0:09

Welcome everyone to the Sports Illustrated Media

0:11

Podcast. I am your host, Jimmy Traina,

0:13

thanks so much for joining me, joined by my

0:16

producer, Brandon Knicks. Brandon, how are you good?

0:18

Jimmy? How are you doing? I'm doing well. Give me a quick

0:21

NBA Finals prediction. You've got Milwaukee,

0:23

Toronto, Golden State Portland. What will

0:25

we see in the finals? I have Golden State

0:28

in Toronto, Golden State and

0:30

Toronto. Okay, with Golden State winning

0:32

in six and Steph Curry being the m v P. You got it

0:34

all figured out already. You know, I'm gonna wait to see how

0:36

this series. These series play out, Okay, nah?

0:40

Uh n b A is center stage right

0:42

now. Last week on this podcast, we had Mike

0:44

Brenan. He calls the Western Conference Finals

0:46

in the NBA Finals for ESPN, So if you haven't checked

0:48

that out, go give it a download and listen.

0:51

This week's show two interviews. First up,

0:53

media columnist for the Boston Globe, Chad Finn.

0:56

We got into the NBA

0:59

ratings and how things will fare

1:01

here in the Conference finals without Lebron

1:04

and what the NBA can expect. We got

1:06

into the ESPN studio show,

1:09

Uh struggling. Obviously, T n

1:11

T Studio show dominates

1:13

when it comes to the NBA, So we got into

1:15

that. We talked a little bit about the

1:17

p g A coming up with Tiger Woods, and

1:19

we talked a little bit about Boston

1:22

sports, Tom Brady, uh

1:24

Gronk and the vibe there in

1:26

Boston, and a bunch of other stuff

1:29

and just going through some sports

1:31

media news. Um,

1:34

Brandon, let me ask you this question.

1:37

N B a draft lottery,

1:40

which I did not talk about though with Chad Finn.

1:43

Do you are you into that? Is

1:45

that like a big deal to you? I

1:48

only care about it because of the drama, right,

1:51

It's it's becoming a big, big, big thing now,

1:53

and I don't know, doesn't

1:56

really. I can't say I get overly

1:58

excited. I mean I get cited for

2:00

it just to see fans sweat. I mean we

2:02

are in New York, so Knicks fans are just real

2:04

nervous today and they got nothing else. So I've

2:07

been declaring today hugging Knicks fan

2:09

day. They might need the hug.

2:12

If it doesn't work out, they're gonna

2:14

need it regardless. Uh.

2:16

After after we get we there's a lot of NBA talk

2:18

with Chad Finn, and after that Brian Curtis

2:20

from The Ringer joins us. Brian wrote an

2:23

article for The Ringer about the

2:26

amount of sportscasters who are die

2:28

hard Howard Stern fans. Howard

2:30

is in the news this week because he has a book out came

2:32

out Tuesday. Howard Stern comes again and

2:35

Brian Curtis always writes these phenomenal

2:38

articles. He comes at it from an interesting angle,

2:40

and I thought this was a great sort of

2:42

way to connect Howard and sports.

2:45

So we talked to Brian about those

2:47

two things and his articles.

2:50

So without further Ado

2:53

again quickly Mike Breen in

2:55

the archives. Check that out. Ian Rappaport

2:57

NFL Insider two weeks ago, three

2:59

weeks we had Jim Nance. If you haven't listened to any of those,

3:01

check them out, download, subscribe,

3:04

rate, review, and then of course

3:06

do the same for this episode with Chad Finn and

3:08

Brian Curtis. We get it started right now with

3:11

Chad Finn. Alright

3:13

joining me now is Boston Globe media

3:16

columnist Chad

3:18

Finn to go through some sports media news

3:20

chat. How are you? I'm good man.

3:23

Last time I was on Marshawn was slow baseball writer

3:26

Andrew Marshan was still a

3:28

baseball writer. Probably he's he's he's

3:30

got his handful right now with Mike Francisa. We'll have

3:32

Andrew on sometime down the road. Um,

3:36

but before we get into sports media stuff,

3:38

give me a little taste of Boston

3:40

right now. The Celtics lost. I

3:43

know the Bruins were. They

3:46

were playing a lot on the same night. Who

3:48

who Which team

3:51

gets more juice in this city?

3:55

The Bruins. Um. Last

3:57

year was the first time. Yeah, last year was the first

3:59

time, god, I want to say

4:01

six or seven years where uh,

4:04

the Celtics actually did better on the regional

4:06

cable network that carries them here than the

4:08

Bruins did. Brown nesson and keats

4:11

the Bruins and and NBC

4:13

Sports Boston carries the Celtics, and

4:16

uh, last year the Celtics had a really compelling

4:18

team, really likable team, and Heyward

4:20

getting hurt five minutes into what order it

4:23

was, and they have been getting hurt after sixty games

4:25

was still kind of the opposite of what did

4:27

they ended up with this year where it

4:29

was a really easy team to root for that went to Game

4:32

seven of these finals. So they captured the

4:34

imagination of Boston sports fans

4:36

and the Bruins weren't great last year. They were good

4:39

that slipped back this year. I mean the Bruins looked

4:41

like they're gonna these Crewis the

4:43

Stanley Cup up two? Oh as we talk here

4:45

in the East, and uh, you know

4:47

they had the edge this year. Regional, inter nationally,

4:50

the uh NBC is getting

4:52

great numbers for for the hot playoffs,

4:55

especially around here. I think they got a fourteen eight

4:58

for Game two. So uh,

5:01

it's it's more hockey town than the basketball

5:03

town. One office are equal? Is

5:05

Kyrie public enemy number one in Boston

5:07

right now? Or is there another Boston sports

5:09

athlete who would take that title? Uh?

5:14

Terry Rosie has taken it to the day. He went

5:16

first take this morning and basically said

5:18

he he did the ball more considering

5:21

he's the seventh or eight guy in the roster and

5:23

second in usage in terms

5:26

of having the ball in his hands.

5:28

But of course the season only Kyrie had it more.

5:31

Uh, and I think his second usage rate, he

5:33

comes out looking like a real problem and we

5:35

knew that watching him play. I mean, he

5:38

was one of those guys where if the Celtics got

5:40

out ten points and points when you would

5:42

start and get his own. Just he never passed

5:44

all the end of a cou He would always try to hit the

5:47

long three look off whoever was ahead,

5:49

and just he cree agents

5:51

out there trying to get his contract, but them

5:53

going with the Keellerman and stephen A and

5:56

basically say, yeah, the reason we uh disappointed

5:59

this year was because i'd him playing us. Uh.

6:01

I mean that's pretty eye opening. So Rosiers

6:04

stay around here, get burned. But Kyrie

6:06

was. So you convince me Rosie

6:09

was a problem as soon as you said he went on first take this

6:11

morning, you didn't even need to go into that. You didn't even have

6:13

to mention the other stuff. And

6:15

he's got some sort of media tour and you know, I've

6:17

been hearing from people saying today, is he the he

6:20

the worst player to go on to post you

6:23

know, pre free agency, post a disappointing

6:26

playoff, and through a media

6:28

tour. But yeah, they know what he's

6:30

gonna say, and they know he's gonna probably

6:32

reveal some things about this dysfunctional

6:34

Celtics team that will make for a good copy and

6:37

you know, good good stuff on Twitter

6:39

and all that. So probably pretty smart to have

6:41

him on. It's a great topic the the

6:44

worst players to go on media tours that

6:46

that would be a fun one to dip into. But we

6:49

the Celtics are out. But ABC

6:51

and T and T have gotten good ratings for the

6:53

NBA playoffs so far. Now

6:57

in the Eastern Conference. To get a little bit of a problem

6:59

with Milwaukee Toronto because Toronto

7:01

doesn't rate in the U S and Milwaukee is Milwaukee.

7:03

I'm not sure Portland's um,

7:06

you know, it could be an issue to there. But well,

7:09

let me ask you this, do you do

7:12

do you think what do you think the bigger

7:14

problem might be here in the conference finals for

7:16

ABC, T and T the markets

7:19

or no Lebron James, because while that

7:21

was not felt in the first two

7:24

rounds, I'd be surprised

7:26

if you don't feel if if they if they don't

7:28

miss Lebron a little bit, uh

7:30

in this round because the conference finals,

7:33

you know, they're they're all prime time nine o'clock

7:35

usually, uh,

7:38

ABC, TNT, and

7:40

that's when Lebron would sort of capture

7:43

America then going into the finals. So I'm

7:46

wondering, uh, the bigger

7:48

issue here for ESPN and ABC

7:50

going into the conference finals. I

7:53

think it's probably the markets. I mean, Lebron's

7:56

your equivalent of a bankable action star

7:58

where you knew if you was there and what

8:00

was the seven years in a row you reached the final seven?

8:03

Seven or eight I think was seven. So

8:06

it was a constant and it was a recurring story

8:08

that added in new chapter every year. That

8:10

was really valuable to them. But right,

8:16

yeah, the name recognitions off the charts.

8:18

I think they have that bill with Golden State. You

8:20

know, ABC and cb A, ABC

8:23

and ESPN have the Western Conference here

8:28

and you have that with Curry. You had it

8:30

to whatever degree of durant even place

8:33

he's pretty close to that level too. Um.

8:36

But what really hurts them is you just look and

8:39

I think last year's markets, Kleiman

8:42

was the smallest markets around nineteen,

8:44

I think the other three of top

8:47

ten, you know, Oakland, San Francisco, they had

8:49

the Celtics and Houston,

8:51

those the top ten markets those year. You've got Milwaukee

8:53

thirty six and they got this, uh,

8:56

most likable superstar probably in

8:58

the league in jana It six.

