Sports Live! With Steve and Justin

Does Talent Or Timing Win The NCAA Tournament?

• Steve and Justin

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A 17-point lead should be safe. Unless it’s March, your inbound gets sticky, and one dribble turns into a trap, a steal, and a shot that flips a season.

We’re back on Sports Live with Steven Justin and the Basketball Rabbi to unpack a weekend that felt like the NCAA tournament turned the chaos dial to max. We start with the big-picture March Madness takeaway: Arizona looks like a machine when the game runs, but Purdue showed how pace control can force even elite offenses to prove they can win in the half court. From there we hit the Big East energy around St. John’s, the coaching quirks that come with genius, and why “brand” still matters when the Garden gets loud.

Then we slow everything down and go possession by possession through Duke vs UConn, including the late-game choices that decided it: why ball security beats hero moves, how a single dribble can erase your options, and why UConn’s best moments came from quick reads instead of panic shots. We also look ahead to the Final Four, the Illinois matchup, and why Michigan vs Arizona might be the toughest game left, mentally and physically.

If you like college basketball analysis with real details and a few sharp detours into culture and stories, hit play. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us: who’s cutting down the nets and what’s the one matchup you can’t stop thinking about?

Welcome And Quick Banter

SPEAKER_06

And hello everyone and welcome back to Sports Live with Steven Justin. We're doing 20, whatever I wrote, 64 to 16 to 8 to 4 live. If you saw it this weekend, you are amazed on what happened. I am shocked and appalled in some aspects, and happy as hell in others, right tonight on Sports Live with Steve and Justin and the former rabbi. There it is. There you have it. There it goes. Hello, everybody. Mr. Elder today, Keith. Yes, I like better that he is the rabbi of all things basketball.

SPEAKER_03

That's it. I am the basketball rabbi. I'm sorry, I had some little work done this week, so I have to um I'm wearing okay, good.

SPEAKER_06

Okay. Sorry, how's it look? A little bit of work. It looks good. It's like, did you ever see that movie with um Humphrey Bogart where he he's a gangster and he has his face changed, and then he goes back into his life and I don't remember the name of it. And he goes back into his life to and he sees all the people that wronged him, you know?

SPEAKER_03

And they don't I'm blanking on the name. If we were doing movie talk, I would know that one. But I I I don't have the movie thing going today. I don't know why. I feel bad.

SPEAKER_06

I'm doing the, I'm doing I'm drawing a blank. I'm doing select uh I'm watching select things on the Criterion Collection.

Movie Talk And Criterion Picks

SPEAKER_03

Ooh, I got that too. I I actually, well, speaking of Bogart, I just watched The Heart of They Fall about three weeks ago, and I think that's an absolute masterpiece. But yeah, no, yeah, I got that Criterion channel too, and it's great. I can watch like, you know, I just watched Being There.

SPEAKER_06

Peter Sellers great movie. And what else did we watch? I can't I can't think. What are you doing there, Justin? Do you want me to just delete you today? What is that?

SPEAKER_01

I'm trying to send messages to people so they can tune in live.

SPEAKER_06

If they go on YouTube, it works. I don't know how to do it on Facebook, but you're welcome to try.

SPEAKER_03

I'm I'm a huge fan of being there. It's one of my favorite films ever. What do you think of the I mean, can we do spoiler alerts on this? I mean, sports, nobody here's gonna be watching Pure.

SPEAKER_06

I think that we learn that he's a supernatural. My girlfriend thought that he was an angel. Oh, and he's so pure that he doesn't know anything bad.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, it's such a strange ending to a weird film to start with.

SPEAKER_06

He takes the umbrella and sticks it first, you sticks it in the water. You're like, if you haven't watched it, you have no idea what we're talking about, as Justin does in his Luke Arnesecick sweater that he bought at at American Eagle 17 years ago before it went out of business. They had a special that they had a special on XXX, and he was able to get it. It was on the sale rack right next to the$80 um American flag uh rugby shirts.

SPEAKER_03

It's got a nice Scottish feel to it, though. You know what I mean? Like I feel coming the Wicker Man or something, you know?

SPEAKER_06

Wicker Man. He's really the Highlander. We're gonna see this bright light.

SPEAKER_01

The bright light is coming. I'll be in the remake.

Arizona Pace Problem Meets Purdue

SPEAKER_06

We like doing five minutes of movie stuff here. I'm not sure. I don't I don't really care if they turn us off. I really don't, you know, I I appreciate everyone watching us. I appreciate a lot of things. But, you know, this show is what it is, and we work real hard at it, and we do zero, I don't know what working real hard at is it. We buy a lot of equipment to get it to work. How about that? And and then we and then we spend no time for preparation, but we do we do watch a lot of sports all of a sudden. Like I would never watch all the games. I would have never watched all the 64 games, and I saw some great games, you know. I you know, we talked about them last week. There were some great games over the course of this week. I mean, to even think, I mean, first of all, you learned um that Arizona, you better sports all of a sudden. Would you turn that off? Sorry.

SPEAKER_05

Wait a minute, 750 July.

SPEAKER_06

Sorry. I'm digging it. I I just got older. That was I already checked all that, dude. The Arizona, you know, the first you thought that they were gonna take the whole thing, and you know, well, the Arizona game was something.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, you know. The first one, yeah. They've steamrolled a lot of teams, and I think Purdue was the first one that really got them to slow down a little bit. And, you know, Painter did a great job controlling the pace in that game. I mean, they moved the ball around brilliantly. Kaufman Ren had a great game, and they still got beat by 15. You know, it's like the thing with Arizona is they they all all season long, they've been playing these high-scoring games that put 109, hung 109 on Arkansas. They had like 100 points with five minutes left, and like Tommy Lloyd could have taken a nap at the end of that game. But then Purdue comes out, Payor has a great game plan to control the pace. He does it, he executes it, and they still they lose 76 to 61. A concern with Arizona is if you get them out of an up-tempo type pro type game, how do they play? Well, Purdue did that, and how they played was really well. And they helped Purdue, who's a great offense to 61 points. So it's like, what do you do with that team? Except put them against Michigan.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I think Arizona kind of made it made their stamp entering the Final Four because I think until until this weekend we thought maybe the Big Ten was the measuring stick for this tournament.

SPEAKER_06

Hold on. Who's fumbling with their microphone that it's coming up and I cared, bagging in my ear? I'll I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna blame it. It it could be. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're getting a lot of like ruffling of whatever. But anyway, go back. Sure. Go back, Justin. Go ahead.

Big East Heat And St. John’s

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I thought we maybe we thought the Big Ten was the measuring stick for this tournament with so many teams in, and then with what do they have, five teams in the Sweet 16? So coming into the coming into the tournament from the start, I made the comment that I didn't think St. John's was very good because I didn't think those Big East teams were very good. And here we are. UConn got a gift from Michigan State. I I uh not to take anything away from them, but Michigan State, Michigan State did not shoot well in the first half of that game. They were well, I think they were four or sixteen from three. At one point, they didn't they missed like 12 baskets in a row, 12 field goals in a row. Um they did come back in that second half and they made it a game, and they went right down to the wire, but UConn was pretty much in control. Um, but Michigan State really laid an egg there. And then Duke has them on the ropes. I mean, what more what more could you want if you're Duke? 17-point lead. Yeah, 99.

SPEAKER_03

I turned the game off 34-25 and went to sleep. What happened?

SPEAKER_01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

Did you see that St. John?

SPEAKER_01

All I know is the text that said, Wow.

SPEAKER_06

Did you see that St. John's booster? Some billionaire came out and he said, Well, I'm not gonna let this happen next time.

SPEAKER_01

So it's it's a little bit of a slap in the face to the kids that are there because they've given a lot to the program.

