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Fluffy, it's massive news. Fluffy is going to— is going to be going crazy.
I don't— I don't sound like that.
And it also is massive news for this show. Yeah, a lot of— a lot of news for this show.
A lot of tentacles.
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That is Mountain Dew, our wonderful sponsor. One more sip. So go grab a Dew today, tasting great since '48. Okay, let's go. Welcome to Part of My Take, presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Monday, July 27th, and LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er.
Boys, boys, the decision has been made. The die has been cast. It's championship or bust for the Sixers.
It's championship or bust for the Sixers.
They don't win the NBA championship next year, this could be the most disappointing season in the history of basketball.
I'd agree. PFT, third best favorites, super team.
As I'd agree, PFT. Well, listen, Max, we'll get it, we'll get to you. Let's, let's set the stage. On Friday morning, LeBron James decided his, uh, final decision, as he said, his final decision. So this is it, he's going to retire a Philadelphia 76er He did it in a few tweets. I did like the part where he basically was like, family's not important. Now I know what he means by that. He's basically saying that his, his two oldest are already in college. He's got a young daughter, but he wasn't deciding like, I want where my family is going to, you know, be raised because they've already been raised to an extent. But it just is funny to be like, family was not part of this.
Strictly a basketball decision.
It's a basketball decision. And we can get into everything, what it means, uh, in terms of just basketball, it was the best choice. In terms of just basketball, it was the best choice. If you, if you say that it was between Cleveland, Golden State, Miami, maybe throw in Minnesota, the Philadelphia 76ers have the best chance with Jaylen Brown now on the team, VJ Edgecomb, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid, if he's healthy, that is the best team basketball-wise.
But can I have a question for you?
Yes.
How many balls do they play with in the NBA at one time on the court? Regulation I'm talking about here. How many balls? It's one. There's just one ball.
There's just one ball.
Is that enough balls?
It might not be.
I don't think that it might not be enough balls.
It might not be enough balls.
You're right, though, from a basketball standpoint, like the starting five, projected starting five. And as Max has said, Joel Embiid is coming off the best, most healthy offseason that he's had in the last 3 years. So everything—
okay.
Yeah, he was only a little injured in the playoffs.
Most healthy offseason of the last 3 years for Joel Embiid.
Got it.
It does feel like this is a team that out of the East should be pretty good. Now, there are some teams out there that might be upset that we're anointing the Sixers like congratulations on winning the East.
Congratulations on winning the title.
The title of the entire NBA championship, namely memes and the New York Knicks. Okay. Are not taking this, this news too well, which is great. Like, I like that now there's a rivalry. We don't just have the Celtics against the Sixers on this show. We've got legit, like the Knicks against the Sixers now, too. And don't forget the Wizards and the Wizards. Have you looked at the Wizards NBA Cup group this year?
No.
Group of death.
Oh, no.
Group of death. Sixers, Bulls. Hawks, Wizards. Yeah, damn, we'll look forward to that. Um, but this does feel like the best possible news for the show. Thank you to LeBron James for choosing the 76ers. I'm very excited about it.
Well, and, and if we're gonna do thank-yous, thank you LeBron James, thank you Henry Lockwood, because Hank made this happen. Brad Stevens and the Celtics made this happen.
Yeah, they said LeBron was not worried, like not even thinking about Philadelphia until Jaylen Brown got traded to the Sixers, and then he started thinking about full—
yeah, right.
I think that this could be the, the greatest thing that Brad Stevens has ever done.
Oh, do tell.
I think, I think he's playing, I think he's playing 4D chess. He knows, he knew what he was doing with the Jaylen Brown trade, and now with LeBron, like, all the pressure is now on LeBron. Jaylen Brown didn't want to be, you know, a number 2 option with Boston, and now the Sixers, it might be number 4. What happens? I cannot wait for the end of games with with the Sixers. Like, what's gonna happen? Is this team gonna gel? On paper, they're stacked. The graphic of their starting lineup, it's stacked, it's formidable. But when you, you know, you look at the numbers, the usage rate, like, all these guys are stars when they have the ball in their hands. There is only one ball.
Hank hit him with you straight. All right, Max is now— he's, he's talking without the mic on, so we gotta, we gotta— Max, congratulations, you have LeBron James on the Philadelphia 76ers.
LeBron historically passes at the end, at the end of the game.
