun here, Megan, what's your
Speaker 1: number two? Pick? Okay? So I also was assuming CD
Speaker 1: was picking all Lakers, um and and my number to
Speaker 1: pick a Cheryl Miller um much in much in the
Speaker 1: way that we we need Serena and Venus on this list.
Speaker 1: Cheryl Miller is the greatest how do I say It's
Speaker 1: the greatest female basketball player who was never given the
Speaker 1: stage and accolades that she is deserving of. Born and
Speaker 1: raised here to Riverside poly Tech High School, then went
Speaker 1: to USC where she was a two time n C
Speaker 1: double a champion, three time Nate Smith Player of the Year.
Speaker 1: So she was the m v P of women's basketball
Speaker 1: three three out of her four years. Her number number
Speaker 1: thirty one has been retired by the USC Trojans. She
Speaker 1: has won a gold medal. Every everything that was available
Speaker 1: to her as a female basketball player, she accomplished. She
Speaker 1: she excelled and was the best at every single thing,
Speaker 1: and sadly, there just was a ceiling. Back then. There
Speaker 1: wasn't a place for her to even necessarily like be
Speaker 1: in Europe. There were these like obscure leagues and she
Speaker 1: would do them and dominate them, but it just didn't
Speaker 1: have the mainstream appeal that even something like the w
Speaker 1: n B A has now. And I also think that
Speaker 1: she is so instrumental in creating her brother as an
Speaker 1: incredible basketball player. So she you know, who's also from
Speaker 1: l A and and played at u C. L A
Speaker 1: and so I feel is very southern California as well.
Speaker 1: But Cheryl like played here, is here, she just defines it.
Speaker 1: Like seeing her in those USC jerseys like dunking. She's
Speaker 1: just she's just incredible and and I just I want
Speaker 1: her to be and just like the Sports Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame like that, she just deserves to be amongst the
Speaker 1: greats wherever they honor the greats, and they just didn't.
Speaker 1: The w NBA didn't exist, like all they had was
Speaker 1: like the Olympics back then, right, and she want to go,
Speaker 1: you know, like you okay, you're gonna play in college,
Speaker 1: you win everything. You're gonna play at the Olympics, you
Speaker 1: win everything. She was drafted by a men's league when
Speaker 1: she left college, but it just didn't, you know, and
Speaker 1: then she ended up having injuries that ended her career,
Speaker 1: but went on to coach is one of the greatest
Speaker 1: female analysts of all time. You know, like there's just
Speaker 1: never been anything in her life with regards to sports
Speaker 1: that she hasn't been the best at. Well. And we talked,
Speaker 1: You talked about the Serena and Venus sort of dynamic
Speaker 1: coming up. We very much have Eralda. Think for Reggie Miller,
Speaker 1: like the you know, the documentaries and the footage of
Speaker 1: their background battles and Reggie getting heckled from grade school on.
Speaker 1: For them chanting her, it's like, you know that they're
Speaker 1: they heckled him by saying Cheryl Miller, it's like yelling
Speaker 1: to Lebron James Michael's like, that's not a heckle. That
Speaker 1: is a compliment, you know, but to him it feeled
Speaker 1: him to be as good as he is. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that's like if if you're you're sparring partner, was Tyson
Speaker 1: or or holy Fielder or whatever. And yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: the NBA didn't have it together in time. And I'm
Speaker 1: almost like, did the NBA or w n b A
Speaker 1: not reached its peak early or like have that momentum
Speaker 1: because we didn't have someone like Cheryl early on. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's so funny, because yeah, it must have been so
Speaker 1: bad for him when when just being called a woman
Speaker 1: was a put down. To have someone just saying your
Speaker 1: sister's name, how angry it made him just shooting out
Speaker 1: there longer. Please don't ever call me a woman. You
Speaker 1: know it's like, you mean, the greatest female basketball player
Speaker 1: the whole time. They also look so much alike, you know,
Speaker 1: like they have uncanny resemblance and they're like sibling love,
Speaker 1: I love, I mean, they just really right. The Miller
Speaker 1: family mean so much. I didn't realize she's from Los Angeles. Dude,
Speaker 1: that's awesome, great, Yeah, thank you. Okay, remember two again,
Speaker 1: very almost like we we can talk about. Let's not
Speaker 1: spend too much time on it. But I guess the
Speaker 1: position because I think people, especially now we'll will be
Speaker 1: you know, it's not controversial positioning. But I'm gonna say
Speaker 1: Kobe Bryant, and yeah, he is he is l A.
