Malice at the Palace memories and Jack Flaherty’s World Series Celebration

Otani, like, I don't know what I'm just fine.

Dude, these guys are unicorn.

I was just curious, like, what is it like in the clubhouse?

Day to day, like, he just show is show.

He's not.

Like, I don't mean that, like, he's, he's, he's uh, like, showtime or anything.

He just is like a like a pretty much like a regular dude that's on the bus.

And it was also pretty cool to say that there was a billion dollars sitting in two seats right there.

All right, welcome to another episode of Throwbacks presented by Cash App, Sending, Spending, Saving, Splitting, Donating, Gifting, or just typing numbers, all at the number one finance app in the App Store.

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Matt.

What's up?

Got me.

Matt, you're here.

You got me back in LA.

We're in our studio for the first time.

For real, in the future.

In the flesh.

We did a lot of stuff at your alma mater.

We did.

As a kid, never went to college.

I mean, three months of the community college don't count.

Shout outs, College of Staten Island.

It was amazing walking around that campus with you and then seeing all the kids and realizing what that must have been like for you

back in the day, coming off to Heisman.

I mean, surreal feeling.

You know what?

It's actually funny.

When I go back there now, it's kind of split because I'm a lot older.

So it's like you get some of them are like.

Like they grew up in the football fans and their parents were fans of our era.

That's what I get now.

I get a lot of these kids are the kids of like USC fans.

It's just always like when I'm back there, it just always brings back memories, right?

It's just, you go back and you're like, man, like the run we went on, the history

forever etched in USC football history, that run and that dynasty.

And

it always brings back, it's just fun.

It's fun walking around.

We took took you around, kind of give you a history.

And I think people forget like, you're a sports head, right?

You love sports.

Yeah.

So there's so much history of players that played there some of the all-time greats the all-american walk all the heisman trophies first round picks the first

overall most number most first round pick so like it's always fun to be back um it was good to have you on campus it always feels good to be our shootout video is coming soon we're not going to tell you results uh the shootout video will be out there soon but you know what else was dope we went to go have lunch And it's like, oh, there's Juju right there.

We saw Ju.

We saw Juju.

You're not going to see on campus.

Waiting online for food.

Of course, I think we tried to talk to her.

It's like, oh, no, she actually has to go to class.

Right.

But then you realize, like, that's the,

you know, I'd say inarguably the best women's basketball player in the country.

She's the next.

I mean, like, it's just walking around campus with a book bag.

Kayla Clark, but like Juju Watkins is literally the next greatest thing.

I'm sure he is, but the next, she's three.

The thing that's crazy is she has three more years in college.

No.

They can't leave early.

She's got three more years.

She was right there.

Like, I think she might have been on like her scooter or something.

It was cool to get a glimpse of her in like full college mode, not on the court.

I could say years from now, like, yeah, I just bumped into her while she was getting ready to go.

I saw Snoop a little bit later in the day.

He was, he was a big SC guy, right?

Big SC guy.

So like, that's the thing about USC.

Like, it brings a lot of people together, but you'll never, you never know who you're going to see.

Didn't Snoop used to hype you guys up?

Dude.

Drop it like it's hot.

Would he come in and see me?

He's come in.

Yeah.

He's well, he did.

He grew up in Long Beach, man.

He grew up in LA and

he was a big SC fan, still is.

And he used to come around campus and rap.

And

I was throwing him routes like I threw you routes.

You're all going to see it.

So it's a big LA day.

How are you feeling today, by the way?

I feel good this week, but I don't know how much better I'm going to feel in a little while because we have a World Series champion entering our studio today.

I think we've had five ring champions on this show.

Dontrell.

Charles.

No, Charles.

Charles ain't got no ring.

Sorry, Charles.

We love you.

Swish.

Kurt.

Oh, yeah.

Kurt Warner, you count.

You have nationality.

You have a national championship, bro.

You have a national championship.

Kutchers never won a ring.

Kutchers never won a ring, but we have the great Jack Flarity joining us from the Dodgers.

Matt had to sit through my Yankee porn with Nick Swisher.

Now I got to sit through it with you and Jack Flarity.

Like, one, as a Dodger fan, it's amazing, right?

So I'm excited to talk to you.

He's a cool dude, too.

And by the way, he was a massive part of their run.

Obviously, like he pitched two games in the World Series, NLCS, all of these things.

Like

there's just so many

greats, like Shohei, and then like the Freddie Freeman's run and just like celebrations.

And like, he grew up in LA coming back to, like, there's just like so many great stories around the Dodgers and then having Jack being able to tell that man.

Like, I'm excited.

And you're going to have to sit through an hour of just.

I'm here to accept it.

It's good vibes.

So the other thing that we just passed a few days ago, not that this is a good anniversary, I'm not trying to say, wow, this is a fun one.

But for me, it's always something on the calendar because I i know my social media is going to be a mess for 24 hours malice of the palace just came up again and i'm sure you know everyone on social media thinks that the guy that

our test hits and then jermaine o'neal almost murders with the slide punch that he misses looks a lot like turtle from entourage it's uncanny

Did you,

what year was that?

So that was that was that 2006, Andrew?

Do you you know off the top of your head?

We'll find out.

So that was, okay, so my question to you is,

and I'm sure you did this because you still live it, but like when that happened and it started going viral or whatever, and you're like, did you play that up?

So you said funny word.

You said viral.

There was no viral.

I know.

That's what I'm saying.

Did you play that up?

Here's what happened.

It first was talked about as a joke on Sports Center because there was no Twitter.

There was no social media.

So one of the anchors, I don't know which anchor it was, said, and then Jermaine O'Neal almost knocks out Turtle.

they were dead they said it on sports center as a joke oh as a joke so it caught fire there and then once social media comes around forget it it's over for me because everyone's and i get millions of views it was 04 2004 so by the way you play that up until you can't play it up a few things that's one of the greatest fights in the history turtle would never wear a pistons jersey ever

what works against me is the cameras were not nearly as good then so the footage is grainy so you can't even that guy was a little big too he had a beard he's a little bit

yeah Yeah.

He was a big boy, too.

He was pretty round.

But here's the ultimate thing of why I could tell you that's not me.

I have a superpower.

My superpower is I can tell you 30 seconds before a fight's about to break out.

Whether it's in a club, on the street, in an arena, I could literally say, oh, we might want to start walking that way.

They're about to brawl.

And you could look at them and they're just talking.

I would have known from the minute our test laid on the scorers table, I said, babe, get your shit.

We're getting out of here.

Something's about to go down.

Players don't lay on the scorer's table like that, staring up at the sky.

We're getting out of here.

I would have been so far

out of that arena.

Meta is a friend.

He's a friend.

We're going to get him.

We're going to get him all.

I've talked to him about it, and I believe he said he's reached out to that guy, and they've talked since.

They've made amends.

What a wild, like wild.

And that's something I hope we never.

ever, ever see.

I'm trying to think now of like the greatest, like the, like those fights in sports.

That's the by far.

And obviously it was terrible that it happened, but like

some good player fight.

I was at a Knicks game.

Some hockey fights.

I was at a Knicks game sitting next to Fat Joe when J.R.

Smith and Mello were still on the Nuggets.

Nuggets were blowing out the Knicks and they were still, J.R.

Smith was still doing 360 dunks.

Nate Robinson fouled J.R.

Smith and grabbed him and they spilled into the arena.

And that's the game where Mello sucker punched Marty Collins.

And again, I knew I was already on the other side of the court.

I'm like, we're not going anywhere near that.

These guys are about to fight.

Man, I don't think I ever witnessed.

Oh, I did.

I witnessed

Andre Johnson fight.

I was on the sideline.

Have you?

Courtland.

Wait, the Andre.

That's the Andre Johnson fight.

We'll get into that another day.

That was like.

You've never thrown hands in full uniform, right?

No, I threw hands on fraternity row at USC once.

It's got me suspended for football for two weeks, but that's a story for another day.