So I don't know why that sounded like slander there.
No, that's not slander.
Sounded like, oh, what are they going to do?
Everyone's, everyone's fighting for the ball for the last shot. Yeah. And LeBron is historic of like finding the open man for the last shot.
Okay. So, Max, walk us through your feelings when it happened on Friday. Everything that's happened since you are now a LeBron fan. You are the number one LeBron fan on this show for sure. Actually, can I ask this question first? Philadelphia is a very proud sports city. They are known for being honest with their fans. They're known for when, when things are not up to snuff, they will let— or sorry, they're honest with their players. When things are not up to snuff, they'll let their players have it. If LeBron James does not perform, will you be booing LeBron James?
No, because he's getting paid $3.9 million.
This is sad.
This is sad.
Exactly what he did to the Lakers. He joined a once-franchise, became general manager. Made them draft his son, became untouchable. Now he's going to Philadelphia and all of a sudden the fluffiest sports fan that we know and love so much has completely just acquiesced to LeBron.
You've been neutered by LeBron.
Yeah.
What is the expectations for a guy on the vet men?
I'm just asking. It's LeBron James.
Yes, LeBron James on the vet men.
All right, let me ask you this.
He chose to come to Philadelphia on the vet men.
But how many, how many vet men's signings the 76ers have ever had in the history of their franchise that you have sprinted around the offense screaming screaming, we got him, we got him, we got him.
He's first. He's first.
Exactly.
So it's not— you can play the vet men thing, but let's be honest, this is championship or bust.
I don't know. I don't know what you mean by championship or bust. Like, if, if we lose in the end, I think it's pretty confusing. If we lose in the NBA Finals, I'm gonna be like, oh, LeBron's a fucking asshole for coming to Philadelphia, not winning a championship.
76ers fans would.
Is it the championship?
Let's look at where the Philadelphia 76ers were in June. Okay, we had just gotten swept by the Knicks after we beat the Celtics. After we beat the Celtics, Jaylen Brown, good player. The franchise was going in the complete opposite direction. We had the two worst contracts in the NBA.
No, Trae Young, everyone—
no, no, Paul George.
And then we ended up trading Paul George and Quinton Grimes for LeBron James and Jaylen Brown. Obviously you're going to be excited for the future of the franchise from what it looked like a month ago. They looked like the worst team in Philadelphia a month ago.
What does that have to do with championship or bust?
Is it the championship or the bust that's confusing you?
Okay, I don't understand. Championship or bust, do you not get that?
They are not the favorites to win the championship. They are not the second favorites to win the championship. They are tied for third. So I don't understand how it's championship or bust when they're not the favorites to win the fucking championship.
Well, they're the first out of the East.
Yeah, they're tied for first with the Knicks out of the East.
Okay, so they're first out of the East.
They were the champions last year.
Yeah, correct.
Mm-hmm.
It's championship or bust.
Yeah, you guys can say championship or bust all you want.
Listen, you can pretend to not understand how the LeBron James factor works, but when LeBron chooses a team, yeah, it immediately becomes championship or bust.
You will be talked about by, by, by the talking heads more than any other team —to like a 10th degree.
You're not prepared.
I don't think you're ready for it. Oh, I'm ready.
The spotlight. Well, it sounds like you're not because you've already lost who you are. You aren't going to boo him if he sucks.
Yeah, everybody gets a trophy in Philly now. That's how it's going to be.
You're just happy he chose you.
Yeah, I'm ecstatic that he chose Philadelphia. LeBron James— Get to work. When— Yeah, I'm ready to go. I'm ready to go. I'm a LeBron sexual. That's my GOAT. That's my guy. Buy the shirt. Barstool Store. LeBron GOAT. I love this guy. I love this team. I'm so excited for basketball season.
What about the, the possible simmering beef behind the scenes that Jaylen Brown doesn't like Bronny, doesn't think he's a good— good enough to be a pro, and the fact that he wants his own team.
And like Hank said, what about the fact that it has been reported that he was very much a part of the recruitment of LeBron to come to Philadelphia?
I didn't see that report.
Okay. Oh, was that— that was a report where, where Jalen has not talked to Embiid yet, right? That was the same report. I think that was at the same report.
I think it was the same report, but that was a real thing. That was also a report. Do you think they're going to try and trade Embiid for Anthony Davis? No.
