Remembering Kobe, plus George Kittle Live From Miami

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On today's Pardon My Take, we're going to do things a little differently. Weird, tough day, crazy day in sports with the passing of Kobe Bryant.
We're going to remember Kobe. We have some clips from my interview on the corp with kobe we also have our good friend george kittle live in person from miami great before the super bowl uh talk to him get him prepped for media day night ever had one of those days when it's just too cold to keep working nah neither has a Ariat.
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And they will hook up some AWLs who had bad beats. Today is Monday, January 27th.
And it's some horrific, tragic news. And a little bit of a different show.
Because I think I speak for all of us. The sports world was stunned with the passing of Kobe Bryant and his daughter.
And I think, how many other people were in the... There were three other people on the helicopter.
I think there was a... Nine total.
There's another basketball coach and his daughter, and I think how many other people were in the – There were three other people on the helicopter. I think there was a – Nine total.
There was another basketball coach and his daughter was on there as well. It was a tragic, tragic day, and it was one of those news stories that had broken.
Everyone's reaction was pretty much identical. When we saw it coming across Twitter, everyone was just saying, like, this has got to be a fake report.
There's no way that this is true. Yeah.
Because Kobe seemed like one of those guys that, you know, because of how big his personality was, because of how relevant he'd been in sports over the last 25 years, really. Like, he's always been around.
He's always been the toughest guy in every single room, the most, you know, mentally tough person. The just really a legend in every sense of the word.
And like thinking that he just all of a sudden is no longer with us was very, very tough to even believe. Yeah, it was it was truly shocking.
And it's it's it's hard with like how weird the world's gotten, how weird the Internet's gotten. And and the news that you get every day.
It's hard to be shocked. And this one jolted everyone.
And I tweeted right away. Kobe Bryant was the type of guy who you just expected in 50 years you'd see him sitting courtside trash-talking like a 21-year- being able to beat him in horse yeah and still being that guy that presence that like that guy who was so bigger than life bigger than his sport who was the you know guy who took the baton from Michael Jordan and passed it to LeBron James who was basically the guy in the NBA for a decade plus and 41 years old.
And the fact that it's, you know, he's with his daughter who, you know, like if you ever saw clips of them together and he had four daughters and, and, and like how much he enjoyed coaching them. And it, the whole thing is just so horribly, horribly tragic.
And it like took the wind out of you. It was one of those rare moments that really took the wind out of you.
And, yeah, it's hard to make jokes and do our regular show after news like that. Right.
There's not anything funny to talk about with it. It's just horrific regardless.
And Kobe had his detractors out there. But I think even people that didn't like Kobe Bryant, the gravity of the situation, he's with his daughter, you have to, like nobody can think about this news and feel anything but just like, you know, feel grief and feel like, you know, utter pain for his wife and his remaining daughters.
It's just, it's an awful story. I can't think of another case where an athlete of like this stature has passed away suddenly like maybe the closest thing i can even think of is dale earnhardt well yeah people are saying thurman munson the crazy thing about kobe is more than any other athlete kobe made people like feel and that's people who hated him, people who loved him.

He was a lightning rod, and he loved – what I loved about Kobe is he loved being that guy.

He loved being that guy who would go and rip some team's heart out on the road.

He loved being the guy who you might not like him, you might not root for him,

but you respect his determination, his will to win that like ultra competitive streak that you don't see in in every athlete you see it in very rare cases and there's only a handful of guys who have that like win at all costs kind of mentality and kobe had it and if even if you weren're like, Hey, I don't, I'm not going to root for him. But at the end of the day, you respected what he did.
And, you know, Coley, who's one of our colleagues, who's, uh, who has a great podcast, basketball podcast with, with Tyler, uh, mixtape wrote it perfectly when he was like, when he said he wasn't Michael Jordan Jordan but he was Michael Jordan to a generation of fans because he was that guy after MJ I think you can also see the way that Michael Jordan reacted to it Kobe was the guy that reminded Michael Jordan the most of himself he was like those highlight tapes where they would show basically it was like a mirror image of the two of them Michael Jordan doesn't respect anyone that he competes against while he's competing against them. But he respected Kobe because he was like, I get the sense that this kid also doesn't like me when he's competing against me.
And whenever people, even Charles Barkley said, I think it was like three days ago, said that this NBA is too soft and guys are too friendly with each other. Kobe was the exact opposite.
Kobe was not friends with anyone because he if you if you're friends with someone you're not getting better and you're not mentally getting something over someone when you're in the biggest moments and you're fighting for a championship right it's like us with rusilla when he comes on the show we pretend to be friends with him in reality we're just negging the whole time so we get a mental advantage okay so real quick i want to, I want to touch on something because there are people that are experiencing, obviously, like emotional reactions to Kobe's death and they've – a lot of people haven't met Kobe. They don't have a personal story with him, but they're still experiencing like a very real sense of loss.
And that's – it's such an unusual phenomenon to explain, but we all go through it. Like I remember when Sean Taylor passed away.
I had never met I just seen him play football and there was something about you know watching him on the court the way that or on the field the way they played that like seriously affected me because I admired somebody's ability to be that like a hundred percent passionate about something and it made me feel different about myself when I was watching him I gotta imagine that's like's like how people feel about Kobe. It's like, you watch a

guy like that who has

the singular determination

and you respect his ability

to focus so completely

on one thing and excel at one thing

that he actually made

his fans feel better

about themselves and probably

gave more drive and

willpower to people that were just

obsessed with watching him on TV,

watching him play basketball. He probably, he improved

Thank you. So I did meet kobe i was lucky enough to meet kobe hank was with me and so we interviewed him with uh alex rodriguez for the corp we'll put some of the highlights of that at the end of this episode because it was a great interview but hank you can back me up i've never been never been more nervous for an interview.
And being in the presence of Kobe Bryant was being in the presence of greatness. You could feel it.
Like we walked into his office. First of all, he was getting a haircut in his office, which was the ultimate power move.
Well, so you weren't even... I showed up like three hours early because the interview was at like 10 a.m.
and I showed up with the camera crew at like 7 a.m. They're like, we'll open the office for you guys.
You guys can get in. And so we're setting up the office.
I thought no one else was in there. I asked like the assistant or whatever.
I was like, where's the bathroom? And she pointed me to the bathroom. And I'm like walking.
I looked to my right and Kobe was just in his office at like 7.15. Yeah.
There. This guy's retired, has more money than you could ever spend.
Holy shit. And he's in his office at 7.
And there was no one else in the entire office. It was just like a studio.
That's pretty early for you, Hank. Did you hear you, John? It was extremely early.
And this was West Coast time, so it wasn't as bad. But it was, so he was, we showed up to his office.
You could feel it. Like, when you're around someone like that who just commands respect and, like, kind of this whole little orbit goes around him, it something to behold and we get there and we do the interview and the interview like kobe was nice but he had that kobe intensity that never lets you get comfortable and it's like this is the guy this is why he is who he is he he will be nice to you but like you you got to remember you're on Kobe's turf, and you're on Kobe's time.
And the thing that struck me most about the interview, and again, we'll put some at the end, this is a guy who won five championships, is one of the best NBA players of all time, accomplished everything he wanted to accomplish, made millions upon millions of dollars, and like Hank said, he's at his office at 7 a.m. And he's somehow, somehow, some way even more excited for the next chapter of his life and winning at whatever project he's about to do than he was for the two decades plus that he played in the NBA.
And you're like, how is this possible? How can a guy who, like, for anyone who had what Kobe had, that's the peak of their existence. He's, every single day is the next, like, challenge and the next thing he's about to tackle.
And it was incredible to watch because you're like, if I, I mean, if you or I were, if we were sitting here and we're like, hey, we won five championships, we have $500 million, I wouldn't be waking up at seven in the morning. I wouldn't be tacking the day.
I wouldn't be like, I'm hungry for more. I'd be like, I'm going to sit in the jacuzzi and chill out for the rest of my life.
Yeah, some people some people don't have the off switch because to them hitting that off switch is like losing. Right.
It's like giving up. And that's not what somebody who's wired like that ever wants to go through.
If Kobe Bryant were to have just sat down in bed and just stayed in bed all day and relaxed, he would have probably felt more unrelaxed because he would be anxious, that sort of thing. He was one of the most driven people, obviously, in the history of sports.
When the news broke, it's always weird reading serious breaking news stories like this on TMZ. Like you go to their website.
And it's in the same font where it's like China Black has major shade to throw at Kris Jenner. Watch the video for more.
That's what I associate that font with. Or what is it, Black China? I screwed that one up.
Sorry, Hank. But you read the font and you just assume it's some trashy, inconsequential headline, right? And then when it says something of the magnitude of Prince died or Kobe Bryant just passed away in a helicopter accident, it's like there's no way that this organization got this right.
So you spend the next five minutes hoping that they screwed it all up. And then there are a couple...
Hoping they got hacked. You're like, hey, maybe TMZ got hacked and this is the story they wanted to run.
The Bears' Twitter account got hacked and pretended they were good for a second. You're like, hey, maybe there's hacking going around.
Very clearly not the Bears. And then you had the second wave of news coming out, which was just bad reporting about whether or not his kids were on board, just like contradictory reports.