Story for another day.

And also as a freshman.

You're a lefty too, so you don't even see that south paw.

Nah, I really, I, I'm, he, the guy grazed me.

Long story, grazed me.

I kind of wrapped around to go to the front of the house.

And by the time I got up there, my boys have already ripped him down.

And

it was bad.

It was, I'm not proud of it.

And then I saw that dude maybe a week later at the 9-0, which is where we always went.

I know.

I've been to the 9-0.

You see, I've partied.

And by the way,

we actually like, sorry, hugged it out, and then we just went on our way.

That's the way it should be.

Yeah.

That's the way it should be.

All right.

We got Jack Filarity coming up in a little while.

Right now, we are going to do our amazing Can't Get Enough Sauce moment of the week brought to you by Wendy's.

Big shout outs to Wendy's.

We love, by the way, I'm going to get some Wendy's right after this because I am starving.

I think we're in alignment on our player we're going to focus on.

So it's the first time we're going to co-mingle on a Wendy's player.

Have you seen Dalton Connect play for the Lakers?

I have seen Dalton Connect live in person three.

I've been to three Laker games so far.

Okay, so

he's my just saucy guy of the week.

And he caught fire the other day.

This dude caught fire the other night, 37.

I think it was a rookie 9-3s or something like that.

The chick of all time.

And then gave the,

and I was reading an article, and I think he was talking about his bench was like, dude, you need to come up with a celebration or something.

And in the moment, he was just like,

he did the

MJ Shrugged.

He's young.

I respect the young dude.

By the way, and LeBron came out and was like, what the F?

You got LeBron talking about this.

I think it was 17th overall.

He was the SEC player of the year, which is a good basketball conference.

I think he made a run.

He had a crazy run in the SEC tournament.

And even, I think, I'm assuming March Madness.

I can't remember if he was, but like he was dropping like 30 a game.

And I'm like, he's

pretty far.

And by the way, a little bit of like his head coach, JJ Reddick, like a lot, a little bit, he's bigger and like probably more athletic than JJ, but like a sniper and all that.

So do you think this maybe opens up some things for the Lakers to make a trade?

I think it opens up everything

because this dude's going to be a star for them.

They got to give him some minutes.

He's getting minutes, though.

Yeah.

And like

things with D-Lo, like they're just like, he's earning those minutes, but he's also going to become a weapon for them because we always know as a Laker fan, it's like you surround LeBron with shooters.

You surround him with shooters.

Let him facilitate AD's playing lights out.

You're having such a big LA sports year.

If the Lakers go on the right, by the way, if the Lakers go on the run, I might quit this show.

Now, if he gets two rings in the first season of throwbacks, I might be out.

The Lakers are on their best start, and I don't know how long.

It's been tough the last couple years, like slow start.

I want to hear it.

I want to go to the bottom.

We hover around like the eighth seed or like the play-in and all this stuff.

You're talking to a Knicks fan, bro.

You can't complain.

You can't complain.

You guys are on a roll.

Thank you to Wendy's.

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So

World Series, man, a couple weeks ago, you've had some time to digest this.

And

I'm a lifer dodger.

I'm a lifer dodger.

Life's changed.

Like, what's the last couple of weeks been like for you?

I know it's probably been a whirlwind.

It's been a whirlwind.

It doesn't feel like it's.

I was at dinner on Saturday night and

somebody there was like, didn't you guys

win like three weeks ago?

And I had to like, I had to sit there and I like pulled up the calendar.

I was like, how long has it been?

It feels like it was like just yesterday.

And then

he said it.

And I was like, maybe it has been like.

a really long time that I've been celebrating this thing.

And part of that was in my head, I knew like, okay, we had started to get back into, okay, we got to get ready for next year mode.

And like, was enjoying, I have been enjoying myself, just like celebrating it, uh, talking to the guys, talking with everybody about it and like trying to bring, like, take in all those emotions.

And then, um,

but yeah, it's, it's, it's been crazy.

I, I think three weeks since, uh, since we won it and just enjoying every little, every little part of it.

Like it's been to win it here with me.

You had a great

just post-game celebration, man.

I think so.

Yeah.

You've been labeled something.

Man, we did, I did a, I did a signing and people were bringing me bottles of tequila.

And I was like, I don't know if this is the reputation that I really want.

Like it was, look, the parade was great.

If you've, if you've seen recently, Mookie just, he released his podcast of.

all the guys at his house.

I was sleeping when they recorded this.

I took a nice,

I, I, I had a great day.

And if you listen to Walker talk, like, that's kind of where I was at.

But I was asleep, and they were like, Where are you?

You come eventually, I made it to Mookie's house, and uh, we continued on from there.

But yeah, I was like, uh, they started bringing that.

I was like, I don't know if this is did you see, did you see when you did the parade, but the it was like with local news or something, and you kind of stumbled off the chair?

Oh, yeah, by the way, I was so by the way,

well, I'm talking about like post-camp.

I was so, I was so, I I watched that and I swear I was like, I was like, fuck yeah, dude.

I was so proud.

I was like proud of you, dude.

I was like, that's what you, you just won a World Series.

You bawled out in the whole playoffs, obviously.

And like, dude, you just beat the Yankees in the World Series.

Like, I'm going to get hammered.

I'm going to enjoy the shit out of this because you earned it.

J.R.

Smith still hasn't put his shirt back on when the Cavs won the championship.

The dude took his shirt off.

He never put it back on.

Yeah.

It was, it was one of those, like, everything was really like buttoned up from September, October.

We enjoyed

after each round when we, when we won, like the team would get together, we'd go out, have some drinks and whatnot.

But then it was like, once it was all over, it was like, like, everything was, it was just like, thank goodness.

Like, we got it done.

We, we won.

Like, let's celebrate and enjoy it.

And I may have enjoyed it a little bit too much, but some may say, I did it right.

I'm like, speaking of shirts off, you know where I'm going with this?

Kershaw.

Dude, so

like, what happened to Kershaw, man?

What do you mean?

Dude, the goat is done.

No, he's the goat.

I was telling these guys, I'm like, Clayton Kershaw will be one of, go down as one of the best pitchers of all time, in my opinion.

But just like, he put some weight on talking about his body.

He's that dog.

It doesn't, if you can go out

and still pitch the way that he can and what he was still trying to do at the end of the year with the pain that he was in, it doesn't matter.

He had back, right?

Was it his best?

It was his toe was destroyed.

He like messed up his side a little bit.

He was, I mean, he was grinding through his toe.

Like, it was like, I don't think they really let on how bad it was.

And, um, but it, if you can, it doesn't matter.

You look in there and you look in the locker room.

Everybody wants to point to him.

You look at some of the other guys.

It's like baseball.

It's all like, it's just different.

I know.

Shapes, sizes.

You got Kursch, you got glass.

Two guys that are some of the best.

That's like Thor.

Right.

Yeah.

You got two guys that are some of the best in the game of what they do.

They look completely different.

You look at,

it's so, you know, Kirsch can do whatever.

I just was so, I was, I, I was, cause like, I got a dad bought, and I never, I was like, he rocks, dude.

He rocks it, but that's like the first time I've ever seen it.

It's kind of like when Patty Mahomes, when he hit his shirt off last year, and they're like, this is the greatest player to ever live.

And he kind of looks like just the average Joe,

which I think adds to the allure of Kershaw even more.

That's why I like golf too, man.

He's throwing a golf shirt.

Nobody knows what's going on under there.

If you can hit the ball, no one cares what's going on under there.

I hope he gets healthy, man, and just go.

I mean, he will.

He's a stud.

He was so much fun to be around.

And, you know, I grew up watching him being in L.A.

and everything and to be able to be his teammate and talk to him and talk baseball.

And then after big starts in the playoffs, get a hug from him.

Like, it was, it was, it was pretty cool.

Well, that's what's, look, I'm.

Full disclosure, Yankee fan.

Very happy for you.

But in that three weeks you're talking about,

you felt like it went on for a,

you felt like it went on for a long time.

