0:03

Welcome to the Sports Bubble, a production of I

0:05

Heart Radio Entree Fork Media.

0:12

My name is Jensen Carp and I'm a sports fan,

0:15

and yes we've hit some roadbumps, but here we are in

0:17

August with MLB, n h L and NBA

0:19

games on TV, MLS set with their semifinals,

0:22

UFC events, NASCAR races, p g A,

0:24

and Pro wrestling all moving along. This

0:27

is hands down the busiest August in sports

0:29

history. Sure we thought Yo n s A Spatus

0:32

was dead for about twenty minutes, and Terrence Davis

0:34

is walking around the Disney World bubble with a hole in

0:36

his mask as a political statement. But for

0:38

now we're k I T keeping

0:40

it together with Scotch tape and some

0:42

Elmer's glue. And I know this because

0:45

I'm still interviewing athletes and sports industry professionals

0:47

to find out how they're doing during this very weird

0:49

time, because someone has to. This

0:52

is the Sports Bubble with Jensen Carp. Sean

0:57

Elliott is the perfect athlete to talk to in twenty

1:00

twenty. He knows firsthand what it's like to do

1:02

two very relevant things. One

1:04

win a championship during a short and somewhat criticized

1:06

season and to play the game of

1:08

basketball while juggling the extreme fear of getting

1:11

sick and dying. So I couldn't be happier

1:13

about having this chat with the former member of the San Antonio

1:15

Spurs and one of the greatest modern day college

1:17

basketball players to step on the court. He

1:20

was a two time All American and would an award

1:22

winner at the University of Arizona, where he

1:24

broke llewell Senders all time pack ten career

1:26

scoring record and still holds the school's

1:28

record for most points. He was the number three

1:30

pick in the NBA Draft, where he was a two

1:32

time All Star and was an essential member of the NBA

1:35

championship Spurs in

1:37

a season that got a late start thanks to a players strike.

1:40

Go ahead and google Memorial Day Miracle to see

1:42

his truly insane buzzer beater against the

1:44

Portland Trailblazers, and keep in mind

1:47

he did all this while battling a crippling kidney

1:49

disease, something that got worse every year, while

1:51

somehow his stats got better. It wasn't

1:54

until late in his twelve year NBA career that

1:56

he finally slowed down and his ailment caught up

1:58

with him, and that's only because he needed a kidney

2:00

transplant, something he miraculously recovered

2:02

from fast enough to join the Spurs for two

2:04

more seasons, one where they had the best record

2:07

in the league. The dude knows hardship

2:09

and he's an inspiration. During these times. We

2:11

talked about his health struggles, the difficulties

2:13

with announcing from home, and his terrifying

2:16

experiences with racism growing up and playing in

2:18

Arizona. Today, it's a candid

2:20

talk with Sean Elliott in the sports book

2:30

from Sean Elliott to

2:33

accept Press one. Well,

2:35

I wanted to start off by saying, you

2:37

know, because people obviously are at like varying

2:40

degrees of going outside these days, so I want

2:42

to know where you've been laying low and staying safe

2:44

these last few months. For me, I've

2:47

been laying low at the house. Honestly,

2:50

I've been really careful about

2:52

who I've come in contact with for

2:55

the first four months or so of quarantine.

2:57

I mean, I know we're around the four months five

2:59

month period, I went into

3:01

maybe one or two other buildings

3:03

besides my my house. Uh,

3:05

and I wore a mask when I was going in, so most

3:08

I've done is walk the dogs around the

3:10

neighborhood. I'm not trying to

3:13

go into any type of public

3:15

places. I'm considered a

3:17

high high risk because of my kidney

3:19

transplant that I had ninety nine, So I

3:21

take immuneal uh suppressing

3:24

drugs every day, and

3:26

so my doctor's basically it told me just to

3:28

you know, keep my distance and be smart and be aware

3:31

of my surroundings. Yeah, I mean I was

3:33

going to get into that obviously, with quarantining

3:35

in a high risk situation, like for

3:37

you, you don't listen

3:39

to sort of what other people are

3:42

suggesting. You have to go at it with a completely different

3:44

set of protections. I mean, my wife and

3:46

I uh don't have any

3:48

pre existing conditions and still find ourselves like,

3:50

why do I need to go sit in a restaurant? For you,

3:53

it's a completely different fear. Yeah.

3:55

No, I haven't sat in a restaurant since March

3:57

eleventh, And that was the

4:00

day that the NBA season was suspended, And

4:03

so we were actually sitting down at dinner

4:05

and it started, you know, the tweets

4:08

or Twitter started going crazy, and we

4:10

saw that the NBA season was canceled. You know, we go

4:12

home and a few days later. We're kind of in lockdown. So

4:15

I haven't been in a restaurant

4:17

again, I mean since since that

4:19

day. So I can't afford

4:22

the risk to put myself in a situation

4:24

where, you know, people are three or four feet away

4:26

from me and I end up being sick. Yeah. Absolutely,

4:29

I did want to talk to you a little bit about your battle

4:31

with kidney disease, which I know you celebrated

4:33

recently. Congratulations a twenty year anniversary

4:36

of the procedure last year. I believe, while

4:38

doing research, it was insane for me to think about

4:40

the pain and discomfort you had during

4:42

your basketball career, especially in

4:45

the nine season with the Memorial Day

4:47

miracle. I mean, how were you able to play

4:49

with this stuff going on? I mean that's

4:51

such a basic question, but you were an All Star and a champion

4:54

and you were kind of weeks away from needing

4:56

surgery. Did did you not feel that kind of

4:58

horrific you know, kidney pain? Yeah?