Although it was like a roller coaster of emotions trying to figure out what the hell was going

on.

And after you're done going through that as someone who's reading the news, then you get

the third wave, which is news reporters telling professional athletes live on the air what

happened and seeing their reaction.

It's like, I can deal without all that stuff. I don't need to see – this wasn't intentional, but Cassius Winston at Michigan State, Tom Izzo told him about Kobe's crash live on TV, and you saw his reaction.
And watching other people go through it, it's just as bad as when you just went through like it brings up

so many emotions like i don't want to see any of that but that's you know like those clips i actually i don't enjoy seeing them because it's a tragedy but it makes you realize how important he was to so many people and the fact that he is a guy who's been retired for however many years three or four four years, and he still means something to college players,

and you see even the rivals of his, rival teams, rival franchises,

all being affected by it.

That's what Kobe Bryant was.

The point that I made earlier, that even if you were his rival,

you respected him.

And to see all these people be affected by it, you realize shit this guy means so much to so many people and it was just a crazy I mean it's just crazy crazy sad and it's really like there's nothing really you can say other than it's tragic and it's sad and uh I yeah I mean it's a gut punch the NBA I think should have canceled the game today because of what he meant to everybody in the league. It seemed like Kobe had some sort of influence on every single team.
Like all these kids obviously growing up who are in the NBA now, watched him growing up. But beyond that, I'm not talking about just like them watching him play throughout the years.
I'm saying like he had so many friends and so many people that he was actively engaged in the day-to-day life on every single team in this league that it seemed like it was – I don't know if they panicked and didn't know how it would be possible to call everything off logistically. But it felt like one of those things where the whole league was like sleepwalking, just trying to get through the end of the day because they were rightfully, you know, like you said, hitting the gut by this.
Yeah. So I don't know.
I mean, it's a very weird way to start Super Bowl week. We're here in Miami.
We like the news broke while we were in the on the plane in the middle of the air. And it was like, what the fuck? So, yeah, I mean, it's going to be weird for a couple days, I'd say.
I don't really know.

All the fans out there that are tweeting, like, as a Celtics fan, let me say,

are like, as a Sixers, even though I'm a Sixers fan, I still feel bad for his family.

You can just sit this one out.

You can sit that one out.

I mean, I had some pretty bad timing.

I debuted a new character that's not going to ever come back, Laker Dan,

on Saturday night when LeBron, which is crazy that LeBron passed Kobe all-time points last night. And I was having fun with Kobe fans, and now everyone's like, oh, that aged poorly.
I knew that this was going to happen. What the fuck? This is a tragedy that's so incredibly sad, and then you're upset about a joke I made on Saturday night.
Well, you have to find somebody in a senseless tragedy. You have to find somebody to be mad at.
And Laker Dan is the guy. I'm glad that you were able to provide that outlet for so many people.
Laker Dan's gone forever. He was going to come back every now and then.
He's gone forever. So rest assured, that is officially retired.
I'll say this about it. It was one and done.
The one thing that you can definitely say about Kobe Bryant is he was so, so polarized.

He made people feel so strongly one way or the other about him that he inspired total strangers to try to drive an hour each to fight each other on Christmas Day just based off one person saying that he wasn't good.

Dude, I jokingly, again, this was.

Name another athlete that could inspire that sort of man-to-man-man combat again it was saturday night so this was well before and i jokingly said lebron james was the number one laker of all time which if you can't tell that's a fucking joke whatever i had multiple people threaten my life and i was like you know what respect yeah because you're just standing up for your man i love that like that's what you do you stand up for your man um all right let's uh let's try to move on we have we are in miami we are in miami dale let me do uh a quick ad read and then we'll we'll try to move on again we're gonna put in some of the kobe interview clips from the corp interview which was fantastic you should go listen to it it's the most intense person I've ever interviewed. And it was so intimidating, but so awesome at the same time, because he is one of those, you know, he was one of those like larger than life people.
Um, all right. So we're here in Miami.
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Yeah. We're back.
We're in the ghost hotel right now. We're in the ghost hotel, the famouse buck ghost hotel uh i'm assuming we're gonna see marlin's man at some point this week right

i'm sure we will and it wasn't just the joe buck ghost hotel it was also the carl ravage

hotel yes when we had vases falling over we had magically got hair yeah he grew hair

carl ravage aka uh what's jeremy fowler aka's Jeremy Fowler, a.k.a. Chris Fowler, a.k.a.
Jeremy Schapp. He's the brown-haired guy on ESPN.
He grew hair. There were ghosts in the machines.
You know what I've noticed about Miami is there's the Miami beat everywhere you go. If you eat outside, if you're at a restaurant, the soundtrack that's playing always has the exact same beat no matter what song it is.
And it's only in Miami. It's a doonch, doonch, doonch, doonch.
That one, it'll be everywhere. It's going to drive you crazy by the end of the week.
You're also, when you're in Miami, you're never more than like 25 feet away from a turquoise, well, cocaine turquoise or pink t-shirt. That's true.
You can buy one at any point.. If you just stumble out of bed and walk 25 feet in any direction, you will be able to buy a pink electric Miami shirt.
Or white pants. I'm going to get some white pants this week.
It's going to be the best city for the Super Bowl, though. Oh, I would say so.
This or New Orleans. Or Las Vegas.
When Las Vegas happens. We were talking shit about the NFL logo redesigns for the Super Bowls last week because they lost all creativity about, what, 10 years ago, 12 years ago? There has been some fire NFL League Super Bowl merchandise that I've seen already.
With the Miami colors and stuff on it, I'm going to probably purchase like six different Super Bowl shirts. You're going to come back looking like the ultimate tourist.

Hey, ask me if I went to the Super Bowl in Miami.

Yeah, I'm going to wear the shirts and I'm going to continue to wear them for years and

years and years.

That's the saddest thing is seeing somebody wearing just like a standard Super Bowl 44

t-shirt just out in the wild somewhere.

It's like it's laundry day.

I get it.

Yeah, it's like, did you go to that game?

Oh, yeah.

Okay, cool. And it's not even the teams.
No, it's just the league. Yeah, it's just the league.
It's like, hey, we printed this shirt well before we knew that there were two teams playing in this game. Yeah.
We just knew the Super Bowl was going to be here and it's bigger than the sport. All right.
Let's do who's back. We're just going to brush past the big news of the day, the Pro Bowl.
Oh, yeah. Yeah.
The Pro Bowl happened. Yes.
AFC won. Wow, I didn't know that.
Over? Overhit? 38-33. I knew the overhead.
And I had the AFC. And that was talking Pro Bowl.
And no one got hurt. And Kirk Cousins threw an interception on the very first onsides, 4th and 15.
Oh, nice. So they tried out the Mike Florio rule, too? It is a Mike Florio rule.
They tried out the Mike Florio rule. Perfect.
You get one passing down where it's 4th and 15, and you try to make a first down instead of an onside kick, and Kirk Cousins threw that interception. It's a great rule, by the way.
They should absolutely implement that rule. And they should have Kirk Cousins play quarterback for whatever team changes to it.
Fly him everywhere. Actually, just have him in New York and just run it against a scout team

that's still throwing in or something.

Yeah, run it against the tackling dummies from Princeton

that just glide around the field.

Go to Kirk Cousins.

All right, let's do Who's Back.

Then we're going to get – we have George Kittle, Greg Kittle on the show,

and then we'll finish with some highlights of Kobe Bryant.

Hank, Who's Back?