I forgot about it right away.

When I moved on to free agency, wait, we had real fast.

We had Swisher, Nick Swisher on, who's a buddy of ours, and the Yankee guys before right before the World Series.

Before getting a whole pod with Swish and it was an hour of just Yankee talk and like soda.

We made Matt sit through Yankee porn

and well and I think that's what also helped you guys.

I was like, fuck this dude.

My boys are no, but the thing that stuck out too watching that I knew the Yankees were in trouble besides just a lot of the on-the-field stuff.

Like you, you guys really do look tight.

I know every team is tight, but because every team says that you guys genuinely looked like you were a tight nigga.

So I think there was

a bunch of teams in baseball R.

And I think what was crazy about the Dodgers was if you look towards the all-star game, people are making a big deal about them not staying for Tay Oscar winning the home run derby.

And people tried to make a big deal out of it.

I never really bought it being on the other side and knowing some of the guys in there.

And then coming over, seeing how close that they actually were and guys really giving up family time during the playoffs.

Like it was kind of a point of emphasis, like, guys, we're, we're going to dinner, we're hanging out, we're, we're getting together, we, we win the NLCS against New York, we all went out in L.A.

like it was, I was, I was genuinely shocked how many got, it was like, no, like, we're going out, we're getting drinks, like we're going to enjoy this together.

And it just like continued on.

Like we would spend all, we spent all day at the stadium.

Um, and those guys just, they pulled for each other, especially with how much they had all kind of been through the last couple of years.

I think people like, I mean, in all sports, but even like on a set, we were talking like how the chemistry on your show and entourage, like you guys probably didn't know each other, go in and you have an eight-year run or nine-year run.

Like people don't understand how important like off the field stuff is.

Like you got to be trust, accountability.

You got to be there for those guys.

In all sports, baseball, football, like the locker room to me was like.

is like the most sacred place in the world.

Like those are your, those are your boys you're going to battle with.

You got to get a gnome.

You got to, like, it's just like that goes a long way in winning, I think.

It really does, especially when then you have big players.

That's the lightning in the bottle.

Like with sets, you can't cast a show and say, We're thinking you guys are going to have lots of chemistry.

You either have it or don't.

I feel like sports is similar.

You put a bunch of guys in a room who are all top, top of what they do.

And it doesn't always mean that just because they're the best at what they do, they're going to figure it out on the field.

Especially when you get three guys who have, well, four guys who have MVPs and Mookie, Freddy, Shohei, and Kirsch.

You get all them in a room.

You get these guys with huge contracts and everything and thinking there's going to be huge egos all around.

And

coming over there, I didn't really expect it because I've known Mookie a little bit.

I've heard great things about Freddie from Max, who had played with him.

I heard about Shohei from Gilito, who played with him, and

known Kirsch a little bit.

Like, you just didn't expect any of that to be the case.

Nobody was above anybody else.

It was from top to bottom.

Everybody was the same, other than, you know, you get your certain rookie duties and that certain guys have to do.

But it was, that's as close knit as as i've seen when you like you just mentioned coming over when you got traded to the dodgers obviously hometown i'm sure you had some excitement too but what just like what is what is that like just like you get a call you're like i gotta go to la the next day like so i process yeah so the the trade deadline was i think on a monday or something we had a weird day game

and so i live like 30 minutes from the stadium in Detroit and our game got done at four.

I think the deadline was at six.

And I was like, I'm not going home.

Like, I'm just, we were, I was waiting during the game.

I was like, you knew it was going to be that you were potentially.

I knew I potentially was going to be.

You never know.

I loved being in Detroit.

I loved it there.

I knew that team was really good.

And we had lost some close games.

And you saw what they did in the playoffs.

It was fun to watch.

And, um,

but I just, I was like, you know what?

I'm just going to sit here.

I just sat in the satin locker room, didn't pack anything.

It's like, I don't want to go home and then come back and pack.

And a couple guys stuck around.

A couple of the trainers stuck around.

Uh, Scoobel stuck around with me.

We played cards for about an hour, and at that point, they were like, All right, like, I gotta, he's like, I gotta go home, see my wife.

Like, she's like, Where are you?

What are you doing?

And so, I just sat there and waited, and it got down to like 10 minutes before, damn, like 30 minutes before AJ, a manager, he comes in, and I look at him.

I go, You got anything for me?

He just goes, No.

And I knew I knew he was full of it.

Like, oh, I knew he was full of it.

He wasn't, he had a very good poker face, but I knew he wasn't just coming in there to just sit with me for the next.

and then our our uh my agent texts me that i was going to the daughter's right before the gm walks in the room and so my only thoughts then were how quick can i fire off this text to my mom to let her know before it like breaks so she's not seeing it like on tv or twitter yeah and that was my only thought was i got to get this text off to her and i'm like mid conversation with the gm be like i gotta i gotta like I know where he's like, you know where you're going?

And I was like, yeah, LA, but I gotta fire.

I gotta send this to my mom real quick.

I mean, she had to have been just over the moon, right?

I think that's when it hit that I was going to L.A.

And like, it's something we had talked about, obviously.

Like, will it ever happen?

Will I ever get the chance to come home?

And

never something we really ever thought was going to happen.

Spent seven years in St.

Louis and

went over, was in Detroit this year.

And, you know, getting on the phone with her and talking with her and hearing like her excitement.

You know, she was just like, it's crazy.

You know, you grew up like, I grew up taking into these games and going there as like, as a, as a baby and spent like you know my teenage years there and growing up and that's just where i like that's where i fell in love with the game of baseball and so it was cool

it was awesome playing there as a visiting team as like the road team coming in there and playing and seeing family and everything and and going against those guys and then playing there being on the other side it was that was it was different but yeah and then i mean I get on call with the travel agent and it's, hey, can you meet us in San Diego tomorrow?

And I was like,

sure i i had i had had two bags packed just in case like just in case it was like it happened i had two bags packed just having been through it a year before i'd be like i'm gonna be so i so i was so i think it's fascinating man because when i was in arizona i was four years and i met with the cook i got cut so i was like hey we're gonna cut you i kind of knew what was happening um and literally

An hour or two later, I'm on with my agent and like, Houston's gonna sign you, Texans.

And I was like, I was fired up because it was Kubiak.

It was like a good team or whatever.

And I literally went home.

I, I, I packed like maybe a little carry-on and I just went.

I never set foot on my Arizona house again.

I never, I never went.

I didn't say a property.

I didn't even go back to Arizona for like 10 years.

It was a little back blood, man.

I was, F these guys.

I was a little pissed, but different, probably different than baseball, but like, I just think it's fascinating.

So like, you, you've bounced around a little bit, you've been a couple of organizations.

Like,

what is like, peel back the curtain of that?

Cause I was, people will ask me, I'm like, dude, I never went back to my house That was where I lived I loved it there and I'm just like the next day I'm literally in on practice squad for the Texans like learning a brand new system trying and trying to like you know like get along with the new team and all that kind of stuff fans don't think about like oh Matt's also got to like sell his house get his stuff

like this lifestyle like we make good money.

We were professional athletes all this like it's hard man moving around sometimes.

It's hard.

And you just said like I'm going to San Diego.

You're probably suiting up like a couple days.

Now all of a sudden you're pitching to Will Smith.

You're like, you got it.

It's like all this shit.

It was, it was, it was crazy.

So, like, having been through it going to Baltimore last year, going to LA was a lot easier for the sole reason that I had family here.

And right, yeah.

Like, I just, when I came to LA, I just, I stayed at my mom's house for like a week while I was looking for a house.

And then a buddy of mine is like, oh, our neighbors are renting their house out.

Do you, you want to rent it?

I was like, absolutely.

Like, so it was, it was a lot easier.

Whereas

I think, but I think that's a rare case.

Whereas going to Baltimore, getting traded from, you get traded from

St.

Louis.

And, you know, I think it's a Tuesday.