5:01

Well, you know, my whole

5:03

sauga started way back in season

5:07

where I had an injury and my

5:10

back was really hurting and bothering

5:12

me for the second half of that season,

5:15

and I was taking a lot of nonsteroidal

5:17

anti inflammatory. At the time, I was taking everything

5:20

under the sun, even taking

5:22

a drug. Now that's outlawed. You can't even

5:24

give it to people anymore. And so, uh,

5:27

you know, I was doing whatever I could to play during that

5:29

season. And it was after that season that my kidney

5:32

disease was discovered. But I

5:34

did have at that point, I did

5:36

have a lot of pain my mid section.

5:39

Everybody thought it was back spasms and

5:41

that's how it was treated. Then later

5:43

on that summer was you know, again my kidney

5:45

disease was discovered. But you know, I

5:47

played with elevated creatning,

5:50

which is uh indication

5:52

of your kidney function. I played with elevated crattening

5:54

for the rest of my career, so

5:57

the last seven years. And so there were

5:59

time many times, especially

6:03

when I was in Detroit, I had just come off of two

6:05

months of high doses

6:08

of prestic zone therapy, which

6:10

really weeks havoc on your body. And many

6:12

times when I come up that like when I was

6:14

going to walk into half court to start

6:17

the game, I would feel like my

6:19

legs were water balloons. I had so much

6:21

watery tension in my body and

6:23

in my hands, and as the game progressed that a little

6:26

bit of that would go away. But you

6:28

can see after Jensen, like, you

6:30

know, everybody gets taked up before the game around

6:33

your ankles, and so when I would cut

6:35

the tape off at the bottom

6:38

where my ankles were, it looked like I used

6:40

to call it a pirate's leg my calf,

6:42

you know, my eyes and my calf would

6:45

be swollen. And then where my ankles

6:47

were taped, it was incredibly skinny, like

6:49

it stopped the fluid. So I'm running down

6:52

into my ankle and my feet. So it

6:54

was something that I played

6:56

with four pretty much over

6:58

a twelve year career. I played with any disease for seven

7:01

or so for a majority of my career. Unbelievable

7:03

the statistics you were able to put up with that. I mean, did your

7:06

did your teammates know that you were battling this

7:08

stuff. I think people started to find

7:10

out after I had sailed my physical

7:12

when I tried to get traded from Detroit

7:15

to Houston. When I failed that physical,

7:18

h then you know, it became pretty public knowledge

7:20

that there was something going on with

7:23

me, and players didn't quite know that. They thought, well,

7:26

I had something going on with my kidneys. But you

7:28

know, no one really knew to what extent,

7:30

and even at that point, Jensen, I didn't know because

7:33

my diagnosis early on was something

7:35

called minimal change disease, and

7:37

that meant they went in I had a kidney

7:39

biopsy. They went in and they take out a piece of your kidney

7:43

and then looking at it under a microscope, and they had minimal

7:45

change. But later on the

7:48

disease was actually it was early signs

7:50

of vocal scurosis. And so later on when

7:52

the disease started to really ramp

7:54

up and really start to damage

7:57

my kidneys, then it became apparent

8:00

what was really wrong with me. Well, I'm

8:02

so happy to talk to you because no one knows what it's

8:04

like to play through adversity more than you. So

8:06

let's talk about the NBA bubble. We have a

8:08

few games under our belt now. The process

8:11

seems to be working against coronavirus.

8:13

What are your thoughts about what you've seen so far?

8:15

Oh? Wait, man, there's been a lot of positive

8:18

signs. I gotta tell you a lot of things

8:20

that really made me feel proud to be

8:22

an NBA long of obviously a former

8:24

player and the member of the Spurs, organization.

8:27

First off, I mean the fact that the NBA

8:29

is leading the way when it comes to all sports leagues.

8:32

They've been extremely conscious

8:34

of the players, of the fans,

8:37

of personnel. They've

8:39

done a first class job of presenting

8:42

the games, protecting everybody

8:44

involved. I wasn't sure how they'd

8:47

be able to pull it off. One of my main

8:49

concerns was, how do you actually

8:51

play games without fans? Fans

8:53

matter. Fans to me are there everything, and

8:55

you can put the fans in the stands. They provide

8:58

the environment to give players adrenaline and a

9:00

huge boost for the home team. You

9:03

know, three fans mean everything, and

9:05

so how are you going to pull off you know, the

9:07

same type of excitement without those people

9:09

in the stands. And they the way

9:12

they stage the games, the way they're they're

9:14

shot. I think they've done a treminute job. Even

9:16

you know, piping in fake crowd noise, it

9:18

actually actually works. You

9:20

know, we've called three games so far and they've

9:23

been a lot of fun. We've you know, the games have been exciting.