SPEAKER_05

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01

Um, St. John still has that, you know, draw. Obviously, with Patino there, it's it's it's like, you know, I mean, it's just a circus, but and I don't mean that in a bad way. I mean it's it's you know, the circus is in town when St. John's comes and they're coming to play. So it might be, you know, as long as Petino's there, and I know he's older now. It's a destination. Madison Square Garden is still a destination, you know.

SPEAKER_03

And they extended him.

SPEAKER_01

So he's the people who are the parents of the kids that are going to these schools now are from our generation, and they can relate to the Big East and what it was like 30 years ago and what it meant to play there. So good for them. I mean, I think it's still coming. It's not the same as it used to be. But here we are. We talked about when it was hard for me anyway, not to chalk the bracket. There were some upsets, but no Cinderella is really in this tournament at all.

SPEAKER_06

So, not to interrupt you, but Dom texted me and he said that uh he he said that it looked like you had to keep with the movie theme, you had one of the icon ceremonial death masks from Ocean's 11. Is there any money in those things? Uh so I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

I I got I got about 10,000 in my backyard, so I'm gonna see.

SPEAKER_06

Don't let them fool you. So what is it? Uh he says, don't let them fool you. There's a ton of money, but you gotta be able to move them. He just got out of jail. And then and then he says, to keep him with that theme, that that the rabbi looks like somebody from the rat pack with that hat on. So anyway. Thank you very much. I always I always get a bowl of soup with that hat.

SPEAKER_03

Justin, you look at me, you think Peter Lawford, right?

SPEAKER_01

Uh definitely rat pack, sure.

SPEAKER_03

Why not? Peter Lawford, though. I got that Peter Lawford vibe going. You know, remember Peter Lawford was married to Kennedy's sister, so yes, he was. I think that's what got me into that. I was I was listening to the Kennedy podcast and I just started talking Peter Lawford. I free associate a little bit.

Duke’s Late-Game Nerves Show Up

SPEAKER_01

But it's always fun when we cross-pollinate the podcasts.

SPEAKER_03

You know, the St. John's game was interesting. I mean, Duke, you know, you see this, you saw this trend, Duke, the whole tournament, where they let teams hang around and they just did not have the killer instinct on teams. I mean, let's see in a hang around. The St. John's game, but you know, but T, let me talk about St. John's real quick. Petino's a great coach, but sometimes he does stuff that boggles my mind. Ruben Prey comes out four for four from three-pointer. You know, he's in a group, hot hand, blah, blah, blah. Takes him out. You know, it's like Petino has these, like, he has these brilliant ideas, and like he's one of the greatest thinkers. I mean, he's really one of the five greatest coaches of all time, in my opinion. But then also he doesn't guard the inbound pass in 1992 with Brand Hill throwing the ball down the floor to Christian Lake. You know, it's like he has these moments. Like last year, Petino, I thought, you know, had did a magnificent job resurrecting St. John's. And then the whole RJ Lewis thing, let's take RJ out of the game. He's only our leading scorer and our best chance at, you know, generating any baskets. And so Patino has these moments in big games once in a while where he's almost so brilliant that I think he outthinks himself sometimes. And that was definitely the scenario in, you know, again, the scenario I think of the Yukon game, more so last year against Arkansas. I think Duke was better. But it was interesting that if you watched each Duke game, Duke could not put anybody away. They couldn't put Sienna away. They let Sienna hang around the last three minutes. Everybody kept hanging around. And I'm watching the Yukon game. I'm texting Justin. I'm like, why are they you're looking? I'm looking at the statistics. Duke is UConn is one for 17 from three-point range. I'm like, how are they still in this game? Terrace Reed's the only reason they're in the game. And they just let them hang around.

SPEAKER_01

Is that the diagram of a heart? I can't see what that is. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, I can't.

SPEAKER_03

Can we get that for next week? I could do that.

SPEAKER_06

So I mean so wait a minute. Somebody's got a microphone. It's either an additional microphone or something that's rattling around and it's driving me insane. That's it. Whatever you just moved was it.

SPEAKER_03

I have my you know what it was? My phone. I think my mic is coming through my phone. So I I think it was leaning on the thing, Majig, and it was making it.

SPEAKER_06

All right. That was it. It is gone. It was driving me insane. So I don't want to have to edit it all out. That's why. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, St. John's was interesting. Duke wasn't, no question, didn't have the same killer instinct. You know what? And I what I found amazing in the in the UConn game is that you think it was the coach being smart? It wasn't. It was the kids rose up and said, you know what? We got this. Screw these guys. You know what I mean? What what's his name? Begins with a K. I can't think of his name. On on Yukon. Hits, first of all, he gets a penalty that I didn't think was appropriate. Right. I didn't think that was a good penalty. They were fighting it out under there. What are you gonna do? You're gonna charge him? All right, charge him. So they give that out. Then he says, you know what? Now you piss me off. He goes out and he hits a long three that everybody said, What are you shooting it for? And it was nothing but net. And then he went, come on. And then Duke loses their timeout, whatever. Duke loses their their loses their focus and gets the ball stolen from him. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Incredible.

SPEAKER_06

They got the game in the bag.

Breaking Down The UConn Miracle Finish

SPEAKER_03

Layup over. Well, first of all, your your guy Caraban. Caraban now, this is if they make a run this year, we can talk about Caraban has been clutch now. He was awful the whole game. And that's the first three minutes of the game. It's like Caravan had a terrible game after the last 57 seconds, and then he literally made just play after play that changed the course of the game. So go ahead, Louisa. That's it. I think they pissed him off. I think he got mad about it, you know? Yeah, no, he well, he's he's been clutch. He's kind of been their guy on the two teams that won championships. He always made big shots and things like that. The thing with Caravan, though, is it seems like he could have a terrible game, but he just steps up. That three was huge. That cut it to one. And then, you know, again, Denry went down. He missed the one free throw. So it's two points. They get the ball back. Can I walk through the play? Because the play itself totally passed me. Go ahead. So inbound, Saar's inbounding the ball. Saar gets the ball. By the way, the inbound play that Shire had, people are jumping on Shire for losing this game. I thought Shire did it. I thought Shire had the right play in at the end. He runs a press breaker, gets the ball into Boozer number one, the taller. He didn't have a lot of choices. Right, exactly. But but they they Yukonn doubles down. Now, if I'm thinking, why is Yukon not fouling, right? It's bizarre that they're not fouling. So they kick it to the middle and then they get it to Caden Boozer. Now, at that point, you had two defenders in front, and instead of sending one out, whatever, they jump trapped Caden Boozer. And Caden Boozer literally looked at him like, what the heck are you doing? And he he dribbles once. This is what kills him. He puts the ball on the floor once, right? So now he's stuck there. He's either going to take a foul, jump ball, something like that. He freaked out. That one dribble changes everything. So he tries to throw it. He takes the absolute worst pass you could possibly throw. There's two guys from UConn who are, excuse me, two guys from DuCor, literally standing alone, half court, wide open. All he has to do is throw the ball up in the air to catch it. Or he could have taken a 10-second, I mean, they didn't even have 10 seconds to take a 10-second violation. Could have been fouled. He's an 80% free throw shooter. Could have done anything. That one pass was the wrong pass to throw. So Hurley has him jump it there, gets tipped, comes back. But here's the part of the play that Caravan makes it brilliant. So Caravan gets the ball, and Caravan has a look at three with under two seconds left. Now, most people freak out in that spot and take a panic shot, but he's got Cameron Boozer standing in front of him. So what does he do? He turns around and pitches it to Mullins, who's 35 feet out and fires it up and it goes in. I mean, the play Caravan had a had a lousy look at the basket. He could have jacked, maybe got fouled. But the fact that he found Mullins in that spot is just that that kid just has a knack for just in incredible moments.

