2 Vintage Sports Guys - Episode 26

Join Joe and Paul as they debate the LeBron to Philly story. One is biased for his hometown team and one thinks he belongs back in Cleveland, where sports go to fade away.

Watch the video exclusively on BZZR:

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome back to Two Advantage Sports Guys. I am one of your hosts, Joe Rendacci, back with my legendary podcast partner, Mr. Paul Gallagher, out of Atlanta, before he tells you that for the um team time. So how are you, Paul?

SPEAKER_02 0:23

Legendary in my own mind. I'm back, Joe. I've I've I've been away uh for a little bit, but uh I'm ready to talk about my hometown team and the biggest signs of the summer.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Perfect timing for you to talk about your Philadelphia 76s and their brand new rookie, Mr. LeBron James. Tell me tell me about it.

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Rookie. I I'm not you're not much older than LeBron, I don't think. He's no rookie, but I obviously I'm ecstatic. I I get some of the uh where I'm gonna go with this is you know, there are definitely two sides to the camps on this one. Um, there is a lot of hate that he's ring chasing, um, that he's doing this and doing that. And I don't understand it. I I don't get it. I mean, the Yankees and the Dodgers have been doing this for decades. Players have been going after championships forever. And now we're criticizing a guy for playing in his 23rd, 24th, 25th year. We should be applauding him. And the other thing I would say is he this isn't Miami, where LeBron came and then they brought in everybody else. We built this team before LeBron. We had Edgecombe and Maxie made the trade for Brown, which was fantastic, got rid of Paul George. It's it's very similar to when I was growing up and the 1980s, and Moses Malone came. And Moses Malone was the final piece to the puzzle that gave us size that allowed us to go win a championship, our last one that we won. Um, so I see it as a final piece. Um I see it as the best part of his game now is gonna be uh chucking the rock to to Maxi and Edgecomb and and assists. And I think that's what he's gonna really cement. And he's gonna make superstars out of Maxi and Edgecomb, hopefully, is the is the thing. But the amount of hate that I'm seeing on on social media and the bobblehead uh sports talk people, which I hope we are not. We're not bobbleheads, are we, Joe?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

No, we're just we're just calling the way it is to a bit of sports guys. So I agree with probably most of that. I he is chasing a ring because they're all chasing rings. What the hell are they supposed to do? It's your job. Yeah, it's your job to chase rings. So he should go where it gives him the best chance. Now, whether he's the final piece of the puzzle or not, I think they're more gonna I think they're gonna take it easy with him and try to get him to the playoffs healthy and then make a difference. I think the regular season is a farce in the NBA. I think whether they finish first or second or third is kind of irrelevant. I think home court has not showed much. Uh look at the Knicks went on that run and won like nine on the road in a row. Uh so I think that I I don't think he's the star of the team. He's a veteran brought in on a two-year, eight million dollar non-existent contract. Not that he needs the money. Um but I don't see him as the first option to score. Uh the second option to score. Right? So he's a great puzzle piece, to your point. He's a great puzzle piece. Um, why not if you could get a legend like in his last year or two for like basically no money to maybe again, final puzzle piece to win a championship. It's a no-brainer. And and and the talking heads, that's their job. Like they literally sit there in the green room ahead of time and go, they flip a coin and go, okay, you're gonna be for or against it today. Like, come up with your bullet agenda points, right? But like it's yeah, you know, we can't even agree that there is air we're breathing, no less which whether LeBron should be there or not.