My Who's Back of the Week is just unverified bad boy Twitter accounts uh you mentioned earlier right at me when you say that bears no i mean you are verified i mean the unverified bad boys but you mentioned that the bears twitter account got hacked which and it reminded me because we got an email last week being like oh you know if you want to be verified like let us know and i was like absolutely not but if you're gonna get hacked and you're gonna be verified like there's no point and. It just feels good to be unverified.
When that email comes around, I sometimes want to email and be like, hey, can you unverify me? Because I feel slightly like less of a man when I'm around you two unverified badasses. But I gave my check away.
I told Twitter to shove it up your ass. You'll never get a check.
Jack? Will you ever get a check? I had a check. No, I know.
And I got rid of it. We never actually get a check, though, like willingly.
Maybe. You want one.
Maybe. What? We'll see.
Unverified badass PFT? Now that I'm a professional athlete, I feel like you have to have that check. No, if you do that, that will be your sellout moment.
No, no, because if you become like a minor league pitcher drafted in the 70th round, for some reason they still give you a blue checkmark on Twitter. Then you're part of the brigade.
You're part of the cat brigade. I have to have a checkmark to help people with airlines.
PFT, if you get a blue checkmark, that will be your official sellout moment. Listen, if they give it to me, that's on them.
I already gave it back. Give it back, yeah.
All right, so if they give it to you, you're going to give it back again? I might not. I don't know.
I'm going to try this one on and see how it fits for a while. What do you mean? Are you

getting one? No, I'm saying if I get one. You sound like

you asked for one. No, I'm saying if I get

one, I'm going to try it on. Do they

just randomly give them out anymore? I have

no idea. I think everyone gets a blue checkmark now.

At one point they emailed me and were like,

all you have to do is reply to this email, yes.

Right. And we'll give you a blue checkmark.
And I was like,

fuck no. Yes.
And then

they saw that as a reply because they actually was just saying, if you reply to this email, we'll give you one. All right.
Well, I'm just saying the day that you get a blue checkmark will be the saddest. I am not going to let you bully me preemptively into giving away my blue checkmark because I know that's what's going on right now.
I hope that if you get a blue checkmark, it was given to you randomly, not that you asked. The XFL probably went through it.
If you asked for one, that will be the saddest thing. Yeah, if the XFL reached out and said, hey, we're giving them to all our players, and I got one, then far be it for me to say no.
Okay, all right. Well, then that's fair.
If you randomly get one, that's different. But if you ask for one, I'm going to be very sad.
You're who's back. Also, jumping off that XFL thing, I don't think we discussed this on Thursday.
You can watch the video of my tryout and everything. It's online right now.
I did not make that team, obviously, but the practice squad offer is apparently legit. Like, I'm going to get a contract if I want to go down that road.
Fuck them. In which case, I'm only going down that road if they give me an opportunity to work my way onto a team I'm not just gonna be on a practice squad all year but that the dreams not done there's what I'm saying you the dream see what you're doing Vince McMahon I don't like no the dreams not done my boy in limbo I'm not gonna stand worst case scenario your boy just gets in really good shape because he's training no worst case scenarios they hold my boy in limbo and then we are silenced by the XFL because you're technically on a practice squad.
Fast forward eight weeks from now, I'm in the best shape of my life. I've got a six-pack and a blue checkmark.
This is going to be a mighty different show. Yeah, that's true.
It's going to be the saddest thing ever. The biggest sellout.
That sucks. My real who's back of the week is Bryson DeCham slow.
Bryson DeCham, DeCham, Blow, Bryson got in trouble. He got put on the clock this weekend by the PGA Tour.
They actually had to warn him. They said, Bryson, you're playing too slow.
This is golf. And I think it was just last week that Blacham Blow said that he welcomes rules of fast play.
Well, good thing you welcome it because they had a guy stand behind you with a stopwatch in his hand your entire round of golf this weekend. He got super upset that everyone made fun of him after Brooks dunked on him.
Sorry. Don't get dunked on.
Yeah, don't get dunked on. Hey, how about don't go at Brooks? Because Brooks will dunk on your ass.
Right, go pick the ball up out of the ocean. Yeah.
In the words of the U.S. women's team.
He does like the compass and he does like all the math behind his shots. Just go out and shoot the ball, dude.
Maybe if you stop thinking about it, you'd be like Brooks and win shit. He's the mad scientist, right? Yeah.
You worry too much about angles, buddy. That's why he's mad at Brooks because Brooks turns his brain off.
He literally blacks out when he wins championships. And you do all your math and your algebra and your...
What's the other thing besides algebra? Sabermetrics. Calculus.
Calculus is what I was looking for. We're math guys.
Yeah. Listen, there's a reason Einstein never won a green jacket, right? What's that class that none of us took? Calculus.
A lot of them. Trigonometry.
I think I did trigonometry. I think trigonometry was...
You had to do trigon think trigonometry was you had to do trigonometry right uh i definitely did not do trigonometry one day of calculus in college and i literally walked out i was like never go i will never i will never go in that classroom again because i don't know what psych on psych 101 they they were like we're grading this on occur on a steep curve where only like 10 of you get an a and i was like peace not gonna not gonna be me yeah I'm out did I ever tell you about the only math class I ever took in college no so I'm so bad at math I took a class called environmental mathematics the class was it was one problem it was it was like if you have 200 penguins uh on this one iceberg and every year five% of them die due to old age.

The doctor was the mothering.

But they reproduce at a rate of 7% per year.

How many penguins will you have in four years?

So there was that question.

Oh, shit.

Then once we'd solve it,

next week's lesson would be the exact same question,

except it would be like,

there are 1,700 caribou in British Columbia,

and they die at a percent.

They just kept changing the species that we had to solve. That solve.
It was honestly the easiest math class I've ever taken. I can't figure out that first question.
14. Yeah, actually, that's correct.
14 the first year. It's a trick question because global warming, they're all dead.
They're all just drinking out of their Coke cans and sitting on their lonely icebergs floating in the middle of the ocean ocean. Other pole.
Polar bears are up north. It's pretty – it's shockingly – We never talked about that in this show.
You want to talk about it real quick? Yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk about it.
All right, let me set the scene because we're in New Orleans. Actually, it's perfect because my who's back is Coach O.
He got his big contract, so he's going to be at LSU for a very long time. Well done, Coach O.
You deserve it. But speaking of LSU, before the national championship, there was a tweet that said, rooting for LSU here from Antarctica.
Antarctica. It just said Antarctica.
And they were wearing maybe some vortex shells. One guy was in a jacket that was completely unzippered, and the other lady was in a light, long-sleeved shirt.
Yeah yeah in antarctica the tweet and all i did i quote tweeted it in support of lsu and i was like in support of lsu seems seems a little light uh like light winter gear for an arctica and i've never probably my life got ratioed so hard by people being like you fucking idiot like it's it's the summer in antarctica and in my head i was like i was always taught that antarctica was just always freezing no one lives there it's a continent that no one lives on because it's all ice so yes scientists i assumed that it was always cold like people didn't ever go there there's no houses there people don't go vacationing there so i when there people were like whoa duh it's summer in antarctica like were those people just summering in antar Yeah. Hank, that's where the predators all live, too.
Didn't you ever see that movie? There's like an underground colony of them. Yeah, in the summertime, they're like December, January.
That's their summer. And so it's just like it tilts closer towards the sun.
By the way. Does that make sense, Hank? You got some ricochet shots on when I said Eli should just fade into Bolivian and people a lot of people were like I'd expect that out of Hank but not you big cat yeah because you listening are the idiots no I didn't say that I will never say that about our audience I love you guys learn it but yeah Antarctica it's summer down there but it's still cold.
But it's still cold. But it's colder than here.
They should teach that in school. Their summers are colder than here in the winter.
Which I guess some people said they did. Yeah, they did.
That's exactly when they teach it. Yeah, if you go minus 40 to zero degrees, it's warm.
But you're not wearing a light long-sleeved shirt in zero degrees. In Lambeau Field, you wear a short-sleeved shirt.
Yeah. It's like the first day of spring.
you know, like that one day in February when it's 40 degrees, and everyone's like, ooh, it's so warm. All I know is people listening to this podcast being like, damn, I didn't know it was warm in Antarctica either.
And so you're welcome for not having you sound like dumb in the future. You would never like chirp DK Metcalf if he's warming up for a football game in Lambeau Field, not wearing any top at all.
No, but if they tweeted out just two seahawks fans being like supporting the seahawks from and it was the winter in seattle wearing they're wearing t-shirts you'd be like seems a little cold i recall hank seeming to love it when uh mike vrabel was warming up in shorts in kansas city when it was 10 degrees outside you weren't saying like hey dressing a little light. They weren't in Antarctica.
In Antarctica. Yeah.
All right. Let's do, we have George Kittle, Greg Kittle on the show.
And then we will finish with some Kobe Bryant highlights from the interview on the court. We're going to get right back to the show.
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Now, George, a.k.a. Greg Kittle.

OK, we now welcome on very special guest, recurring guest, very good friend of the program.