Are you nervous that— good question— even though you're championship or bust, which we all agree, it does still kind of come down to Joel Embiid's health.
Yeah, I said I don't even play him until April.
That is the one thing that like that is set up. And Mike Ganz did a great job with these moves. Moves, uh, is that the Sixers are set up that they can probably win a lot of regular season games and get a good seed in a very stacked East now, uh, without stressing out Embiid and LeBron. Because Jalen Brown and Tyrese Maxey should be able to play 70+ games, and same with VJ Edgecomb. And you can win a lot of games with those guys and back-to-backs and all that stuff. You don't have to play, you know, playing in Denver and B, doesn't have to play there like that kind of stuff.
So that's good. He's going to play in Denver this year, guaranteed.
Is it Denver or bust? Is Jokic—
if it's— if Jokic isn't playing, then yeah, Jokic might be hurt.
This is so good for the show. I can't believe—
I'm so excited.
I'm so excited for basketball. Max, tell me your 3 favorite things about LeBron James as a Bronsexual.
Family man. I respect him. I respect his love for his wife and children.
He abandoned Bronny. He didn't.
He also doesn't care. He didn't consult them in this decision.
Yeah. No, sometimes you have to make a decision for yourself and your basketball career. Okay. He's really good at reading books. I respect his intellect. Yep. And I respect the way he plays the game of basketball.
Okay. Also possibly a racist.
Yeah.
You got it, Max. You're going to have to take on all comers. I know they're going to be coming out.
I mean, I'm a Biden guy anyway. You're not.
You're not ready for the spotlight. I can already tell just from these 20 minutes you're not ready for the spot. I'm ready.
I did text Ron and I was like, I'm going to need— I'm going to need some help.
Let's get your talking points ready. If I were to sit here and say, I think Michael Jordan's the GOAT. Championships. Look how many rings he's got.
What's your rebuttal? LeBron, more points.
Okay. Oh, so he played longer.
Compiling. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Yeah. Longevity is a big thing. Is a big thing in sports. The fact that he's 42 years old, he's still doing it. LeBron, Michael Jordan couldn't do it at 42.
It's also interesting that LeBron has never had an injury.
He was a little bit injured last year.
Banged up. We all get banged up a little bit, but Do you think serious injuries?
Do you think Paul George will give him his connect in Philadelphia?
No. Paul George, we don't know what those drugs were. No one knows what those drugs were. And for you to assume it's making ass out of you and me, I mean, LeBron is—
it's crazy that he's— that he still can move the media and the world and the NBA. And year— what is he, 24? I think I saw the numerology. It was— it was the 24th day. In his 24th season and he signed for 8-year, $8 million a year. So Kobe everywhere in Kobe's hometown. But yeah, it's crazy. Like I saw, I saw a stat and this— look, I just don't want LeBron. I don't hate LeBron like I used to. I just don't want him to win another one. That's all I care about. I told you that I would make a truce with you, that if I could find a way that LeBron is like through the course of the season, they're like the best rotation is LeBron playing 8 minutes a game. And then the Sixers win with LeBron being like the 9th guy off the bench. I actually would love that. I would, I would, I would, I would, I would root for you, Max, because then I could just have another arrow in my quiver of being like, yeah, he was a role player. Like, cool. I do think it's a little weird that he's on his 4th team when you have the GOAT debate.
I do. 4 teams is weird. Why?
Why? It's just because I just do this.
Just my personal— it's my personal belief. I like— I have personal beliefs.
I feel like that's good. Yeah.
The GOAT should be a little bit loyal. Yeah.
I have my personal beliefs.
He's a mercenary. Loyal to what?
Like, he's— again, it doesn't— it's not an argument that has any type of substance behind it other than I just like to say 4 teams. That's crazy.
I'm just excited he's in Philadelphia. I said I'm excited he's in Phil— Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He's going to be the leader in the locker room. That was one thing that I was worried about with the Embiid, Jaylen Brown, like who was going to be the leader and the guy that everyone rallies around. Now they don't really have an argument to to be made to be like, it's LeBron, it's LeBron. Everyone's going to look to LeBron. He's going to be the one that gets everyone ready to go in the playoff series. He's the one that's— yeah. Oh yeah.
Rank whose team it is. LeBron, please rank whose team it is. No, no, rank it. Whose team? Like, if LeBron is out, whose team? Josh Harris, number one. Whose team?