SPEAKER_02 4:33

Yeah, no, exactly. Good point. And and he's not the first, second, third option. Again, I think he's in the cis guy, and I I I think you're correct in the um the regular season's a waste, you could say that about other sports too, but Embiid has no knees, so you gotta manage his playing time. You could legitimately make two different styles of basketball, one for the regular season and then one with all your cylinders firing. So when when you have to sit Embiid and you have to sit um LeBron, and last year when we had to sit Paul George, uh you could basically make it a perimeter shooting game and have a different style. So I'm I'm kind of excited to see from that standpoint uh what uh is done with the team in general and and you know what can what can you get done? But I went on and uh the merchandise that will be sold, you know, it's it's not too dissimilar from Otani signing with the Dodgers and the Dodgers making a mint off of ticket sales and and merchandise sales and viewership sales in Japan. So it's it's a marketing move that's designed to make money, which is what sports is about now. It's not about on the field or on the court, it's about on the TV and and and everything else going on with it. So listen, I bought tops now lebron card yesterday, bought five of them hoping for the golden ticket of of a one-on-one LeBron in his uh Sixers uniform. So everything from cards to jerseys to viewership will be will be done. But I it's a great signing.

SPEAKER_01 6:20

I don't know how people get negative about it, but it's yeah, I mean again, you know, championships aren't won in the offseason, right? Like it's a long season, you know, between Maxie, what's his name? Edgecombe, and I'll just say it right. Edgecombe, Brown, you know, Jalen Brown and LeBron and Bieb. Now, let's see who's healthy. Let's see what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Well, here's the thing, but the healthiness, and sorry to interrupt, but the healthiness is now not going to be a problem. I just saw this morning where uh KCP is buddy from the Grizzlies, is gonna come to Philly. Now the bench begins to fill out. So we drafted a young perimeter shooter. We're gonna sign a couple more bench players. They'll be crucified for coming to Philly, chasing a ring. They're all gonna sign low contracts and hang out. Well, I watched a great thing on uh Instagram the other day where, you know, one of the biggest reasons to sign with Philadelphia is we've got six of the best golf courses in the in the U.S. And LeBron can work on his golf game all year. Uh, we have arguably the best course in the country, and then a few more. So there's he's gonna hang out, play basketball with his buddies, not retire, keep his brand going. I mean, it's what everybody dreams of as a sports star. So it's it's it's great.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

I'm gonna take, sorry to cut you off now. I've got to take a little bit different approach here at the end. And I'm not even gonna give so much crap for it, but I I have to put it out there. The way, even though I hated the Dallas Cowboys, um, I have respect for Admitt for all those years until he finished up in an Arizona Cardinals um uniform because like he couldn't just let it go. He couldn't just spend his whole year, his his whole career and just retire as a cowboy like he should have, and he had to go blow it. I mean, even Babe Ruth like left.

SPEAKER_02 8:10

Montana, yeah, Montana, Namath, countless others, right? Barkley, Barkley came out against LeBron and he signed with the friggin' Phoenix Suns, for God's sake. So yeah, keep going. You're right. Keep going.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Well, well, but but to that, but to that point with Barkley and even Montana with the Chiefs, they did take them to the playoffs. They still did have gas in the tank, right? And I and I'm not saying LeBron didn't. And so will LeBron.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

I mean, I think he's a specimen of a human being.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

He and yes, and he should. Um, but I will say for his legacy, you kind of wonder why he didn't go back to Cleveland to finish this and then step into ownership. Like it's not like Cleveland is a last place team, right? He could be one of those pieces too to have you know get them over the top. They've been in the Eastern Finals, I think, the last two years. Like, so why not go back to Cleveland? That I could see him getting crap for. Not Miami. I mean, even when he went to Miami and now his name just dropped out of my head. Who was this discipline? Had already run a championship there with with Shaq, right? Back in the day. Pat Riley and all that. Yeah, yeah. Pat Riley. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, not Shaq. And so I will say I was surprised he didn't go back to Cleveland and he picked just a different city. Like if he would have gone back to Miami, I kind of would have understood. If he would have gone to Cleveland, I definitely would have understood. Even if he would have gone to Golden State, Golden State is the mystery.

SPEAKER_02 9:43

Yeah, right. Golden State.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Curry tried to advocate Big to get him there.