9:26

I think the fans are enjoying the product, and so

9:28

in that regard, I think the NBA has

9:31

a huge feather in the cap especially if they can get

9:33

all the way to the finals and actually pull this thing off.

9:36

And and the other part that I'm just extremely

9:38

proud of is the way that they've helped

9:40

push along the social justice issues.

9:43

They didn't censor their players. In

9:45

a matter of fact, they encourage their freedom

9:47

of speech. They enhanced

9:49

the guy's platforms, and and and

9:51

the and the players have been to me, they've

9:54

been very responsible with

9:56

their message, and they've been tolerant.

9:59

I mean I said last night or telecast

10:01

the players right now that they said of a

10:04

great example for society.

10:06

You know, they have guys that

10:09

stand for the national anthem, and you have guys

10:11

that neil for national anthem. No one's

10:13

being pressured to neil. No

10:15

one's being pressured to stand Myers.

10:18

Leonard stood the other day and after the

10:20

nation anthem, you on his house when he gives him a fist

10:22

bump and says, hey, you know you're you're still our brother,

10:25

We're still we stand with you too, you

10:27

know. And the guys are extremely

10:30

tolerant of each other's stands and

10:32

they understand each other. And

10:34

so to me, that's a great lesson for society.

10:37

And these guys are just been great examples.

10:41

Yeah, and you you brought it up a little bit. How

10:43

has announcing from home been for you? I mean,

10:45

I know that everyone's used to being there on the

10:47

core, being able to see what's going on. Is

10:49

it different for you? I mean, I've seen some of the clips

10:51

of you know, local broadcasts where

10:53

the kind of zoom vibe of the boxes

10:55

on top of the screen. I mean, well, is

10:58

it difficult? Is this tricky? It's

11:00

a little trickier. It's harder to even

11:02

call the game. You know, some of these arenas

11:05

nowadays, they're taking away announcers

11:07

from the first couple of rows and they're putting up

11:10

high in the arena. And I

11:12

don't like that because if you take away the

11:14

nuances of the game, you don't get to see interactions

11:17

between the coaches and the players, or the players

11:19

on the court. You miss a lot of that and

11:21

to me kind of sterilizes the game. And

11:24

so if you want to get the best

11:26

kind of seal across to the viewers,

11:28

and so it is a little bit more difficult. There was

11:30

even times last night where I know,

11:33

misidentified a player because I'm

11:35

watching it off the screen, you know, fifteen

11:37

feet away, and so you

11:39

know, sometimes that's going to happen, and

11:42

that's okay. I mean, we we understand what

11:44

it is now, and sometimes those mistakes are

11:46

gonna be made. But that's not a big

11:49

deal. As long as you can still get your

11:51

point across, get your message across, I

11:54

think we'll be just fine. But yeah, I mean, it still

11:56

is a little tricky because we can't see exactly

11:59

what Pop is gesturing or what

12:01

what's he's saying to some of the players out

12:03

there in the court of the interaction between the players. If

12:06

the past and missed or decase of Simon is

12:08

blown, you can see the communication

12:10

between the players a lot clearer when you're

12:13

on the first or second run, you're actually there.

12:17

This past week we saw games like the

12:19

Rockets Mavericks where the final

12:21

score was a hundred and fifty three.

12:25

It went into O T. But the truth is this game

12:27

would have been I don't know, ten points less if

12:30

they didn't go into OT. Are are we to believe these

12:32

games are part of the cannon of NBA we

12:34

know and love. Are they playing defenses? I mean,

12:36

it just seems there was another high score this

12:38

past weekend as well. I mean, is this normal

12:41

basketball? Should I Should I be watching it with the same

12:43

I. Well, that's a that's a tricky

12:45

question there because, uh,

12:48

you know I've been saying, oh, you're a long with

12:51

the fenders in this league. Now are handcuffed? I

12:53

mean you're you're defenseless. You're absolutely

12:56

defenseless as a defender. When

12:58

I first got in the league in eighty nine, you

13:00

know, the veterans would always talk

13:02

about using the arm bar on defense. And you

13:04

know, the kiss of death as a defender

13:07

was if an offensive player was

13:09

able to get his body into your body,

13:11

if it was torso, the torso he

13:14

got you, and so you

13:16

could use that arm bar to keep his body

13:18

from getting into you. Because if

13:20

you know as an offensive player, if you know how to

13:22

use your body and pull your arms

13:24

through, you can get physical with the defender

13:27

and there's nothing you can do with you if you get body to body

13:29

with him. Well, nowadays that's the only

13:32

way that you can guard anybody, and

13:34

you can't put up that arm bar. You see

13:36

guys that are moving and sliding their

13:38

feet with their hands in the air like a splaye

13:41

kind of chicken. If you will, your

13:43

hands are up there and their backs and you show

13:45

the official and you're not touching the player, and

13:47

the fact that everybody's shooting three

13:50

balls. So when

13:52

you look at the court and I made this, uh,

13:55

I told my producer other day when I was watching

13:57

the Rockets game. Actually watching

14:00

the Rockets game, to me, because everybody

14:02

is so spread on the court, it almost looked like there

14:04

weren't ten guys out there, right because

14:06

everybody's guarding the three point line.