And I'm on the phone with manager and he's like, you think you can pitch Thursday?

And then they're in Toronto.

So I'm like, I mean, yeah, like, I'll

go to Baltimore.

You're like, damn.

And so that one, like, I get traded and fly into Baltimore on Wednesday.

or fly into Toronto on Wednesday, like get there at like five, like two hours before game time, have like a quick meeting, whatnot, do some stuff to get ready for the next day, and then like go in and pitch the next day.

Like, and they do a whole, they did a whole thing where it was like player of the game has to give a speech.

And I'm like, look, I don't know any of you guys' names, but like we'll get, we'll figure that out.

Like, I just appreciate being here.

Where, and then going to LA, like, I get on a, I have two bags already packed.

Um, so I come home, get on a call with my friends because they're, they're, they're excited.

That's what, that's where I'm going next.

I get an excuse for you.

I got to call them, and then, and it's like i'm on a plane then next morning to san diego doing some work then flying with the team then fly with the team up to oakland and then pitch two days later and then it and then it was on back to la so it was just a lot of moving around and then getting my stuff from detroit to la

um

luckily i had some some people people who helped me out a lot and moving around but yeah it's not easy we were talking right before we were rolling about power right so i did entourage for years in la and then i got the chance to move back home from New York, power shoots in New York, and I was very excited.

But then when I got back home, it's like, oh, I'm definitely very accessible now to like the kids I grew up with.

And hey, can I come by set?

Next, you know, I have 14 meatheads by set.

And I'm like, everyone's coming to set.

So I early on was like, look, this is great.

Cause I used to, I would go see my mom for dinner every night.

And I always wished that that way, and I would bring my mom to set.

But there were times, and also it's very easy to get distracted in New York, just like it is LA.

There's a lot going on.

A couple of times I said, I got to do a little extra effort to make sure the main focus is I'm back here to work.

So at any point for you, you grew up here, you got a lot of friends.

I'm not saying negative distractions, but you know, it's

and you're on the road a lot over your own.

I'm sure everybody wants playoff tickets.

Yo, hook me up.

How many playoff tickets?

That's what everybody asks about is, is, is, is tickets and playoff tickets.

And I think what we did, my mom honestly did a really good job of this, my rookie year of pretty much letting people know, like, don't bother him for tickets.

right i'm gonna leave tickets for my close immediate family and if you want to come you can buy your own and i just kind of kept that all throughout my time in st louis whenever i'd come to la

and then even coming over now it was a little bit different it'd be like okay on days i pitch my close core group they knew they had a ticket and i would we had our own thing i was like hey let me know if you guys want a ticket i'm pitching on this day and i would make sure that they had their tickets left And anybody else who asked me for days on I was pitching wouldn't really matter.

Now, if they asked on a random day hey you have an extra tickets like yeah i'd leave them and then playoffs it was like

it was i mean it was like my mom my brother were taken care of that my agents took care of them on days i pitched and then it was my close core group uh my mentor and his family like because i like i've loved them for i've known them forever since i was like eight years old and

so it wasn't it could have been crazier but i'm appreciative of my friends who allowed me to say no yeah yeah and be like look that's great i just and i and i also just didn't have any more like my guy it was like it was like my my family and like immediate like close like i had it for them and then it was like do you have any more and i was like i i really just don't i don't have anymore so i was appreciative of them not giving me a hard time and

letting that happen and then in terms of like my time and availability it would be you know, when, you know, they just, they'd come to the house and they make it, they'd make it easy, like come to the house, hang out.

I could see them whenever they'd come to the games.

They, I think they were happy.

They didn't have to wait for me after games because for me, I take forever after I pitch.

I'm like, my mom's like, Are you ever going to come out?

It's like, we're an hour, hour and a half.

I wouldn't be in a rush to leave either, man.

I would take my time.

100%.

But also, and for me, I learned quickly that

guys were either out of there really quickly or they were sticking around in LA because you're still dealing with the traffic of trying to get out of the outer stadium.

So,

yeah, I always took my time.

What do you, what are you like on game day?

Like in the world, in the World Series?

Because a lot of guys have superstitions.

A lot of guys like, do, like, I feel like pitchers too, because I always watch you come in after no one talks to you, right?

You're just locked in.

Like, what, what is

game five World Series?

Like, what's that day like for you?

I mean, everybody's, everybody is, is different.

And me, I'm, I'm the same all the time where I'm just don't talk to anybody.

Right.

Okay.

Like, I don't, I don't talk to anybody.

I, I go, I didn't even, did I go down for breakfast?

I think I ordered some breakfast to the room, ate, took a nap.

I mean, game five, I didn't pitch well, but like it'd be the same game five versus game one, same exact thing.

Same routine, like come in, you know, get out of my car, come in,

like head nod to everybody.

Hey, hi, how you doing?

And they know Trey Roger.

They learned, they learned quickly, like, oh, he doesn't want to talk to anybody.

Like, they learned start one

in Oakland.

Like, you're locked in.

Like, oh, yeah, but see,

it's not like, it is like for me, that's what I have to do to get locked in.

Some guys are, are chilling, playing cards, doing that.

And that's how they are.

And they can still get locked in.

I tried it.

It just doesn't work for me.

And I'm like, I don't, I'm just, I'm not talking to you.

I don't want to talk to anybody.

I learned in Detroit quickly.

I was the same way.

Baltimore, St.

Louis.

It was just like, you know, like, I don't really, the headphones are going to go in.

I'm just going to kind of chill.

Maybe on certain days where I'm a little, where I just like in there, like, I'll talk to, there's very few people that I will talk to.

I would talk to one of the trainers in Detroit.

I would talk to one of the trainers in St.

Louis.

And that was like kind of it.

Occasionally I talked to some of the players and pitching coaches, but have a short little five-minute meeting.

And otherwise, like, I'm just.

How about our boy Bernie, Bernie Lee?

Oh, man.

He, he was the best, but he knew I wasn't going to talk to him.

I was, it would be, it just, I'd go through the training room a couple of times, head not everybody, and just go on, go on with my business.

Bernie is, I've known Bernie for like 10 years because he was tied in with the guy at USC.

And I got two fake hips this year, dude.

That's, yeah.

And so Bernie was like one of the first guys to work on my hips like 12 years ago.

So he run, he's like the head PT guy at the Dodgers now.

And by the way, he's my ticket guy for the Dodgers.

I'll text him, Bernie.

Can I get a few tickets this week?

He's got you.

Yeah, he's got me.

Yeah, no, they know I don't talk to anybody.

We were talking about, you know, when I first moved to LA, I spent a lot of first couple of years in Burbank, and I'm looking at like your, your pitching rotation you had in school coming up.

Is this real?

Or am I being lied to?

No.

So you had Max Freed.

Yeah.

And Lucas G.

And Lucas G.

Yeah.

They were both, so they were both two years old.

Did anyone ever hit you?

Did you guys win?

You guys wanted, you guys had to win a national.

You got to have a title.

So what happened?

We didn't win it that year.

So Max and Lucas were two years older than me.

I was a sophomore.

They were seniors.

Lucas got hurt.

Oh.

Our senior year.

And I feel like I can tell the story i don't think i've ever given actual like details of it but like it's safe place with cut he was he was

potentially going to go 1-1 that year

and he gets hurt mid-game

and we have to have a whole like meeting the next like i come in pitch right pitch after him we win that game and we have a whole meeting like a couple days later because it's like hey if anybody ever asks you can't say like it's uh

you can't say it's a tear like just say it's it's whatever and

we're like, okay, I don't think anybody's ever going to, like, it's a bunch of high schoolers.

Anybody's going to ask any of us.

And

so

we

he tries to like rehab and try to pitch that like for he doesn't try to pitch for us, but he got ready to pitch for scouts and everybody.

And but so what ends up happening now, it's just, it's me and Max, and we've got a bunch of guys who are juniors, sophomores, and a couple freshmen.

And I mean, we got beat in playoffs that year.

We lost a game like two to one.