SPEAKER_02 9:47

Um I think there's really yeah, but and and and you you made a great point. Golden St. I've been, I guess, hoping for this for a while, but I thought he would pick Philly. I'm obviously a little bit biased, but Golden State's the mystery uh to go get them, stay on California. But that's where other things in life start to matter at an at a certain age, and he's in his 40s now. So again, you may say it may sound silly, but golf, hanging out with Kevin Hart, hanging out with his buddies, collecting, you know, not far from New York. I read something where he may even live in New York and commute. I I think there's other factors there that legacy is a word I hate to hear, but it's it's it's important, right? That's what everybody talks about from building wealth for their family to sports stars leaving their mark. So yeah, the legacy part is now happening, and he's building, he's got a long-term view. And the last thing I would say is please never say the words Cleveland and Philadelphia in the in the same sentence.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

The choice between Cleveland, Philly, Philly, Cleveland, Cleveland. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

Well, come on. But the choice between deciding to go to Cleveland or the city of brotherly love is not really a choice.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

But he came from Cleveland, but he came from Cleveland.

SPEAKER_02 11:14

I get it. I get the Cleveland thing.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Yeah, yeah, I get it. He is Cleveland, so but but to your point about where I if he lived in New York just to play the cosmopolitan and helicopter to each game, I kind of would understand then why he wanted to go from coast to coast, but his kid is still playing in for the Lakers. His wife and and the other kids are are out on the west coast. I mean, you went from coast to coast, like it's not you could have just stayed at Golden State and it'd have been easy, like you know.

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Well, I I I think though it's it's a decision that people have to make whether they're in their 40s or their 50s. What is my next 10 to 20 years going to look like? You when we talk about this, not always about sports, but that becomes the question. At a certain age, you have to look forward and say, What is the next chapter? What is the final chapter to a sports career that catapults him into the next chapter of life and a brand and what else he wants to do? And you know, he's still gonna be young at 43 or 44 when he does retire. I think there's a two-year deal, and he's 41 now. Um, maybe a player option for a third, I'm not sure. But is he gonna be an owner?

SPEAKER_01 12:32

He's gonna be an ownership two years from now. I just don't, you know, I don't know where that is. I mean, maybe he's trying to just sprinkle his seed in as many cities as he can. So by the time he's done, there are LeBron jerseys on, you know, fourth.

SPEAKER_02 12:45

Maybe, but make no, but maybe, but make no mistake about it. This is the one of the best teams in the NBA. He is a final piece to a puzzle that really can catapult them to the next level. It is an it is a legitimate championship team. So that above everything else. No, no, I think your lack of all call.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

No, no, no. No, no, no, don't get don't get meldy. I think your bias kick is getting is kicking in way too much. I think on paper you got you got a good team there, but these people have to play together, they got to stay healthy together. You gotta see if they got if they got it. I mean, I think hang on, still talking. I still can't believe the Knicks beat San Antonio because San Antonio on paper would should sweep them nine out of ten times, and they just San Antonio just was not ready to play that Nick team. And I don't think that Nick team is that great.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

They just Nick team swept the Sixers, swept three other stages of playoff. I we we all saw that Nick team winning the champ. I saw the Nick team win the championship. Yeah, I mean they were blowing through people. They swept Cleveland, they swept Philly, they um they they they won that in six against the Spurs. Like they had a com they have a complete team, thanks to Villanova University. They have a complete team that was able to do everything.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

No Nova Knicks.

SPEAKER_02 14:24

Nova next, right? So um, so yeah, you're being silly. Um, you know, to say that silly.

SPEAKER_01 14:30

If no balance against your 76ers, I don't care if they win or not. I just think let's not get the joke. You're a topic. I haven't given the trophy yet.

SPEAKER_02 14:41

I haven't given the trophy, but to say they're the top three team in the East is not a stretch at all.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

I don't think I don't think it's a stretch. I don't think the East is that so who's the other two teams? Knicks and who I mean Cleveland's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 14:54

Um right? So they they did well. Boston and the Knicks are still great. Boston just folded, though. We just gave them Paul George, and they just lost Brown. So they're they're they're done. Um so I don't know what everybody else got. Again, it's my fourth sport on the spectrum of sports. It's it's hockey, football, baseball, basketball. And and if you put a good soccer game on, I'll watch that instead of a basketball game. But now I'll watch all the Sixer games.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

You have an MLS soccer team?