It is San Francisco 49er tight tight end, and Super Bowl 54 participant. I don't want to jinx anything.
No, it's good. It is Greg Kittle.
Yes. Appreciate him joining us.
Are people now confusing Greg and George? Have we muddied the waters enough? The water is much muddier than it was last year. Yeah, they don't.
It's tough. anything that gets sent out is there's about 50 comments aren't correct and it's greg greg have you ever called yourself greg by accident no i think my mom called me greg once so oh so you got if you got my mom because she reads a lot of social media stuff okay do you agree with our assessment that george like when you actually just say george that's such a weird name to say for like a stud tight end who's running up and down the field who's taking five guys on his back in the superdome like george really i've it's it's an odd name but yeah i know i think i'm doing my best with it it's i think it's a strong name though it's one of those things just when we take it out of context it's like hey this is my friend george like what that guy okay fine just to uh is greg more powerful yeah greg powerful.
Greg's definitely more powerful. Greg has sweeter hair than George, too.
I feel like George always has kind of a messy, curly, small fro. Greg has the skullet.
Do you have the skullet right now? Yeah, show it to us. Let's see.
That skullet is so sweet. That's kind of a skullet, yeah.
You do the whole thing. You get pumped with it.
I want to set the stage real quick. So if you're not watching on Barstool Gold, first of all, you should get Barstool Gold.

Get Barstool Gold.

But in this room, we've got Greg.

We've got Hank.

And then we have your entourage, your posse.

You've got about a dozen people that came here.

You were escorted.

You had a police escort.

A walking motorcade.

Just basically to keep you out of bars.

Just to be like, you're not getting any trouble this week.

Is that the general consensus of why you're being assigned like seven cops? You're not a hundred percent wrong. Yeah.
So, I mean, you're not all the way wrong, but you're not all the way right either. You walked out of your hotel and I'm sure there were people who are standing there trying to hand you beers to have you stone cold them.
And then your security guard was like, absolutely not Greg. My head security guy actually did it for me.
Yes. Mike did that.

You should actually walk around with a guy who just does the Stone Cold all week for you.

Hank will do that if you want.

Hank?

Yeah, Hank will do that.

What's your rate?

Whatever you need.

No, like how much I have to pay you.

Oh, nothing.

Well, would you charge Grant?

Yeah.

Yeah.

That'd be a good rule for Grant to do.

Yeah, after the game.

After the game to party. All right, so Super Bowl 54 on its way.
Yes. My biggest question to you is who is under more pressure? You or your dad? Because your dad sends you a letter before every game, kind of a try-hard move.
Yeah. This is the most important letter of his life.
Like, how do you send a Super Bowl letter? What do you write in a Super Bowl letter? That's his Super Bowl. Yeah.
It is. Has he already started it? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
What are you expecting in this letter? All right, so put in perspective, like a normal game day letter is that's like three to five pages. That's so long.
That's so long. With pictures? Pictures.
Double font? No, it's a big font. He throws a lot of pictures in there.
It's a pop-up. It's a pop-up.
Yeah, he folds it open and pops it open. NFC Championship game was 10 pages.
Oh, my God. It was like a full 10.
It's like Dickens. Dude, it was thick.
And so now it's the Super Bowl. I'm expecting like 15 pages minimum.
And what time is he going to give it to you? I get it the night before the game. All right, because I was going to say, I would definitely fall asleep halfway through.
I don't read it until I get to the stadium, though. Oh.
Yeah. So are you prepping that? Are you telling everyone like, hey, coach, I'm going to need a little extra prep time because dad's going to give me like Moby Dick before this game.
I might get on the early, early bus. Yeah, right.
I got to give myself an extra 30 minutes. It would almost make, it would be more powerful if he just wrote you like one line for this game.
Just said like, don't screw this up. Yeah.
You're always, throw him out the club. No, like you're always a champion in my eyes.
Yeah, if you lose, you're out of the family. Oh, I don't know if you go that route.
I like the other one you said though. Just don't screw this up? Yeah.
No, after that. Oh, throw him out of the club.
Yeah, throw him out of the club. I of the club.
Wait, so what are you expecting in this? Like, is he going to make you cry? Yeah. Is that his goal? I would assume that it wouldn't be good for you to cry before the Super Bowl.
It's like one of those checklists I have before I go on in the field. I do this.
It's part of my routine. The letters just consist of whether it's family memories or movies that we used to watch as a kid when I was growing up.

Oh, he's going to make you cry.

Oh, he's going to kill me.

Oh, he's going to make you cry.

He pulled a quote from Hildago, which was a movie.

Do you remember the Viggo Mortensen movie with the horse racing?

He pulled a quote from that.

I was like, dude, come on, man.

I watched that when I was like 10.

You're going to make me cry.

So what else is on the checklist before a game?

You read the letter from your dad.

What do you do mentally and physically?

Do you have anything else weird that you do?

If you honestly want to know, so as soon as we come back in from warm-ups i i go puke really 100 for every game every game that probably makes you feel a little bit better it does make you better yeah yeah i always think i'm like all right i'm a step faster now that's my positive mindset and then as soon as i'm we're walking out i put my helmet on and i head by the walls almost as hard as i can it's good's good. You have that in the right order.
You put the helmet on first. Yeah.
So I learned that the first hit is always like hurts the most. So get it out of the way.
And then there's no first hit. Yeah.
I always felt that way. That's smart.
Playing any sort of contact sport, all the fear and apprehension you have kind of goes out the window the first time you get hit because your mind doesn't have time to worry about other stuff about other stuff you can just get out of the way exactly well just a heads up you've never played in the Super Bowl neither have we but we've watched all of them it goes really fast does it say the speed is crazy in the Super Bowl so be ready for the speed have you played have you played in the Super Bowl in Madden oh dear not just probably like 2008 maybe that's what you do. Maybe you get like a PlayStation in your hotel room and simulate

like sit down and play a few games just so

you get used to that game speed. The game speed

and the fans and all that.

The loudness of the stadium. It's going to be different.

Picture it. I just heard you say

you just dropped an oh, dear

and you kind of slipped into the Todd and Gordo.

I know you're a big fan.

You think that you're Canadian sometimes.

We've heard that from some of your teammates.

I think there was an article in The Ringer that said, like, sometimes he actually does believe that he's Canadian. Yes.
So as Todd and Gordo, in your presence, I'd like to maybe trade off our services. We have an idea of maybe something we could do to help you.
And then I don't know if Big Cat wants to explain that. Then I have a request from you.
Yeah, we're going to. So much like your dad writes you an entire book before every single game.
You as a fan of Todd and Gordo. We haven't done Todd and Gordo like in like two and a half years.
Yeah, I've been pretty disappointed. So and I told you this probably three weeks ago.
I was like, if you get to the Super Bowl, we will make a Todd and Gordo hype video. Why do you think I you think i was playing so hard yeah so wait so should we not release it till after the super bowl no no no release the second one okay all right after the super bowl hype video before the super bowl we're gonna make a special edition todd and gordo like one minute instagram hype video that you're gonna release on your instagram on like friday or saturday i'm in and it's's going to get everyone pumped up.
It's easy. Okay.
So as our payment for that, what's your bonus if you win the Super Bowl? I don't. There's no chance that Greg like actually even you.
You probably don't even have access to your own bank account. Whoa, whoa, whoa.
Partial. Yeah, I was going to say.
Yeah, no, I do that stuff. So I was going to say like we either get 50 percent 50%, no big deal, just like maybe 50% to 60% of your Super Bowl bonus.
Okay. Or if you win Super Bowl MVP, you get a Todd and Gordo tattoo.
Oh. Oh.
Do you have tattoos? If we inspire you to. Yeah, I have tattoos.
Okay. Yeah, so then that's no problem.
No, no, no. I like the tattoo.
Can we just do both? Yes. Yeah, sure.
Perfect. You drive a hard bargain.
Yeah, you really are a negotiator. Wait, negotiate your contracts like Richard Sherman? No, no, no, no, no, no.
I'll pay someone to do that. That's probably for the best.
What about the reset button that you have on your arm? The Joker? Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, isn't the, what was the article said that he...
In that same article, you have a reset button that you hit. Oh, it is the Joker.
It is the Joker. You hit that? I used to have a wrist tape on, and I'd put a big red button on it in college.

So I'd slap it.

I'm a visualized guy.

Yeah, yeah.

So you don't do that anymore?

You don't have the – you just do the Joker?

Joker now.

Boom.

Reset yourself.

Yeah.

It's crazy.

What's up with the gray sleeve?

Are you wearing it right now?

Oh, this thing?

Yeah, you always wear that gray sleeve.