SPEAKER_01

And that was a quick decision in a big spot. Instead of forcing a shot and using a bad shot selection, he got rid of the ball to an open man, which was the right move. Has nothing to do with not having confidence and taking the shot because he dragged them to that finish line. I think what you saw there was some savvy, you know, veteran play, if you will, from a kid who decided at 17, 19 points down that we're not going out like this. And if this is my last game or if this is the last game of the season, I'm gonna, we gotta start, you know, somewhere. And after we hit that long three, I think it was we can come back. They had the confidence to come down and shoot. And Duke showed their inexperience. I don't think, I mean, they're incredible, incredible basketball players. They're freshmen. So it that showed they didn't they didn't know how to close out that game.

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

They panicked a little bit, they let the tempo creep up on them instead of slowing it down and you know, circling the wagons and trying to get the ball inside and just go tough to the basket. It just seemed like they acquiesced to what Yukon was imposing on them. They were gonna play Yukon's game to finish out and hope that they win rather than no, we're playing our game. We're gonna make a basket, we're gonna hold you off and win this game. Yukon just took over.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. And and, you know, not having Foster was a big deal for them. I mean, he played in the St. John's game. He looked like he could barely get up and down the floor, barely played in the Yukon game. So yeah, I mean, you end up having a freshman handle the ball. And they were, you know, they didn't make a lot of mistakes. I mean, they had eight turnovers in like the, you know, in the last 10, in the last uh, you know, something like 20 minutes of the game. So it wasn't like a disaster. It wasn't like they completely fell apart, but in that one moment, it just, you know, Boozer just made this mistake that was you could see it when he dribbles. He like sort of panic dribbles and goes up to throw it. And it's like, you know, it was a brilliant call by Hurley to jump the ball there because, you know, I mean, let's say, you know, again, their best shot was to get a turnover there. He gets a turnover somehow, they get a basket, they win. But the funny part is the kid Mullins from Yukon, who hit that shot, he had been the worst shooter in the game. I mean, he was four for 23 in the tournament, hadn't hit a shot all day. He was since the end of February, he had been shooting a robust 17% from three-point range. Okay. So this is the guy, a freshman with the game winning challenge.

SPEAKER_01

19 years old.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, just why not? You know, from Indiana, just chucks the thing up. Nothing but net too. It just goes down the you know.

SPEAKER_01

Shoot or shoot. When you don't have to think about it, you just catch and shoot. That's probably your best, you know, best case scenario to win the game is not having time to think about putting the ball up. Just catch and shoot.

Illinois Run And Big Ten Muscle

SPEAKER_06

Yep. So, uh, and then in the I'm sorry, did you want to keep talking about the game? I was gonna say, then we go on to the Elite Eight with two of my teams, Iowa and Illinois. You know, I uh I I've had a thing for Illinois, and they played a tough team, Houston. I don't care what they were numbered or whatever it was, they were a hugely tough team.

SPEAKER_03

Yep. Help them to 55 points at home. I mean, that was it. That was Illinois played a great game. And the kid Waggler, I mean, in the Iowa game, Sturz had a fantastic game, but what Iowa, Brad Underwood did extremely well is he made sure Sturz was gonna get his, Sturz got 24 points, but Fulgeris only took two shots in the game. He really took the the supporting guys away, and you know, Waggler had an absolute absolutely fantastic game for Illinois.

SPEAKER_06

But Iowa had to get past Nebraska first, which is no, you know, Nebraska, as we said, is the same team. Right? They had Iowa and then I'm sorry, and Nebraska, Iowa to get put Nebraska, and then they had to get past Illinois.

SPEAKER_03

I mean And that literally it was like if all this stuff had happened over the course of like three months, I would have said, wow, that was a great three months. This was like since Thursday, you know, like the I I forgot the Iowa-Nebraska game, like that was Thursday, you know, and it was a great game.

SPEAKER_06

And like And not for anything, Illinois had to get past Houston. So so at this point, you know, usually it this what are you laughing at?

SPEAKER_01

I got a text from a friend that said we all need to rock cool hats like Split. I mean, I can go home. Oh, wait, no way.

SPEAKER_02

I got it we need a prohibition. Prohibition.

SPEAKER_06

We're gonna have a prohibition in it. Well, next week when we talk about when we finally start talking about the masters, we'll talk about you can wear that hat. Keep it in mind. So, anyway. So, I mean, you're you're like I mean, think about it. I mean, listen, Illinois played Penn out of the gate, destroyed them. Illinois played VCU. Now they beat him by twenty something points. But you know, and sometimes that could be your worst enemy. Because Then you're in against Houston, which if you turn your head for a second, they're gonna beat two.

SPEAKER_03

They they they that was a fantastic game for them. Again, I thought Houston had a genuinely unfair advantage playing two home and playing what would have been two home. Absolutely. But Illinois took them out of that game and really kept them there. And Kelvin Sampson's teams defend extremely well. They struggled to score. I thought Houston was gonna win it this year because I thought that Kingston Flemings is probably the best shooter, the best pure scorer he's had. And they took Fleming away. They took Flemings away in that game. I mean, they really did. They they, you know, Houston was gonna have to Houston was gonna have to win that game in the 50s. And they you can't win a game like that against Iowa against Illinois in the 50s. So that ended up happening. But it was it was it was problem. I mean, like what a weekend, you know, like that was just sort of like, yeah, that happened, and this happened, and you know, I mean, we had a bracket where we had St. John's playing Duke, great game, okay. Then Duke playing then same night, well, you what you we get Yukon and Michigan State Michigan. Yeah, it's like it's like this is. I love Miss St.

SPEAKER_06

I always loved Michigan State. My friend actually went there. So he had his shirt on when they won. And then and then let's go to the other side of the bracket. You know, we started talking about Arizona. Arizona had to play Arkansas, which everybody said was tough, didn't turn out to be tough for Arizona. No, and then they had to play Purdue, which everybody said was gonna beat Arizona, but if you saw Arizona play Arkansas, you said to yourself, nobody's beaten Arizona, right? Am I wrong? No. And and and and now they're now they're in the Final Four, and you know, you talk about having to beat tough teams. Arizona's gonna have to beat Michigan, and to win, they're probably gonna have to beat Yukon, though I'd love to see Illinois upset them.

Final Four Matchups And Who Wins

SPEAKER_03

I mean, one of the things that's tough in this is I think the best two teams in the country aren't gonna be meeting in the finals. I think the Arizona-Michigan game is the best team. That is the that is the best game of the year. I mean, to me, those are the two best teams in terms of depth, in terms of versatility. I mean, they're they're two absolutely fantastic teams. There's eight guys on any of the on all of on those teams who all could play in the NBA. They're really, really good teams. And the problem is one of them's gonna knock the other one off. And yeah, UConn gets an easier draw with Illinois. Not that Illinois is an easy team to knock off. That's gonna be a great game. They're gonna have to do everything to do that. But it's weird because if, you know, like if if I don't think Yukon could beat Michigan and Arizona, but I do think it's possible that they get there and have one, have one more great night and knock them off. And I I really didn't think Yukon had a shot. But the fact that Michigan and Arizona are that game is gonna be a bloodbath. Those teams are gonna beat each other physically, mentally. It's gonna be an intense game. And then you got to come back two days later and play for a national championship against a probably a very gassed-up Yukon team, or maybe an Illinois team. But I mean, still that's it sets up almost like this could be like the magical season for Yukon again. Because they get one every like three years now, you know.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, but I you know the thing about Yukon, I mean, but for the last few seconds when Duke rolled over, and Duke wasn't the usual team, it usually is, but for that moment, they don't win. I know, I know. So maybe Illinois, you know, I mean I think Illinois is a better team. I think Illinois is a better team, too. Are they better coached? You got a great coach in Yukon. Can I can't argue that, right? Arizona beats Michigan. I mean, Michigan's no jumps, right? They're number one. They were probably, if you really asked somebody, they would have told you they're number one overall. Except Arizona seemed to be peaking.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, for sure. Arizona was peaking, and Michigan had a couple of bad losses. I mean, only they only lost three games. They lost to Duke, they lost to Wisconsin, they didn't finish the Big Ten tournament, so they're kind of like, you know, on paper they look good. You see them play and you're like, wow, look at these guys. You know, they're incredible. They seem to have gotten stronger during this tournament, but Arizona is clearing away the best team left.