9:01

You know, that's pretty far down the list, and that

9:03

Toronto doesn't even register. Portland's

9:06

twenty two, and actually I'm one of those people,

9:08

think of the minority that thinks Portland's

9:10

gonna give Golden State a better series

9:12

than than expected. But still

9:15

we might be looking at short theories here with

9:17

with relatively small

9:19

markets and that that adds up

9:22

to kind of a bumber, particularly for

9:24

the Western Conference. I'd love to

9:26

know. I mean, I guess

9:28

you'd have to know what Americans thinking first, but I'd

9:30

love to know it. He has pan and T and t a thinking in terms

9:32

of this. I think

9:35

if Portland would ever beat Golden State,

9:38

I think a lot of hardcore NBA fans

9:40

would like that because I do think

9:42

there's a Warrior fatigue out

9:44

there and backlash against the super

9:46

team. On the flip side,

9:50

you still have to think the Warriors in the

9:52

finals would bring better ratings

9:54

than the Blazers in the finals.

9:56

So it's an interesting dilemma there. Yeah,

10:00

definitely, Uh, I guess

10:02

they probably have to be rooting for Milwaukee to just

10:04

because Toronto there's a register at all, and

10:06

you can get people from NBC talking

10:09

about how, you know, they celebrate

10:11

a little bit when the Canadian teams go out

10:13

in the NHL playoffs because that

10:16

has no value to them. So it's

10:18

the same way of the NBA right now. It

10:20

should be a great series with for on T

10:22

and T, with you know, Ka and

10:25

Janice going head to head and two really really

10:27

good and pretty evenly matched teams, but the

10:30

national peel isn't going to be there, and

10:32

I think in the West, uh,

10:35

they gotta be begging for Golden

10:37

State to advantage just because they

10:39

are. There is Golden

10:41

State fatigue for sure, but there's also

10:43

that element with if Durant is out for the

10:46

whole runne are and I kind of get

10:48

the sense thats how it's gonna be that. Uh,

10:50

there's that whole element now where it's kind of the game

10:53

is back together. It's mean Thompson, the

10:55

guys who started this thing, and I think that

10:57

makes similar likable. They're

10:59

no, uh, they're

11:01

not struck as a true super

11:04

team when Durant is out there, the

11:06

group that they started with when the Saw began,

11:08

there's a little bit more likability to that and

11:11

just their national appeal. I mean, you can't go to a high

11:14

school basketball game without seeing some kid

11:16

wearing a Warrior shirts or a bunch

11:18

of them, so they have that national appeal. They have a fairly

11:21

big market, and I think got

11:23

ESPN execs on the on the phone, they would

11:25

tell you off the record that they really really want

11:27

the Warriors to one this same But

11:30

I would, I would, I would, my guest, I

11:32

would. My prediction would be, let's

11:34

say it's a Warrior's Bucks

11:37

Finals just for ships and giggles. Let's say that's what

11:39

it ends up being. The country

11:41

is going to be rooting for the Bucks because I think,

11:44

like you said, Janice is so likable,

11:46

and ESPN will they will

11:48

do about five thousand features on Jannas

11:51

for the two weeks that the finals goes on. They

11:53

will shove them down your throat to no end. And

11:57

I agree with you that you know during

12:00

in sideline it's back to that seventy win

12:02

team that but they're still thought of as this

12:04

super team who's you know, bond titled

12:06

by So I do think the Bucks would become

12:09

America's darlings with which is

12:11

an interesting thought to have. The Milwaukee

12:13

Bucks is America's darlings. But I

12:15

think with the honest there, that's what would happen for

12:18

sure. Yeah,

12:20

would, that's absolutely what would happen.

12:22

I wonder if the Bucks catch on, is America's

12:24

darling because you know, Janice

12:27

is incredibly appealing for sure, and he's got

12:29

a great outgoing personality. But who's

12:32

who's the second guy they're going to sell you on their Yeah?

12:36

Is it Brook Lopez? I mean, it's

12:39

a really well constructive team. Is the

12:41

only sixty win team in the league. Uh,

12:44

the one that they deserve to be where they are,

12:46

and they probably deserve to win the title this year.

12:48

But that as far as the you

12:50

know, the sexiness factor of that team, I mean,

12:52

it's it's it's not going to have

12:55

a huge appeal to national audience, no matter

12:57

how much they tell us how

12:59

great Yannice is. ESPN executives

13:01

were probably in in crying

13:03

more than Joe l Embid when the Sixers lost

13:06

because they could have you know, Embide

13:08

Butler, Ben Simmons, you

13:11

know, and then of course the Philly market. So

13:14

you know that was a ESPN

13:16

I'm sure, like I said that, they shed more tears

13:18

than than embied. Um.

13:21

You know one thing that really comes to light I've

13:23

I've mentioned this on Twitter many times. It's

13:25

not rocket science. It's not like I'm saying anything

13:27

here that anyone else can't figure out. But my

13:30

god, when you watch that t NT studio

13:32

show with Ernie, Chuck, Kenny and Shack,

13:36

and then you know the next night you're

13:38

watching ESPN with Michelle

13:40

Beatle and Jalen Rose and

13:42

Paul Pierce, and I think they brought in Region

13:45

Rondo. Um,

13:48

I mean you want to talk about night and day.

13:51

It's shocking to

13:53

me that ESPN. I

13:56

know they've changed that cast a million times. I

13:58

mean they've had um Bill

14:00

Simmons and Magic and Wilbon and

14:02

Sage steal it. But I mean this

14:05

is this is not good what they got

14:07

going on right now. But

14:09

we like it here because we want it happened

14:12

to be that when the

14:14

Celtics ultimately fell apart and Kywee

14:16

Kyrie basically quit h you

14:18

know, halfway through Game six. I mean, I've

14:21

never seen an athlete quit like he did in a

14:23

player of his magnitude. We were looking

14:25

forward to it because Rondo and Pierce we knew

14:27

were going to get on there in trash

14:29

them and that the

14:31

old salty, old Celtics from tain years

14:33

ago. But uh, that's

14:35

really the only appeal of it.

14:38

And I don't know how you felt.

14:40

I mean, I remember when Shaq retired it was

14:42

after two thousand twelve, but whatever was

14:44

the last SI finished up to the Celtics and

14:46

then he has done. There was a bidding war

14:48

between T and T Turner and ESPN

14:51

for him and uh.

14:53

I didn't like the idea at the time of adding

14:55

him to Kenny and Barkley because they had been Ernie

14:58

that had such a good go on our rate but

15:00

Barkley, but Shock has been

15:02

really, really good on that. I think he's improved even

15:04

more. And you know they had that Viba flip

15:07

last week where he gets all upset because he can

15:09

get his turn and then Barkley and Kenny just laughed

15:11

at him and Ernie lost. That

15:13

show is must watch no matter what game

15:15

you've watched before. You want to see what they have to

15:18

stay afterwards, what every studio show strives

15:20

for. And it's very very rare

15:22

where where you can have that. And I have

15:25

that kind of appeal that they do, and they've had it for a long

15:27

time now. I think Shack actually adds

15:29

to it, which I never effected. Yeah, I couldn't

15:31

agree with you, and I actually I think

15:34

the first year Shock was there, I didn't like

15:36

it at all either. I was like, what does he bring into the table?

15:38

He's just you know, mumbled yeah. But

15:40

he has improved tremendously, and I

15:43

think, um, listen, everyone

15:45

knows how good the show is. But what I always

15:47

am struck by more than anything is that the

15:51

way they effortlessly will bounce

15:53

between giving you the serious

15:55

analysis and breaking down a game. And Kenny

15:58

does a great job breaking down the film and using

16:01

that big, big video screen and all that, and then two minutes

16:03

later, you know they're eating

16:06

making jokes about Barkley being fat and

16:08

all that stuff. I mean, they transition so effortlessly,

16:11

and they do it all It's

16:14

I I, um,

16:16

you know, I know she has the jump

16:18

in it and it's doing well, but I'm

16:21

shocked ESPN doesn't go to Rachel

16:24

Nichols for that show. It

16:27

wouldn't surprise me. I mean, the jump

16:29

has uh you know, their audience is

16:31

kind of staggering. I wrote about a

16:33

couple of weeks ago, and I think the average like I

16:36

want to say, three and forty thousand

16:38

for show, and that that's kind

16:41

of basically what it's been over the

16:43

extent of the run. It hasn't really gained a

16:45

lot of audience, But what it's gained is a

16:47

lot of bus if she watched it a couple of days

16:50

in a row and you realize this

16:52

is what would be should be at least in that times

16:54

a loot where uh, you're talking

16:56

intelligently to the audience, they

16:59

assume that you know certain things they don't

17:01

refer to. Uh, you

17:03

know, Harden is James Harden is

17:05

James Harden of the Rockets. It's

17:07

just Harden. It's just you're you

17:10

feel like you're in on the show, whether

17:12

it's Rachel or zach Low

17:14

or uh Pierce Ben

17:16

who are McGrady, who's really good, he's really

17:19

salty on their um. So that

17:21

show has caught on and maybe just what they need

17:23

to do is move that into prime time. They've kind

17:26

of targeted that show to having

17:28

that appeal where it's the middle of the day and the NBA

17:30

guys are actually watching it. It's a

17:32

little bit different. You just took exactly.

17:35

It's funny. I was just gonna say to one of

17:37

the things that Jump has going for it and

17:40

the successful shows like The Jump,

17:42

the T n T show, I think of my friends

17:45

there, Good Morning Football, you know that's

17:47

a great show. The players

17:50

are into those shows and react to those

17:52

shows and respond to those shows.

17:54

That's you know, the ESPN studio show that you

17:56

know, it's not really happening as

17:58

much. It doesn't seem like it least, but I

18:01

yeah, I would. Um, I

18:04

think ESPN has got to do something with the

18:06

their NBA studio show. I mean, they they're gonna

18:08

have the finals, and to me, that just screams for

18:10

like Rachel, Nichols and McGrady,

18:12

Like you said, these people who are really

18:16

causing waves during the day with the jump. But

18:19

yeah, have you always liked Rachel and whatever

18:21

role she's in, Yeah, um,

18:24

you know she you know, I feel

18:26

like she's um become like this

18:28

one of the big NBA figures in the last

18:30

couple of years. I always thought of her as more of a reporter

18:33

who covered all sports. But I thought she always

18:35

did a good job from day

18:37

one. Really yeah, because

18:39

when she came back they let her shake that she

18:43

when John Skipper talked to her after she

18:45

had gone to Turner and she's doing like sideline

18:47

reporting to the baseball playoffs,

18:50

uh, you know, and some CNN stuff, and she

18:52

she had a lot going on, but it's kind of a

18:54

an assortment. When when Espan

18:57

talked to her about coming back, she

18:59

basically he said, it needs to be something

19:01

that I can't do here, that I'm

19:03

not gonna ability to here that appeals to me.