It's LeBron. No, there is no ranking.
No, no, rank them. There obviously is a ranking. LeBron is the leader. And I just didn't show up tomorrow. It's Hank's team. If Hank didn't show up, you guys decide. I guess.
I don't know. I guess what I'm wondering, Max, where does Maxie fit in all this? Because it felt like 2 months ago this is Maxie's team and then he kind of lost the team.
Turns out the star mattered. The Rich Paul whiteboard.
Yes. Also turns out Tyrese Maxie posted a video almost immediately of him jumping for joy in the gym.
Oh, yeah, I know. Much clients, clients stick together.
He's happy. Yeah.
VJ Edgecombe did the I can't believe this in my life meme.
Yeah. Happy guy.
Sick. Happy guy. LeBron said he was signing.
But the dynamic, the dynamic, you have to admit, is going to be interesting.
Good thing that you have like the best vet in the league in that locker room to get the boys ready.
Rank whose team it is. LeBron. And then 1, 2, 3. Like, you know what I'm asking? Don't be LeBron.
1, 1 and B, 2. OK. That— see, gets interesting. 3. Yes, 3 and 4 is—
no, no, give it to us.
Maxie and Jaylen Brown are right there. Okay, they're interchangeable.
Okay, then Edgecomb. Yeah, then D-Wade.
Uh, no, probably then, uh, Huck Porty. OK, LeBron. Yeah, maybe some LeBron in there.
First time LeBron's ever played with LeBron.
Anthony Simons. OK, so D-Wade, Octavius Caldwell-Pope. Oh yeah, that's right. Yeah. Dean Wade. Octavius Caldwell-Pope was fired up on the golf course when he realized he was going to Philly.
Hell yeah. Love to see it. All right. So here's some, some crazy LeBron longevity. Because he signed a 2-year deal, which is also significant. It's not just a 1-year deal. He's signed— it seems like he wants to play for 2 more years. Uh, there are 140 active players in the NBA that have been born after LeBron debuted. Uh, he has, he has played against 37% of all players in NBA history. That's pretty insane. That is not the, the oldest opponent was, uh, born 1962, Kevin Willis. The youngest, 2006. That's a lot of years. That's a lot of years in between. And he's played against 1,857 different opponents and played with 250 different teammates. That's nuts. So, yeah, he's— and he's older than 6 active head coach, played against 5 active head coaches. Its longevity is insane. The fact that we're— like I said, go— like, this is a— this is a pro LeBron statement. The fact that he is at this age still moving odds, this significant news, this significant of a piece is insane. It's, it's really something that like we probably will never see again.
It does bear repeating that when LeBron James debuted in the NBA, that was me and Big Cat's freshman year of college. Yep. And I still remember watching that first game because he was anointed as being the chosen one before he got to the NBA to cover Sports Illustrated. I remember that first game was against the Kings, right? Yeah. And for him to be doing it is the only thing that's keeping me and Big Cat feeling like we're not old yet. He's one month older than us. And the second he retires and he steps away, that will be a harsh realization for men of a certain age like myself and Big Cat, where it's like, oh, shit, maybe we are actually in our 40s now. But until that time happens, I still kind of feel like I might be young. We got two more years. LeBron James is still out there competing at a high level in the NBA. Yeah.
James, by the way, speaking of the chosen one, The Philadelphia as a city has both chosen ones now because that was the other Sports Illustrated chosen one was Bryce Harper. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
So they have both chosen and they both chose to go to Philadelphia. That's a great city of champs.
But he also chose not to go to Philadelphia multiple times, too.
That doesn't matter. That's why I'm just saying.
Yeah. Memes, how do you feel about the fact that the Knicks did not even reach out to LeBron?
They didn't reach out to him.
They, they just turned him down. Oh, oh, so, so they reached out. LeBron reached out to the Knicks. Yeah. And the Knicks said no, thank you. Yeah.
I also—
that's way worse than not even reaching out. I still think they could afford him. But that man, he also would have been coming off the bench. He doesn't want to do that. Mm-hmm.
I feel bad. The Knicks, like, the Knicks feels like they won the championship, but then the World Cup kind of took over real quick. And then now it's LeBron. Like, no one seems like— yeah, no, I feel bad.