Oh, so I dislocated my shoulder last year, and my labrum's completely torn, so I don't get surgery on it. And so it's basically health speedy so it doesn't hurt all the time.
Okay. Are you going to get surgery this offseason? No chance.
No chance. Nah.
Can't miss those workout days, man. That's true.
Can't miss an arm farm Friday. That's a football guy.
Do you like blocking or catching more? I like blocking a lot. It's like my favorite thing.
I mean, it was funny in the NFC Championship game when everyone was like, where's Greg Kittle? It's like, dude, are you watching? He's just beasting people down the field, left and right. That was a fun one.
Yeah. So when the play call is like, all right, you're just going to go, just throw some people out of the club.
You're like, fuck yes, let's go. Yeah, because that's the only mindset you can possibly have too is I'm going to throw someone out of the damn club.
Do you think it's unfair that your coach cheats for you and tells the refs beforehand when there should be a flag? I call it creative coaching. That was an unbelievable clip.
It was a narc move. Incredible.
Yeah, he was narcing the other guy out. He was like, watch, I told Greg to get held on.
He probably put stick him on your shirt and was like, hey, go run into his arm, make him hold him. He actually didn't like my route.
He said I should have pushed inside a little bit farther before I broke out oh afterwards i mean kyle shanahan we sat with him when we were out in uh 49ers camp two years ago i was there i knows yeah as a fan i was waving at you guys so much football yeah you didn't acknowledge so we do feel a little bad about that i was waving we interviewed joe staley and mike mclinchey and afterwards they're like hey there's this tight end on the team that like loves you guys and we're like uh who they're like George Kittle like all right fine we'll take a picture we'll fucking pat him on the head and then you became a superstar and that's what I got and we feel kind of bad about that got a nice hat though yeah we gave you a hat we're like hey go along kid did you happen to notice the Chiefs on the on the plane ride over here today they all dressed up in like the Andy Reid Hawaiian shirts they dressed up after their showed them a lot of support. I was wondering if you guys were going to do something like that with Kyle, like dress up like the guys from Nitro Circus or Metal Militia.
Travis Pastrama. That's a sick power move, though.
Yeah. I like the Hawaiian shirts.
Have you noticed, though, that Kyle's logo is getting smaller on his hat? It's insane. How much smaller is it going to get? The Super Bowl one is going to be great.
It's going to be like this big. It's a dot.
Yeah. It's going to be a dot on there.
No, it says SF. I swear.
If you do win the Super Bowl, does that count as a Big Ten Bowl win for Iowa? Two. Two? Two.
For who? One for Iowa and then an extra one for the Big Ten. Okay.
Nice. That's good.
So you're going up against a couple of your old teammates. I am.
And one of them used to kick your ass. Big time.
So have you talked to him at all before this game? A little bit. Not this week.
We keep in touch a little bit during the season. But we've got to play each other last year, too, which is pretty fun.
Okay, so did you get the best of him? It's Anthony Hitchens on the Chiefs. So did you get the best of him then? I think I only went up against him once or twice.
It was a good battle. Okay.
It was a good battle. Yeah, so the story goes that Anthony was a senior when you were a walk-on.
This redshirt freshman year. Redshirt freshman year, and he kicked the shit out of you.
Whooped my ass. And now you guys are in a Super Bowl together.
Yeah. And you have a reset button, and he doesn't.
Oh. Whoa.
So you have the, yeah. Checkmate.
You're the alpha on him right now.

Checkmate.

Checkmate.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Wow.

So he was a lot bigger and stronger than you now.

Are you stronger than him now?

I don't know.

I should ask him how much times he can binge 225.

Where do you binge right now?

Right now?

Yeah.

Yeah, labor board.

Like 225?

Like how many times?

Yeah.

Oh, dear.

I think I get 17 to 20.

Somewhere in there.

Do I get any pre-workout? Or is it like right now? Yeah, jacked. Original formula.
25. Yeah.
It just went up. It just went up.
We did about the same when we had Lorenzo and Mike Allstott. Combined? Well, it was 135 on the bar.
But it was the same amount of reps, and that's what we're really kind of here. Combined reps, right, between you both.
No, no. I got 19.
Big Cat got 20. Yeah, we pushed that weight around.
I got 20. Yeah.
Yeah. Don't laugh.
Congratulations. I got 19.
19 was good. I got two for you.
That was a mean laugh. I thought you said you had dad power and dad strength.
No, I don't. Okay.
I was going to say it wasn't when I was a father, but it was when I was a father. Controversy.
So you always post your basketball shoes and your stats. Yeah.
You didn't post your stats last time. You just said, what did you say, hustle? I hustled.
I hustled. Okay, so.
So can I get your stats? Yeah, this was yesterday. I tweaked my back during the third game.
Okay. I also was not.
I had a couple great pick and rolls where I fucked up the layup. Okay, that's fine.
So I hustled. Yeah.
I hit one big shot, but then for the rest of the time, it was just hustle.

So when I didn't play well, I hustled.

Wait, so now my question is, so since you play multiple games, do you tweet out the

stats of all the games combined?

It's usually an average, yes.

Oh, okay.

But actually, no, sometimes when I'll be like, I played five games and I went like one for

four, that is truly one for four over five games.

Well, I like that.

That's a good stat.

And like one of the games I probably shot three times and the other four games I

Thank you. Five games and I went like one for four.
That is truly one for four over five games. Well, I like that.
And like one of the games I probably shot three times and the other four games I shot once combined. I'm not a big shooter.
You're on the same team every time? No, it's a pick-up game. I play lockdown defense, rebound the ball, and try to not shoot ever.
Usually I'll get the Zion treatment like once or twice on a a Saturday morning and everyone will stand off and be like go ahead shoot that and I'll be like fuck I'll miss it and I'll be like fuck you guys I know what you're doing I thought you're gonna say your shoe exploded because you're too fat yeah I'm too no no too powerful yeah yeah strength yeah so yeah it's you know I'm out there to run around have some fun yeah be with the that. That kind of stuff.
You and I need to settle our hash real quick because last year, I think it was in like April, I went overseas. I could have died.
I could have died. I was going out of the country.
Who knows if I was going to come back? It was a hot take. There were protests overseas.
There was an outbreak of coronavirus over there. I didn't know if I was going to make it back.
You stepped in and immediately auditioned for my job without even asking me about it.

Invited me.

True.

You just stepped, but still.

You were there.

You don't interview for another man's job.

I knew it was Hank's idea.

I could tell as a classic Lockwood thought.

And you came in, you sat down.

Did you go back and watch the tape?

Yeah, I did. How well do you think you did um on a scale of one to pft yeah oh dear oh dear oh dear uh well honestly i think i tried my best but i mean you you are pretty damn good at this in your defense your dad did not write you a letter before i wasn't all the way locked correct so you weren't all the way ready to go i wasn't before the show i didn't that's a problem i throw up before every show do you yeah but just because i'm intoxicated i pull the trigger for him where was my finger down his throat yeah hold his hair i don't even do that i don't have to do that get you a friend that holds your hair back you don't you just puke i just puke jesus it's crazy your hair doesn't get in the way it's really annoying i have to hold it sometimes you hold your hair i usually go in there with a hat on backwards though to hold it back joe staley has to stand there and hold it for you.
It's crazy. Your hair doesn't get in the way? It's really annoying.
I have to hold it sometimes. You hold your own hair? I usually go in there with a hat on backwards, though, to hold it back.
Joe Staley has to stand there and hold it for you? Him and Mike. Yeah.
They both do. Have you ever, yeah, I feel like Juice would be a good guy.
Like a fullback would be able to hold somebody's hair back. He can do a lot of things.
Do you think that this is, well, actually, let me back it up. Your block, where you pancaked that dude in the end zone, you were laughing the entire way down, was snubbed for block of the year.
I voted for you. Stephen Che's boy award.
Stephen Che's boy award, the block of the year. I voted for you.
He ended up awarding it to Quentin Nelson. There were some discrepancies and irregularities with the voting process that have been noted.
How disappointed were you that you did not win the boy award? Well, it does just give me something to strive for next year. True.
We got another goal now. I mean, Stephen Shea kind of ruined it for you because he put his fingers on the scale of justice by quote tweeting and being like, hey, George Kill's really good at blocking.
Check this out. So that was where the controversy came in.
But it was a great block. It was a great block.
Thank you. All right.
We're going wrap this up with we've got to go rapid fire and get you prepped for media day. Okay.
Okay. You ready? Pretend that you're up there on the booth.
You have like six bottles of Gatorade in front of you. Yep.
There's loud music playing. There are a lot of sweaty, hungry-looking journalists.
You're wearing a cool track suit that they're going to sell for $400 in the team store. Will you buy one? Yeah, for sure.