SPEAKER_06

I I think you you do your team a disservice if you play beatable teams. For you, not necessarily. So Michigan, I mean, Michigan played Iowa State. I really believed in Iowa State a little bit. I don't think they could.

SPEAKER_03

Well, losing Jefferson, I think if they don't lose Jefferson, I think they get they give Michigan a good game. I just without Jefferson couldn't score.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, but Iowa State didn't play them. They play, you know, Michigan played Tennessee. Tennessee beats Iowa State, Tennessee beats Virginia, Tennessee beats Miami over Ohio, right? And Tennessee, Virginia 79, 72. Tennessee beats Iowa State by almost 15 points. And and Michigan, you know, they come in like they're tough guys. They hadn't played a team like Michigan.

SPEAKER_03

And Michigan just absolutely torched him in that game. I mean, it was you know, I thought that Tennessee could hang with him. I really did. Gillespie's a fantastic scorer. I I legitimately thought that Tennessee was good enough defensively, but just Michigan, when they want to score, they just score over and over again. I mean, Landon. And they get in the groove their heart.

SPEAKER_06

So think about think about that that again. So Texas Tech plays Akron, they beat him by 20 points. All right. Everybody's talking about Texas Tech, they got a little momentum. They play Alabama, Alabama destroys them 90 to 65.

SPEAKER_01

And Alabama has some controversy coming into this tournament.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, and and so then Alabama plays Michigan, and you know, they're a little full of themselves, and then they run into a buzzsaw because Michigan could almost do anything anytime it wants. So then they go to Tennessee, and now you're you're you definitely like you said, I I would say is is Yukon one of the historic looking back, not looking forward, is Yukon one of the best teams in the country? It's good. Is Illinois Illinois is has improved a lot. But you can't argue Arizona and Michigan, they had a they played tough during the season and they got tougher in the in the in the bracket. So those are two of the tough teams. Neither Yukon or Illinois is gonna want to play either one of them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

No, I agree. I mean, I I think that I think the national championship may be on Saturday night when Michigan lines up against Arizona. I mean, that really is a great game.

SPEAKER_01

You know, and I hope Hurley's not watching this podcast. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_03

I'd love to talk. I was watching, actually, I went back and I was watching him. It was a lot of fun. He was it was it was watching the tournament game he played in where like they're playing Western Michigan uh Western Kentucky, and like everybody was screaming at him, Bobby's brother, and just like you know, hassling him every time he touched the ball. And I'm like, well, that's why he's such a jerk. You know, he's just you know it's kind of interesting, like, you know, the whole brother angle, right? Like, because you know, you had this, you know, Danny Hurley being the younger brother of Bobby Hurley always in his shadow. And now you have the dynamic where like Caden Boozer is probably always gonna be in the shadow of Cameron Boozer. So if there's some, if there's actually one person in the in that game who could understand another one, it would be Bobby, it would be Danny Hurley looking at Caden Boozer, thinking, oh man, you're gonna be in the shadows the rest of your life, dude. You're 18 years old and you're Bill Buckner, you know? And I really do. I hope he goes on and has some great homers in his career. Like, I I honestly I usually hate Duke's Duke players by default. Like everybody's just basically Danny Ferry to me, you know. But like the booze, I uh the of the 10 players that I haven't that have made me want to throw up in my life, three of them have been named Boozer. The dad was a great player, Cameron's a great player, Cade's a fantastic player. You see, a kid after the press conference, he's crying his eyes out. It's like I blew it, I let my team down. He's not talking about the refs, he's not talking about, you know, anything. He's just completely took at 18 years old standing there in front of the press, totally taking responsibility for it and not walking away. I mean, a lot of guys would never see a camera in that spot. But, you know, Kaden fucked up there.

Biggest Letdowns And Tournament Trends

SPEAKER_06

So let's here here's the question for the for the crew. If you had to pick a team that really let really let down, didn't play, really rolled over and really missed it, and had the people, the momentum to really make it happen and failed, who would it be? I know it's easy to say St. John's, but St. John's isn't as good as the others.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. I mean, I think Florida was probably the biggest surprise in the tournament because Florida was with any national champions going against an Iowa team that really had been good, but not great all season, and that the Florida team was more talented, and a lot of people had Florida winning it, and they were gone, but you know, they were gone at the end of the first weekend. So I think they were the biggest disappointment, probably. But, you know, of the last 10 years, I think um only one team who's won a national championship has gotten even to the Sweet 16. So it's very hard to repeat. It's very hard to even get back to the Final Four or get back to the Elite Eight or the Sweet 16. So, you know, it happens, but I do think like if you get your your one team from the tournament where you're like, eh, it didn't really go right. Florida was probably the best team in the country for a lot of the second half of the year, and they just really did not have a good game against Iowa.

SPEAKER_06

And the other one I would say is Gonzaga.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, as seemed to be the case, you know. I mean, they they had your favorite team, uh, Kinsha State, out of the gate, and they beat them by only nine points. I mean, I don't know what to say about that.

SPEAKER_03

And then they got creamed by Texas, you know, six. They did. You know, they were dinged up, but their best player, Grand Mike, really kind of I mean, he was okay. He didn't have a great game. He, you know, they were Texas was able, Miller's a good coach. He was able to really design sets to take him away, and they couldn't make shots from the outside. And so the Zags are gone again. And I keep thinking, Mark, Mark Few's got to be one of the greatest coaches in college basketball, and he's gonna get one some year. I just don't know what year that's gonna be.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, you know, and you know, Texas is a pretty good team. I mean, they gave the they gave a good run for their money to Purdue.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely, absolutely. Miller's a fantastic coach. They were they were not a team expected to make the tournament. Justin is the only person in the universe who had Texas getting out of like, I don't know. There are people who didn't have Texas getting out of the first half of that game against NC State.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And like you're like means a lot.

SPEAKER_06

I mean, I mean horns, man. Listen, and Purdue, you want to say they should have gone farther? Yes, they should have gone farther, except that they had to play Arizona, and Arizona is without a doubt one of the best teams in the top two. If you don't think they're the top team, they're in the top two.

Coaching Chess Arizona Michigan UConn

SPEAKER_03

Well, and what's interesting with Arizona is what Tommy Lloyd is best known for. He was the he was the main assistant for Gonzaga, and he was really one of the greatest foreign recruiters ever. So he was the guy who brought all those, like Karnowski and those guys over on the Gonzaga team that almost won it. And so he's gone to Arizona, and you would think he'd be going getting international players. He has some, but what he's done is he's gotten kids to stay. He has several players who are in their second or third year there. So they've built kind of a cohesive unit. And then he added in two freshmen who have been absolutely tremendous. So it's, you know, I think Arizona is a team that's been built, I guess more traditionally. It's not just a thrown-together portal team. This is a team that's actually built together for a few years. And Lloyd's done a great job bringing them together. I mean, I think though Michigan's gonna beat them. I think Michigan, I think it's a great game. Vegas has it at one and a half right now. Not that people could ever it's legal up by you, so you it doesn't matter. But down here, of course, I would never consider wagering on a sporting event. But if I did, one and a half is a nice line. I like Michigan in that game because I think it's probably even. But if I got a choice of Dusty May or Tommy Lloyd in a big spot, I'm taking Dusty May. He's a great coach, you know? Um, but I don't know. I mean, Justin, you got Michigan, right? I mean, you gotta have Michigan. If you don't have Michigan, I'm I'm changing.