19:06

And uh, they let her shape

19:08

the show. I mean, she picked McGrady as or

19:10

her number one draft, picked among people among

19:12

ex players who were attainable. You know,

19:14

they would have taken Bartley if they could or but

19:17

they let her build that show, and I think it's taken

19:19

a really smart shape. And I give

19:22

her a lot of credit for that because I I, you know,

19:24

around the NBA for ten years, but I didn't know

19:27

that she would be so adept at hate

19:29

posting this kind of show where it was

19:31

really both inclusive to

19:33

basketball fans but also sort of insidery.

19:36

And uh, I really like it. I think

19:38

maybe maybe it would be wise to switch it

19:40

to to uh you know later on,

19:42

but I think it would lose something in that regard too.

19:44

And she's developed great relationships

19:46

with players and gets them to speak and gets

19:49

you know, exclusives with them and gets them

19:51

to you know, gets quotes from them that other people

19:54

can't get. So that's a big factor

19:56

in it as well, um

19:58

and and and the interest of fairness if any ESPN

20:00

people are listening to us and they're not happy, and the

20:02

interest of fantas you know, I think what makes

20:05

the studio show stand

20:07

out as being so disappointing

20:09

is how good their team

20:11

is calling the games. Yes, I did have Mike

20:13

Breen on this podcast last week, so I

20:16

may be kissing his ask a little, but you can go listen to

20:18

it in the archives. But Breen, Van

20:20

Gundy, Jackson, I mean, that's as good as it gets

20:23

from you know, the telecast, that point

20:27

it is, and you know, they're sharp as ever.

20:29

Two They had a they had an

20:31

absolutely great, great

20:33

stretch here with the Western Conference playoffs

20:35

and kind of you know, I

20:38

always thought Jackson was not

20:40

great that you could listen

20:42

to him for a while and recognize why they have

20:45

warriors had to make a change with their

20:47

coaches. But he's gotten

20:49

more and more candid, more and more appointed about his

20:51

criticisms and then you you know,

20:53

you hear guys like carrying and play Thompson talked

20:55

about them what he actually did for Draymond Green,

20:57

and that's come through. I think a little

20:59

bit more on the broadcast, real

21:02

ability to connect to the players, and his actual

21:04

knowledge of the tactical stuff that's going on

21:06

about you know, vit Gundy has always been great, got

21:09

sense of humor about himself. He's

21:12

not shy about making comments that aren't

21:14

going to go over with half of the

21:16

population. You know, he will get political

21:18

from time to time, and I think that's pretty good

21:20

because he's good at it. But overall,

21:23

yeah, that's a It's a really good

21:25

broadcast team and one that you know, it's

21:27

been together a while and you still see it improving,

21:29

which just doesn't always happen. Yeah,

21:32

they're they're very good to listen to that. I

21:34

think that that you know, I listen. It's a great

21:36

play by play guys, you know in the NBA with Harlan

21:38

and Marv. But the breen vang on the Jackson

21:40

team is as good as it gets. Um

21:43

like Carling should be doing the

21:45

h the games now

21:47

or you are Kayla Marv Gas And you know, I

21:49

know Marv gets a little bit of crap on Twitter, and

21:51

I think you always have to take that with a grain of salt because

21:53

it's Twitter. But to me, here's

21:56

the thing, people think I'm you know, I

21:58

think people think that, you know, I'm sort

22:00

of like a tough critic

22:03

or whatever. I'm a big softie.

22:05

My philosophy is I

22:07

am because here's what I think. I think, like a guy like Marv,

22:10

Marv should do it till Marv doesn't want to do it.

22:12

I don't care if Marv is messing up

22:14

every player's name and drooling on the air.

22:18

Marv is the old time greatest NBA

22:20

play by play man, so he should dictate his own future.

22:23

Now. Having said that, and I've discussed this

22:25

on the podcast a couple of times, because Marshan

22:27

has reported a couple of times

22:30

that T and T when they when

22:32

they think they're gonna make that move

22:35

and push Marv out of that number one slot,

22:37

it's gonna go to Brian Anderson. I

22:39

like Brian Anderson a lot. But if that happens,

22:42

that's a disgrace. If for anyone to get

22:44

that gig at TNT other than Harlan and

22:46

Iron Eagles great too, but Harlan

22:49

to overlook him and not give him to

22:51

not have him call an NBA final, sping

22:54

as the finals but you know, conference finals,

22:56

and be their lead guy. That to

22:58

me is such a slap in the the face because he's by

23:00

far. I think he's

23:03

right there with Marvin Breen. Yeah,

23:07

that's like Carlin should get more than he does, you

23:10

know he, I mean, he's got a great,

23:12

great career in general. He you know, one

23:14

of the uh top top

23:17

games for football on CBS.

23:19

He does the Westwood one Monday night

23:22

game. Um, so he gets to call the

23:24

Super Bowl and stuff like that. Yeah,

23:27

he you know, and and the second

23:29

gig at t n T TBS. But

23:32

our turner, but he should

23:35

be even more. You have

23:37

a higher profile than that, and you certainly

23:39

get more respect than he does. He's unbelievable

23:42

the one he got here where people

23:45

were just pulling away by how he called it. It

23:47

wasn't like one of the featured Super Bowls or

23:49

any you know, huge NBA game. It

23:51

was when Courton Haywood snapped his leg. Because

23:53

he handled that in real time

23:56

with um unbelievable

23:58

compassion, but also telling you what

24:00

happened when Hayward was on the ground. He said,

24:03

you know, something like, oh my god, Gordon Hayward's broken

24:05

his leg, and he repeated it and then they went

24:08

silent, and he must have put his hand over

24:10

Reggie Miller's mouth, because Reggie Miller never

24:12

goes silent. Uh And and

24:15

you know, would have added something that was completely

24:17

unnecessary there, and that

24:19

that to me was I don't

24:21

think of a lot a lot of Brad clarkcasters could

24:23

have handled that situation in that game, starting

24:26

you know, season two years ago in the

24:29

way that you know, the way that that did.

24:31

And I had a ton of respect for the guy. I

24:33

think. I love how he calls the game. I love his big

24:35

moment calls. Um, you know, maybe

24:38

a little over the top, but I think it works one

24:40

of the time for m and any

24:43

any higher profile gig that he can get beyond

24:45

what he has, I'd be all aboard with. I think he's

24:47

over the top when it's appropriate to be over the top.

24:49

I think he knows what to do it. And and I'll

24:52

say this and you know, I don't know how much this

24:54

matters in the decision making, and um,

24:56

you know this from I mean, they're a very

24:59

very very very very very very

25:01

few people in this business who you

25:03

can say like, I've never heard a bad word about

25:05

I've never heard anyone say a bad word about Kevin Harland,

25:08

one of the nicest men I think in this business, so

25:11

um, you know, be nice as that counted for something.

25:14

I'm and like I said, I you know this is Brian

25:16

Anderson's great too, but Harlan

25:18

has done it longer. I think fans love

25:20

Harlan. I think there's an attachment to Kevin

25:22

Harland. And if

25:25

they ever, like I said, if TNT ever made a move

25:27

on Marv, I

25:29

just can't. I can't believe they'd go anywhere

25:32

other than Harlan. Just makes no sense to me. Yeah,

25:35

I mean, you know, Anderson one of their

25:37

guys who got the baseball playoffs,

25:39

and you know here locally

25:42

there's there's always been kind of some backlash to him

25:44

because Donor Stilo kind of got bumped aside

25:46

so that he's the Red Sox broadcaster forever

25:49

used, the the third broadcaster

25:52

T and T TBS who used during the baseball

25:54

playoffs and when they lost one of the

25:57

rounds of the playoffs and came which one it was, but

25:59

in the last vision, right steel, he

26:01

kind of got bumped out because he wasn't a full time

26:04

TBS turner broadcaster like Anderson

26:06

is considered. So he's gotten some pretty

26:08

good gigs there already. He is good.

26:11

I like him on the on the college basketball

26:13

too, but there's nothing that

26:15

distinctive about him. He's just good at his job.

26:17

You recognize Green, you recognize Kevin

26:20

Harland. Uh here in Boston,

26:22

Mike Gorman who had the Big East Games forever

26:24

on ESPN, He's as good as it gets calling

26:26

the n b A and uh, Mike Brian

26:29

Anderson is just somebody who's good at the job. But

26:31

I don't think he jumps out at number

26:33

one national broadcaster on an NBA

26:35

game. I agree. Uh.

26:38

Shifting away from the NBA, We've

26:41

got the p g A coming up this weekend,

26:44

and obviously now Tiger comes off the Masters.

26:47

When do you expect

26:49

big ratings and big interest in Tiger

26:53

or is there a full off

26:56

because it's not the Masters? What? What?

26:58

What do you expect from the PGA here this week

27:00

in? Yeah, I think it'll be huge.

27:02

I didn't look at what the numbers were last

27:04

year. Was I think it was a PJA later

27:06

last year flick it was, But honestly

27:09

don't know, so I don't want to Yeah,

27:11

I think it was, But yeah, I mean

27:14

he has a tangible effect and uh,

27:17

you know it was harder to read during the Masters.