Like, there'll be like a trivia question like, oh yeah, who did win the 2026 NBA title. That's a good point. Yeah, great point, Hank. Hank, how are you doing? Because this is actually hell for you. Like, let's talk about that. Disagree. I disagree. You created this. There's a chance that— no, because you're living in the world where LeBron is a failure in Philadelphia and Max still cheers him. What happens if LeBron wins it all and Max is a winner and the team of the decade? Like, you don't even have even a clo— you don't even have an argument for it.
That— I mean, we're a long, long, long way away from that. That would be a bad situation. I— it's exciting. It's like Brad Stevens made an insane gamble, but, you know, only time will tell if it pays off or not. We're back to being the scrappy underdogs, which I feel like is where, you know, the Celtics thrive. So it's like everyone's expecting it's going to be Knicks or Sixers. Everyone's forgetting about the Celtics. That's a fun spot to be in. I also hated LeBron for so long when he was on the Cavs and the Heat. The Lakers, I just— I— yeah, it wasn't as easy to get up the hate for him, obviously, when he won the bubble championship. But that wasn't even a real championship. Now it's— now it's exciting to just— to just turn it all the way back on.
Oh, so you're— you're— you're actually meeting this as like an opportunity. Yeah. It's like you— you now get to— to throw back the clock almost.
The team— I think Meme said it on Friday— but the team that beats him, like, there's a team that's going to have an opportunity to retire LeBron. Wow.
And I would like to do that. Wow. Send him on his way. You would personally like to do that? Yeah. Wow. That's exciting. It is exciting. And there's no part of you that's scared at all about that guy sitting in the booth?
No, I think— what about the brothers, Double D and Nick?
No, I mean, I'll never see them again, so I'm not—
if there's like a Game 7 Celtics-Sixers, you don't think I'm paying for them to come out here?
Nope. 100%. First class. Or send Hank to Fluffy. Yeah, I—
they are a really good team. They are as a basketball— the graphic with their starting 5 is insane.
I also feel bad for B.J. Edgecombe. Like, he was, you know, coming into his own, getting a much bigger role, and now it's like he's going to be the 5th option. He's going to be forgotten about. Like, his development's going to probably— like, that's insane— fall off a lot.
It's going to be stunted.
Are you worried about—
you have to learn from the best player of all time? I thought he was just a vet, man.
His development is going to be—
he is a vet, right? Both of those things are true. Okay, so—
but you can be— you can then boo the best player of all time. Your words, not mine. I didn't— if he doesn't— if he doesn't play well enough, you're just switching back and forth. So when LeBron is bad, he's a vet, man. When he's good, he's the best player of all time. Which one would you boo?
Through his career, LeBron has a lot to teach VJ Edgecomb. I understand.
No matter where he is right now. I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about—
That's exactly what you're talking about. No, no, I'm talking about if LeBron fails, will you boo him? No. Because he's a vet, man. That's sad.
That's sad. Max out Price Tag.
I think a lot of Sixers fans right now—
It is the best contract in the history of the NBA.
Philadelphia, if you are— what I— listen, I put Philadelphia on a pedestal in terms of like the most passionate fans, the fans that will give it to you straight the most. I have tremendous respect for the city. Don't let LeBron ruin that.
I don't think that they will. That's the thing is like Max is saying that they won't, but I think that they will. I think the vast majority of Philadelphia is going to disagree with Max. Okay. When it comes to booing LeBron, if he does not perform—
this is all hypothetical land. You guys are— you guys are living in fantasy land.
This is how dudes use our imagination. Yeah. Got championship or bust.
Like, what's a— what's considered a successful season? What's considered a failure?
You just want to be part of the farewell tour. You just want the documentary.
It's all well, he says it's already a success because LeBron patting us on the head and being like, I want to live in Philly for 8 months.
Yeah, that's, that's more important than just cool watching the documentary. He doesn't really care how it goes.
That documentary is going to rock.
See, that's what I'm saying. It would be if he wins.
If he wins, I will watch that documentary a billion times.
But what's the answer, though? What is success?
I mean, what's success for anyone? The goal is to win a championship. Well, different. The goal is to win.
No, no, no, no, no. Yeah, the goal is always to win a championship. But there's, there's realistic goals for teams.
Going into the playoffs last year like, we're not going to win, we don't expect to win. Yeah, you were happy to win one series. Is that the case next year?