First question, Greg, talk about how excited you are for this game.

I'm really excited.

I think just with the team down here,

I'm just proud of the work we put in all season. I really think that it's our goal to win this game,

and I think we definitely belong here.

Okay, Greg, quick question.

You have your dad writing letters to you you before every game what does he say uh you know he just brings up childhood memories you know just always tells me that he's proud of me and you know that just gets me locked in interesting thank you okay greg greg uh peter king here from nbc have you ever noticed that in the showers when you check into the hotels they don't unplug them and you and you have to unplug them yourself. Talk about the shower drains.
The drains. Our hotel has very nice shower drains.
I just checked them out, actually. I'm really looking forward to it.
Okay, that's going in my column. Awesome.
Greg, quick question for you. Who? So the 49ers, you guys were the worst team last year.
Now you're one of the best teams. Yes.
Talk about that. You know, I think our team just worked really hard this offseason, and Nick Bosa's pretty good as well.
Nice, nice. Greg, one other question here.
I noticed that you wore a shirt with Jimmy Garoppolo on it. Yes, good shirt.
Talk about how attractive you find him. You know, Jimmy, I think, has one of the strongest chin lines in the NFL.
And with that chin line, it's going to definitely lead us to a Super Bowl this year.

Greg, last question.

That's a guarantee.

Greg Kittle guarantees a Super Bowl game.

That's what you just did.

We got to teach you, man.

You slipped up at the end.

Don't do that.

Don't do that.

All right, last question.

Greg, the Seeky question.

Promo code TAKE.

You put it in promo code TAKE.

You go to the Super Bowl for $10 less than what you would have.

So $10 off.

You're going to save $10 on a Super Bowl ticket? $9,590. Promo code TAKE.
You go to the Super Bowl for $10 less than what you would have. So $10 off.
You're going to save $10 on a Super Bowl ticket? $9,590. Promo code TAKE with SeatGeek.
No, that's true. So, Greg, how is this week different than all the other weeks? You're going to get to ask that, dude.
They're going to be like, what's your preparation like this week? Is it different than a regular week? We're going to cheer like every other game week. There you go.
And we're just going to come in and work as hard as we can and focus. We're just prepping you for these stupid questions.
You're going to get so many. Do you have any more? I have one question that is a very generic question, but I was going to ask, but now I'll do it like as a joke, but I really want it answered.
Yeah, yeah. When you're game playing calls for something like it did last week when you were just running the ball down their throats, and there was no way that they could stop it.
It was like 11 yards a carry. You're blocking your ass off.

You're having a good game.

There's got to be a small part of you that's like, just throw me the ball once.

Can I just get like one catch on this drive?

I think it was like halfway through the third quarter.

I said, hey, Jimmy, can you just like throw me something so I can catch and run for a

little bit?

Just one of those.

Just stretch it out a little.

You want to be tackled.

You want somebody to hit you.

I mean, if you don't embrace the physicality of football, you're playing the game wrong.

Yeah.

I always say that as a kicker. That's a great quote.
That's a great quote. All right.
You say that? Yeah. It's a big part of my game.
I quit rugby as a professional kicker now. Oh, yeah.
Yeah. That looked good.
Well, I got cut, so. No.
All right. Well, good luck.
Good luck in the Super Bowl. Good luck tomorrow night, media day.
Do you guys get credentials? No, we don't. Can I ask for you to get credentials?

Yeah, sure.

We're going to sit out, though.

We're going to probably.

Hey, South Beach, first time we're at a Super Bowl city that's nice.

Yeah, it's true.

But just look.

Here's the one thing about Media Day, last thing.

There will definitely be some weird.

Someone from Jimmy Kimmel will show up. Some guy will be in a weird clown suit.

Probably a couple people dressed as old people will show up.

Like,

be ready for the weird oddballs.

Like the guys

that sneak in

with non-convenentials?

Right.

Be ready for the oddballs

because they're always

in trouble.

We decided not to do it

because I got arrested

and interrogated

by the FBI last year.

He's on a no-fly list.

I'm not trying to deal

with that again this year.

Oh, there's going to be

a Spanish language reporter

that asks you to marry her.

So also be on the lookout

for that.

How do you say that? No. You just say no.
No, I'm already married. No, I'll do.
Tengo una esposa. Pero gracias.
There you go. There's that wife.
All right, George, good luck. Greg.
Greg, good luck. Canada boys, get ready for it.
It's going to hype you up. It's going to hype you up.
Oh, hey, Greg. You're going to be jittier than a moose that just got out of the dumpster at Tim Hortons eating all the leftover java.
You want a little syrup in your hair before you get out there on the old field? Let's go. You're going to toss the cookies now before the game.
Make sure you spit the biscuits in the loo. All right, win a Super Bowl, will you? Thank you.
Okay, we're going to finish the show, like we said, with some clips from Kobe Bryant on the Corp. We'll be back to a more regular show on Wednesday.
We actually have a great interview coming up with a certain old French I just say his name, Jay Cutler. Jay Cutler.
It was a fun interview fun interview very fun interview we recorded it in New Orleans on the Sunday or the Monday the Monday of the National Championship game before we got too drunk that's right and snitched on all the LSU we had our first cocktail of the day with Jay yes in the hotel room he was actually a very personable guy yes you've known him for a long time I've never met Jay he was He was shockingly entertaining. Very, very funny guy.

Always been a funny guy. I like him a lot.

But yeah, we're going to finish with

some of these clips to just kind of give

you a sense of the one time I

was with Kobe Bryant and the type of guy he is

and the legend

that I'm sure will live on forever.