SPEAKER_02 15:25

I I I don't. No, no, no. I I'm not that agree.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

There's no Philly MLS soccer team.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

No, there's an Atlanta team that's really popular here that uh that I should follow. But yeah, I know the Atlanta span are are big there in Atlanta. But Philly doesn't have one. Wow. I'm sure they do. I'm sure it's somebody. It's not the Liberty, but I'm sure it's it's something to do with freedom. I'm sure, Joe.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

Did your magic brownie high end after the World Cup already, like mine did?

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah, I mean, uh I probably won't watch the soccer game, but I enjoyed that that that last game was incredible. I I enjoyed it all. I don't know what happened to Argentina, I really don't. And I that's where the social media starts going. They come out of the tunnel to get ready for the game. And I don't know whether you saw this, but a lot of them were crying. A lot of them were just either wound too tight or something was going on or they were threatened by somebody. I don't know what happened, but to not have a shot on gold in regulation in the championship game. Kind of weird.

SPEAKER_01 16:29

Yeah, if you watched all of Argentina's games, which I kind of somehow did, they scored just about 80% of their goals after the 75th minute. They like made comeback after comeback, yeah, and like they were on their last gasp as reigning champions, and you know, in hindsight, it's not surprising they lost.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

They would just try to get to the penalty shots because Spain had was like one in five in spend in their last six games with penalty shots, so it they're why England lost, it's why football teams lose. You can't go into the pre-vent too early, and and you know, and so I must admit, maybe there's a recording of me saying Spain would win the whole thing back in the first round, but I did call Spain, so I mean I should start gambling again.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

I I picked Argentina at the end, didn't happen, but I I will say this by and I did uh I did a short form um vintage five on on what's wrong with soccer last week, and I go into the scoring stuff, I go into take one guy off the field stuff and all that stuff. But if you watch the third place finisher game, which nobody cares about between France and England, the final was 6'4.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

It was beautiful, yeah, because they didn't give a shit, right? So exactly, yeah, right. And that and that's the problem with soccer, is a lot of the big teams, and it's why it's why the little guys did well. Uh, Cape Verde and Congo and others, they just played because they knew this was their shot. The big teams, France, to your point, Argentina, they play conservatively for the first 30 minutes and don't score. And that goes against, I will say this, the American way of watching. We don't want to watch teams half-ass it. It's just not the way we're wired. And so that's why between that and flopping, and that's the only thing that LeBron, you know, if we can correlate soccer and and LeBron conversations, there's no more, there's nobody who flops more than uh than a soccer player from France or LeBron. And LeBron, but you should see the highlight reel for LeBron flopping. It's it's it's at an all-time high. So there's a there's how we bridge the gap of what we talked about today.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

Um with everybody else that doesn't want to give him that credit he deserves. Maybe it's because he's still playing in five years from now, he'll get it. He's absolutely a legendary top 10 player. But like, I guess if you're our age, Michael Jordan's the greatest basketball player ever.

unknown 19:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Yeah, and I just I just went to my friend Claude and had him line up the stats year by year to MJ. And they're pretty damn similar. Um, and then it and then and then the whole conversation goes out the window because it's 15 seasons versus 23. I just don't think you can compare the two. But what you can say is for the first 15 seasons of both careers, MJ is by far and away the greatest player of all time.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