No, that wasn't a success.
No, but you were going into this, you were like, I don't, I don't expect the Sixers to do anything here. Like, that's fine, correct? Right. What, what is the, the goal for LeBron James in Philadelphia for the next 2 years?
I would be happy to get— I would be happy to win the Eastern Conference.
Oh my God. Okay.
All right, so it's conference or bust. Wow.
I would be happy to win the Eastern Conference.
Easter bus. Wow. So LeBron is Eastern Conference final chasing, not rings. I love second place finishes.
You know, I love second place finishes. Okay.
Yeah, we do know that. You should be championship.
It's— and that's the thing, is it—
I don't even believe— so Max is saying this, but I think the vast, vast majority of Philadelphia has higher expectations than you do. I think they're listening to Max right now and they're upset with Max. They're already mad about what LeBron's done to this city because he's made Max turn into this little beta bitch. Yeah. And Max used to have standards. The city is more important than one guy coming there at the end of his career demanding that he gets a retirement tour, demanding that, that he gets one more crack at it. The old vet.
Two more cracks at it.
Two more cracks at it. You know, the thing about putting a lot of cracks out there. All I'm saying, Max, is that one crack just comes out all the time.
It's one big crack.
All I'm saying is that old Max, old Max used to have his eyes open about what this would mean. And he would say, I'm glad that LeBron's here, but Fluffy has standards. All right, fine.
Championship or bust. Okay, there we go.
All right, you guys want me to say championship?
What'd you think about Meme's graphic that he put out saying that, uh, he put the starting lineup and then say they're the all— if they stay healthy team and put if on all their jerseys?
Yeah, that was insane. Tyrese Maxey led the league in minutes last year. Jaylen Brown didn't miss a game last year. LeBron James, as we have said on this show, never gets injured.
Oh, yeah. Hmm. Okay. Did you not say that? You just—
I was just talking about his longevity.
No, you said you literally accused him of steroids because he never gets injured.
I really just didn't say literally. I said, I said Paul George, and he should talk.
I also said it was interesting. I'm finding a lot of things.
We didn't accuse anyone of anything.
Like, this is my curiosity.
That's crazy. You jump to that level. I was thinking like Paul George, like he tells him like maybe Paul George sell him his house. Such a joke. If you guys—
so yes, the all if— yes, Embiid, that I'll give you Embiid. But the if on every single player was, was funny.
Jalen Brown doesn't deserve it.
Yeah, neither does Tyrese Maxey.
Like, yeah, Mews is just going through it. It's okay. Like there's, there's, you know, stages of grief. Yeah, that was also weird on, on what was it, Friday?
Saying like I was going through it.
I was going through nothing.
I was just doing my job.
You were in your feels.
You didn't speak to Max. Well, I was waiting.
We were waiting for Sunday. We're waiting for the show.
I mean, we were all talking. Well, right.
100%. I was talking to everyone, but that's okay.
What Joel Embiid have to say about this?
Nothing yet, but he—
that's interesting to me.
Why? Because him and him and LeBron had a 2-hour—
what's going on back there? I can't get my fucking Headphones are stuck in the chair.
Stuck headphone situation. Are they stuck in the wheel? Yeah. Yeah, that happens all the time. They get stuck in the cord, get stuck in the wheel.
Keep going in and out. I didn't even hear what Mims said. Mims, you didn't talk to Max on Friday. Why not? That's kind of a pussy move, dude. You're a champion. Don't wait for the show here. Yeah, but you didn't even talk to him.
Well, I wanted to make fun of him, and he was subtweeting him the whole time, which is a sign that— oh, yeah, Mims is in his feels.
I was in my feels. You should be in your feels. You, you're two base ops. Were built by you. I won a championship.
Max is probably gonna win championship this year, and your, your entire, your entire front office is gonna be fired next year.
That's respect.
But you are going to get a nice car from PFT because they're gonna— there's no— all right, so let me— I know, now we're just lashing out right now.