27:19

What that effect was because of the

27:21

crappy weather they had for the final round

27:23

and started early, so you'd

27:25

get all the ratings and uh for

27:27

for that final round, and you're expecting that the

27:29

up eight nine ten per cents that they were down

27:31

a little bit. I think it was eleven

27:36

ten or eleven percent. They were down because

27:38

it started seven thirty in the morning or whatever

27:40

it was. So they had this sort

27:42

of, uh, you

27:44

know, strange approach to putting

27:47

out the putting out their press release on what

27:49

the ratings were where they compared it to thirty

27:51

four years ago, which is the last time the Masters

27:53

and final round to the Masters and started

27:55

that early. But uh, there was a huge

27:58

effect through the whole tournament, through the whole four

28:00

rounds because because Tiger

28:02

was in contention and ultimately one thing

28:04

and I think that carries over to every major certainly

28:07

will have an impact on the PJ here. I just

28:09

I couldn't put a number on how much bigger it will be,

28:11

but it will be bigger well, and

28:13

he but he has to, you know, he

28:16

has to still be there on Saturday and Sunday to get

28:18

I mean, they couldn't if he ever if something

28:20

really, if something happened where you know, he plays so

28:22

badly that he's not there on Saturday Sunday,

28:25

I think then you'd see maybe

28:29

right exactly, like what's the point? Um,

28:32

it would be heartbreaking for them.

28:35

And you know it's interesting now listen,

28:37

I don't anyone who

28:39

listens to his podcast follows me on Twitter. They

28:41

know that. You know, I hate Donald

28:43

Trump and I think he's the worst person in the world. But

28:47

I don't now I don't, but

28:49

I want to be clear. I don't think this way.

28:51

This is not my mentality. But it is interesting

28:53

that after Tiger won the Masters and then

28:56

Trump gave him the Medal of Freedom, and um,

29:00

Tiger went there and was all chummy with

29:02

Donald Trump, which you know, when

29:04

you see anyone chummy with Donald Trump, you want a puke.

29:06

But I'm interested.

29:08

I'm interested if there you know, when it was

29:10

when the Masters was going on, the

29:13

you know, LoveFest

29:15

on Twitter for Tiger Woods was over

29:18

the top. Does anything you'd ever see in your life,

29:20

especially from people in the media,

29:23

And I think so, I don't think that anyone in the media

29:25

will be down on Tiger. You

29:27

know, if he's in contention for the PJ. But I'm wondering if

29:30

for any fans there will be any sort of like, oh,

29:32

he, you know, hung out with Trump and was chumming

29:34

with Trump. I hope he loses because no one was thinking that during

29:37

the Masters, and then the photo of comes out after that.

29:40

Now again there's not even though I

29:42

hate Trump, this is not what I'm saying, but I

29:44

wonder if it will be any sort of factor for

29:46

some people, because people are nuts these days.

29:50

Uh well, the anti

29:52

Trump people just rationalize it away.

29:54

I mean, there's you know, bigger

29:56

stuff with him to worry about anyway. But I

29:59

mean we do it here in New England with Robert Craft

30:02

and Brady. You know, their Crafts

30:04

relationship with Trump is pretty obvious.

30:07

But this there's always been sort of some gray area

30:09

with Brady because Brady and

30:11

uh you know, the advice of his wife stopped

30:13

talking about it and it came out. I

30:16

think it was in Mark Liebovitch's book came

30:18

out that the make America Great

30:20

Again hat that was in Brady's locker Craft

30:22

with there, so, uh, you know,

30:24

Brady was a golf buddy of his. I don't

30:27

know what their relationship is now Craft still

30:29

has a real one, and we'll be here in Boston.

30:31

If you're an anti Trump person, you

30:34

just kind of have to set it

30:36

to the side if you're rooting for the Patriots. I

30:39

think people will do that with Tiger as well, and people in

30:41

the media, who, let's admit

30:43

it, gain enormous benefit from

30:45

Tiger being successful. People in the golf

30:47

media, they'll do the same thing. I think

30:49

you just look at it and say, you know what, there's two rich

30:51

guys with a lot of baggage who kind

30:53

of makes sense that they would be friends, as in the fact

30:56

that you know, Trump probably doesn't have a lot of friends

30:58

with the Tiger's racial background. You

31:01

know, I always thought I always thought Brady got a bad rap

31:03

with that whole thing, because, um,

31:07

you know, he had the hat and

31:09

it was way before you know, Trump

31:13

became this deranged sociopath that he is now.

31:15

So like, I don't

31:17

and I never got the impression that

31:19

like Tom Brady was like, you know, best friends with Donald

31:21

Trump and hanging out like you said, they were golf buddies.

31:25

Um, but you

31:27

know he gets peg now is like, you know, being in

31:29

Trump's inner circle it's a little it's

31:31

a little unfair, I think to Tom

31:33

and especially I mean, if you've followed

31:35

Giselle on Instagram or whatever she has,

31:38

she makes her feelings clear and I

31:40

don't think um,

31:42

he'd be on the opposite end of the spectrum

31:44

of his wife on that. So I think Brady

31:47

gets a little unfair rap when it comes to his quote,

31:49

you know, friendship with with Trump

31:52

he does. For one thing, he's in this bubble

31:56

TV twelve Patriots bubble where

31:58

he's not paying attention to stuff like that. It

32:00

seems weird to say because he's an intelligent

32:02

guy and you know, fairly I

32:05

think a well rounded human being away from

32:07

football, but he's so immersed in this that

32:10

he wasn't really paying attention

32:12

to what was going on in the in the presidential

32:15

race. His relationship

32:17

with Trump goes back to when Brady burst

32:19

onto the scene two thousand and one. You

32:21

know that the Patriots, back when they were likable

32:24

nation wide, won the won

32:26

the Super Bowl over the Rams, and Brady had a lot

32:28

hot opportunities that he never had before.

32:31

He became super famous overnight. You never

32:33

may knew who he was the Michigan quarterback and

32:35

and you know, coming in for blood. So he was the

32:37

same escalated. But when they won the Super Bowl

32:39

and went to a whole different level, and he Trump

32:41

gave him the opportunity to judge with Miss

32:44

America, Miss Universe, whatever the one he

32:46

owns is. They became friends, they

32:48

became golf buddies over over time,

32:50

and Brady's sort

32:53

of lack of awareness of what the guy is really

32:55

all about, I think led him to a

32:57

little bit more of a joking manner about their friendship.

33:00

Realized it was appropriate at that time. And I

33:02

think if you got an honest response from him now,

33:04

he would say he separated himself from that. I mean, he didn't

33:06

go the White House last time they won, and I

33:09

seriously doubt he goes the next time here,

33:11

you know, if they do end up going for their last Super

33:13

Bowl victory. Yeah, and and

33:15

here and in New York especi. I mean Trump

33:18

was friends with all the athletes. I mean he was always at Yankeeames,

33:20

he was always at Nick games, and a lot

33:22

of the athletes were friends with Trump before you

33:24

know seen and

33:26

I guess it really all thought it when he went on his

33:28

racist media toward to demand the first

33:30

Black President show his birth certificate.

33:33

That's what you sort of made the he'll turn in. But

33:35

before that he was a fixture in

33:37

like sort of the New York sports scene. So I I so

33:40

I get the connection there with Brady, like you explained

33:42

perfectly, and always thought Tom got

33:44

a little bit wrapped. You know, I wasn't. This is totally

33:46

off the beaten path, But since you mentioned it and you're

33:49

as connected to bust And as anything, I'm just curious because

33:51

we saw Brady at the MCAL a couple of weeks ago,

33:54

and you know he's building up his social

33:56

media presence. Now. I I

33:58

love Tom Brady. I think he's the best order back

34:00

who's ever played the game. I to

34:03

me, he's I like watching him play more than

34:05

any other player. Always have. I've

34:07

been turned off the last couple of years by

34:09

the TB twelve sort of snake oil salesman

34:12

aspect of it. In in Boston.

34:14

I would assume nobody even

34:16

questions the TV twelve stuff, right, like just

34:19

they just overlook it completely

34:21

and no one gets bothered by it. Uh

34:24

fan base does for the most part. You

34:26

know, you kind of I

34:29

think you look at it and say, well,

34:31

he's what was the forty two Now it

34:33

works. He's still playing an enormously high level,

34:36

though we stopped some some cracks

34:38

in the foundation. Last year. He did not play well in

34:40

the Super Bowl at all. You wonder

34:42

what level he's going to be at this year. But you

34:44

know, he had the book and he has his business

34:47

and and that's clearly the the next

34:49

step he's taking his life. And as long as

34:51

he's winning football games, it's it's

34:53

it's fine with everybody here. It's working. Media

34:56

wise, has been quite a bit of criticism,

34:58

and you tend to get backlash for that. For

35:00

sure. We've put the Globe, We've had your Shaughnessy

35:03

writes about it a lot. Bob Hohlard

35:05

did a pretty big dig investigation

35:08

on on Alex Guerrero, who's kind of Brady's

35:11

you know, Brady's shady h

35:14

He's got some baggage in the past, but he's kind

35:16

of his guru and his partner and all of this, and

35:19

uh did a little bit of digging there. So it's,

35:22

uh, yeah, I think the media has kind of stude diligence

35:24

and has the natural skepticism

35:26

that you want to have in terms of what this is all about.

35:29

But the fan, based understandably

35:31

to me, just doesn't want to hear because Brady's

35:34

still still still the quarterback

35:36

of the Patriots and a damn good one. I get that.

35:38

I get that because I mean, as a die hard Yankee

35:40

fan, when I you know, everyone wants a bass Geena

35:42

now for ruining the Marlins, and I just tune

35:44

it out, and I'd say, you know, I just look at the five

35:47

World Series rings and that's it that. You know.