Speaker 1: Like right now, you can't drive more than two miles
Speaker 1: without seeing a mirror of him. Won five titles here,
Speaker 1: had opportunities to leave stuck around and you know, he
Speaker 1: to me is just he is l A. He was
Speaker 1: at unifier, like you said, And yeah, I mean I
Speaker 1: also had that same thing with you, Steve Where and
Speaker 1: I said it on our very first episode of this podcast,
Speaker 1: where I was like, I hate Kobe Bryant, And the
Speaker 1: thing is it was an act. It was like an
Speaker 1: active hate like and it was something that I think
Speaker 1: he manufactured a little bit, was that villain role. It
Speaker 1: was like, yes, I am gonna be the ballhog because
Speaker 1: I'm the only one who can do it for us.
Speaker 1: And he absolutely did do it for l A and
Speaker 1: very much put l A on his back. And one
Speaker 1: it was some weird he won it with a shackless team.
Speaker 1: I think like he kind of fulfilled he like put
Speaker 1: that promise out there, like I'm going to win this
Speaker 1: for myself in for l A without shock and put
Speaker 1: together kind of like an odd team to do that
Speaker 1: in one two with that team, and and just always
Speaker 1: you know, kind of was like a representative l A.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I think he's one of the greatest l
Speaker 1: A athletes of all time. Uh And And you know,
Speaker 1: as much as I said those things earlier, I was
Speaker 1: in my early twenties in that first round with Shack
Speaker 1: and then of course with him and Gasol. But I
Speaker 1: mean those first those three championships with Shack and Kobe
Speaker 1: were some of the most amazing experiences sports experience I
Speaker 1: had in my life, being in big parties and going crazy.
Speaker 1: But I remember that that was like a hack a
Speaker 1: Shack time where the last minute or two would literally
Speaker 1: be forty five minutes in the last minute or two
Speaker 1: of the game, and it was like, give me a
Speaker 1: fucking break. But all of those wins, the comebacks against
Speaker 1: the Sacramento Kings, that series, all of those things, uh,
Speaker 1: loom so huge and my personal memory. And you know,
Speaker 1: I know people talked about when he died that he
Speaker 1: had mentioned, you know, I want to die young, the
Speaker 1: only way to be great. But you know, it truly
Speaker 1: is like now he instantly will always be thought of
Speaker 1: as a Los Angeles legend, like in a way that
Speaker 1: I don't know if he would have just gotten older
Speaker 1: and passed away would have happened. Now. He he got
Speaker 1: gunned down at the prime of his youth. It's terribly
Speaker 1: sad and tragic, not to mention his daughter, who's going
Speaker 1: to be the best basketball players that they live. It's
Speaker 1: so tragic, But it also I think allowed us to
Speaker 1: see him as a human being and with grace and
Speaker 1: love in a way that we may not have seen
Speaker 1: him before or if he if he would have even
Speaker 1: been open up to that, although it does appear that
Speaker 1: his kids were softening him and like helping him to
Speaker 1: become a better, more loving person. So I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't fucking go wrong with Kobe Bryant. I mean, what
Speaker 1: a fucking pig. It's making me think, is there a
Speaker 1: professional sports franchise that cares more about their legends and
Speaker 1: legacy and taking care and and bringing like their stars
Speaker 1: back into the organization forever more than the Lakers? Maybe
Speaker 1: the Yankee Like I just I don't know, but they
Speaker 1: just I mean, even this Lebron contract that just happened,
Speaker 1: and they talk about Kobe's contract and like they really
Speaker 1: just love to be Like if you were a Laker,
Speaker 1: then like you're gonna get one of these funny jackets
Speaker 1: and you're gonna have a photo with Cookie and Magic
Speaker 1: and their sweet at some point, like you are you
Speaker 1: are part of the family forever. If in a way
Speaker 1: that feels so much stronger than any other organization I
Speaker 1: can think of, Well, you know it's a little hack
Speaker 1: to say, but you know, for whatever reason, uh, theres
Speaker 1: really do buy into the storytelling and the myth aspect
Speaker 1: of Hollywood. I mean that they they believe in it
Speaker 1: so strongly. And to your point, Megan, that one Magic
Speaker 1: says I'm a part of this conglomerate buying the Dodgers,
Speaker 1: which who you know, how who knows how involved he is.