14:08

If James Harden beats initial

14:10

defender, he may have one health of

14:12

fender that rotates over and if he can sides

14:15

at tilm, it's it's an easy lay up. It's almost like a

14:17

drill right now. On the offensive end of

14:19

the flour. I mean, if you're an offensive player,

14:22

you're gonna score the ball, uh,

14:24

because the defender is just gonna have a

14:26

nightmares time trying to stop you. So it's

14:29

kind of twofold as to why everybody's

14:31

scoring so many points. Yeah, I

14:33

mean I've been like you said,

14:35

I guess the three point game. It's

14:38

so NBA involved

14:40

now, like when we you know, when I watched you coming

14:42

up, and when you know, in the eighties and nineties, it was such

14:44

like a slam dunk game. You know, it was like we we gravitated

14:46

towards Shack and Barkley and David

14:49

Robinson obviously with you, like guys who were

14:51

big men who were driving underneath.

14:53

And now I assume every kid

14:55

coming up wants to be Steph Curry. Every kid coming

14:57

up wants to be hard, and so they're almost shooting from

14:59

the half court line at times. Yeah, it's insane.

15:02

I mean you get to guard a lot of people right when they come

15:04

over half court. I mean the one that comes to minds Damian

15:06

Lillard, and he's got in the gym range,

15:09

and as soon as he comes across the half

15:11

court line, you have to guard him. And so it's just

15:13

it's spreads everybody out. And if you watch

15:15

an old eighties or nineties

15:18

game, or even early two thousands, the court

15:20

looks condensed. Every everybody is

15:23

within the three point line. If you penetrate,

15:25

it's not beating just your defender. You might

15:27

have to beat two or three other other guys back

15:29

there because there's so many people

15:31

in the paint. Now it's just the wide

15:33

open freefall, and three point ball is

15:36

largely responsible for that. You have a rare

15:38

perspective on this whole thing because you were part of the

15:41

championship spurs a season cut short

15:43

by the labor strike, and you faced all the asterisks.

15:46

Talk back, then, what's your answer to that

15:48

criticism? Then? And now I guess

15:50

you know, obviously you guys had that,

15:53

and now whoever wins this championship is gonna

15:55

hear the same thing. Can can this be defended as

15:57

a serious championship? Yeah?

16:00

Can be, It can be for sure. And you

16:02

know, we won a ninety nine. We heard the talk after, and

16:04

to me it was puzzling because the people that were

16:07

criticizing were the same people

16:09

that we went through and the

16:11

fact that if they had one, they wouldn't

16:13

have asked for an asterisk next to the championship.

16:16

And it's not like we played a shortened

16:18

playoff schedule. The season

16:20

was. The season was shortened, but the playoffs were

16:23

exactly the same amount of games. If you said, oh, you only

16:25

got to win eight games winning championship, that's completely

16:27

different. But we had to win the

16:30

required amount of games that everybody

16:32

else had played previous years so previously,

16:35

so I don't get the asteric talk.

16:37

I mean, if you have to play the same playoff format,

16:40

and so it's going to be the same thing here. You're

16:43

you're still taking the best teams. The

16:45

only thing is that you're you're not gonna have really,

16:47

to me, any kind of home court advantage

16:49

because you're not gonna have the fans behind you. So I

16:52

almost think it's gonna be tougher. I

16:54

almost think it's gonna be tougher for a team.

16:56

You know, the Lakers have a home court

16:58

advantage of the Bucks have home court I'm

17:01

putting home court advantage in quotation fingers.

17:04

If they have that, you don't really have it. You

17:06

know, Milwaukee is not going to have their fans behind

17:08

them, so it's gonna be much more difficult

17:10

for them that they're facing the Lakers in a seven

17:13

game series on really which

17:15

is essentially a neutral court, as opposed

17:17

to facing them at the arena

17:19

where they have the fans getting behind them and ducing

17:21

them up. Yeah. I I'll tell you, the season

17:23

did give me a lot of hope this last weekend when the Raptors

17:26

did beat the Lakers, because it does seem okay,

17:28

you know, with the level playing field, feels feels

17:30

much better now. Yeah, I mean it's really

17:32

interesting. Uh, you know, there's a lot to

17:34

talk about there because you know, for me, and

17:37

I joked about it on our air, I wasn't the best

17:39

practice player. You know. I played

17:41

well in practice, well enough in practice, But for

17:44

me, when the lights were on and people were there, it

17:46

brought a heightened sense of focus for

17:49

me, and so I felt like I performed

17:51

much better when people are in the stands

17:54

than just a practice or a script

17:56

situation. And I'm sure that might

17:58

that might hold true for some of the players

18:00

that are playing. But again, the NBA

18:03

has done such a great job kind of stage in the games

18:05

that maybe it doesn't impact guys. Yeah.