And then oddly enough, the next year we ended up winning it when it was the team was all juniors and seniors.

And

who'd you guys lose to?

It's school called Placentia Valencia.

They had some guy come out,

absolutely like, just shoved it on us.

And we were like, it was one of those days like we lost two to one.

And it was just like.

Were you PO or did you hit two?

No,

I played third, short, center.

Freed played right in center.

He could have gone.

I still tell guys to this day, like he could have gone and played the outfield.

And he's, I mean, he's going to, he's unbelievable, but he could have gone and played the outfield in the big league.

I love, like, we talk, like, I think, I want to ask you about Shohei, but, like, hitting pitchers.

Like, obviously in the league, it's, it's just hard.

But, like, so Max was, you'd think.

Max was a stud.

Max.

I feel like all you guys were stud hitters, but at some point, you just have to make the change.

Yeah, I mean, the dude threw 94, 97 from the left side in high school.

It was like, but he also, like, I think I've lost two races in my life, and one of them was to max really and yeah he so you could run too yeah so could he though it was like you look by the way you look like a football player dude you could have you could have been like a i think i get around people and feel like oh you're bigger than i thought you would be and i'm like i don't you know i don't know but max was max was an athlete and then and gia was was throwing 100 in high school and

he is uh

that yeah it was it was it was crazy having

I don't, I don't know.

It was crazy watching the two of them because I didn't know anything in high school about, I didn't know you could coming in high school.

I didn't know you could get drafted and go and sign.

I didn't know.

We didn't pay attention to anything.

And I meet Gio.

He's one of the first guys I meet when I'm a freshman.

And he comes up to me like summer going into my freshman year, says hi.

And everybody's like, oh, this guy's a huge deal.

I was like, I have no idea who this dude is.

He's like signed to UCLA and everything.

I was like, I don't know a single thing about high school baseball.

I'm like, I just didn't.

And then you start to learn everything and then you watch.

And then you see the scouts come and they're watching them.

And so for me, I got very lucky where I never had to go do, I had to do very little of the like

the

self-promo, like the showcase type stuff because I just got to play with two guys who win the first round.

So there was a way.

They're already watching me.

They're watching another guy, Arden Paps, who went to, went to Georgia Tech.

Our first base went to USC.

So like we were loaded around and people were coming to watch them, them.

And then they're like, I just got noticed and I didn't have to go do anything else.

It was just like, oh, okay.

You

like now we've taken notice of you.

You know, colleges come in, and it was scouts and whatnot, but watching the way they handle scouts was that could be a blessing and a curse, though, because you're still only a sophomore.

You're a kid.

And now all that attention is there.

You could have like a half-bad year and all of a sudden scouts are already making labels on you as a, as like a sophomore, like, oh, you know,

there's just a lot.

It's just a lot.

It's good.

I think it's a good thing that you didn't play into the self-promotion game or had to.

I just think you probably just focus on what what you were doing.

It's tough now.

Like, I know, you know, I run into people now and they talk about how it is and where baseball has gone in terms of like the showcase and

travel ball and everything is, is in a really, it's in a very strange place that kind of needs to get figured out because it's just not.

Do you think, do you think that's, so I have this conversation.

My oldest is 18.

He just committed for football.

But like, I've always been on the fence of like club.

It's a lot more competitive now.

It's just, it's different.

but like, I don't know, like your advice, like you, you had the route of like, hey, if I'm talented, if I get seen, you got seen, you lucked out and all that kind of thing.

And it is a blessing.

I think it's just like, do you think it's like in baseball?

Do you think it's necessary for these kids to go to all these showcases?

And like, it's not.

No, and half of them aren't good enough to do it.

And that's the thing.

It's like more than half of them are never going to make it.

The problem is, is that, I don't even know how we got on this car, but the problem is, is that

it's all like numbers based now so it's not like what can you do against this pitching it's like how hard do you hit the ball how hard do you throw how fast can you run and this and that so it's like that's all the showcase stuff instead of like how do you actually compete against these guys so like now it was different when i was growing up we didn't like it wasn't as big of a thing i played literally baseball with my best friends from seven until 12 like seven until 11.

and then I like skipped my last year to continue playing with them because I played up and we were playing, we were playing travel ball.

And during that time, I'm playing travel ball.

But when it was winter, fall and winter time,

we were playing basketball, we were playing football, like volleyball, whatever it was.

And that's just, that's how we did it.

And I think it helped every single one of them.

A bunch of those guys ended up going to D1 schools.

And like just randomly out of, out of nowhere, we all ended up going, like some of the best high school kids, like you look in the valley, you look at the names.

We all played on the same team coming up.

And we all went, we all went to Sherman Oaks Little League.

Like that's just, that's just what we did.

And now it's like none of that really exists it's all you know traveling here traveling there for for games and and club ball and and i and i get it to an extent but it's but i'm like i wish it was the way it was when i was growing up because it was i just felt it was better Sherman Oaks Little League is still fire.

I mean, so we played Manhattan Beach with Joe Urban.

So one of his agents' kid and my kid are good buddies, South Bay.

So we did the whole Manhattan Beach Little League trying to get to Williamsport and all that.

And Sherman Oaks Little League is always in the regional.

Like we played them same tournament three years in a row.

That's a really good thing.

Still doing it.

They're still doing it.

I only have one like athletic, almost claimed to fame.

We were one game away from

Williamsport.

When I was throwing you catches and you pulled the quad.

We had a team out of Brooklyn.

Pulled the squad.

We were like the Bad News Bears.

We had this ragtag group of...

kids that they formed like the super team in New York and we almost came out of the east and made it to Williamsport.

We got right.

You know what I remember that messed us up?

Tell me what you think of this because it's stuck with me since I was 10 years old.

A bunch of kids from Brooklyn never left Brooklyn.

We go to the tournament to get to Williamsport.

It was in Connecticut in the suburbs, right?

We get to the hotel.

They had an indoor pool.

No one ever saw a pool inside before.

Like, whoa, there's a pool inside.

So check it.

Stay with us for a second.

We came in there as like the worst team in this conference.

We're going to get rocked.

So we really didn't care.

We're going to have fun.

We're playing in the indoor pool.

How great is this?

We go out.

We win game one.

Other teams talk of trash.

Oh, you kids are from Brooklyn.

You can't play.

You don't even have a field.

We win game two.

I'm a 10, nine.

Lillies.

Nine or ten.

Oh, we're trash up.

So we get to the final game.

Winner goes to the Little League World Series.

Our coach tells us no one goes in the indoor pool today.

I don't want anyone getting hurt.

I don't want you guys getting tired.

And all of a sudden, we got tight.

Yeah, you can't tighten it.

We got nervous.

We weren't nervous till that, but no, none of us were nervous till that point.

And all of a sudden, coach says, you guys can't go in the indoor pool.

I don't want anyone getting hurt.

I don't want anyone horsing around.

And we're like, oh, this game must be important.

He's saying that.

We got rocked 11-1 the next day.

And we were scared.

So you're blaming it on the coach in the pool.

No, no.

I'm just wondering

if there's anything to with kids, like, just let them play.

Like, to like Jack's point, like, just go play with your friends and like be who you are and don't get so serious.

Save your nine-year-olds.

Like,

yeah, but also the thing is you're like nine, 10, 11.

Like,

some of our guys had to have 15 years old, by the way.

That's possible.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

It could have been 15.

Yeah, but at 9 to 11.

With the beard.

You're a bunch of kids.

You're going to have plenty of energy no matter what.

Yeah.

Just wanted to go to the bottom.

What position were you playing?

I played, well, left field a lot, a little second base, little left field.

I got a hot bat toward the end.

Does this guy not look like Jose Altuve?

He's second baseman.

Second baseman.

That's been my Halloween costume for five years.

Jose Altuvell.

I hate the Astros.

I hate the Astros too.

Hey, look, Detroit knocked him out, right?

They did.

Props to Detroit for getting rid of the Astros.