35:49

That's so I get why the fans do that. I I

35:51

love and he's the thing about Brady, like the TV twelve

35:54

stuff, It turns me off so much. But he's

35:56

such a likable guy, like I I think he's such

35:58

a likable guy like you could he's not a

36:00

bad guy on any level. You could just tell

36:03

no, he's a decent human being. You

36:05

know. It's the same with Gronkowski in a different

36:07

kind of way. But um,

36:09

you know you I was around

36:12

the Patriots, not so much recently,

36:14

but for five or six years stretch or I covered

36:16

every home game and saw how

36:18

Brady interacted with with the

36:21

guys in the lock that, you know, the people

36:23

picking up the towels in the locker room, you

36:25

know, that sort of thing, and he treats

36:28

everybody well and he always has

36:30

and he's never deviated from that. And you

36:32

you know, you could you could very

36:34

easily become a dick being, you know, having

36:36

the level of fame that he does. In some ways, you could

36:39

justify it. You know. It's it's never ending,

36:41

the requests and people wanting just

36:43

a picture or you know, to point

36:45

at you and and you don't get a break.

36:47

And he's he's handled that incredibly well. And Gronkowski

36:51

it was the same way. He embraced the fame a

36:53

little bit more, but he was the guy

36:55

who you know, he connected with every

36:57

every kid you saw that came into

36:59

a path that patriots practice or

37:02

that sort of thing. And yeah, it's it's it's reassuring

37:04

to see that because, um, you

37:06

know, you see the national perception of these guys

37:08

sometimes so the the hot take perception that you

37:10

know, drunkhouse ski parties too much and he's not

37:13

disciplined, or you know, Brady's at this heightened

37:16

level where you know, he's

37:18

he's inaccessible as a human being, and

37:20

that's just not true. In either case,

37:23

it's good to see that it's it's because

37:25

it's not really fair to say there's something less

37:28

than what they are. I have to say I haven't seen any

37:30

backlash against Gronk, but

37:32

that might just be me. I think for the

37:34

most part, he's sort of universally

37:37

love. But also, by the way, if you're listening

37:39

to this, if you're one of my listeners, I love you, and if you

37:41

but do me a favorite. If you're if you're about to fire

37:44

up a tweet to me about the flake

37:46

Gate and Brady, don't, I don't care, So just

37:48

please don't. I'm not gonna respond, and I don't care.

37:51

Last thing before I let you go, because um,

37:54

I thought this was interesting. Uh,

37:56

Fox Now you know they're going to try

37:59

to make a big push her Dge football. They have a

38:01

whole new college football studio show with Urban

38:03

Meyer, Reggie Bush, Mount Leinert. Um.

38:06

They're gonna put their best game at New Now

38:08

every week. I think that was announced at the

38:10

upfront. Uh. I

38:13

find that strange only because

38:16

don't I mean they air the pack. One

38:18

of their packages is the Pac ten, so they're

38:20

basically saying they'll never be a Pac ten back

38:22

twelve game. That's the best game of the week because they're

38:24

not gonna play the game at nine am. And you know at

38:27

USC so, I guess you're always

38:29

gonna get a Big ten game. They have maybe Big twelve

38:31

and the game is gonna be at eleven am locally.

38:33

It's a weird move in terms of the schedule.

38:36

What do you what are your thoughts on that? Yeah,

38:38

I mean the big window there, it's just like it is to the NFL.

38:41

It's in that three o'clock four o'clock range,

38:43

so that in some ways it's going to be a detriment

38:45

to put their best game there. Um.

38:47

But it's really interesting to see them kind of gunning

38:50

for ESPN. I mean, they have partnerships on these

38:52

the three of the big conferences, right, Big

38:54

ten, Pack ten, and uh, what are

38:56

the Big twelve the other one? Uh? And yet

38:59

they're they're very clearly taking

39:02

that thirty million

39:04

subscriber based advantage that they

39:06

have because the ESPN's cable and Foxes

39:08

not, so they're they're in that many

39:10

more homes. They're they're they're taking that and trying

39:12

to leverage it into beating

39:15

probably the best thing in the USPN has in terms

39:17

of college football, which is not a specific

39:19

game podcast, but just that the popularity

39:22

of the game day has and uh, I

39:24

don't know if it works. I mean, I guess

39:26

putting a live game up against game day

39:29

uh is uh, you

39:31

know, but it's not the game to draw some audience.

39:33

Gay college

39:36

football fans will watch game days. So the game

39:38

day ends at noon. Yeah, so,

39:40

and they're starting their game at noon, So there's going to switch

39:43

over, right, Yeah, I don't think there's gonna be a lot of

39:45

Yeah, I don't Yeah, I

39:47

don't think people are gonna I

39:50

don't know. I don't see Fox doing any damage

39:52

to game day. I just think it's too institutionalized

39:54

at this point. Yeah. Well,

39:57

you know, they've spoken openly about that. I

39:59

don't know if they have the I mean reuniting

40:01

the USC group there, Liner

40:04

and Bush and then Brady Quinn in there. I don't know if

40:06

that's Yeah, nobody cares. That's the lineup

40:08

that's gonna do it. Nobody care. Plus, here's the

40:10

thing. I'd rather miss the first

40:12

five minutes of whatever game foxes

40:15

airing at noon to see Corso

40:17

put the stupid mascot head on and make his Yeah,

40:21

I mean, good luck beating that. That's as good

40:23

as it gets on a Saturday morning. Yeah,

40:25

that's funny. I talked to somebody yes about

40:28

that, and I said the exact same thing, those

40:30

two words good luck watch ESPN is gonna

40:32

put they'll push their pregame shown out of you know, twelve

40:34

oh five, and they'll make sure of Courso puts the

40:36

hat on it noon and just you

40:38

know, stick at the fox. Um.

40:41

Yeah, I don't see how that's

40:43

gonna work for them, but I like

40:46

the fact that they may being aggressive about it. Anyway,

40:48

it's always good for us, actual genuine

40:51

hatred. That's true. That is true. That's

40:53

good content for us. I appreciate you

40:55

coming on and hitting on all these topics.

40:57

And um, I guess good luck to

40:59

the Bruins there in Boston and hopefully,

41:02

uh, we'll see what happens here in the NBA Finals

41:05

Boston. Will they completely tune out of the NBA

41:07

Finals? Now? Yes,

41:10

yes, about the time I here, I

41:12

I think everybody's pulling to the box just because

41:14

they wiped out the Celtic season.

41:18

All right, I appreciate it. Chat, Thanks for coming

41:20

on, and we'll definitely have you on again

41:22

soon. Talking to you

41:24

too. Thanks all right, my thanks to Chad

41:27

Finn. We're gonna now talk to Brian Curtis

41:29

of The Ringer. Before we get to Brian, first,

41:33

a quick word from our sponsor.

41:35

Alright joining me now from The Ringer. Had

41:38

him on in December because he

41:40

wrote a phenomenal story on Fox

41:43

getting the NFL getting

41:45

into the NFL business many years ago, and

41:48

now he wrote another phenomenal story and this

41:51

I literally read the story about

41:53

ten minutes before the podcast started and messaged

41:55

him and he's kind of have to come on in like an hour's

41:57

notice. Brian Curtis from The Ringer, how

42:00

are you I'm not gonna

42:02

say bob Ba buie, but should

42:04

they? How are you doing? Um?

42:06

Hey? Now? Um, you

42:08

wrote an article for The Ringer called

42:11

the stat Pack Why sportscasters

42:14

idolize Howard Stern. If

42:16

anyone out there is not a Howard Stern fan and doesn't

42:18

know what's going on, Howard has a new book that

42:20

came out on Tuesday called Howard Stern Comes

42:23

Again. Um, well, before you

42:25

can get into what you wrote, you know Stern

42:27

did say that he's gonna do Bill Simmons

42:29

podcast. Um

42:32

is that happening? I haven't heard much about it since

42:34

Howard said that do you know you can you give us like I

42:37

haven't either, But man, that's like that's

42:39

like a you put chocolate in my peanut

42:41

butter moment, you know for me? I mean, I mean, that's

42:43

just yeah, I can't even grab my

42:45

mind around that. It's gotta be a bucket list item

42:48

for for Bill, I would assume I

42:51

without knowing that, I would

42:53

say, there's a chance that's true.

42:55

Now, are you a die hard Stern fan?

42:59

I would say, I would say, like I'm a media So

43:02

Matthew Berry of ESPN in the article said he was an

43:04

aid out of ten, which

43:06

meant that he was somewhere south of Marianne from

43:08

Brooklyn. So I'd put myself a few

43:11

few steps lower, but you know, familiar

43:13

with the universe and certainly

43:16

listened to many, many hours. Okay, I'd

43:18

put myself in an aid as well. I think when

43:22

what was your introduction? How did you

43:24

get started discovering him

43:27

and all that? You

43:30

know? It's I think it was from friends in high

43:32

school, and it was just that era where

43:34

everybody decided that they hated

43:36

all the top forty stations in

43:39

town. In my cases before with Texas,

43:41

and it was exactly the phenomenon

43:44

that Stern used to become

43:46

famous, which is all those dudes

43:49

who are spinning records and talking

43:51

like DJ's talk aren't half

43:53

as cool as me and half as funny as me. And

43:56

I remember my friends just telling me this and telling me this

43:58

over and over again. I was kind of more of a sports radio much

44:00

much earlier, and

44:02

um and then I started listening and I was like, oh,

44:04

wow, this is different. I've

44:07

never heard anything like this before. Do

44:10

you remember, like, do you have

44:12

a first memory of something you heard a guest

44:14

an interview a bit. It's

44:18

funny because you know, we're talking in

44:20

now kind of in his uh,

44:23

you know, sixties something serious incarnation

44:25

about his celebrity interviews, but

44:28

which are now, you know, kind of more long

44:31

for me and more serious. But you know, I remember the

44:33

old ones he used to do, and I think that was kind of maybe

44:35

the first thing that stuck with me that

44:37

when you know, Seinfeld would

44:39

call in or you know,

44:41

from the completely other side of the coin, your your

44:43

typical Richard Simmons moment in the

44:45

studio or something, because they were

44:47

just so different and he was asking

44:50

them weird questions. Um,

44:52

you know, he's wanted to talk about their sex lives and all that

44:54

kind of stuff. But I was just want to like, it was just

44:57

totally different than what the major

44:59

celebrity interview you at the time was, which is late night

45:01

TV. And I remember as a kid, I

45:03

couldn't wrap my mind around why it was different

45:05

and what. But I was just like, I've just never

45:07

heard celebrities talk like this. Yes,

45:10

and that was huge. And it's funny you say that because

45:13

for me, I remember being blown away.