18:07

Well, as you said above and beyond your

18:10

historic run with the Spurs, you're also now broadcaster

18:12

for for the team, and Popovich has

18:14

said that his main focus in Orlando as

18:16

player development guys like Heldon Johnson, You

18:19

Banks, Luca, Lonnie Walker. I

18:21

when I heard that, I'm a god,

18:23

I'm a Popovitch stand. I love

18:25

the dude. I just am always nervous with him

18:27

putting his health on the line, you know, because

18:29

he's obviously in a heightened age group

18:32

for just to get young guys reps. I mean,

18:34

I bummed me out. I mean, do you think it's still worth it to

18:36

hear they're not going for the championship, they're

18:38

just trying to get guys into the game. Well they see

18:41

riding on the wall. I mean there's no LaMarcus

18:43

Aldred he's out with the shoulder injury,

18:46

no trade Lyles, So you're missing arguably

18:49

your best player and LaMarcus.

18:51

And yeah, I'm sure you

18:53

know you look at it on the situation

18:55

where you have to win a certain amount of games just to get in the playoffs

18:58

situation and then you're probably are

19:00

most likely to play the Lakers in the first round.

19:03

You kind of have to understand and be realistic about

19:05

your chances. And so, you

19:08

know, I like what they're doing right now,

19:10

playing the young guys and kind

19:12

of seeing what you have going forward. And as a matter of

19:14

fact, it's paid off so far. I mean we've

19:16

won the first couple of games. Uh, the

19:18

young guys look good, and they're they're

19:21

playing, you know, loose out there, and

19:23

they're playing with no pressure. Uh, they

19:25

know that they're gonna play thirty minutes tonight,

19:27

that they know that they're going to be able to make mistakes

19:30

and and Pop's not gonna pull them,

19:32

And so you have guys right now they are just letting

19:34

it flow. They've gotta sets

19:36

the freedom out there, and it's paying

19:38

off before us and we're getting a chance to

19:40

see our young guys shine

19:43

and see what you have going forward, Sharon,

19:45

and you're one of the most storied college players of all

19:47

time, University of Arizona's leading scorer still

19:50

at this time, Uh, the n C double a season

19:52

up in the air. Really, do you think there's any way

19:54

they can make it work safely to have these

19:57

kids in college and playing. I'm

19:59

not sure. I I think right now, when

20:01

I look at what's going on in all the sports,

20:04

the only way that anything's gonna work

20:06

is probably in a bubble. Because

20:09

you know, you can control the variables,

20:11

you can control the environment around the

20:14

players. Can't do that in college. And

20:16

furthermore, you know these guys coming in eighteen

20:19

nineteen years old, how are you going to

20:21

tell them the socially distance and

20:23

not go to the frat party and

20:26

and stay away from your girlfriend or

20:28

other people. And that's just not

20:30

going to happen. I think the players

20:32

in the NBA, obviously, you know they've done a great job

20:35

of respecting each other and respecting

20:37

the mission or the goal and what the

20:39

league trying to achieve. So they've done a great

20:41

job with kind of policing themselves and staying

20:44

uh in the quarantine. I don't

20:46

think you can pull that off with a bunch

20:48

of college kids. Yeah. Well, before

20:50

sports did come back, fans clung onto

20:52

the last Dance on ESPN. I think one of the

20:54

big revelations that people took out of it was that

20:57

Michael Jordan sure hated the Pistons. H you

20:59

were the Detroit Piston that

21:03

is the last in season. Do you remember

21:05

anything from those matchups with

21:07

the heated kind of feelings that he gave

21:09

off during the dock? Well, I got there,

21:13

and Michael, that was the

21:15

year, I want to say, the first year

21:17

that he had retired, and then he came back

21:20

the next year halfway through

21:22

the season. So, yeah, the Bulls were still

21:24

good. There was still a good team,

21:26

but the Pistons weren't the same Pistons.

21:29

It was Isaiah Joe and

21:32

Bill Lambier essentially that were left

21:34

over from those bad boy teams. The rest

21:37

of the guys, the rest of that roster wasn't

21:39

there, and so you

21:41

know, there wasn't a lot of talk about it. I

21:44

had watched those matchups. I was obviously

21:46

not only a player, but a huge fan of just

21:48

watching games, and so I've seen all

21:50

that drama unfold. But

21:53

but there wasn't a lot of talk about it, honestly

21:56

in Detroit anymore. Wow, So you

21:58

didn't hear any Isaiah talk about ordinance stuff

22:00

while all that kind of is he coming back? Is he is?

22:02

I mean, it was such a big deal in those seasons

22:05

right before he came back. You didn't hear anything kind of going

22:07

on. No, No, I didn't.