SPEAKER_01

I still got him. They're still on the bracket. All right. I'm over four. I mean, uh, you know, I look, I I told you from the beginning I was putting Michigan in the final four no matter what. Uh and then when we spoke, I told you it's hard not to chalk, and I I wasn't going against Arizona in that bracket. I I I think I got you know most of that bracket correct, except for Tennessee. Uh I had Iowa State out. Um that was the uh high point bracket, right? Yep. Yeah. Um, I don't know. I you know, Michigan can they play with Arizona? Sure. They're they're you know in the top four teams of the country. That's why they're a number one seed. Could Arizona roll them? I mean, Arizona's, you know, they can score. I mean, they can play, you know, I know that they they don't play great defense, but you know, they're they score at will. You know, Michigan plays decent defense. Well, no, they're and they keep up with the Arizona offense. I, you know, it's I think it what you said last week is what's gonna come to fruition in this game. If Michigan's gonna win this game, who is taking the last shot?

SPEAKER_07

Yeah.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I don't know, you know, they'll do whatever the coach tells them to do because they play pretty fundamentally sound basketball. And when he puts these directives in and you know, draws something up even on the sideline, they go in and execute. So there's no one guy, which uh, you know, in this tournament, you need a guy. Sure.

SPEAKER_03

Um you know, UConn founded in in a Michigan transfer in Terrace Reed. I mean, Terrace Reed could be on right now. I mean, without Terrace Reed, they're done. Furman beats them. I mean, Terrace Reed have that 31 and 27 for the for them to win that game.

SPEAKER_01

I'm pretty confident in Michigan. I mean, you know, not I'm I am you know biased, obviously. On the other side, I think Illinois's gonna beat UConn. They lost to Yukon earlier in the season by like 13 points, so they have experience playing them. They lost a couple of games that were kind of like head scratchers, but you know, that happens as a team is growing. And once you enter this tournament, it's six wins to the championship, and they're four four wins away, you know, they're two wins away. They're there, they're in the final four, they're competitive. I still think the Big Ten is the class of college basketball. And, you know, we've got four coaches that, well, at least three that have never been there in terms of big names, if you will, not taking anything away from Hurley, but he's coming out as these are all new young coaches, these aren't the same old usual suspects. So anything can happen. I'm just hoping that Michigan wins one at least one more game because I don't want North Carolina anywhere near my my head coach.

North Carolina Job Rumors And Pressure

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, there well, there is that. That's a whole other interesting uh, you know, like what what does North Carolina do? I mean, because if they're willing to pay a football coach$10 million and nobody cares about football down there, what does a basketball coach go for at North Carolina?

SPEAKER_01

You know, yeah, what's the Belichick equivalent of a men's basketball coach? I don't know if he's out there. I'm sure they'll be looking as, you know, they're gonna turn over every rock to see what's out there. But, you know, I like I don't think uh Jay Wright's coming back to college basketball. I think for them it's you know, who is attractive enough in the portal for these kids to want to come to North Carolina and stay there? So, you know, it's a balance. And where they find that guy, I you know, it's it's North Carolina. So would I be shocked if they were like, hey, we're knocking on Michael Jordan's door? No, but do I think that's likely? Absolutely not. So they're gonna get a name, they're not just gonna go with anybody. And and I think maybe two coaches left in this tournament are gonna get a call.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, absolutely. You know, North Carolina, I mean, you know, North Carolina had a coach who was a seven had a 700 winning percentage, won 20 games in his first five years, got his team, oh, he was his team was a few plays away from winning a national title in his first season, and he's gone. You know, so I mean, you you know, like, and because he coughed up a 19-point lead, which coincidentally Duke did also, but I know nobody's you know calling well. I guess a few people do want Shayer fired or whatever.

SPEAKER_01

And NC State, it was it NC State that just brought back the coach they fired four years ago.

SPEAKER_03

That was no Will Wade went to NC State for a year, and then LSU, who well waited, he got a three-year show cause, and LSU got him back in and was like, okay, let's bring he cheated here once, let's bring him back and see if we'll bring him back the eye involved again.

SPEAKER_01

It's kind of like the uh Alex and Joey Cora story with the Red Sox and the segment.

SPEAKER_06

Well I mean this is the way I I um I mean I I think you bet for the overall champion. I think that's the bet. And I think you place two bets. You place one on Arizona and one on Michigan. And whoever you're not gonna guess who's winning the final four, but you are whoever wins that is gonna win the championship.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I mean, you know, personally at this point and seeing that I'm 0 for 4 with my final four this year, I definitely am fulfilling my job as an expert. But since I've been wrong this far, I'm gonna go a step further and say that usually the best team doesn't win the NCAA tournament. It's the team that gets hot at the right time. And UConn has got some weird mojo happening between Terrace Reid having the best four games of his life in a row and the shot and the steal and all that stuff. I mean, remember, UConn won a championship with Kevin Holly coaching, where their best player was Shabazz Napier, right? Like they weren't even like one of the best 45 teams in the country, and they won that year. I think you get the hot team at the right time. Um, you know, team just something magical happens and all of a sudden they win a bunch of games. And just like the year Duke won with the, you know, in '92 after the Leightner game, like I think it just for me, the UConn team is gonna somehow figure out a way to win this. And Danny Hurley is going to be the most arrogant man on the planet if he is not. And that is something really to look forward to.

SPEAKER_01

That's hard to do with Michigan in the tournament. Their coach is pretty arrogant. Did you see what they beat Michigan State?

SPEAKER_03

He brought the broom out. I'm like, what a jerk, you know? But you know, I I don't know. I was I was cracking up because uh Nate Oates is complaining after the Alabama game because he's like, well, we didn't we didn't get to play uh, you know, they the Bettyako, the big guy they had, didn't get to play. Like if I was Dusty May, I would have been like, yeah, we didn't get to play uh Glenn Rice or uh you know Cassie Russell either, you know. So it's like I mean, I don't know. It was like it was just the the Nate Oates might be, he's probably gonna be one of the finalists for the uh for the North Carolina job, too, which is could be as a recipe for disaster. I digress.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I got UConn just because somebody has to, and because they they got their they're shining and it's a moment. And Justin, you have Michigan? I'm sticking with Michigan.

SPEAKER_06

I'll take Arizona, even though I want to take Illinois. And the mask is gonna take Illinois.

SPEAKER_01

I'm shocked you're not taking Illinois.

SPEAKER_06

We're gonna give you Arizona is a machine. I agree. I agree. They're gonna be tough. So the mask has Illinois.

SPEAKER_04

I like Illinois in this game. I'm very talented. That Flagler kid is fantastic, and they have Pedro Stoyakovich's kid on the team, and that should really help. Go aline.

SPEAKER_02

Sorry, I didn't know. I'm improving a little in here.

SPEAKER_03

By the way, you know, we almost had the exact same Final Four as 1989 if we had Duke in. Uh Michigan played Illinois, and it was Duke Seton Hall.

SPEAKER_02

So we almost had three of four Final Four games from 89, but that didn't happen, so go with something else.

SPEAKER_06

I got text from Dom. He's complaining he can't make comments. I can't really check it out right now, Dom. Um, it's meant for chat, not comments to live. The other one, the regular one, you should be able to put comments in.

SPEAKER_03

Well, tell Dom if if I tell Dom I'm currently with the hat, I'm I'm trying to look like Howard Hunt. So if he wants to talk CIA, next time I'm up there, we're talking some CIA. We're gonna need some Operation Gladium on there. Hunt had big ears, so. What do you think? These are small?

SPEAKER_06

Well, you gotta look here's the little pin head, so I don't know anything's positive. Look at this. I need to do it.

SPEAKER_01

The ears are proportionate to the to the size of the head.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I mean, uh not much I can do about it. It's sort of a missed potato, I think. I can do, you know.

SPEAKER_06

So let it be written, so let it be done. All right, so that's that's our story. We'll be back next Monday on that. And you know, I'll say I'm right and everybody else will be wrong, but that's the way life is.

Betting Logic And Patreon Pick Idea

SPEAKER_01

Three weeks in a row, Keith. This is a residency now.