And I mean at the end of the day, it's you you take I look at it as six straight championships. I know he had his year and a half off from his gambling problem, but he still won the three. They try to hit a curveball for the White Sox and then the three more in a row, right? Yeah, and he probably could have stayed and maybe won another one. So, you know, six championships.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Yeah, it is, but that that also touches on something. And again, going back to the beginning of chasing rings, unfortunately, players are judged by the amount of championships they get, and that's another talking head, bobblehead um walk down the wrong road. I I think that championships are a team goal, and to judge an individual by how many rings he has and and applaud them for having five rings or four rings or six rings, I think is is ludicrous. Dan Marino, one of the best quarterbacks of all time, right? And I and I know that's that's an old hat, but you know, that's where I just think that we've we've gotten off course when all we talk about is championship rings, because analyze the sport by sport, you know, football needs a running game, basketball needs a bench, injuries happen everywhere, baseball, you know, needs needs needs to not the bats to go cold. So there's a whole thing of Barce every sport on championships, and everybody who says that a player is great or not great just by the championships, they well, well, you know, that's babies or let me leave you with this question because it's been a constant one lately.

SPEAKER_01 21:38

Is Eli Manning a Hall of Famer?

SPEAKER_02 21:41

Ooh. I I hate to pop out, but I don't know, I don't know the stats of Eli Manning. Yes, two Super Bowl rings helped vault him to the conversation, but I think we it it deserves a whole nother show. Is the Hall of Fame For the five to 10 year period in which you played compared to the other players in that decade or in that 10-year period. So if Eli had a 10-year career, and I don't even know offhand because he's a giant how how many years he played, let's just say he played 10. I'd have to compare the stats against the other quarterbacks in that 10-year. And that's going to tell me if he's in the Hall of Fame or not. And the Hall of Fame then gets jacked when you start looking at decades versus decades now versus then, all that kind of stuff. Joe Montana, I can't, Joe Montana was in a heavy quarterback time frame, um, Dan Marino and others, but he was clearly better than anybody in that time frame. Um Marino or Montana? Well, Montana was, and then I thought, well, other players too. So I stopped myself and said, well, Marino played with same time. So they're that's what makes a Hall of Famer. So I'd have to look at Eli Manning versus the other other guys of that period.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Well, here's what I'll say, and let's try to leave it at that. Otherwise, we'll keep talking here. Manning, if you looked at his stats over his career, to your point, he's not going to be the leader uh most of those years. He's right in there in the top five, right? Nothing spectacular like Peyton compared to Eli. But you can't take away the two Super Bowls that they stopped, the unstoppable Patriots, especially the 16-0 Patriots. Yeah, right? God bless. Um he won the Super Bowl MVP for both of those Super Bowls. Otherwise, the Patriots, looking back, would be 8-0 in Super Bowls during that run.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, I think, and that even goes back to what you said earlier, and we can do another show on it. Why are players disliked? Why do we not why do so many players dislike LeBron or Tom Brady or whoever it is? It's because they win. And there's a jealousy factor there, there's a human factor there. Um, great players are also probably the most disliked players in certain camps because they're great. I don't like Tom Brady, but I don't like him either, but I respect him. But that's probably because he won too many times.

SPEAKER_01 24:21

I think LeBron's problem was maybe for people like us, was that I believe in you create, you make the team, you create the team, you stick with the team. Now, obviously, we are where we are in sports, but when he went to Miami and put uh Dwayne Wade and I forget the tall center from uh I know what you mean from Toronto. I didn't like building that thing. Um like they polluted. Yeah, because you're a vintage guy.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

You're a vintage guy who wants Mickey Mann to play for the Yankees his entire career, who wants you know, Mike Schmidt to play for the Phillies his entire career. You're a vintage guy, and I I respect that. Like, you know, and that's the thing we started the show about chasing rings and chasing this. It is a different time. Free agency and money, but now sports is all about TV contracts and the off the court, off the field, off the ice um legacy that you put in. So now players aren't as concerned with their on-the-court performance. They have to be concerned with what they're gonna do off the court because it's all about building a brand and it's all about TV contract revenue. So those two things are are really changing the the course of sports. And so LeBron goes to Philly for the long game, and the long game is his brand after he's done, his to your point, legacy from the game and his balance of life of playing golf and hanging out with Kevin Hart and making a new career.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