Maybe if you admire somebody, now's

a good day. Tell them you love them.
Yes. Tell them you love

them. It's always a good day to do that, but especially today.
Hug your kids. Love you guys.
You're listening to The Corp, presented by Barstool Sports. Okay, we now welcome on a very special guest.
He doesn't need an introduction, but we'll introduce him anyway. 18 time All-Star, five time NBA champion.
It is Kobe Bryant. Have you noticed, you know, do you attack business the same way as sports? And have you ever had a moment where you're like, I got to chill out because the business world's not like the sports world? Well, same but also different, right? Same in the sense that the tension to detail is there, just like it is in sport, the attention to detail, right? But it's different because of the intensity that you bring.
You know, it's not like a game. It's not like practice, right? You have to have patience.
You have to challenge people. You have to hire well and find people that have a certain level of, you know, that demand excellence from themselves, right? And have that attention to detail about themselves.
And then you wind up building a team of people that have that passion and commitment to excellence. So that's the difference is that now I'm kind of more in a GM position as opposed to being a player that is on the ground floor bringing out the intensity in each guy every single play.
It's a little different. Have you noticed a moment where you're like, I can't maybe – I can't be as intense as I was during sports.
I can't demand people to be here until midnight or practice without a ball for three hours. Yeah, no, listen, my thing is really simple here is that I expect excellent work.
We all do. So I don't care if you're here in the office at 6am and you leave at midnight.
If the work that you do is average, then this is not the home for you. Conversely, you cannot be in the office at all and have excellent work.
This is the place for you. So I don't really care if you're here.
There's a lot of guys that get in the gym and work hard, work hard, work hard, work hard, but then they can't transition that to 730. Yeah, right.
You know what I'm saying? I can already tell that I wouldn't make it one day in this office. I'm really good at looking busy but not doing anything.
Yeah. That would be a problem.
You've got to get results. What is that, though? Can you see it in a person the minute you meet them? Like this guy or this woman, they just want it more than everyone else.
I think so. I think you can sense it.
You can, you know, when you're having a conversation with somebody, you can tell if they're truly passionate about what it is that they're doing. Yeah.
I have it. Listen, bro, you can't build what you've built and not be that.
Right. If you didn't have it, you wouldn't be sitting here anyway.
Cause you don't put up with that shit either. True.
I kind of snaked my way in. Yeah.
You know that and you feel a sense of familiarity with that person. I read a quote that you said you love business as much as basketball.
There's no way that's true. It's 100% true.
There's no way. Basketball was your life, your passion, everything.
You're telling me you love doing business as much. If you could basically snap a finger and be 25-year-old Kobe or the Kobe today, you wouldn't go back and keep playing basketball? No, because I've already done it.
See, here's the thing. When I was playing and teammates would say, oh, Kobe's not out on the road.
What is he doing? You see me on the plane. He's reading.
What is he reading? He's writing. What is he writing? I'm practicing.
I'm writing. I'm practicing.
I'm understanding how to tell stories. I'm reading Joseph Campbell and how to create arcs, compelling arcs and plots.
I'm reading that stuff. So this is going back 15 years.
So I don't just retire, write deer deer basketball and luck into winning an Oscar. You know what I'm saying? That stuff comes from hard work and from studying for 15 years, how to write and how to organize structure.
Right. And you can't do that without having a serious love or commitment to the craft.
Like I remember I said, um, I told somebody, I said, listen, if what I do in the next 20 years is not better than my last 20, then I failed. And I'm like, well, that's disrespectful to what you've done the last 20 years.
How could you say? My man, I wouldn't accomplish what I accomplished my last 20 years if I did not have this mentality to begin with. So that's interesting because I think there's a sports debate that's had a lot where a guy, it's more happens in the NFL where a quarterback comes out and people say, well, he was in the wrong system and his offensive line stunk right away and it kind of ruined his career.
Do you think with what you just said, it sounds like you think that if you're going to make it, you're going to make it no matter what. And if there's no like, oh, well, things didn't go your way the first year and it ruined the, you know, the trajectory of your career.
It's either you have it or you don't. That sounds like excuses to me.
I mean, you got to figure it out. If you really have an obsession to figure it out, you will figure it out.
And every puzzle is constructed differently. A.I.'s situation when he came into the league was different than mine.
Mike's situation in Chicago was different than mine. Everybody has a different puzzle, man.
You just got to figure out your own puzzle. So I wanted to touch on the evolution of you as a teammate.
In 2000, I think four, Phil Jackson writes the book and is like, Kobe's uncoachable. I'm still waiting on my royalties.
Yeah. He says, Kobe's uncoachable.
What was your reaction in that moment when you see that, you read that, a guy that you have a relationship with, you had success with was i was frustrated by it you know what i mean because it was always a type of relationship where it was like you know for me it's just come at me direct i'm right here you don't have to be yes me we can just hash this out you and me and he would rather not do that because that's uncomfortable right he'd rather go to the media and do it so a lot of stuff that i read in the book was the first time i've ever heard any of this stuff and i'm like dude i'm literally right here right you know um so when he came back you know that's one of the things that he said he apologized for he's like listen you know i understand i we should just have a direct relationship and um and that's how we were able to kind of move forward but it was really frustrating man you said apology is good but the royalty would be nice too yeah yeah i told him i said this is like this is like your third book on me now right just come on i'm gonna write a book on this like 45 minutes yeah where's my royalty yeah no it's gonna be great was there any truth to it though do you think was there a moment when you read that and you had to, you know, kind of take a look at yourself and be like, maybe I am not the best teammate? Because there's always this really interesting line to me when you're watching, you know, athletes at their highest level. Yeah.
A guy who is a clear alpha leader, he runs the team. There's that line of, is he from, like, his ego is out of control to he just wants the most out of people.
You know, like Michael Jordan punched Steve Kerr in the face. Like, you know, there's stories of you pushing your teammates and, you know, maybe getting some of them kind of crumble in the moment.
Yeah. Did you see that and kind of reflect and say, hey, maybe I need to do this differently? Well, I think there's a couple answers to that.
So I drive a hard bargain. The people that I've always had issues or problems with are the people that don't demand excellence for themselves.
I won't tolerate that. When the career is said and done, they're not going to be looking at you,

a player on his team, and saying, you didn't win a championship.

No, they're going to be looking here.

So it's my responsibility to make sure everybody's holding themselves accountable.

I'm holding you accountable.

If we just play the back-to-back and we have practice the next day,

your ass better be there tape ready to go.

Because I'm there and I'm ready. And I just got finished lifting weights for two hours.
Right? So I hold guys to a higher standard. And I don't sugarcoat stuff.
Never have, never will. Right? And that tends to rub some people the wrong way.
Now, teams that we won championships on, me and all of those guys, still close to this day. Extremely close.
Right? Lamar and I still close. Fisher.
Shannon Brown, D. Fish.
All my guys. Shaq.
Shaq. Even Shaq.
Powell. Did you win a championship with Smush Parker? No.
No. And I don't talk, by the way.
I was going to say, that answers that question. That's one of the people that would probably say I was a bad teammate.
Yeah. Yeah.
But most of the other guys, man, you wind up having having this bond. So, you know, you can't have those kind of relationships with guys years after playing with them and be a bad teammate.
Yeah, no, that's fair. That's fair.
Your relationship with Shaq, I feel like, is one of the most intriguing relationships in all pro sports. Yeah.
Were you guys ever at a point where you just wouldn't even speak? No, because we were very direct. Like I said before, I'm very straightforward, right? I don't care if you're 7'2 or 6'2.
If I got an issue with you, I'm going to let you know. So no, because we're always speaking.
Just sometimes it's more volatile than others. Right.
But we're always speaking, always direct. Yeah.

So, and when that all falls apart, I mean, what was your biggest, like,

where would you say the biggest problem with your communication?

Was it, you know, Shaq not coming to season and shape?

Well, it's funny.

When we sat down, we did the interview together.

He finally copped to the fact that after we won championships, he was like, okay, I can just relax and coast over the summer

because I know I got a teammate who's going to be training

eight, ten hours a day.

I was like, see, that's the BS.

That would piss me off.

That's the issue.

That's the issue.

But also, it became

it's not something that we couldn't have worked out

either because we've been doing it.

But I got to a point in my career where it was the rumblings and some of it created by him that Kobe can't win without me. And it was like, hold up.
Hold up. No, it's not true.
Right. It's not true.
Right. And I'm not going to retire and have people hold that over my head.
I said, no, let's find out. So it was just time to go separate ways.

Do you think that you got criticized more than a guy like Kevin Durant

or the guys who are playing now?

No, at the moment, it's all different according to the moment in time.

It always seems like more when you're in that moment.

You know what I'm saying?

I don't think it's no more, no less.

I think now with social media, things tend to perpetuate much, much faster.

But back then, conversely, the stories tend to sit a lot longer.

Right.

There's less fires coming. Yeah.
Well, here's a fun fact for you, Kobe. LeBron has as many losses in the finals as Michael Jordan has wins in the finals.
I don't care. So I do want to talk about mentors, Kobe, because I know that mentorship has been a big part of your life, both you as a mentor and as a mentee.
Kind of take us behind kind of the current with Michael. Was there ever a moment that you guys spoke that you felt like it energized you and you learned from him? Yeah, it was crazy, man, because my favorite player was Magic growing up.
And then I quickly realized my father stole all my height and I wasn't going to be a 6'9 point guard. So I had to, you know, so I looked at this young guy coming up and the thing that I marveled at wasn't the fact that he was getting to the rim and doing these fancy stuff.
It was like, how is he getting to the rim? How is he doing it? Right. You look at the footwork, you look at the fundamentals, you look at the spacing, the pacing, right.
And all those little things, the angles. And that's what becomes fascinating.
It's like, okay, how do I get there? So I started studying all those basics. And then when I came to the league, the first time I played against him, I wanted his respect because it was like, this kid's not scared of me at all.
And he saw Kendrick's spirit from that standpoint, and that started a relationship. And it became something where it was like you know text him anytime hits me right back questions hits me right back and we're talking all

the time and uh in fact we just we're just speaking the other day in fact because i was talking about

uh he hit me up say happy thanksgiving and stuff and how the family how's family doing how the

kids doing you know it was my young my middle child is playing basketball and stuff right

so he's asking about how she's doing i said she's good she's good and i said you know

Thank you. how the family, how's the family doing, how the kids doing.
You know, it was my young, my middle child is playing basketball and stuff, right? So he's asking about it, how she's doing. I said, she's good, she's good.
And I said, you know, at 12, I'm like having a hard time remembering what I was doing at basketball at 12. And I'm like, kids nowadays try to do too much, you know, like from a skill standpoint.
They try to have them do all this fancy stuff versus like the basic stuff. And so I teach my kids the most basic stuff, and we just do it over and over.
But I asked Mike, I said, what were you doing at 12? You remember what you were doing at basketball at 12? And he goes, dude, I was playing baseball. That's right.
Let that sink in for a second. For people out there who are overtraining their kids at 12 and doing all this fancy stuff, just let that sink in for a second.
That's a good point. Yeah.
It's crazy to think about that. But he's a great mentor from all aspects.
I love Michael. Yeah.
I mean, I love him too. But I don't know why I said Michael earlier like I know him.
I probably should put a little respect on it and just say. Are you saying you're a reaction? Michael got stands too.
Yeah. Michael got stands too.
I'll stand all the time. I gave you that LeBron stat.
You don't think that I've said that to, like, everyone I come across? No, here's the thing, though, man, is that, like, things that MJ was doing, he learned from David Thompson and Jerry and those guys. Stuff that I've done, I've learned from MJ.
Stuff that Brian does, learned from me in playing on the Olympic team and working that stuff it's a chain thing man I know people want to talk about who's this who's that because it fills up good conversation time or downtime whatever the case may be but for us as athletes it's really a chain reaction you can't have one without the other it's just not possible that's a good point that's a good point when you say Tony Allen was the toughest to guard you, where does Reuben Patterson, the Kobe stopper, the original Kobe stopper? No, he's not on the list. I mean, look.
That was my favorite thing ever. I know.
Listen, I love Reuben. Kobe stopper.
So when Reuben and I played together, he was the one player that would compete against me hard every day. I mean, he would show up every day.
He had that kind of Bob Huggins, Cincinnati, tough mindset type of thing, right? So I love that about him.