45:15

And this gets into your article on the Ringer when

45:18

Al Michaels went on after the o J thing,

45:20

um, and so I want to get

45:22

into that. Look I'll give you. But it's funny you mentioned Richard

45:25

Simmons. So my I

45:28

first discovered Howard

45:30

Stern on his channel Line show

45:32

locally here in New York before the radio show.

45:35

And I will never forget. I have a terrible, terrible,

45:37

terrible memory, and this I will never forget as

45:40

long as I live. It was a Saturday night,

45:42

the show came on at eleven thirty. Remember my parents

45:44

being out, I think with my aunt uncle at

45:46

dinner or something, and I'm

45:48

flipping the channels and he had Richard

45:50

Simmons on with two extremely

45:53

overweight people. So I don't know if this bit would even

45:55

be allowed today. And I'm overweight, so I can I

45:57

can laugh at this bit. So he

46:00

had to just, you know, very large people

46:02

on and he had a fishing

46:04

pole from across the desk, and

46:07

now on the end of the fishing pole was a bag of potato

46:09

chips and he was waving it in their faces to see

46:11

if they would eat it. And then a turkey

46:13

trotted down from the ceiling and the

46:17

overweight people are like, we're not tempted by this, We're

46:19

staying on our diets. And Howard is

46:21

with the fishing pole waving the food in front of their

46:23

face, and Richard Simmons is

46:25

having an absolute connection

46:28

and I said, and I

46:30

remember laughing to the point where I couldn't

46:32

breathe, and I'm like, this is the most insane,

46:35

genius thing I've ever seen in my life. And then I

46:37

was like, I gotta listen to this guy on the radio, and

46:40

um, that was it. That was how

46:42

it got started. And I remember so obviously

46:45

the prank call

46:47

to Peter Jennings on the night of the O J Chase

46:49

is probably the most famous prank call of all

46:52

um where the guy says he sees o J and

46:55

he seems scared, and then he says Bobba booie

46:57

to you all, and Peter Jennings has no

46:59

clue that it's prank call and he goes right along with

47:01

it, and Al Michaels gets on the phone and to tell

47:04

Peter Jennings that it's not real,

47:06

and Peter that call was totally far school

47:08

less than anyone think. And then

47:10

I remember, like two weeks later, Al

47:13

Michael's came on the show and like talked

47:15

about it. I'm like, wait a second, Wait

47:17

a second, Howard is

47:20

mocking and making his colleague

47:22

look like a complete s

47:25

and Al comes on and is laughing about

47:27

it. I'm like, how does ABC allowed? Like it

47:29

blew me away that Al was And but Al

47:31

has always been a die hard Stern

47:34

fan, and

47:36

you know, and it's one of the things I wanted to get at in this piece

47:38

is back in those days,

47:41

right to have a proper anybody

47:43

from the proper world of network TV

47:46

coming into that universe was mind blow

47:49

because in those days those were

47:51

two totally different universes and

47:53

you and I are old enough to remember this when network

47:56

TV quote unquote mainstream media

47:58

was this thing and it never really

48:00

crossed over with that other world

48:02

which was more certainly popular,

48:04

right, but more fringe and you

48:06

know, and you know, weird and different

48:09

and all that stuff. And yeah, when he came on and

48:11

and Stern ripped Jennings through the whole interview,

48:13

just made fun of him, and al was kind of sitting

48:16

there, you know, you know, like a lot

48:18

of people went on that show, Yeah, and kind of dodging

48:20

punches and and talking about

48:22

and and but but also really laying

48:25

it on thick right, Howard, you're the best and all

48:27

this stuff. It's, uh, it's

48:29

pretty wild that I remember you

48:31

had. That was the time when Billy West was also on the show,

48:33

and Billy was doing the Al Michaels and Peter

48:36

Jennings and presentations and um,

48:38

Billy West as al Michaels was going,

48:40

Peter, you're such a blockhead and

48:43

you know, how dumb are you? Peter? And al Michaels

48:45

is in studio. I mean, if that happened today, the network

48:47

would fire around Michael's and you know what I mean, Like

48:50

it was so wild back then that that would take

48:52

place. Yeah,

48:54

I mean it's like when you listen to this old stuff

48:56

and including that, you just realized,

48:58

like what the world was like before YouTube

49:01

and what it was like before somebody

49:03

could grab a clip. And and it's

49:05

funny because you know when he talks, when Stern has

49:08

talked and all the interviews about his new

49:10

self, right that the grown up Howard

49:12

quote unquote, the mature Howard, the evolved

49:14

Howard, all that stuff. You

49:16

know, I think part of it is, and we can talk about

49:18

this, but I think part of it is. There's certainly

49:20

a personal motivation. He's been a therapy.

49:23

He obviously sees the world differently, he wants to be

49:25

a different kind of person. But there's got to be a commercial

49:27

motivation of this too, because I

49:29

just don't think you would survive very

49:32

long in this world doing that kind of

49:34

stuff. And you know, I just don't. I don't.

49:37

He was always you know, I don't care what the sec says,

49:39

I don't care what my critics think. I'm gonna do what I want. But

49:42

the world has changed enough that I just think

49:44

there's a there's a point where you just can't do it anymore.

49:47

And I think he is. He is

49:49

nothing if not, you know, perceptive

49:51

about how to be big. And

49:53

I think he's made a decision. See, this is a

49:55

bad topic for me because I could literally

49:58

go seven or eight hours on this and I

50:00

still have more to say. I can because

50:03

it's a it's a fascinating he

50:05

has. So there's so much backlash from quote

50:07

unquote fans. I mean, again,

50:10

how much stock do you want to put in the internet and read it

50:12

and stuff like that. But people are so angry that he is

50:14

quote unquote changed. And

50:17

I agree with you that there is a commercial

50:19

aspect to it, um,

50:22

but I also think it's also a very simple thing, like

50:24

he's sixty five years old. You

50:27

can't be sixty five years old throwing

50:30

pieces of bologna at a girl's ass

50:32

covered in mayonnaise, Like you just can't do that

50:35

if you're sixty Well, now, listen, you can't do

50:37

that now period in this era. But

50:41

to exactly, but at sixty

50:43

five, you're just not going to be able to do that. And I

50:45

do think I do think he's sort

50:47

of I think he got off on

50:51

the sort of um, you know, it

50:53

became a thing where people said he's the best

50:56

interviewer. He does the best interviews,

50:58

and and I think a big part of that is an taking away

51:00

from him. I don't want it to come across that way, but I

51:02

think a big part of that is because he's on serious

51:04

where he doesn't have to go to commercials and he can

51:07

do an hour and a half. I mean, that is a huge

51:09

factor in it. But like you said, his I thought his interviews

51:11

on Threshold were always great too.

51:14

Um. Yeah, I mean I think it's

51:17

he's got this creative freedom. And it's one thing I want to ask

51:19

these sportscasters about when I was talking to this piece,

51:21

because it's just so different

51:23

sportscasting, right, being the most

51:26

programmed thing in the history

51:28

of media. You know, talk for this many seconds

51:31

and then shut up and then throw it to commercial and do

51:33

all this stuff. And you know, even

51:36

Joe Buck was telling me about, you know, when he was doing his

51:38

interview show. Um,

51:41

you know it was there were a lot of constraints

51:43

and you kind of had to interview people in a certain

51:45

way, right, kind of come around his career

51:48

arc and you know kind of hit these moments

51:50

and all the stuff, where as a stern interview he just

51:52

does whatever he wants, and you

51:54

know, he can just go and

51:57

and I do think that's the key to it. I just

51:59

think people, especially in

52:01

this world we live in um where

52:03

people are listening to podcast now and

52:05

they don't. You know, Stern was always rejecting

52:08

all the worst parts of terrestrial radio

52:10

anyway, and now even though he hates

52:12

podcasts, he has embraced

52:14

in his own very particularly of the podcast

52:17

ethic, which is this interview should just

52:19

be as long as it needs to be, and it should be about what it

52:21

needs to be about, and that's it. And

52:23

we don't we shouldn't have to plug anything. We shouldn't

52:25

have to hit these marks. We should just do

52:28

it. And that's that's what makes them so good. And

52:30

the other I love this as

52:32

a as a Howard Stern fan, and this is why I was

52:34

so just when you tweeted out the article.

52:36

I got excited just from the tease of the article. And obviously

52:39

I really enjoyed what you wrote.

52:41

The stat pack white Sportscaster's idolized

52:43

how it's Stern, as you know, And

52:46

if you're listening to this and you're not a diehard Stern

52:48

fan, but you're still with us, I mean, one of the fascinating

52:50

things about Howard from me at least, and one of the things I love

52:52

about him is that he

52:55

knows nothing about

52:58

sports. And when I when I say not thing,

53:00

I mean literally nothing. It's

53:04

actually it's a star. You know. He talks,

53:06

you know, when he does that show, his last

53:08

show before the super Bowl, he's talking about how he's

53:10

not watching it, he has no interest and um,

53:13

and then you tie it in with what you wrote

53:15

about all these sportscasters love him and

53:17

Al Michael's, Joe Buck, these are great guests

53:20

on his show. So it's a very interesting

53:22

sort of um, what's

53:24

the word I'm looking for there? You know, it's

53:27

an odd mix there. He hates sports

53:30

and these sportscasters love him and our

53:32

great guests on the show. Yeah,

53:35

I mean, it's it's Fabviously. I love this moment in the interview

53:38

with Al Michaels that you mentioned earlier where he turns

53:40

out and he says, al, what are you doing in town anyway?

53:42

And Al Michael's the night before has announced

53:45

Monday Night Football from Giants Stadium, Monday

53:47

Night Football, right Top

53:49

ten show, you know, a huge, huge

53:52

television show. Howard hasn't no idea what he's

53:54

doing there, and yeah, it's funny and it's funny.