SPEAKER_03

I know. This is like I'm uh resident, I'm an elder now. I gotta honestly, I'm run I'm maybe mom next week or something like that, or uh you know, you know You know what's funny is I don't know, I hit I hit my camera.

SPEAKER_06

You know what's what's funny is that I still didn't get it right.

SPEAKER_01

Looks like it's moving.

SPEAKER_06

It is moving because I'm hitting it, but I uh I cause I had to open the lens a little bit because it started getting dark and I didn't put enough lights, whatever. You were talking about what I what I talked about to Justin and I hadn't mentioned it to you yet, and I was thought about doing a little short Patreon where we pick winners, bets, those kinds of things. Don't do it on the regular program. Not anything that really makes money, but like, you know, a buck or two or three or four or five, whatever it is, and then we do a little segment where we say, we're picking this, this is why, we're picking this, we're this, and whatever. So maybe we could generate some Patreons. It's a good I'm more interested in the Patreons than I am in the money.

SPEAKER_03

So well, I I'm a reverse tout, basically. So I have this magical skill. Whatever I pick, the opposite happens. So like you put me on, I will give you a great explanation for like what's gonna happen, and then the opposite will happen, and you will make a lot of money, and I will look ridiculous. So I think that my angle is a tout.

SPEAKER_06

I don't think that's what I wanted to hear for this escapade. But thanks for that. Yeah, no problem. Anytime. Um, you got anything else for me?

SPEAKER_03

I mean, I you know, I what do you want to talk about? You want to talk about the NBA a little bit? No, God, no. I the now that they're not doing strip club promotions, I'm not interested. Uh no, but yeah but but but you got you got that baseball thing happening. You guys excited about the season or what? Do you guys talk baseball, or is it like just does that take up time for Do we talk baseball? Like, it do you even mention like the New York Yankees or the Metropolitans or the most spoken word on this podcast?

SPEAKER_09

Is it really? Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Well, I'm I'm assuming I'm in Yankee country here.

SPEAKER_01

Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball for baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.

SPEAKER_03

Wow. So that was basically 2025. Was just baseball over and you want to hear it again?

SPEAKER_01

Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball for baseball.

SPEAKER_06

It's the top word of 2025.

SPEAKER_01

Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.

SPEAKER_04

What's the title?

SPEAKER_01

Here's a better one.

SPEAKER_06

Listen to this one.

unknown

Uh uh.

SPEAKER_03

So have you guys kept your resolutions? That's awesome. I love that. Break me off of the ballgame.

SPEAKER_06

All right, we're not gonna play that. I had that. That was it was that was that Edison himself, or uh no, it's the guy he used. I don't know what else we have here. We have all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_03

Football coming up.

SPEAKER_06

See, I knew football won't end up revolving.

SPEAKER_03

Um you need like a remix, like with somebody like scratching in the background and like you know, somebody freestyling over that. Yeah, we're gonna have some.

SPEAKER_06

There's another one, but I I forget what it is, and I don't know what I I don't know what I what I said about it. Unfortunately, there's a Bigfoot one. Oh, there's Darth Vader. Darth, Dart Vader. Did you hear that one?

SPEAKER_03

I I want to use that as an alarm in the morning. Like, I want to wake up.

SPEAKER_05

Darth Vader one. Darth Vader about the wait.

SPEAKER_06

About the quarterback from the drive. You are you were you like a gear three covered down there?

SPEAKER_03

Applause all the way around. That was fantastic. Judge, I didn't you sound just like Rob Halford, man.

SPEAKER_01

Justin. Mark Maiden did that. That's our that's that was the first song from our our new music production company.

SPEAKER_06

Oh, look. Justin was sitting in traffic after the Giants game, and he used AI miserable as and he used AI and came up with that song.

Tom Brady Owner Quarterback What If

SPEAKER_03

That was absolutely fantastic. If that's not on the next first album, I don't know. I don't think they should put another album. I just think they should do that song over and over again with different things.

SPEAKER_06

You ready? I have something we should talk about. Okay. I'm in. How about that Tom Brady told the press during an interview that he discussed with the NFL about coming back as a quarterback while still being the owner of the LA Raiders? They really? Of the yes. And they asked him what the NFL said, and they said, I think his quote was, We don't think it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_01

I can't afford the insurance.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I agree. Justin, how do you deal with the Brady thing, him being a Michigan guy and you hating Tom Brady?

SPEAKER_01

Like, does that I never hated Tom Brady?

SPEAKER_03

You never okay.

SPEAKER_01

So I hate I hate that the Jets didn't draft him. Okay. When I was sitting on my couch that Saturday afternoon saying, all right, it's the sixth round, it's time to take this kid from Michigan. He's got a big arm. Why not take a flyer? What do I know? I was saying. What do I know? And it's the same thing every year. Me sitting on my couch saying, I I the this is the guy, and the Jets draft Vernon Golston or, you know, Wilson, or, you know, uh a light bulb from Tennessee. Uh, you know, what I remember. That's why I burned all my shit and gave up.

SPEAKER_03

I I and that was beautiful.

SPEAKER_01

Good for Tom Brady. Did I know he was gonna be a Hall of Famer? No, that wasn't what I expected. I didn't expect this tremendous 10 Super Bowl career in 17.

SPEAKER_06

Did he know he's gonna become a Hall of Famer?

SPEAKER_01

I just saw a kid from Michigan with a big arm and said, Why not take a flyer on this guy?

SPEAKER_03

It was so weird that same year I was watching the draft, and I remember it was like the third or fourth round, and they were looking at quarterbacks, and I was like, the Falcons need to get Giovanni Carmazzi. And, you know, they didn't. And he's got a lot of people.

SPEAKER_01

I would have been happy with that, too, if the Jets had drafted an Italian quarterback. Why not?

SPEAKER_03

He wanted Carmazzi out of Hostra. One of the old timers, man.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, why not?

SPEAKER_03

One of the guys drafted him and Spurgeon Wynn were both drafted in. I think Spurgeon Wynne was drafted ahead of Brady. Did you ever see that uh that uh the ESPN documentary with the the people drafted ahead of Brady? It was it's hysterical. It's like dudes like who are working like the 30-30 thing.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's incredible. That is an incredible. I mean, think about look at look at Brock Purdy. Yeah. I mean, first of all, you don't want to say much, you know, you don't think he's good. He's good enough. And now he's got a good one. He's got a good coach. You look at his first season, you scratched your head before he got hurt the first time. I mean, you're like, this guy got le picked last overall.

SPEAKER_03

And I don't know. I mean, I I I I I struggle with it myself. You know, I struggle with a lot of things though with the NFL, like watching it.

SPEAKER_06

So wait, well, you gotta be I could be fish. I could be fish. Do you know the story how we got reprimanded? Like our first or second. SEO. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Uh our first or second.

SPEAKER_06

I don't know. Ashbet uh what our first or second, third, whatever broadcast we were doing uh before the season even started. And they made all these bizarre rule changes about kicking, about stuff. So what I did is I downloaded them and recorded just the little pieces where they explained them on the NFL. So we posted the video at nine o'clock at night. At 9 a.m. the next morning, I had a cease and desist email from the NFL. Wow! And the only reason I you think I wanted to use their their thing, I didn't want to use it, but but I I couldn't it was such a bizarre thing. I mean, like we could barely explain it. So so it was funny. So at the end of the email it says, but since you don't get any revenue from your podcast, we're allowed you to use it at the present time. Wow and we'll notify you if we change our minds.

SPEAKER_01

How gracious of that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, that is, I gotta say, for me, I my in my former writing career, I used to write a lot about heavy metal, and a cease and desist order for me was like always the highest form of compliment. The greatest moment of my writing career was when I got a cease and desist order from Slayer. That was it was on uh I had blown up on the wall, like it was like great, because I wrote an article, like I used to write made-up heavy metal articles and I was like talking about them. I I think like uh I wrote some article about them joining the what was it, church where the guy used to protest everybody who died, and you know what I'm talking about, Justin? You were I don't know.