I was at the World Series when they beat the Dodgers and the whole cheating thing, man, still pisses me off to this day.

How is that?

That's crazy, right?

You don't need to comment on it, but like banging trash cans and stuff.

Hey, you know, there was a lot of things going on.

There was a lot of things going on at that time in baseball.

And that just happened to be the most egregious of them.

Sein stealing.

Yeah, there was a lot of things going on.

We had that in college football with Michigan sign stealing.

Yeah.

Which everyone does anyway.

It's like, well, everybody, everybody yeah every it feels like everybody

dude my dad back in Little League was like oh my gosh he was the greatest decoder sign he would have anyone signs in literally eight pitches and we had that like you know first name fastball last name curveball like let's go line it i'm like all right it's curveball coming that was high school yeah it was like that so you cheated you cheated yeah i don't know if i can

cheated in the bush push apparently too because that was against the rules apparently that was against allegedly how old were you for the bush you remember the bush i was on my 10th birthday actually i remember it very vividly

Where were you at?

It was probably the only birthday party I ever had.

Like, swear.

It was no offense to my mom.

Lover.

I was about to say, damn, that sucks.

No, we were just always playing.

And for some reason,

on that day, we,

I don't know, we, we had games and then we were at a bowling alley.

And we can remember watching it with, with everybody.

And it was like, that was the most, that, that's, I mean, that and the one other game were, that was the most nerve-wracking game.

And then the other game was the most depressing game of ever.

Were you a big Reggie fan?

I'm assuming.

Yeah.

That dude is still to this day, man.

I had the pleasure of going to the USC with Matt yesterday to shoot some stuff.

And as a guy who never really went to college, my Lord, though, seeing Matt walk around and like on that campus, it's just, I'm like, I should have went to college.

I wouldn't have had Matt's experience, but I should have went to college.

You would have been our entourage, dude.

We would have been hanging.

Yeah, I could have been like, you could have been some kind of equipment manager or something.

I could have helped out.

it was cool it was cool to be on that campus with you though i feel like growing up like in that time and you're a big kobe guy right lakers oh i gotta talk some of you have a kobe like that's my i mean sc but like dodgers and lakers man kobe was my favorite athlete i think if you grew up here you're just like had to be it was it was it was dodgers lakers and sc for me yeah growing up and that time too because like we all because At that time, there were no NFL teams.

And we were, we were, and like, I remember as

well, Kobe and Shaq.

Kobe and Shaq went on that run, and then Shaq left.

And then that was when we kind of took over.

And the Dodgers, I think, were kind of up and down at that point.

Like, so we were like, it was like the team.

But then

we got Gasol.

And I say we because the Lakers, but Gasol came.

And then that's when we went on the other run again.

Did you see Kobe play like go to a lot of Laker games as a kid?

You see, did you get the chance to see a lot of

in person or not?

I didn't.

As I as I got older, I got to go a couple times, but like we, I definitely spent a lot more time going to Dodger games.

Right.

And and

I don't even I think

like SC

We watched all the games never really never really went and then even for Laker games like I would I'd watch the games on TV all the time I just I can't remember going a whole lot

a whole lot down there yeah and then as I as I got older like go down there I got to see him like especially towards the end uh the end of his career um

but yeah we we we didn't go to a whole lot of Lakers games but this was a little Well, we do a throwback three every episode where we like just pick an old school topic, list our top three.

We were going to do Kobe moments today.

If you want to participate, you can, or you can just listen and critique ours.

I would love to listen and critique.

I'm trying to think of three.

Do you want to do it now or should we wait till the

three?

We do a throwback three.

We just pick our three favorite personal to us Kobe moments.

We've done like video games.

Yeah, we've done like best sports video games.

Actually, sports video games would be fun.

Best fictional athlete.

Yeah, the best.

Oh, my goodness.

But

I only do sports video games.

I can't do that.

No, we were like, what sports video games do you play?

Well, it's a lot of 2K.

Bobby.

I might be able to.

I might be able to house you in 2K.

I would love to see it.

I managed the Knicks 2K league team.

I was a GM for it.

Matt, don't.

By the way, I have a championship ring.

What's wrong with that?

I have a championship ring.

We talking about.

I'm the only banner in MSG in the last 50 years.

Do you stream?

Do you stream?

No.

Oh, shit.

I'll stream.

2G25.

We'll stream.

Oh, man.

2K.

I'm so glad called football.

It's awesome.

Oh, yeah.

It's like, so we, so now we're all silent.

No, I went all

the way up.

So

we did like Mike Tyson's punch out, just old school, like

nostalgia.

We didn't do Madden.

NHL 94 is like the greatest hockey game ever.

2K.

He's young for that.

He's young Madden.

But like, what else do we do?

Like, Tony Hawk was one of my own.

Tony Hawk was a good one.

Yeah, for me, it'd be like MVP baseball with MVP baseball.

I don't remember if that's 0405.

I always forget.

Manny.

Manny was a doctor.

Yeah, it was the Madden with Vic on the cover.

You want to do our Kobe throwback three?

You want to go first?

Yeah, so I'm going to say my personal one for first.

So my, one of my

best, one of the best is the lob to Shaq.

The lob to Shaq.

I think it was 2000.

You weren't even, you were like four,

five.

So I was.

17, whatever.

I remember that was like the, the prime.

It was, it was 2000 conference finals against the Blazers.

That was Scotty.

Shaq's face was the best.

And that was like them, like, then knowing what we knew about them pretty much like hating each other at that time off the court, but then on the court, like that lob in my mind, still to this.

It's like, it's like Reggie Bush highlights.

You can watch Reggie Bush highlight 20 years later.

Like, I watched that highlight still, and I'm like, I got goosebumps sticking out.

So that moment that led to the, to the finals.

I'm so bummed out because my number three is like, we got to film Entourage courtside at Laker games, which no one else ever really did, but we did it twice.

Both games we did it, Kobe was out.

So game one, it was like Smush Parker put up 21.

And game two, I honestly, I could name almost every NBA player.

I didn't even know half the guys on the Lakers.

That's how injured they were.

Chris Mim.

But Kobe,

so, but yeah, my first is the Kobe all-star game when he was young and he got to go up against MJ.

And that's where all the

you really saw that this dude is kind of different because he wanted to go at Jordan.

I think that was in the dock, the MJ

when he was like, hey, this, this kid on the other side is going to go forward.

he's all like this laker boy the laker boy the laker boy is gonna try to score 50.

yeah that's sick my my second was his last game the 61 man that was like uh

i i i think i might have had an opportunity to go like i was one of those things like i should go buy tickets to go to the game and i just i was like one of those like i'd rather just watch one of our guests in the future episode had court side tickets and did not and decided to do something for him for him and missed it are you serious yeah well you think about it it's like oh you want to go watch lakers raptors on a tuesday night in feb February, whenever it was?

It's like, ah, last game.

I got plans.

And he went off for 61.

Yeah, that was good.

That was just sad, man.

It was the end of an era, man.

81-point game is my number two.

The Raptors' 81-point game is just bananas.

I don't know if you're going to know my number one.

So my number one is awesome.

So, and I got to know Kobe a little bit off the court.

We have mutual friends down in, he lived in Newport Beach.

So we had mutual friends down there.

And I'm at a barbecue on maybe 4th of July.

We're at the beach.

and it's me, Cole.

My oldest is 18, so he's probably, I don't even know, nine at this time or whatever.

And so I'm like this with Kobe and his family, and getting to know them.

And we're just talking shit.

He was talking about players.

It was just awesome to see him in that light.

And by the end of the night, I shit you not.

We're in,

we're in Emerald Bay.

I don't know if you've ever been to Emerald Bay.

It's like a private community, small, it's like 50 homes in there.

And we're in a golf cart to go from the beach to whatever house we were going back to.

And we had, it was a six-seater and we, I'll never forget this.

Kobe's driving.

I'm in the front.

Cole is like, we had, I shit you.

We had 14 people on this golf cart.