53:56

Like all these guys told me that. Really

53:58

Gary Delabate is the sports

54:01

guy on that show, and he is the one in many

54:03

cases who lobbied to get these guys on

54:06

and kind of said like, hey, Howard,

54:08

you know there's Joe Buck and he's a sports announcer. But he's

54:10

a really interesting guy and he wrote in his book

54:13

all this stuff about his dad and all this stuff about

54:15

you know, his hair transplants and just stuff

54:18

you can get into and make

54:20

it an interesting something that you connect

54:22

with on your level. And you know,

54:24

Matthew Berry said the same thing. You know, he said, like

54:26

Gary and some other people on the show, I

54:28

think went to bad for him and said, you know, this guy

54:31

was a screenwriter, so he can tell you about like Crocodile

54:33

Dundee three, you know, stuff that. So you can kind

54:35

of connect it to Howard, because how to know what fantasy

54:37

sports is these I don't know what anything about sports and any

54:40

fantasy sports, but all

54:43

there's just this way that they

54:45

sell sportscasters

54:47

to him by saying these are interesting dudes, and

54:49

you can get deep with them and you can make a connection

54:52

like you would with you know, any celebrity and well,

54:54

and another great point you

54:56

made in your piece is that Joe

54:59

Buck who he's well faced

55:01

and still faces ridiculously. In my opinion,

55:03

a lot of backlash online in from

55:06

Twitter actually won over a lot of

55:08

people when he went on Howard and was so open

55:10

and did a great interview with Howard. Yeah.

55:13

I looked on like Howard Reddit and they loved Joe.

55:15

Yeah, he's a great guest. You know. It's like, I didn't

55:17

think I'd like this interview. Man, this was awes right.

55:20

And that's what it's funny, because that's what Joe told me. It's

55:22

and I have that same, same, absolute, same

55:24

feeling, and you'll get I'll be like Howard interviews

55:26

David Crosby and I'll be like, man, I

55:29

don't care about it. I just don't care nothing

55:32

he gets David Crossley, I just don't care. Right, that

55:34

is not something about Wheelhouse. And then I was listened

55:36

for twenty minutes and then forty minutes and at an hour,

55:38

and I'm like, man, this is awesome. You

55:40

know this, this dude's this dude's

55:43

great that's

55:45

the effects. And the funny thing is that

55:47

while and while he does not like sports

55:49

at all, he has had some pretty unbelievable

55:52

sports guests on over the years

55:54

back you know, Interrestrial and series.

55:56

But I mean he had Jorge Steinbran on the show. He had

55:59

um Mickey man All on the show. He

56:01

famously famously had O. J.

56:03

Simpson on the show. Um look

56:06

out, Um, so he

56:08

will put a sports person on there. He

56:11

He's had Belichick on the show US

56:15

incredible. Uh Craft

56:17

Robert Craft goes on with Gary

56:19

every year now from the super Bowl on the wrap

56:22

up show. So it's it's so

56:24

sports is an odd part of

56:26

the show, and it's always fun when he tries

56:28

to sort of riff on it because he doesn't know what he's

56:30

talking about. But um,

56:33

yeah, it's I

56:35

wonder if there is I wonder

56:37

if what there has to be a broadcasting

56:40

connection though for these guys

56:42

like Buck and Michael's. I guess there's

56:45

an envy there that Howard can just

56:47

turn on a microphone and go and go and go.

56:49

There's obviously some sort something in

56:51

the business there that makes them have some

56:53

connection. Yeah.

56:56

I think there's a couple of things one is just

56:58

his talent, you know, just to stability

57:00

to kind of eat innings and

57:03

you know, be entertaining and be the focal point of

57:05

the show hour after hour. But I

57:07

think specifically it's one

57:09

the celebrity interviews, because every

57:12

I think every just about every sportscast, but really

57:14

every broadcaster, it's that, at

57:16

least privately, I really want to do interviews

57:18

like Howard Stern. I want to do my

57:21

version of that where I get really deep with celebrities

57:23

and I do my thing, and you

57:25

know, we have these long talks and

57:27

and a sad Scott Farrell who's sports rade.

57:29

Guys in the article everybody thinks they can do this, nobody

57:32

actually can do this as well as So that's one,

57:34

and then the second thing is Jimmy. I just

57:36

think, and you know this, it's like

57:39

kind of every sportscast and every sports

57:41

radio show is kind of a PG

57:44

version of the Howard Stern Show now just in

57:46

its format. Like you look

57:48

at Dan Patrick, who is a Stern fan too. I

57:50

believe certainly he was at his sixtieth

57:52

birthday party and that show

57:55

is with all the Dan Nettes and then

57:57

sitting there and him making fund him goofing on

57:59

them and they messed up, and you

58:01

know you're talking about production mistakes on the air, that's

58:04

that's Stern. Matthew Berry's podcast,

58:06

which he told me he legitimate, you know, he

58:09

specifically modeled it. That's Stern.

58:11

You know, stuff on the Ringer right where every podcast

58:14

producer has a nickname. Hey, it's crazy Jim,

58:16

Hey, that that's Stern.

58:18

And I just think, at some fundamental level, like we

58:21

all just took that model, cleaned

58:24

it up slightly, and made it our own. It's

58:26

amazing. And not even just the model I know from

58:28

doing this. I mean, I've listened to

58:30

Stern thirty years now, and I've always

58:32

said, for me, the biggest influences

58:34

in my sort of career, even though I

58:37

ended up doing an internet thing, was

58:39

Howard and Mike and the Mad Dog. And one of the things

58:42

I loved about Howard, which I like to do on

58:44

this podcast, which but you know, my producer

58:46

and the higher ups they sort of have a stroke. But and

58:49

I want any noise or any funk up

58:51

in the podcast, like if the if,

58:53

if a drink spills, if a door opens,

58:55

if someone's might cut down. I want it all in there

58:58

because I remember the early days of Howard

59:00

when he would call someone and you'd hear the dial

59:02

tone, and you'd hear the beeping while

59:05

he was dialing, you'd hear the crunching of the papers

59:07

he'd burped into the microphone. And

59:09

like you said way back at the

59:11

beginning of this interview, like you never heard

59:14

anything like that. It captured you right

59:16

away, just all that stuff. So

59:18

everyone who does any sort of broadcasting, if

59:20

they ever listened to Howard, I think, takes

59:22

bits and pieces of it. Yeah,

59:24

and that's another thing, you know, I don't think even think I put

59:27

this in the piece, and Robert Forest told me this, but it's

59:29

just this idea that as broadcasters,

59:32

anybody who does this, whether it's on a podcast

59:34

or a radio show or TV or whatever, is that

59:37

he proved that being letter

59:39

perfect, which is often a really

59:42

important thing for sportscasters, may

59:44

not be really the best thing

59:46

that you can do. That sort of

59:48

owning your mistakes, being yourself

59:51

right, not trying to talk like Mr announcer guy.

59:54

You know that. And I think that speaks

59:56

to people too, because when he

59:58

was burping into the mic, talking with

1:00:00

his voice that he famously thought was terrible.

1:00:03

He was connecting with people

1:00:05

on a deeper level than you know,

1:00:07

Mr Golden throw to DJ guy and

1:00:10

I think that speaks to sportscaster two because

1:00:12

I think we all you know the

1:00:15

sort of rate the gag is and

1:00:17

everybody needs to sound like that and

1:00:19

then that reads you gout and the high flat

1:00:22

is intervealed. And a

1:00:24

lot of those guys sounded like that at times in

1:00:26

their career and then maybe

1:00:29

with some influence from Howard, maybe not, they eventually

1:00:31

said, I just need to talk like myself and

1:00:33

I need to be myself and people will

1:00:36

like me. They won't like this idea

1:00:38

of a broadcaster, they'll like me. And

1:00:40

I think that's a very Howard thing too. And and the

1:00:42

skill on the talent is when

1:00:45

there was a mess up or something that

1:00:48

ended up becoming the bit. I mean, he

1:00:50

could be doing the smoothest radio show in the world

1:00:52

and then poor Gary. Once Gary messes something

1:00:55

up, it's a half an hour of them destroying

1:00:57

Gary, and then it's the funniest radio in the world.

1:00:59

So it's also that ability to

1:01:01

just change it up on the fly and turn

1:01:03

any segment. You know he knew, you know

1:01:05

he in the back of his

1:01:07

head. He knows Gary messing up is

1:01:09

good and and then

1:01:11

it becomes, you know, an even better segment

1:01:14

than it already was. Um,

1:01:16

totally, yeah, totally, And I think that I think in a

1:01:18

weird, in a weird way, that may be the most influential

1:01:20

thing that he's ever done. Yeah, I really do, because

1:01:23

that's to me again, that's every sports radio show

1:01:25

now, that's every show. Um,

1:01:28

everybody has that producer guy, and they're always

1:01:30

making fun of him, and he's always he's really

1:01:32

good at his job, but he's always kind of not quite

1:01:34

pleasing the boss. And everybody

1:01:37

has taken that gag and made it their own. And

1:01:39

that's the thing. If he's and if he's still on, I

1:01:42

you know, I don't understand why people listen to the Wannabees

1:01:44

instead of him, but teach his own I mean that's

1:01:46

you know, personal choice, I guess. But it's funny.