Speaker 1: Really Everyone's like, wow, what a great idea, Like we
Speaker 1: love we love it. What a unifying presence to have
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson over there too. So yeah, they're they're they're
Speaker 1: an incredible organization. They keep coming back with you know,
Speaker 1: all these amazing stories. Really Shack and Kobe, Kobe without Shack,
Speaker 1: and Paul Gasol and now Lebron James and Anthony Davis,
Speaker 1: them giving them these huge contracts. They're they're an amazing organization.
Speaker 1: I'm really glad that I can love them again. Yeah. Um,
Speaker 1: let's take a quick break and then we'll be back
Speaker 1: with the number one and we are back. Okay, So, Steve,
Speaker 1: how we do this is um, since you are guests,
Speaker 1: you're gonna be our big grand fin only. So Megan
Speaker 1: and I will pick our number ones and we'll close
Speaker 1: it out with you. So Megan, Okay, So Kobe was
Speaker 1: my number one. Um, but I had a person in
Speaker 1: number one that I took out, so I would like
Speaker 1: to honor them. Now. Um, I do have some honorable mentions,
Speaker 1: and I don't think I'm taking any from anybody's because
Speaker 1: these are people that they're not on the list because
Speaker 1: their careers have not been long enough and they're still
Speaker 1: currently playing. Um. Aaron Donald I think will go down
Speaker 1: as one of the greatest l A athletes. I it
Speaker 1: seems like him and Sean McVeigh really have a have
Speaker 1: a vibe and a thing that you gotta imagine you
Speaker 1: like playing in l A too. Like, I just don't
Speaker 1: know where else he would want to go. So I
Speaker 1: hope for his sake and the city's sake that he
Speaker 1: stays here. And then also Clayton Kershaw, I think we
Speaker 1: will look back and be like, hell yeah, that that's
Speaker 1: a that is a white boy picture player, you know,
Speaker 1: like that is if there was a movie, he'd be
Speaker 1: in it as the white boy Blonde picture. Um. But
Speaker 1: I was so happy for him to, like, you know,
Speaker 1: get to win a World Series. And I know like
Speaker 1: how much they talked about the monkey on the back
Speaker 1: for Peyton, and I think Clayton was just as much.
Speaker 1: So it's got to be like such a relief and
Speaker 1: an excitement for him. Um, so my number one is
Speaker 1: going to be a man I actually no so little about,
Speaker 1: but I hear his name probably once a week, and
Speaker 1: that's Sandy Kofax. Um truly like Mr Dodger, Mr Baseball,
Speaker 1: A seven time All Star, four time World Series Champion,
Speaker 1: three times cy Young Award. He pitched four no hitters.
Speaker 1: I what that like? Even reading his stats and like, yeah,
Speaker 1: he almost sound he's like a legend, Like Sandy Kofax is.
Speaker 1: The name is so much bigger than anything I've ever
Speaker 1: known because you just here and you're like, oh, that's
Speaker 1: some old timey guy who just lit it up and
Speaker 1: he really fucking did and just was on the on
Speaker 1: the Dodgers in Brooklyn on the Dodgers. Here just is
Speaker 1: the Dodgers, and I just I like think of him
Speaker 1: and Vince Scully as as Dodgers. Yeah. Yeah, Sandy Kovax
Speaker 1: and a man of character too, very kind, still strong
Speaker 1: with the organization. And you know he famously would not
Speaker 1: pitch on the Sabbath as a Jewish person, And this
Speaker 1: is a big deal when like being a Jewish person,
Speaker 1: was you know, it's still not the easiest thing sometimes,
Speaker 1: but where it was like they you know, America hated
Speaker 1: Jewish people, so um yeah, Sandy Kofax obviously one of
Speaker 1: the best dodges of all time. I'm so glad I
Speaker 1: didn't pick him. I was very tempted to, and I'm
Speaker 1: glad I did it. Okay, great, he was in my
Speaker 1: number one slot, and then I was like, I guess
Speaker 1: I just don't know him enough to like have him
Speaker 1: as my number one, and I moved him into honorable mentions.