And Kobe's driving.

Kobe's driving.

And people are hanging on the side.

Kids, like.

I just would keep going.

Kobe.

No, and it was.

And my best friend still, my best friend from high school still, and he's like a diehard Kobe.

He's like, he might be like turtle and entourage.

He was like my boy, kind of funny.

Like he was like, and he's like, yo, dude, Kobe's driving a call for it.

And I'm just like, oh, keep it cool, dude.

Like, shit.

And Kobe starts just wheeling like this.

And I'm like, he's trying to get, it was just like the funniest thing ever.

I'm like, surreal.

And then it was just like, and then I ran into him.

So that's my number one.

Then I, then we just became like, you know, acquaintances.

I see him and say, what's up?

And then he followed my sons.

And then I'd actually like, I'd seen him at a basketball tournament before the track, like three weeks before he passed, man.

And he was talking to Cole.

We talked about that.

Cole had grown.

My son's 6'4.

So like, he was like, this was eighth, that was like whatever, right before he passed.

So a couple of years ago.

And I was like, and it was just every time I saw, he was just, he meant so much to me.

But that moment, man, I'll never forget like just the laughter he was just trying to like get people off the golf cart and stuff, man.

So my number one, Jack's going to lead me to a question for you that I've gotten a lot of heat about.

And you're probably going to say, like, shut up, old man.

You're being a hater.

Interesting.

My number one is the Kobe press conference when they're like, you're up three games to one.

You got to be feeling pretty good he's like he's up two games zero by the way two zero yeah he's like why should i feel good the job the job's not finished press conference to me that's one that is one of the best off the court sports moments because that tells you every single thing we don't really see that anymore yeah so why that brings me to baseball for a second and i put this out on twitter and i said it on the show and i got torched such a bad take and

I don't know if I've seen this take.

You definitely didn't see a take.

I understand when you like clinch a division in baseball, you pop pop some champagne for sure.

I get it.

Long season.

Baseball is a long season.

Yeah.

Or even if, hey, we got a wild card, champagne, papa cores light, whatever.

I get it.

Bringing it all back, but then first round, wildcard teams.

You get, all right, boom.

Now we're in the divisional round, pop champagne.

Now we're in the ALCS.

Too much?

I'm not saying don't celebrate with your team, but like to bring the camera crew in, put the goggles on, do all that.

I'm not saying don't do it.

It's a public event.

And then when we get to the World Series, like, you know, when we pop champagne, it's like, all right, we've seen it five times already.

Just asking, is it too much?

Okay, I've had this conversation before.

Oh, okay.

So it's not that.

No, but it came from a basketball player.

Oh, all right.

So

I'll say this, though.

Having gone through it and won the World Series, it does not get old at all.

It does not

every single one.

And then the World Series one was just like,

that was the,

yeah, it just was a buildup.

God, that's so funny.

Yeah, the World Series one was, it was just a building.

No one's saying jobs not finished.

No one's saying jobs not finished.

So one of my family friends, Robert Ory,

he brought this up to me.

Wait, Robert Ori?

Robert Ori.

Oh my God.

He just

suddenly dropped that.

You're talking about big shot bombs?

Yes.

That's amazing.

So seven rings, right?

Yeah, he's got seven of them.

He brought it up to me.

He's like, interesting.

He was like,

why do you guys pop champagne after it?

Why do you guys do this after every round?

Like goggles and everything and do this?

And I didn't have an answer for him.

I go, I don't know, man.

It's just the culture.

He's like, yeah, it's too much.

Like, it really is.

And I was like, and

I actually

kind of listened and I was like, in my head, like, when it was the one-game wild card, right?

So it was a one-game wild card.

So you would have a team like pop champagne to get into that one game wildcard and then pop champagne right after the wildcard and then Division Series.

Right.

And like, I get it.

You want, you celebrate after every, after every single one.

Do I think you have a point where maybe we do it together?

I got labeled the fun police.

That's what they're calling me on to it.

Okay, fun police.

You don't see it in any other sport, which I think is why in baseball, it just like, it is what it is.

It's part of it.

It's a long series and everything.

You don't see it

in the NBA.

You don't see it in the NFL after that.

You see it after the big, after winning it all.

Like, I,

you have a point where there is a lot of, it is, there is a lot of it.

And I can't disagree.

There's sometimes like, now when you get in there and and you're in that moment, that never crosses my mind at all.

It is like,

how much champagne can I spray on somebody else?

I don't know, like, tons of MLB guys, but I know a few, or I've like texted a few on the side, and they were just like, Look, you're right, but also, you got to remember, there's young guys who've never been there, there's old guys who've never been there, there's guys who might not ever get back there.

It's a long season, so you're also doing it because of that.

It's not just like, hey, we're going to be here every year.

Let's, yeah, there's the one awkward one that goes on.

So, there's a,

I, I, I'm with with that of there's, there's not old guys

or there's old guys that may not get back there.

And I'm all for doing it when you clinch to get into playoffs.

Of course, yeah, for sure.

And then when you go round by round, I can be like, you know, treat it like it is how we do any other series where like in LA, we'd we'd get together, do a little speech, tequila shot, everything.

Yeah.

You want to have some beers, hang out.

Like, I'm all for doing it that way.

I like the one when you get in, there's always the one awkward one that that that goes on where certain teams handle it differently where

when you're trying to clinch the division right there's always the point where you get that postseason birth yeah

and then it's like

do we celebrate the postseason birth that's the thing certain teams do it differently but right you have do you celebrate the postseason birth or do you celebrate clinching the division and so like la

we didn't celebrate postseason birth.

Like, cool, we're in the postseason.

We got to win the division.

We can celebrate that.

Yeah, that's cool.

And that was, that was the big thing so like i i've i've enjoyed every single one of those that i've been a part of the world series one hit different yeah um as long as it still hits different for you then all right i forego my fun i've had a conversation before

so before we're gonna let it go soon man but the last one quick thought and on honey is it honey cut right is what was it who or honeywell honeywell guy is awesome awesome i think he gave the greatest postseason speech of all time that dude is awesome he is just awesome right

Otani, like,

I don't know.

I was five.

Dude, these guys are unicorn.

I was just curious, like, what is it like in the clubhouse?

He hurts his shoulder.

Are you guys like, oh, shit?

You know, like, well, I think the story has been told of the text he sent to the group of, like,

it was, I, I don't remember what it was verbatim.

It was like, you know, in 2020, Bellinger hurt his shoulder and he came back this year, like, it'll be me.

Like, I'll be fine.

And he, and we, we were all flying.

We were getting on the plane to fly to New York.

It just won the first two.

And

we were all going to go out to dinner that night.

We knew he wasn't going to be there, but it was one of those, like, we knew show was going to be fine.

We didn't know how fine he was going to be.

Right.

But, I mean, day to day, like, he just, show is show.

He's not.

Like, I don't mean that, like, he's, he's, he's

like showtime or anything.

He just is like a, right, like a, pretty much like a regular dude.

He gets on the bus.

Like,

and I think he just gets on the bus, sits there, reads his comics chills like hangs out does does what he does reads his comics sitting in his chair goes about his business goes about his work got a smile on his face whenever you see him um

and isn't he's not he's just not big time at all like we had a couple instances where we're on a whether it's a bus ride like to the stadium or leaving or we're leaving the stadium to go to the to the plane and and you know

you've got a hand everybody's there are certain guys that have their own seat right on the bus Yeah, and

Yamamoto was one of the last guys on this happened a couple times and You know, you've got guys offering up their seats, but and then he goes and sits next to next to Shohei and Shohei doesn't he's like show his and show he's much bigger than

like much bigger.