SPEAKER_01

Um I remember you getting the letter, I don't remember what it was like.

SPEAKER_03

They were protesting Slayer's. I have no idea. I just made some stuff up. Like something from like Mad Magazine.

SPEAKER_06

Like a thing about Mad Magazine where you make up some story about somebody and print it in a magazine.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Well, I got very familiar with the with the uh with the definition of liable judge. I definitely learned a lot about that that week.

SPEAKER_06

You needed a disclaimer to say nothing in this article is actually true. I made it all up for entertainment value.

SPEAKER_03

Absolutely. The problem is if you there's nothing you can say that about anymore because everything I I stopped writing satire about 10 years ago because everything I made up is not nearly as ridiculous as the present. So, you know.

SPEAKER_06

True.

SPEAKER_03

So you're a music guy? Me? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_06

I was um So I I used to manage two punk rock bands at CBGB's in Max Kansas City.

SPEAKER_03

I saw you wearing the CB shirt the other day. Who who who did you manage?

SPEAKER_06

I don't want to say it because it'll bring a whole bunch of crap, but I'll tell you off the air.

SPEAKER_04

Okay.

SPEAKER_06

Somebody famous, believe it or not. He left the band and became famous. Oh, really?

CBGBs Stories And Punk Scene Memories

SPEAKER_03

Really famous. Like he's still famous today. Well, I had a stepbrother who was in a punk band called the Scarsdale Diet Doctors, which I still think is the greatest name for any punk band ever. And he had a guy who's like three feet tall who played bass in the band, and it was it was insanity, man. It was like I like punk, but you know, like, you know, any any Scarsdale diet. Did you think we would get into the Scarsdale Diet Doctor thing today? I mean, you you know the story I'm talking about, right? Like, am I am I absolutely maybe I made it up? Okay, good.

SPEAKER_06

I'll remember the woman's name if you give me long enough. Gene.

SPEAKER_05

Gene. Um you're right. It's Gene.

SPEAKER_03

Andrews. No, I can't think of it. Dom, if you know the Scarsdale Diet Doctor, I'm sure he does. I'm sure he does.

SPEAKER_01

He probably went to school with her.

SPEAKER_03

No, I'll tell you what.

SPEAKER_01

It's being weird. I got it here if you want it.

SPEAKER_03

What is it? Harris. Gene Harris. Gene Harris. Gene Harris. I'll give you one. Okay, where I'm sitting right now in Cater, Georgia, I am literally three blocks away from a YMCA where Mark David Chapman used to teach guitar lessons.

SPEAKER_01

He went to the city.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I'm saying, Dan.

SPEAKER_01

Like it was, it's awesome. You're gonna get a phone call tonight.

SPEAKER_03

I got I got a friend of mine has literally has a yearbook with Mark David Chapman's like, you know, like, hey, have a great summer, blah, blah, blah. Mark David Chapman, you know, and then he moved to Hawaii and then he got into well, into the Beatles is probably the wrong way to put it. Um that means that that church is by you too, right? The church that he went to? Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. No, so like he's a he's a Decatur kid. So, like, you know, we got our, you know, we got our local legends. We got, you know, we got Mark David Chaffin. Well, you had a whole music.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, the whole music thing.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, how far is Athens from you? Athens, probably I can get there um highly intoxicated and speeding at about 45 uh 45 minutes, probably. So not that far away.

SPEAKER_06

No, two, about two hour drive.

SPEAKER_03

Uh this bulldog.

SPEAKER_06

I have a so I I have a Georgia story, if you want to hear it. Yeah, sure. So I uh I my friend and I decided that we were gonna we had nothing to do. We had I had like uh two weeks off or something. We're gonna drive down the coast of the United States. Well, I almost run out of gas on 95, and I get off at the wrong exit, and we end up wandering around Georgia, and I see this gas station, I pull up, and I go inside, and like there's nobody around. I go inside, I'm standing by the rec register, there is a bowl of fried chicken with a light bulb coming from the ceiling hanging above the chicken to heat it up.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. That's not that's not a method of cooking I'm familiar with, Judge.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah, it wasn't, it was already cooked, it was keeping you warm.

SPEAKER_01

That's an easy big oven.

Georgia Detours And Deliverance Energy

SPEAKER_06

That's you know, like I'm looking in the thing and there's mad and the refrigerator's like mad dog 2020 and something ripple and something else. Guy comes out, he goes, Can I help you? And I said, Uh, I'd like some gas, thank you. And I gave him some money and I went over to the thing. And when I'm coming out, I see this guy pushing his car. So I run over to help him because there was enough room in the back of me to pull up. And it was a little bit of an angle, it was a real old car, and I run up and I'm pushing the car, and we get it up to the register, all uh we get up to the pump, and all of a sudden I see like eight guys standing on the line, just watching this guy push his car. It is at that moment that I realize that the guy pushing his car is black, and all the guys standing there are white, and they really look like we're coming out of the uh out of deliverance. Oh boy. And I'm like, and they go, they go, and I have New York plates or New Jersey plates on my bright red Z-28 with a Corvette engine. Okay? Straight out of my cousin Vinny. I love it. Straight out of my cousin Vinny, and the guy goes, What do you come down here, boy, and you will you interfere, what we're doing, or whatever. Okay, now my friend, who has also helped me push, is white, but he has dreadlocks. So I get a little bit of gas and I say, Let's get the hell out of here. We jump in a car. We end up going to Atlanta. I'm like, let's just stay somewhere overnight. We'll figure it all out tomorrow. We go into Atlanta. I said, just pick a hotel. I said, let's uh I let's pick the tallest hotel we find. So they're definitely have a room. It's like a Wednesday in October. And so I'm like, they're definitely gonna have a room. Who's on vacation in October? So I I pull up, I get out of the car, I go inside. So I give my friend my American Express card. One of those fancy American Express cards back then. I don't even have American Express anymore. So I I give it to him, I say, go inside and get us a room. So he comes back out and he says, They're book solid. Like, what? I'll go in. I take the card, I go in. I go in, I said, sir, I'd I'd like uh uh a room. And he goes to me, absolutely, sir. Wh where would you like it? I said, give me a suite, two bedrooms. I'm like, you know, big shot. I said, Oh, I have luggage out in a car. So he goes, Okay, I'll send a guy. I said, No, no, I want you. I gave him$20 and I said, You help me with the luggage, I'd prefer it. So we go outside and we get out to the car. My friend gets out, I was like, is this the guy? And he goes, Yeah. I said, No rooms, huh? Those are I said, he goes, my friend goes to grab his bags. I said, uh-uh, he'll take them, right? And he said, yes, sir, and he grabbed the bags and carried them inside.

SPEAKER_03

That is definitely a disturbing part of Atlanta, Georgia in general. We have a bad history down here. But if you're curious, we do have, I do, I do, this is a side gig I have going, you know, Sharky's machine was shot down here. So I do a tour, Sharky's machine bus tour, where I take people to all the locations that it was shot. And I'm working on the deliverance bus tour because right up the road is the Chattahoochee River where they shot it. So if you ever want to kind of get down and we'll reenact Ned Beatty scene and just chill. And I mean, yeah, yeah. I mean, that's fine. I mean, it's just not my thing.

SPEAKER_01

Be sure to like and subscribe and share with your friends.

SPEAKER_03

Unless your friend happens to be related to Ned Beatty, in which or don't subscribe because I don't want to see some desist order from Ned Beatty's kids.