Speaker 1: But then once Kobe was off, It's like, yeah, this
Speaker 1: is the this is like who if old men were
Speaker 1: making this list as their number one, and you know,
Speaker 1: I got to give it to the old man sometimes.
Speaker 1: And is Samler's character and Big Daddy named after inspired
Speaker 1: his name is Sunny Kofax. I don't know. She is
Speaker 1: always looking for a Sandler connection. That's a great name
Speaker 1: of a podcast, the Sandler Connection. Alright, see if you
Speaker 1: want another podcast, I'm writing it down, all right, my
Speaker 1: number one pick. I also have one other honorable mention
Speaker 1: that I'm not I'm saying. I'm not saying it because
Speaker 1: it may be someone else's pick, but I'll tell you
Speaker 1: guys after if it's not okay, all right, mine is
Speaker 1: My number one pick is Magic Johnson. I just like
Speaker 1: we talked about him a bunch on this. The thing
Speaker 1: to me is that he is not only you know,
Speaker 1: we've talked about a player, the Hollywood connection and entrepreneur businessman.
Speaker 1: Uh don't forget cookie, Yeah, I mean, and don't forget
Speaker 1: like two years ago people like he. People thought he
Speaker 1: was the most like dysfunctional Lakers GM, but they since
Speaker 1: they've won, they are now we're back to like Magic. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we love Magic. This is all because of him, and
Speaker 1: I think he is. I think, like all these players,
Speaker 1: it's that legacy we're talking about of l A. Whether
Speaker 1: the team is currently bad, players are like, no, I
Speaker 1: want to go to l A because if we can
Speaker 1: win there, like it's easy to get players to come
Speaker 1: there for help. But also players saw Magic's career post
Speaker 1: the Lakers and go, we have almost a life after
Speaker 1: basketball if we can make it work in l A.
Speaker 1: And I think that's because of Magic. And I just
Speaker 1: think Magic Johnson. You just think l A. You think
Speaker 1: don't you even think the Dodgers now? Like who knows
Speaker 1: how much he really does? He says he's a majority owner.
Speaker 1: But like, yeah, Magic Johnson to me is like l
Speaker 1: a outside of sports. He's just like he could be
Speaker 1: the mayor. After the last few weeks, he should be
Speaker 1: the mayor. Yeah. He cares about the community and how
Speaker 1: he handled getting hi v uh. You know, anybody else
Speaker 1: would have been taken down by the thing, but he
Speaker 1: took it as an opportunity to make it a learning lesson,
Speaker 1: and he he almost singlehandedly he stigmatized AIDS and HIV
Speaker 1: and what you know, people we used to write it
Speaker 1: off is just simply a gay disease when that meant
Speaker 1: a bad thing back then. But he was the He
Speaker 1: put it on the face of someone we all knew
Speaker 1: and loved. He touched people's hearts, and he practically overnight
Speaker 1: changed the way that the world viewed this deadly disease.
Speaker 1: And now and now that we found solutions and vaccines
Speaker 1: and stuff where you can't completely hear it but you
Speaker 1: can easily live with it. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: how you can't like attribute a lot of that to
Speaker 1: Magic Johnson. Plus he had a really bad talk show.
Speaker 1: You gotta admire someone swinging for the fences. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: it's like what bad, Like, what's the worst he can
Speaker 1: do where people finally turn on Magic hasn't happened yet. No,
Speaker 1: he's the greatest. He's the greatest laker of all time. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I also think his love and support of e J
Speaker 1: is really something that you see mirrored. Not that Dwyane
Speaker 1: Wade took a page from his book, but like Magic,
Speaker 1: it wasn't just HIV positive. He also had like a
Speaker 1: very public out child um who is like very fluid
Speaker 1: within their gender. And I was like, yeah, this is
Speaker 1: my kid, what do you wanna do or say like
Speaker 1: you know, I'll fuck you up? You know, Like he's
Speaker 1: just like yeah, this, this is and and that's obviously
Speaker 1: probably somewhat l a but like never hit e J,
Speaker 1: celebrated e J, put e J front and center. Man,
Speaker 1: I would be stoked to meet Magic Johnson. That I
Speaker 1: was just I don't I don't think about like being
Speaker 1: excited to meet people that much, but just talking about
Speaker 1: him like this, that would be like, Yeah, I would
Speaker 1: be really cool to meet Magic Johnson. Oh yeah, I
Speaker 1: would be thrilled to meet Cookie. Cookie was like the
Speaker 1: first Cookie made jeans, like before they were like apple Bottom.