Yeah, but the problem with LeBron is like when he went to the Lakers, that was Kobe's town, even though he wasn't playing. Like, don't go to the Lakers. There's too many. If you want to be the legendary player you are, go, I don't know, go find it. Go to Cleveland. You're right. It's just go to Cleveland. Go find a team and make it and you take them from the dregs and make it. Don't go to these places. It's like if I told Kevin Garnett's gonna be a top 10 all-time player, when he goes to the Hall of Fame, whose jersey is he wearing? He's had a suitcase packed at the door his whole career. He has no roots, he has no, I mean, probably Minnesota. I don't even know.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I gotcha. No, and that's again, that's a that's a great classic vintage opinion. And and I think you're not wrong at all. Um, I I would I would challenge it just a little bit to say you don't have to go to Cleveland and win or the dregs of society and win. You could be the final piece to the puzzle and bring a team from the first or second round playoff loss to the championship. And that difference might not be MVP level, but I I think that's what we have with the Sixers now. Is again, I said it about Moses Malone. He he allowed us and he came to the team and we won a championship, not just like this. So this is our best chance. We have injuries can happen, old age can happen, anything can happen. You could tear your Achilles, you know. But I I I I think it's okay to look forward, build your legacy, cement who you are, make a city happy. I mean, if if they do win for the first time since 1983, he'll be adored. He will have changed, he will have won, I know, I don't know what Philly is, top six, top seven population uh in all of you know it's LA, New York, Philly, Miami, right? So he will have have a new camp of adoring fans. And that's pretty big too.

SPEAKER_01 28:17

Yeah, what'll be interesting, and I don't know if you would remember this or not, being a vintage baseball guy. When the Mets went back to the they won in 69 and they went back in 73 to the World Series, do you know who joined their team for that 73 season? Willie Mays. But he was not he was not Willie Mays from the 50s. No, from the Chinese in the 60s, right? And he still had a little left, but he was pretty much exactly I would say LeBron is a little more at the top of his game just because of the conditioning of nowadays, but he's pretty much Willie Mays of 73, 20 years later, showing up to try to help the Met team, yeah, with that final piece. And they didn't win the Mets, they lost it.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

But still, you're you're yeah, you're proving the point, which is this has always been done. There's nothing wrong with it, there's no reason to hate. I think you applaud the guy for having a 23-year career, and and that is unheard of.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

And I also didn't go to college, started at 18 and didn't wear his body down for three years in college. He's one of the few, like Kobe. That's a big difference. You could knock three years off of wear and tear, and yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:36

But but but I I would say it's not a huge difference between 20 and 23, then, right? So even if we were to talk about 20, it's it's impressive nonetheless. And the other thing is his assist, and I a buddy of mine texted me, going, his assists and his basketball IQ is off the charts. That's the part I'm excited about. I'm excited to pass the ball to Maxie and make Maxi an elite player. Not only because I just got in the mail from Topps, my Topps now Tyrese Maxie auto, uh, one of 10, you know, that's probably going to be a hit in a couple more years, and I'll keep that one for the collection. But as a Philly fan, let's make Edge Comb and Maxie, and let's get it for Embiid, too. And, you know, we'll close on Trust the Process. That's what we got in Philly. Trust the process, man.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

I I will be interested to see, because this is the first time he's not showing up somewhere as the man, right? He's he's gotta pass the ball to the man or the men, right? Right, yeah, can he adjust? Can he use that IQ for basketball that you say and make everybody better on that court? If he can, if he can adapt to that role to get that ring, God bless him. We'll see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 30:57

It'll be a good and and you're exactly right. That's where he rounds out everything, he picks up more fans, he he converts the haters to lukewarm and the lukewarm the fans. And I'm a lukewarm guy on him. Now I'll be a fan. So all right.

SPEAKER_01 31:16

Well, stay tuned. Good conversation. We will call it there. Uh, thanks for following us and uh say goodbye, Paul. Goodbye, Paul.