22:09

But they didn't talk about it a lot. And

22:12

I know why because it didn't end all of

22:14

them, and so I'm

22:16

sure they didn't want to rehash, you know,

22:18

what Michael had done to on that last season. After

22:21

this More with san Antonio spurs legend and current

22:23

analyst Sean Elliott. Right

22:29

now, Feeding America is working tirelessly

22:32

to ensure our most vulnerable populations,

22:34

like students who were out of school, the elderly

22:36

individuals whose jobs are impacted, and low

22:38

income families continue to have access

22:40

to food and other needed resources. During

22:42

the COVID nineteen pandemic, the Feeding

22:45

America Food Bank Network is committed to serving

22:47

communities and people facing hunger in America,

22:49

and their greatest need is donations and support

22:51

of local food banks. This podcast

22:53

is committed to donating a portion of the proceeds

22:56

from the show to Feeding America and we

22:58

hope that you can join us in this effort to find

23:00

out how you can help Feeding America dot org

23:02

backslash COVID nineteen and

23:10

now the rest of my chat with Sean Elliott. With

23:13

the world finally waking up to a lot of the racial injustices

23:16

for the past hundreds of years in our country.

23:18

Uh really sparked by the murder of George

23:20

Floyd. I thought about you a

23:23

little bit when I was researching because I went

23:25

to University of Arizona for a year. I

23:27

went to Tuson, Arizona, then transferred to USC

23:30

Why in the world to do that, I

23:32

would listen. I'm from I'm from l A. You couldn't

23:35

keep me there. I'll

23:37

tell you other than Bison, which is that sandwich

23:40

restaurant which I still think about once a week. I

23:43

don't miss a ton there. Because I'll be honest with

23:45

you, I did hear a lot of racism in

23:47

Tucson, Arizona, and I wanted to know

23:49

what your experience was like growing up there and playing

23:52

there, especially because you played in Texas, which isn't

23:54

necessarily known for its unity. Yeah,

23:56

there was a lot of races.

23:58

There was. That's the reality of it. There's racism

24:01

everywhere, but there was racism in Tucson.

24:03

And you know, I got called names plenty

24:06

of times or got looks. And

24:08

you know, my my mother grew up

24:10

in Mississippi, Holly Springs, Mississippi,

24:13

and so you know, I come home and tell her,

24:15

Hey, mom, you know this happened today or this haping. She'd

24:17

say, well, that's racist, and you

24:19

don't have to stand for that. But I would, you know, I was still

24:21

young and naive and say, oh, mom, come

24:23

on, you know not at all that can be racist.

24:26

And then as I got older, you know, lo and

24:28

behold, my mom got a lot smarter in my

24:30

eyes. So yeah, I mean, there was just definitely

24:33

that there's no there's no way to avoid

24:35

it. And and Tucson is a lot more

24:37

liberal than probably any other towns

24:39

in in Arizona. So but

24:42

I still love TUCSONA wouldn't trade my experience

24:45

growing up there for anything, But

24:47

yeah, I mean it definitely had

24:50

episodes and times that were tough. I

24:52

you know, it's hard to imagine, and

24:54

a lot of people when I tell them miss to go no

24:56

way. But literally in

24:59

elementary school, I thought, almost every

25:01

day, almost every

25:03

single day, I got in some kind of scuff

25:05

or a fight almost every day. And what

25:08

percentage of that school was white? It

25:10

was all white, I mean all white and hispanic,

25:13

I think, coming up all the way

25:15

until the sixth grade when

25:17

I moved and I went to a school that had

25:19

a lot more black students. And up until

25:22

that time, I mean I was like I'd be one

25:24

of the only two black kids in school, two

25:26

or three black kids in school. And

25:28

so you know, it's like, you know,

25:31

the one story that I that I tells when Ruth

25:33

came out, you know, the teacher would

25:35

I was talking about it in class, and

25:37

like every time she would say something about the slaves,

25:40

Everybody's turned around looking at me like I'm some

25:42

kind of authority. And then

25:44

when I the one instant that really

25:46

got me in a lot of troubles, when I got

25:49

off the bus one day and I had about twenty

25:51

or thirty kids waiting for me when

25:53

I got off the bus, and there were tenny Roots and

25:56

so I just yeah, so I just got

25:58

off the bus just ready to wing. You

26:01

know, I was just already you know, it was already

26:03

tense because you know, I was watching the

26:05

miniseries too. So just what you did. It was

26:07

only three television channels, not like

26:09

you had, you know, five channels to watch,

26:12

so everybody sat down at night and watched

26:14

Roots. And so I watched

26:16

it, and you know, I get the Kunta Kente's

26:18

and the Toby or you know, people call you

26:21

Chicken George, you know, thinking it's funny,

26:23

and so it was. It wasn't the

26:25

best time for you know, maybe

26:27

it was the best time for a young black kid. Yeah,

26:29

that is brutal. I I

26:32

it's weird because you think a school like

26:34

University of Arizona is liberal arts to an extent,

26:37

and I remember so

26:39

vividly going there and being shocked.