Speaker 1: Maybe it was after, but it was like these are
Speaker 1: these are jeans for girls with big butts? And I
Speaker 1: was like, you know what, cookie, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: I had to get him hem I had a pair
Speaker 1: of cookie jeans, but like you know, I've got a
Speaker 1: big butt, but then little short legs, so I had
Speaker 1: to go get my cookies. Hemmed, I had to get
Speaker 1: my cookie jeans. Hand I love him. They came up
Speaker 1: so high. Well, she's an artist, Steve, take us home.
Speaker 1: An honorable mentions Wayne Gretzky. I know he's from Um
Speaker 1: Canada and the oilers a lot, but to me, he
Speaker 1: made the Kings, he put the Kings, he made hockey
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, so way Gretzy's big oral hers Scheiser
Speaker 1: has always really touched my heart. He was so Christian
Speaker 1: and such a good man too when I was Christian,
Speaker 1: so that meant a lot to me. And then finally
Speaker 1: for honorable mention, I love I've loved lamar Odom for
Speaker 1: so long since he was originally a clip and then
Speaker 1: it came back for the Lakers, so he was never
Speaker 1: you know, he was never that top guy. But uh
Speaker 1: lamar owed um to me, Like I mean, I remember
Speaker 1: him in the Clippers. When he was first came out
Speaker 1: of high school, I just loved him so much, so
Speaker 1: I love lamar Odom. Uh, and then I fell in
Speaker 1: love with him even more. He picked Chloe, which Chloe
Speaker 1: was always my favorite, and uh, I just really love that.
Speaker 1: So lamar Odom and then finally my number one choice
Speaker 1: of all time for best Los Angeles athlete. This is, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, kind of personal. You'll know why. Obviously, Fernando
Speaker 1: Vellezuela for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fernando mania hit. I
Speaker 1: was too little, but growing up, I mean I think
Speaker 1: I was three when that happened. So the rest of
Speaker 1: that time, I mean, he still was huge all the
Speaker 1: way through I think they're eighty eight championship. So Fernando
Speaker 1: Vealezuela was huge in the Mexican community. Everyone knows that
Speaker 1: Chavez Ravine was cleared for Dodgers Stadium. They uh kicked
Speaker 1: a bunch of Mexicans out of their house, promised them
Speaker 1: that they were gonna be new projects full of houses,
Speaker 1: and then just made it Dodger stadiums. So the Mexican
Speaker 1: community in Los Angeles hated the Dodgers for years and
Speaker 1: years until fucking Fernando made it. Okay, they went and
Speaker 1: they got him, found him in Mexico, brought him back. Uh.
Speaker 1: He won his first eight games, He won the cy
Speaker 1: Young Award and Rookie of the Year in the same year.
Speaker 1: That's like never happened. And uh he led them that
Speaker 1: first year to a World Series championship. That was his
Speaker 1: big year. He was always good. He I think he
Speaker 1: played ten complete games. They don't even do this anymore,
Speaker 1: but he played ten complete games. He had his first
Speaker 1: shutout in so almost ten years after he came to
Speaker 1: the league. Just really, you know, Mexicans have been getting
Speaker 1: the shaft for so long. I think when you think
Speaker 1: about America, America to me has always been whites, the
Speaker 1: white and black story. It's whites versus blacks. But you know, Mexicans,
Speaker 1: we've always been in the back king And uh, I
Speaker 1: do think that we're coming up. It's getting to the
Speaker 1: time now where it's third generation and fourth generation and
Speaker 1: we're not worried about our relatives getting shipped back home yet.