But then now he's a free agent, and now he's like, oh, yeah, I'm the Kobe stopper. I used to lock him up in practice.

So I called him up.

I said, Rube, dude, if you need help with the new deal, let me know.

Like, I will go to the media and be like, yo, nobody guarded me better than Ruben Patterson.

I've seen this guy every day in practice.

I will help you with your new deal.

But now you done pissed me off because now you didn't let me know. Now you went went out there mouthed off.
Now I got to kill you every time I play you, and it's not going to be a good situation for you. I love the every now and then, like, someone would be like, I'm the new Kobe stopper.
It's like, what are you doing? You're just making it worse for yourself. Man, my favorite thing was seeing Sean Kemp before a playoff game.
Reuben Patterson had his feet in the ice bucket. Yes.
I remember that. Kobe stopper.
Kobe stopper. Kobe stopper this 45.
I remember that video. Come take this 45.
Yeah, that was the NBA on NBC. The intro, he's sitting with the ice bucket.
Kobe stop. All right, you have to go in a second because you are a very busy man.
I'm going to do rapid fire real quick. All right.
Just give me one word, one second answer. Matt Barnes incident.
It went re-viral. Was he actually throwing the ball, pump faking it right in your face? Man, as far as I remember, yeah.
I mean, all I can go by is what Matt said. I mean, I just saw him.
I just worked out his kids out here like a week ago for their birthday. And he was this, you know, when he first came to the Lakers, he was like, man, I don't understand how the hell you did not flinch.
Okay. So, yeah.
So, he was doing it right in your face. That one a great memory Mark Madsen dancing A real life Elaine dance move from Seinfeld That's a good one Your 2000 rap album Were you just like, fuck it, I can do anything? It was poetic No, it wasn't that bad The that bad, but it taught me how to write.
Okay. The Kobe 2s, the worst shoe of all time.
Kobe 2s. Which ones? No, I'll show you the picture.
Nike ones? No. No.
The other company? Oh, that doesn't count. Yeah, those count.
That company doesn't count. What do you count? That company doesn't count.
The worst shoes of all time. What about this? No, that's what taught me that I need to lead the design charge.
picture what was your thought process awesome this is like this is like the a-rod taking kissing himself in the mirror they doctored the hell out there was there some was there photographer being like kobe first of all first of all listen i'm an african-american but i am not that dark let's start there and then the hat and the wardrobe and all that like you know it's yeah a photographer somebody took liberties yes that's when he took the picture of himself, A-Rod kissing himself in the mirror, he's like, yeah, a photographer's like, this is going to be awesome. And then it comes out and you're like, whoops.
All right. What about the Lil Wayne song, Kobe Bryant? Do you listen to it every day? Every day in the car.
I listen to it. It hypes me up.
Yeah. No.
Yo, he called me. Yeah, you do.
It was after the Denver series. He called me.
He was like, man, that performance just motivated the hell out of me. I think it was like game six.
He said, I'm going to do a song. Is it okay? Can I do a song? I'm like, all right, cool.
I thought he was just kind of BSing or whatever. Before the Celtics series, he sends me the song.
I was like, oh, you were serious? Yeah. Okay.
That's pretty awesome. That's awesome.
2002 Western Conference Finals, was it rigged? Well, what's their official's name? Tim Donaghy. Well, he definitely had money on it.
Yep. So that's a fact.
Yes, yes. So from that standpoint, yes.
Yes. But from the Kings missing 20-something free throws in game seven.
Good point. Good point.
People forget that.

Unless you go and check their bank accounts.

I don't know what else to tell you.

People forget that.

All right.

Last one for me.

Has there ever been a triple team you didn't want to shoot a shot through?

Well, it depends who's on the team.

If I got Smush Parker lagging behind me to shoot,

you best believe I'm shooting that motherfucking shot.

If I got D-Fish back there, I'm kicking that shit back.

I want to be the best.

That's why I play the game. If to be the best, you have to win.
And that's what drives me. He's the best player in the game.
It's just that simple. There's nothing that Kobe Bryant can't do.
He will defend your best player. He will shoot from the perimeter.
He will get all in your mark. He will do whatever it takes.
He is the most complete basketball player in the game today, bar none.

He has an assassin's mentality.

I said this week, I said this when the trade went down, and I'll repeat it again.

Who's starving for an NBA World Championship?

More than Kobe Bryant.

There is no one.

This guy is highly more famous.

He separates Kobe from the pack.

More than Kobe Bryant.

There is no one. Kobe doing work.
2-4 on my shirt. He the greatest on the court.
I'm the greatest on the verse. Going for the fourth ring like it was his first.
Gotta get the gleam. Do it for Kareem.
2-4 so nice. My flow so mean.
Catch me at the game. Sitting next to Goldstein.
Kobe Bryant like his purple gold strings call kobe in the game don't get no team black mamba attack conquer basketball beast rap rap monster crossover good i'll turn around jumper i'll just drive the lane and dunk on donkers you know where it's going it's going down yo this is the lake show but don't drown though I call him King Bryant I'm just lost for words. I mean, he's amazing.
Yeah, I drive Sparty on your double team Then I drive anyone on another team Yeah, you better guard, be with caution And watch I work him like an ultra No such thing as exhaustion No time for respite, cause I don't take breaks I just break records And I prefer the ball with three seconds And I've been egoing it all in three seconds KD, that is a guarantee. Apparently, in peace, tell your defense.
Don't ever mess a man with me. Double team, triple team.
You didn't feel sick with me, but I never let them get to me. Literally, step back and give them a three.
Hey, ain't no deterrent to me. One guy certainly obvious to the way Bryant's played lately, LeBron James.
I've been called to Santa. He's definitely the best player in our league.
To me, in my eyes, the best scorer in our league. And I don't know if it's not another guy in his league that can accomplish some of the things that he's doing right now.
Let me take a day off. Catch you at the top with the key and get a J, yo.
Bass, learn, FaceTime. Tongue out like 2-3.
Even 2-3, gotta live how I do me. Practice while you sleep, practice in my sleep, straight out of the high school.
The braggers ain't for me, I will be jumping over you like I got a mattress at my feet. And all feel jack-to-feeds, you better be passing it to me.
I put the master in the beat, attacking like a beast. And I am starving for victory, and that means I'm a E.
And when they ask you who's the best, then the answer should be me. Who's the best player in the NBA? Oh, it's still Kobe Bryant.
Really? Why? Because you never know what you're going to get. Call me Mr.
Clutch or Mr. Automatic.
I can post them up or go get the alley. I'm going for the ring, I'm going for the ring.
I went to Beijing and came back with the bling Who they want? They want Kobe And what he want? He want the trophy The victory and the glory No Shaq, no Robidori Now break them all, Kobe break them all Yeah, you better be with the liquor down Yeah, just give him the ball and he take it all, yeah. Oh, he properly dishing into the song, yeah.
I'll give it to these fish on the wing, yeah. Just let Lil Parisa do his thing, yeah.
Cause I'm breaking, so it's my team, yeah. But don't you want to be the break? Uh, do it for magic.
It's showtime, baby. I see nothing wrong with doing it four-time, baby.
I'm the best, yes, and he the best, yeah. Don't worry, LeBron.
Get him next year. Now what's defense to an assassin? Killer instinct.
Murder the basket. Then steal the ball back.
Hold it for ransom. It's more than a game.
This is a passion. Been the all-star.
Been the champion. Free throw line.
You hear him chanting. MVP, MVP.
Kobe Bryant, a.k.a. MVP.
MVP, smash MVP. Whoever he is, he can't guard me He can't guard me

So, there you have it. The overwhelming answer was Kobe Bryant.