26:41

I guess may because it's such a feeder school for Scottsdale,

26:44

which is like Snowtown. It's so white. But like

26:46

the thing about

26:49

about black kids that were at you have a

26:51

it was it was mostly athletes and I went there

26:53

in nineties seven.

26:55

I mean, it didn't feel like a very diverse campus

26:58

at all. Well, you know, most

27:00

of the black kids that I went to school with an Arizona

27:03

were athletes, maybe all of them.

27:05

I had a funny instance. We

27:08

were all of us were in freshman English

27:10

or so my recruiting class

27:12

six guys, five were black.

27:15

The one white guy that was

27:18

on our team was from Iowa. And

27:20

the five of us, the five black

27:22

freshmen, we all tuted into English

27:25

one hundred I believe it was.

27:28

And so all of us were taking the same

27:30

class at the same time, and we

27:32

had a black professor and

27:34

we were discussing a book about a

27:36

black musician, and

27:39

a white girl raised her hand. We

27:42

were fresh discussing this book, and the white gool

27:44

raised your hand. And in class

27:47

she asked, She said, if

27:49

black people's bottom of their feet

27:51

are white and their hands white, are their hands

27:53

are white? Are their butts white too?

27:58

And the yes, The class

28:01

erupted. Bruce Wheatley

28:03

was laying on the floor laughing. The

28:07

teacher was chuckling. He he didn't know

28:09

what to say. Some of the other students

28:11

are like, going, my goodness, how didn't you ever seen like

28:13

Nassal Geographic. I mean, it

28:15

was a time where you know, it was

28:17

so funny, it wasn't offensive.

28:19

It was just like, my goodness, like people

28:22

really don't know. You don't

28:24

know about black people, Sean, I'll

28:26

tell you this one. And I don't mean to dog you of a

28:28

because I really I honestly, the

28:31

education there was much better than than you would

28:33

think based on the things you're hearing right now. I actually learned

28:35

a lot of stuff that was I think I learned about

28:37

HD television there for the first time in like nineties

28:39

six. But but I will say

28:42

I have a friend Adam Pally, great comedian.

28:44

He showed up on this podcast once recently,

28:47

and he has a story. We went there at

28:49

the same time, and he has a story where he went on a date

28:51

with a girl and she asked and he thought

28:53

she was kidding. Yeah, she asked

28:55

where his horns were because

28:57

he was Jewish, and he thought

29:00

she was joking, so they laughed, and then she wasn't

29:02

laughing and she had been taught by her parents

29:04

that Jewish people have horns. Yeah. Yeah,

29:06

I've heard a similar story like that from one

29:09

of our media relations people

29:11

in Detroit. The same thing where one of

29:13

her black girl friends went out actually

29:15

with a white girl, and the white girl picked

29:17

her up and said, hey, that's a cute

29:20

dress. Where where do you

29:22

hide your tail? Unbelievable. So,

29:24

I mean, but you know that kind of thing. When

29:27

I hear that, I don't get offending because I've

29:29

heard so. I mean, we could sit here for an

29:31

hour. Yeah, and I could tell

29:33

you this kind of story, and some people will think

29:35

that all that they can't possibly happened.

29:37

Yeah it happened. Yeah, it happened. And I

29:40

guess, you know, to sum it up and not make

29:42

people so sad about what we're hearing. The good news

29:44

is in we have a great awakening

29:46

that's going on. You see it with the NBA, with the

29:48

you know, the social issues, like you said, they're facing

29:50

so elegantly. And I'm happy.

29:53

I'm happy to see where we're at this year at

29:55

least, you know, I'm happy that

29:57

the conversation is still going on. Yeah,

29:59

I'll honestly against and I mean, I'm I've become

30:01

really cynical, and I'm wondering

30:05

if a year from now, if

30:07

we're just going to be in the same situation or

30:11

everybody forgets about it, and it's going

30:13

to take something else and where everybody's gonna

30:15

start writing again. Are we, you

30:17

know, really set up to make a change.

30:19

A big part of me feels like we are

30:22

because the younger generation there,

30:25

they're woke, if you will, and

30:28

they have trends that are

30:31

different colors, different sexual

30:33

orientation, and they're

30:35

open about it, whereas you

30:38

know, our generation wasn't. I was

30:40

with a group of friends the other day. We were talking about the same

30:42

thing, and I said, Hey, how many you guys

30:44

went to school with a gay guy?

30:47

And they were like, well, well, you know it

30:50

was an older obviously an older

30:52

group of people. And they're like, well, we didn't

30:54

know they were gay, because they're gonna open. I'd say, exactly.

30:57

You know, we went to school with all

30:59

kinds of people, um that

31:01

had to hide who they were, hide

31:04

their their true self from

31:06

us because we were, you know, so backward and

31:08

intolerant back in the seventies, eighties and nineties.