SPEAKER_06

So we're so I like uh we're driving through Hoboken, Georgia, which it happens to be which happens to be where I th listen, I was 23 at the time or whatever. I'm 66 a long time ago. Happens to be where I bought my smoker, is made in the same town, which I think is hysterical. I have this huge smoker, you you don't know it yet. And we're going through and I pull over, and there's a record store. My friend gets out. He goes, I'm gonna go in there and and and see if they have the album by the new album by the butthole surfers. I said, You are not gonna do that. You'll get back in the car and we're getting the hell out of here. Because it's like, it's like, you know, you think you're in the wild west, it's a dirt road, you're waiting for the the Clintons and the McCoys to come down and and kill you.

SPEAKER_03

And you're going to get the new butthole surfers record. Because, like, the the first thing I'm thinking in Hoboken, Georgia, is what's Gibby Haynes got going on right now, right? You know, they have one of my favorite album titles of all time, though. Uh the butthole servers have an album called Hairway to Stephen, which there has never been a greater album. It's Stairway to Heaven. Stairway to Steven. Or Electric Larry Land. That's for you, Rick.

SPEAKER_06

And I well, my favorite song is by the Dead Kennedys um uh what is it, Vacation in Cambodia or something like that? Holiday in Cambodia.

SPEAKER_03

I did not think one of the great songs. I did not think when I first talked to you like Dead Kennedy's fan. So wait a minute.

SPEAKER_06

So when they're saying when they're in the background, they're going Po pot, Po pot. It's so funny. I mean, it's like brilliant. I listen, I was at CB's when the dead boys electrocuted themselves. So I mean, I go, I go that's about you.

SPEAKER_03

I get I go way back. You like that dude with the Dosecchi's? Like, you're like the next most interesting man, like 2.0. Like you're a judge, you like you, you, you, you buy butthole surfers albums in rural Georgia?

SPEAKER_06

You know, friends I went to high school with, they all say what are you how did you do that? Yeah, how did that happen? We have these pictures. I'm like, okay, guys. So I mean, like, I I so that I was very young. I I was very young. I got a job in the city at Fifth Avenue at some fancy shoe store. And the woman that I was friends with who ran the store, her son had a punk rock band, and he can't and we used to go see them. And he said to me, We can't get gigs at f fancier places like Hurrah's, which was uptown at 72nd. And Max's, which I don't remember where it was. It may still be there for all I know. And he goes, unless we have representation, will you like pretend to be our agent? So like I would go insane. Like I was really good friends with Hilly and the guy at the door with the with the construction hat. I don't know if he used to go down there. And the guy with the door. And I would like, I didn't have to wait online. I didn't have to do anything. We'd go down there in the day when we really got sidetracked here. But we'd go down there in a day and hang out. Uh-huh. And there'd be there'd be like writers not from Rolling Stone. There'd be writers from Stiff Records, Stiff uh, what was the magazine from from England? I can't think of the main of it. I used to get it all the time.

SPEAKER_03

Do you ever meet Lester Bangs? It was like my dream was to meet Lester Bangs in life.

SPEAKER_06

No, I don't know who I met most of the times. But the Hells Angels were there all the time, and and people were like, it was really crazy. I saw Blondie rehearsing. I saw um the first time Talking Heads came in and played Psycho Killer for Hilly, and everybody was like it just trip stuff.

SPEAKER_03

Like, I don't know any of this about you.

Movie Bits Then Closing Thanks

SPEAKER_06

I saw Andy Airhorn. So I went to see Nico and and who was part of the Velvet Underground back in the day and all that stuff with uh he was married to I think Robert Fripp, if you remember him music for Airports. So the album Robert Fripp, just sickest guitarist. I'm sure no one knows who he is, but unbelievable. And and he and Nico was there, and Eddie Warhol was there, and like you'd be, I'm like this little dumb kid from New Jersey. I had a 77 Pinto, and I used to go and drive, and I'd park on the corner by CBG's, and they were all homeless men. They used to call them, you know, Ballery men back in the day, all heating their hands by a garbage can with a fire. I used to, my friend and I used to bring them a case of beer, a case of beer, and I would give them the case of beer and say, you guys can have this. Do me a favor, watch my car. And we'd come out and I'd have some more beer in my trunk on a cooler. And we'd come out at breaks and we'd sat around a fire thing with the with the guys, and we're drinking beer with them during breaks, and they all like I knew everybody on the block. Like my father would all my mother and father would have rolled over 15 times over if they knew where I was. But I mean Dinner at Phoebe's on the corner. I mean Robert.

SPEAKER_03

Oh God, King Crimson is so good. I'm like obsessed. Okay, that that we if you ever want to do the like history of King Crimson episode of sports talk, I'm in. I could do any era rock and roll with Robert Fripp. I love that stuff. I was yeah, even I even listened to that Fript Tronic stuff where he like he plays one note over and over like a million times. Music for airports, great album. Yeah, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_06

And and I got Justin tells you me now.

SPEAKER_05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06

And um, I mean Justin, you're funny. And that that whole time period, I mean, tough darts, uh uh television. Yeah. Robert, who's the guy from television, it was great. What are you killing a cat over there? No, I well, I just it's ritual sacrifices later.

SPEAKER_05

Okay.

SPEAKER_06

Film at 11. The uh I'm where you ever see tunnel vision with I'm wearing no pants, film it eleven.

SPEAKER_03

So Rams Plagued by Fumbles as earthquakes rock Los Angeles. Film at 11. Catholic girls go bad. You know the oh man, you're good. Uh Kentucky Fried Movie. I'm impressed. Okay, Judge, we really we should.

SPEAKER_06

I'd love to tell you the story about that, but it's not meant for the air. But I did go on a first date with a girl to a triple feature. It was I can't remember the third movie, but it was Kentucky Fried Movie and Tunnel Vision. And it was a third movie, but I don't remember what it was.

SPEAKER_03

Kentucky Fried Movie for years was like the funniest thing I had ever seen. I think I watched it too much at this point, but um the the fistful yen thing is still still like the mystery.

SPEAKER_06

That's the the Asian guy with the flamethrower? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. With the hands of the take a mock of take a mock of uh of um kung fu movies with um what's his name? The famous guy. Oh, Bruce Lee, yeah. It's supposed to be apparently that. And they do great. And then then it becomes so they're doing this whole mock of the Bruce Lee movie, and then the guy wakes up in bed after he's been knocked out or something, and it's in black and white, and it's the end of uh of Gone with the Wind, not Gone with the Wind, of The Wizard of Oz. And he's going like, you were there, and you were there, and you were there, and they go, Oh, you must be dreaming. All of a sudden the guy's arm falls out, and you see the flamethrower. Now I remember that from seeing it when I was 18 years old.

SPEAKER_03

Can you imagine that? That that movie, there's another part to it where they have all of a sudden it randomly becomes an episode of the dating game in the middle of a kung fu film. You're right, I will understand it out.

SPEAKER_06

I think we're not gonna go back to sports at this point. Yes, I thank you all for coming. The likers. We'll see you next week. Um we have anything, uh, I because I can't transition this to Justin railing on that the Yankees put tampons in the men's room. I can't go to We can edit this out.

SPEAKER_01

We can't we'll go.

SPEAKER_06

We can't transition to his complaints about that.

SPEAKER_01

I just want confirmation that it's a New York state law and why New York are not doing it.

SPEAKER_06

It's a New York City regulation that that public any restrooms open to the public, which I don't think applies to the Yankees. Nor do I.

SPEAKER_05

Um Yeah, but I'm gonna I'm I'm a legal mind beyond words.

SPEAKER_06

And and then I think that uh but any public restroom according to New York City regulations has to have tampons, and I think they have to be free for um men that have tra from women who've transitioned to men and still menstruating. Okay. Well, did did didn't they pass something where there are I won't say that.

SPEAKER_04

All right, we're gonna leave it there.

SPEAKER_06

I don't want to give anybody come come glory hole lines out of me today. Come next week and we will uh go back to talking about sports now that we've digressed about as far as we can. Thank you, everyone. Talk to you.

SPEAKER_04

Later. Hello.

SPEAKER_01

See you next week.

SPEAKER_02

Um