Speaker 1: So we're going to start coming out from out of
Speaker 1: the rocks. And I do think that you're going to
Speaker 1: see a lot more Mexican superstars, not only in the
Speaker 1: area of sports, but in entertainment as well. But the
Speaker 1: first real big superstar for me and for us and
Speaker 1: for the Los Angeles Dodgers is Fernando Valenzuela. Beautiful, I mean,
Speaker 1: even the guy. And I'm so sad that his name
Speaker 1: is escaping me right now. Who was the closer for
Speaker 1: this team. It's like he means so much to the
Speaker 1: Mexican community. And and this is now forty years later,
Speaker 1: like it's still is he Filipino or in Mexican He
Speaker 1: had an eye surgery, so he does, haven't. So I
Speaker 1: get why you were maybe confused. Yeah, but for Nandomania,
Speaker 1: there was nothing like it. I remember being little and
Speaker 1: just I mean, and I loved him too. He used
Speaker 1: nine t when he first got here, twenty by the
Speaker 1: end of the that first season. But he was a
Speaker 1: little He was a little chubby guy. If you've seen him,
Speaker 1: he looks terrible. He looks just absolutely terrible, terrible skin.
Speaker 1: He looked like like he he had a beard, gut,
Speaker 1: a little fat Mexican guy who just came up and
Speaker 1: live up. The pictures amount obviously influential to me in
Speaker 1: my lifestyle. So he'll always go down as as my
Speaker 1: absolute favorite Dodger, and I don't think that you know,
Speaker 1: this allies full of Mexicans, and I don't think that
Speaker 1: the Dodgers would be such a Mexican team if they
Speaker 1: would have never had for Nano Vellezuela. So I'm glad
Speaker 1: he did. He made it okay to love the Dodgers
Speaker 1: again after they did a terrible, terrible Mexican community. I wish,
Speaker 1: did you. I wish I wish they muld find some
Speaker 1: way to say they're sorry, to make a statue or something,
Speaker 1: because it's not like everybody. It's like America too with slavery.
Speaker 1: It's like we all know what happened. Just say sorry
Speaker 1: and means so much in the world if you just
Speaker 1: just you know, have the press. The stadium is just
Speaker 1: so the stadium is so beautiful, like and it's it's
Speaker 1: on this hilltop like when I took my parents overre
Speaker 1: like this is like this is where you put a stadium.
Speaker 1: And I'm like, yes, but little tricky tricky Tricky passed there.
Speaker 1: Um my honorable mention that I it's just worth noting
Speaker 1: because I think of him as the rams is Eric
Speaker 1: Dickerson right that I don't even see other Rams jerseys
Speaker 1: out here, Like no one has a Jared Goff jersey,
Speaker 1: so you would see maybe some girly he's gone. You
Speaker 1: just see people in vintage Eric Dickerson Rams jerseys and
Speaker 1: then you're like, okay, you've you've been with the team
Speaker 1: for a long time. Great call. Yeah, um, Steve, you
Speaker 1: have truly one of the funniest twitters. Like if people
Speaker 1: were like you can have five twitters that you're still
Speaker 1: love to look at, you would be on my five. Um,
Speaker 1: so please tell our listeners where they can find you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much, making that means a lot. You
Speaker 1: can find me a big Herd on Twitter, Hernia on Instagram.
Speaker 1: You check out just I Plug on my podcast there,
Speaker 1: so check those out. Then, thank you guys so much
Speaker 1: for having me on. I had a blast. Absolutely well.
Speaker 1: We hope we can see you and Julia in person
Speaker 1: soon when things are are better. Um, thank you so much,
Speaker 1: Kei for doing it. Thank you, and you can find
Speaker 1: me at c J Toldonna on Everything, Megan at Megan
Speaker 1: Gaily on Twitter, at bet No Better Megan Gaily Betting Instagram,
Speaker 1: Betton Megan. That is fun. I'm so bad at betting
Speaker 1: on sports, so um and gosh, guys, happy holidays. It's
Speaker 1: getting it's not even getting scary, it's staying scary. It's
Speaker 1: gotten scary, staying scary, and escalating towards scarier. So be safe,
Speaker 1: keep yourself safe, your family, say wear a mask. Harl
Speaker 1: Anthony Towns has had seven family members die of COVID.
Speaker 1: Now this is an NBA the Timberweld first Star are
Speaker 1: and he's lost seven family members. Where the fucking mask? Please? Um,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for listening, rate review, and
Speaker 1: we will have more Greatest for you next week. The
Speaker 1: Greatest is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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