31:11

And now this new generation they're

31:13

not like that. You know, my daughter

31:15

and my kids, all our kids are

31:17

now out of college. But when they were in

31:19

high school, even a few years back,

31:22

they had friends that they knew were gay

31:24

or lesbian, and so you

31:26

know, the whole way that they think and

31:28

the way they brought up now different. They're ways

31:31

more tolerant of each

31:33

other than our generation and

31:36

our previous generations were, And so that

31:38

kind of gives me hope that the

31:40

younger generation is gonna, you

31:43

know, topple this thing and put us over the

31:45

edge and and really really

31:47

change hearts and change minds. Same I

31:50

I depend on them. So let's end on a bit

31:52

of a goofy note here. During this odd

31:54

time in history, you've been hosting a show on zoom

31:56

geniusly titled Between two Spurs.

31:59

It's minute zoom interview with Spurs

32:01

legends like Avery Johnson and David Robinson.

32:03

I wanted to end the interview by me bringing

32:06

up some past Spurs players, maybe some obscure

32:08

ones you didn't think about, and you tell me if you think they'd make

32:10

a good zoom interview. Yes, okay,

32:13

First, he only played one season on the Spurs.

32:16

But you blab blob,

32:20

you say it better than I do. Yeah,

32:22

he's a big german guy, went to Washington.

32:25

That's a good question because I can hardly

32:28

remember Huve and even though I played

32:31

against him, in college. So uh,

32:36

all right, all right, we'll hold off on that one. That's a good

32:38

one. I'm not sure. Okay, well hold off. Maybe you'll

32:41

hear the other ones and you'll you'll set up who you want to.

32:43

He played one season seventies s seventy

32:45

seven. I didn't even know he was a Spur. Mike D'Antoni.

32:48

Mike D'Antoni. I think Mike

32:51

D'Antoni would be a really good dream interview

32:53

because he's been around but here

32:55

and there, and he's got a good personality. I

32:58

think he's just a generally he's a good guys.

33:00

He would be good interview. All right. This one's

33:03

an old teammate of yours. He played one season

33:06

Sleepy Floyd. Uh,

33:08

Sleepy Floyd. I missed Sleepy

33:10

Floyd by a year. Um

33:13

he was I think I

33:15

missed him, but I admired him

33:17

when he was in college. I loved his nickname and

33:20

I was a big college basketball fan, So I would love

33:22

the interview Sleepy Floor. Okay, moving on. Uh,

33:25

This guy, at one NBA's largest

33:27

personalities, played one season on the Spurs

33:29

fifteen sixteen. Boban

33:32

is the best. I mean, what a great

33:34

dude. Yes, absolutely love Boban

33:37

Marianovitch. Yes, if you said no, I would

33:39

have been very mad. Alright. Two seasons on

33:41

the Spurs oh nine through eleven.

33:43

Antonio mcdice. Is he a good interview in h

33:47

Yeah, yeah he is, because it's

33:49

a cool, cool dude. I loved

33:52

the way he played early on in his career when

33:54

he played for the Denver No, he was a nightmare.

33:56

He one of the only guys. He was

33:58

the only one of the only guys that gave Tim Duncan

34:00

problems. He he could jump out the gym

34:02

too. Man. It was was an athlete. He could

34:04

and he could shoot it. He could shoot it with decent range.

34:07

I mean, he had a great low post

34:09

game. He was He was a lot of fun to watch, all right. This

34:11

one maybe didn't have his great of an NBA career,

34:13

great in college one season with the Spurs

34:15

O one, O two Cherokee Parks. He

34:18

would be a great interview. Uh. Free

34:21

spirit, yeah, free spirit. The tattoos

34:23

and stuff. Now he's out of his mind. Yeah,

34:25

yeah, it's a cool another cool just I

34:28

mean down to earth guy that you

34:30

could have a great conversation with. You sit down with

34:32

anybody and uh, and have a good

34:34

time to stall to the earth type of guy. I love it. Last

34:37

one one season with the Spurs and

34:39

again a guy didn't even know I'd see him as

34:41

a nick. I guess I don't know. Oh, three oh four, Charlie

34:43

Ward played on the Spurs. Charlie

34:46

Ward, he would be a good interview.

34:48

He eat on me any time because he's

34:51

High Sman Award winner. Yeah,

34:53

ends up playing NBA basketball.

34:56

How many guys have done that? None? Yeah,

34:58

Yeah, he's he's got quite a as a mate. And

35:00

you know he's he's been in some battles

35:03

and and and watching Florida State in Miami

35:05

back in the day. You know, those

35:08

were the games that people would I mean

35:10

clam around the TV set to watch. Guys were hitting

35:12

each other. They were so exciting. That was some

35:14

of the best football that was being played. Yeah,

35:16

and Charlie Ward had had deep through some

35:18

dimes even in the NBA. He was a pretty good assist

35:20

guy. You did. He was fun to watch

35:23

the quarterback. I mean, he could scramble, he could pay,

35:25

had an arm. Yeah, he was fun

35:27

to watch. Well, Sean, I appreciate the

35:29

candid talk. And stay safe and healthy

35:31

and We're excited for Spurs basketball. Yes

35:34

there anytime. The

35:43

Sports Bubble is produced and distributed by tree

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