1:01:49

You mentioned Dan Patrick at the sixtieth birthday party,

1:01:51

and I'm thinking back because I was lucky enough. I was there

1:01:53

myself. I got very lucky and was able to go

1:01:56

and um, yeah, and

1:01:58

uh, it's good to have connections. It's here is and I

1:02:02

remember Kraft was there, David

1:02:05

Stern was there. Gary Bettman was

1:02:07

there, and it's like this is a guy who yeah,

1:02:10

and it's like this is a guy who hates sports. And all those

1:02:12

guys were there, so, um,

1:02:14

Gary Bettman is a weird It was a weird one

1:02:16

there by the way. I mean David Stern, Kenyans

1:02:18

too. Uh. Yeah, there were the commissioners

1:02:20

were their craft and there were I think

1:02:22

there are a couple of other sports people. But like my

1:02:25

memory is not is is not great, But I remember

1:02:27

there was. There was a handful of bizarre sports

1:02:30

guests in the Audien. That's all again. I think that's

1:02:32

all um Gary as well,

1:02:34

you know, doing all that, Like you said, yeah,

1:02:38

and I think in the Howard has this thing where anybody

1:02:40

who's famous or kind of sort of famous,

1:02:43

he's interested in if he can goof on

1:02:45

him, or if he can you know, get him

1:02:47

down and do a kind of an interesting interviews, you'll go

1:02:49

there. Right. He's just like, okay, sure,

1:02:51

you know it's funny. Yeah, absolutely,

1:02:54

I'm thinking about you know, you you mentioned the

1:02:56

article he had used, Um Lenn

1:02:58

Berman, who's a local guy here in New York

1:03:00

on things. Uh, you know,

1:03:02

I had I had Iron Eagle on this podcast

1:03:06

a few months ago, maybe a little longer

1:03:08

that, and he told a great story. If

1:03:10

anyone wants to hear it, go into the archives. He told a

1:03:12

great story about Gary was trying to get Iron

1:03:15

two judge. Oh

1:03:17

god, what contest. It was something completely

1:03:20

inappropriate. I don't know if it was like, you

1:03:22

know, hot mothers and daughters or

1:03:25

or some farting contest. I forgot

1:03:27

exactly what it was. But they wanted Iron to

1:03:29

be the play by play guy, and Iron

1:03:31

passed on it for obvious reasons, but

1:03:34

um, you know, it was always great that they

1:03:36

would bring in. I think you though, the one the one

1:03:38

sports guy who I don't think is a fan

1:03:40

of whatever go on, which is probably Marv

1:03:43

because you know, I don't had the mug

1:03:46

shot of Marv hanging in the studio

1:03:48

for years and years and years. I think that's one

1:03:50

that probably, Uh, although that would

1:03:52

be a great interview if you know Marv ever talked

1:03:54

about it, but we know Marv never gonna talk about Yeah,

1:03:56

I think, yeah that I think he's definitely probably passing

1:03:59

on that on that invitation, but yeah,

1:04:01

it's I'm trying to I'm trying to imagine Sean McManus

1:04:03

his face when when he gets to, you know, an Eagle

1:04:06

media request to go on, Howard sterns somehow,

1:04:09

I think that's not somehow I think Eric

1:04:11

Shanks, uh, and he's approving that for Bug

1:04:13

before chan it has proven there for and

1:04:15

I would love to go on. I just don't think I want to

1:04:17

judge. I don't know whatever. You know, it might have been

1:04:19

the biggest poop in the diaper. It was

1:04:21

something so so out there. Um,

1:04:24

I'm trying to think if any CBS guys have been

1:04:27

on there, I guess I can't. Nance would not go

1:04:29

on there. I don't think that's

1:04:32

not exactly good for him. No, it's it's actually

1:04:34

perfect for Joe buck um.

1:04:36

And yeah, Al Michael's has always been great on there,

1:04:39

and uh, there's

1:04:41

been others throughout the years. I'm trying to blank now, but

1:04:43

like I said, it's uh, Lynn Lynn Berman

1:04:45

has actually been on a ton of times. Uh.

1:04:48

And Mappy Berry has been on six times, which surprised

1:04:50

me. He I mean, that's like that's a that's a pretty big

1:04:52

note. He did the Fantasy League with the guys from

1:04:54

the show, so they'd always have him on to sort

1:04:56

of get the low down on what's going on, Like

1:04:59

he had that US he did that tennis

1:05:01

tournament the Nassau Coliseum US

1:05:03

Open Sores, and I think they had someone

1:05:07

they had someone famous. They are doing the play by play.

1:05:09

Maybe it was maybe that was Lynn Burman too. That

1:05:11

might have been him as well. But they had in New York, a local

1:05:13

New York guy. They're doing that too. So alright,

1:05:16

well, I Lynn told me he did

1:05:18

like a horse game between dominic

1:05:24

dominic barber dominic barber.

1:05:26

Yeah exactly, yeah, yeah,

1:05:28

that caused a lot of problems. That was not That was a little

1:05:30

little That was a deep cut for me that I

1:05:33

did not remember that they did.

1:05:36

Yees, I tell you he was an eight um.

1:05:40

They did something in Vegas two way. I think Artie

1:05:43

either played basketball against a woman

1:05:45

or maybe he faced a woman pitcher

1:05:47

in softball. They did something like that too, And I think

1:05:49

they may have had a sports guy do

1:05:52

all that stuffs on. I think a lot of that stuffs

1:05:54

on YouTube if people want to dig for it. But I appreciate

1:05:56

coming on on short Yeah, I appreciate coming

1:05:59

on on short notice. I said, this was the

1:06:01

quickest booking I've ever had. And um,

1:06:04

not to kiss your ass, but I'll do it anyway.

1:06:06

You come up with the best ideas for stories, I

1:06:08

gotta say, keep

1:06:11

doing what we do. Now we've now we've gone it

1:06:13

straight from the Howards turns that interview, because no, I

1:06:15

feel like, yeah, I feel like, well, listen,

1:06:17

you've said it all. But I

1:06:20

have to I have to say that no one thinks

1:06:23

of the ideas you do, so I appreciate

1:06:25

that. And um, you should

1:06:27

try to see if Bill, see if Bill will let you sneak

1:06:29

on that podcast with Howard? Oh

1:06:32

my god, I just I'm I'm I

1:06:34

mean so many for

1:06:36

the fly on the wall moment that man that might be deal. Let

1:06:38

me ask you this, Okay, let's do this. If let's let's

1:06:41

say, hypothetically, Bill, let's let you

1:06:43

co host that podcast and you could ask

1:06:45

Kylard one question? What question would you ask

1:06:47

him? I don't know, you know, I

1:06:49

am I am really interested in the reinvention.

1:06:52

I really am. And not not the sincerity

1:06:55

of it, but just the way he thinks

1:06:57

about it, because you've seen him in these interviews

1:06:59

say like, I'm not I

1:07:01

hate the first two books that I wrote, I can't,

1:07:04

and and remember at the time, those are the

1:07:06

greatest books, obviously saying someone talking a

1:07:08

cheek in the history of literature for him, you

1:07:10

know, huge bestsellers and all this stuff,

1:07:12

and and you know, now it's like, I

1:07:14

can't look at that stuff anymore. I can't listen to

1:07:17

my old tapes anymore. I don't want us to replay things

1:07:19

where I'm being mean to people that I don't

1:07:21

want to be mean to anymore. And just how

1:07:23

he processes that, to me, I feel

1:07:25

we've gotten a little bit of it. We've

1:07:27

gotten kind of like an inch deep in some of

1:07:29

these interviews he's done. But to me, that's

1:07:32

just a fascinating topic because

1:07:34

I said in the poet in the piece, it's like there's

1:07:36

a lot of people who wrote for the Internet who are

1:07:38

doing a very very similar version of that, you

1:07:41

know, our age. You know, they have stuff they're

1:07:43

not proud of, and now they're trying to

1:07:45

kind of be different and

1:07:47

reinvent themselves. And I think, you

1:07:50

know, just kind of probably not topic anyway, That's

1:07:52

that's that's where I go. I have to say, I've been

1:07:54

a little you know, he did interviews at the Hollywood report

1:07:56

of New York Times, Washington Post, and I've

1:07:58

been a little passed along to to Bill

1:08:00

Simmons, tell him this is from Jimmy Traine hill Um.

1:08:04

The one thing I've been a little disappointed is these

1:08:06

interviewers are focused too much and ask

1:08:08

too many questions about

1:08:10

Trump. I don't give a ship if

1:08:13

you're interviewing how It's okay, we got it. Trump

1:08:15

used to go on the radio show, he used to say outrageous

1:08:17

things. Now he's the president. He's a maniac. Okay,

1:08:19

we got it. He's elected, he's gonna be here another year and a

1:08:21

half. We've got it all. We don't need to ask.

1:08:24

Every interview is asking him all these questions

1:08:26

about Trump, and I'm not interested. I'm in Howard.

1:08:30

Yeah, I know. It's like every It's like every interview

1:08:32

now, no matter what the subject, has like an obligatory

1:08:34

ten trump man. Yeah. And you know,

1:08:37

do you have anything to say about Trump? Well,

1:08:40

I've here, Yeah, I'm not. There's

1:08:42

so much. There's so many more interesting things to talk

1:08:44

to him about, I think. But that's just my

1:08:46

opinion. All right. Well, I

1:08:48

look forward to to build doing that podcast

1:08:51

on the Ringer. And you can also

1:08:53

check out Brian Curtiss article the

1:08:56

stat Pack Why sportscasters

1:08:58

idolize how It's started on The

1:09:01

Ringer dot com. Thanks for coming on,

1:09:03

and uh I'm sure I will talk

1:09:05

to you soon. Thanks,

1:09:07

thank you, take care alright,

1:09:09

My thanks to Bryan

1:09:12

Curtis of The Ringer and Chad Ben from

1:09:14

the Boston Globe for coming on this

1:09:16

week's SI Media podcast. Check

1:09:18

out past interviews in the archive.

1:09:20

Mike Breen, who's getting ready to call the Western Conference

1:09:22

finals and in the NBA Finals scene goes on last

1:09:25

week. If you haven't, check that out and make sure

1:09:27

you download it. Ian Rappaport NFL Network

1:09:29

Inside. It was on two weeks ago, Jim Nance three

1:09:31

weeks ago, So go into the archives,

1:09:34

subscribed, rate review

1:09:36

download. Pat wraps up this edition

1:09:39

of these Sports Illustrated Media podcast. Thanks so much

1:09:41

for listening. We'll see you next week.