He's just sitting on the the inside or on the inside next to the window and Yama's got the whole aisle and everything and that's just like for me that depicts like who he is where he's just like he does he's just like whatever like it's not it's not a big deal to to him you you'd have a bunch of other guys with big egos that would do that and then it was also pretty cool to say that there was a billion dollars sitting in two seats right there dude i like legitimately were you were you there um when reggie threw the first pitch were you on the team yet no

he was super excited to meet you otani right well i don't he had no idea he had no so i saw so I tell this because I met him and I was like, I just, I became like a fanboy because I like, I was, so Reggie was throwing, it was right after he got his Heisman back.

So he was throwing the first pitch for the Dodgers.

I caught it in full catcher's gear.

I was down in the clubhouse.

So I got to know Mookie a little bit and some of those guys.

And I'm down there and Walker had walked by me.

I'm full geared out helmet, getting ready to,

I'll show you the video after.

And

I'm talking to Mookie.

He's like, he's like, dude, what the fuck are you doing here?

I said, yo, I'm catching Reggie's first pitch out there.

This was like five minutes before.

You know, he's like, oh, I'm going to come watch that.

And then Walker goes by.

And then Shohei just comes out of nowhere.

He just walks up to me.

He goes like this.

And I was like,

I was like, literally out of nowhere.

I was like, he had no clue who I was.

But to your point, he was just like the nicest human being in that three seconds.

And I looked at the camera.

I'm like, oh, Shoeio Toddy.

It was like the coolest moment ever.

And then I caught the, you know, out there lefty.

Did you catch it?

Yeah, but Reggie threw a cheese ball.

No, he threw one.

It was high.

Okay, good.

That's another thing we maybe need to re-examine.

We'll do that another episode.

Celebrity first pitches.

I don't know if we need it anymore.

I'm going to eat to see 50 Cent throw in 50 yards left.

It shows how hard it is to just throw that ball over the plate.

You guys can't do it.

I've never, I did it one time in my life.

Well, twice, but one time off the mound.

I did it once at Dodger Stadium, but I did it with the other entourage guys.

So they didn't, we couldn't go on the mound because there was four of us at the same time.

That wasn't so bad because you had cover.

I did it in Cleveland from the mound, and I don't think I've ever been as nervous in my life.

And I literally said, They said, Hey, come back and do this again next year.

I went, No.

Yeah.

Absolutely not.

Why do I need this in my life?

Well, your kids were there too, right?

That was the best part was like the kids were there, but also not the best way to bring your kids to a first game.

You should like because now they think that's like, oh, dad, why can't we run around center field?

I'm like, because you're not allowed.

Dude,

when I was catching, my kids were on the field with my wife, and that was their first game because they're like five and three.

Yeah, mine, too.

Mine are five and three.

And of course, my.

Two of my kids are crying because they wanted to come see me.

And my wife, Josie, is like, this is literally on the field.

And I'm like,

get it off.

And then my kids are like, oh, daddy.

I'm like, I'm like, shit, dude, this is going to be terrible.

Cameras everywhere, but man.

We will not hit you up for tickets, but very, very happy for you.

That was an incredible run.

I don't know if he means that, but

I'm not, I accept loss as well.

I really do.

Like, I'm disappointed, but there's no doubt about the fact that you guys are the better team.

It's just zero down.

It was not even close.

Zero doubt.

It was in close.

Just that's how I.

Hey, real quick,

you're a free agent.

I want to throw you on, but Dodgers, man, let's get something back.

We want you back.

We need you back.

I love to hear that.

I'd love to hear it.

Okay.

That's it.

That's all you need to say.

Appreciate you, man.

Calling my dude.

Absolutely.

All right, everyone.

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All right, coming back.

Jack,

you guys are boys now.

You hit them up for tickets?

I'm not, man.

Trust me, I wanted to say, like, when I was in Arizona, I used to get hit up for tickets, but by the way, I had to buy them.

That's how cheap they were.

It came out of my paycheck.

Yeah, dude, I was pissed.

So I know what that's like.

I knew when he was describing that, I was like, I've been there.

That's a great system he has, right?

To just like, one, you allow other people to handle it for you, or you just set the boundary from day one.

And if it works out, it works out.

Well, I love that you had to buy your own tickets while it was the team you played for.

That's money.

We're going to do some money moments now.

It's Ty presented by our friends over at Cash App.

Sending, spending, saving, splitting, tipping, donating, gifting, or just typing numbers or Matt buying tickets for the team that he played for.

Whatever you want to do, that's money on Cash App.

We're going to do our money moment.

What's our money moment for the week?

We're aligned on this one because this hits us in two different ways.

Kyon Anthony.

Kyon Anthony going to Syracuse.

What that will mean for Syracuse.

He's a good player.

He was second choice from what they say was USC.

So I don't know if you're a little muscleman and Kyan would have been been a good conversation.

I mean, I think UFC was fighting Carmelo and Syracuse and his.

The building's named.

I mean, it's what is it?

Andrew Mellow, the Mellow Center, you know?

Listen, happy for him.

Look, I think it's a bigger conversation of just like, like, I'm living a little bit not to, not to the status of Carmelo, and he's an all-time great, obviously

Bronny's living it with his dad on the same team, which is like, like, it's just one, I'd say this, like, I always try to put myself in my son's shoes and his headspace and what that must feel like.

So, for Kayen, too, like, put yourself, your dad is Carmelo Anthony.

Your dad won a national championship for Syracuse, one and done, and gone, like, changed the course of them, you know, like whatever.

And one of the best NBA players of all time, like, like a lot of these kids, man, like, my son is, is like, they're strong mentally.

I think they understand, like, like, it's their path and it's their journey.

And I would credit Carmelo because I'm sure I don't know him that well, well, but I'm sure he's a great dad.

And he's obviously had a big impact in his son's life and hoops and all that.

Like, but for his son to go there and go to Syracuse and follow his dad's footsteps, like, like, that's amazing.

Man, it's a great story.

And like, whether he becomes whatever that is, like, like, that's really cool.

You know what I mean?

It's a major accomplishment.

And I always knew this day would come for me as, you know, now I'm starting to watch.

the kids of the players I idolized what that I watched as like and I was even like a year older once I became older than every player in the NBA, when Vince Carter retired, I was officially older than every player in the NBA.

I knew I'm going to start seeing the kids.

Next generation.

Funny thing about Kayan, like, I don't know him well, but I worked with his mom, with Lala, on power, on Think Like a Man.

So I would go to a Knicks game.

And this is when Mello was on the team.

And then.

Kyan, who I was at that time taller than, because he was a kid, would run up and be like, my mom says hello.

She's sitting over there.

And then he'd run back over.

That's dope.

First of all, I'm like, that's so cool.

Like, this is kind of like your house.

Your dad's playing on the Knicks.

And then I would see Lala over there and he was shorter than me and now he's developed into this really good player and i think this we even heard with like dion and shador and i don't know it's all rumors with the cowboys and stuff but we're starting to see the father son stuff and by the way bigger wave we're gonna see more because um my my in my oldest is 18 and he was on this club circuit of hoops uh we were you know six, seven years ago.

We're talking about it with Jack, you know, with the Kobe story and stuff.

And it's like the next wave is Gilbert Arenas' kid.

Right.

He's a a ball.

The next wave is Trevor Ariza's kid, who is an absolute ball.

We're going to see it.

Those kids are all like class of 26 or 25.

Those kids are all going to be making their commitments.

They're coming.

And like, Kyan, it's just like, to your point, I feel old, man.

Honestly, I feel old too.

When Cole committed, everyone was like, damn, I feel old.

That was it.

I was like, you're right.

We're getting to that age where now all this next generation of the stars that we watched, their kids, and there's more of them.

You know, those are just kids on the West Coast, are all now entering college, which is wild.

It's gonna be fun to watch.

So, yeah, that's, I guess, that's what we leave.

I gotta say again, thank you, Jack Flarity.

You are awesome today.

Andrew, Rich, Adam, everybody.

First real full episode in the studio, buddy.

As Mark, you're gonna get me to move back here.

By the way, as our colleague Mark Ingram would say, in the flesh, you're in the flesh.

Thank you, Cash App.

Thank you, Wendy's.

Let's go.

Yes.