Yeah, hold on, let me do an ad real quick. Those are bangers. I had— that was good job memes, got you, got you going. All right, DraftKings, this summer, whatever you're watching— baseball, golf, soccer, Racing DraftKings has you covered for every single moment. The DraftKings Sports app is now available in all 50 states, bringing the game straight to your fingertips wherever you are. From Florida to Texas to California, you're in on the excitement at the speed of sports. Follow every buzzer beater, every walk-off, every photo finish. Sweat the moments that matter in real time with a seamless experience built for the biggest season of the year. No matter what you're watching, you're always connected and in the game with one app. New DraftKings customers sign up with code TAKE, spend $5 to get $150 in rewards within 14 days. Includes all markets. That's code TAKE in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. PFT, I did have a question for you. Okay. Okay. One, there's two things that maybe aren't great for you right now with this move.
Okay.
I'm willing to hear them. The first being The East is really good.
East is tough.
Yeah, East got better. The, the, the Pistons were the 1 seed. Obviously they have question marks, but still they won a lot of games last year. The Celtics were 2 seed, won a lot of games. Yeah, the Knicks are the NBA champions. The Cavs, good team. LeBron didn't pick them. Raptors got Kawhi. Hawks got better. Sixers got better. Heat got better. Yep. A lot of good teams, right? A lot of good stuff.
A lot of good teams. The East is— I think nobody knows what's going to happen in the East next year. Okay. Knicks are returning champions. Who knows what the Pacers are going to look like with Halliburton coming back? There's a lot of questions. I think it's totally fair to ask that question about the East. It does feel like there's going to be at least one good team that we have very high expectations for that doesn't make the playoffs this year. And that could be— it could be anybody.
Could be the Wizards.
It could be the Hornets, could be the Wizards, could be, you know, any of these great teams. The Heat. Yeah, the Wizards.
The Wizards are currently +310 to make the playoffs next year according to DraftKings Sportsbook.
I love it. Okay, I love it, I love it.
Now, um, it's not ideal. Yeah, for what I think could be a very fun up-and-coming team. I do think that the Sixers will probably reach out and at least make a phone call about Anthony Davis. Um, I also think offsetting some of that will be the fact that me and Max are going to get to go sit courtside when the 76ers come to D.C. Yeah. And that's, that's going to be a good time.
That'd be sick. Like an awesome time. The second one was, is there a— are you nervous at all for the fact that Josh Harris has two teams? Yeah, I think he still has the Devils too, right? Yeah, there's three teams. He might have a favorite.
So this is, this is the exact opposite of what everybody in Philadelphia has been saying for the last 2 years, right?
That.
But now the Commanders, when LeBron's on the team, now his favorite might switch. No, sure.
See, I, I'm just gonna make him a lot of money now.
I think that, uh, I think it's a mark of a great owner that LeBron trusted the end of his career, okay, with a businessman like Josh Harris and a good owner like Josh Harris.
Okay, but like, is there a chance, like, they're, you know, he's at, he's at a Commanders game, he's checking the scores of the Sixers, seeing what LeBron's doing?
I mean, he's a sports guy. Yeah, I think that's fine. I also think, or it could be the other way, it could be at a Sixers game checking the Commanders I think there's a good chance that he won't really care that much about the Sixers during football season. And then after football season, the spotlight's going to be on.
It's good. The schedule, the NBA schedule is going to be just chock full of Sixers.
He did hold the— it's going to be insane.
Yeah, I'm thinking about canceling League Pass.
Yeah, because you're going to get every day, every game.
You're going to be—
you don't need it. Yeah. Now, Big Cat, back to the first question that you asked there. I did think about that this weekend, about the fact that the East got so much better.
And this is awesome. He's the most fun.
By the way, more fun than the West, including the Wizards got a lot better too. True. That's a fact. The Wizards did get a lot better this offseason. I just put— what, Hank? What? Well, they were the worst team in the league.
So, yeah, they got— they got— they got better.
They got a lot better. They had to get better. Did I lie? No. Okay. I did just— I just got the El Camino back from the shop on Thursday. When I say that I put a lot of money into fixing the El Camino, I could have bought an entire new El Camino for what I ended up just paying for this, which you might have to do. And I, going into the summer when I made that bet against Hank, it was no big deal if I lost. Now, because I spent all this money and all this time, it does— it is going to sting a little bit more.
And if I have to give Hank the car, and like, it seems like every move has just been like an East team has gotten better.
Every, every team in the East has pretty much gotten better, I guess. Well, You could say the Pistons. I don't know if they got better. No, but they did win the East. That's the thing is like even the teams that didn't necessarily get better, they were good teams last year. Yeah, the Bucks got worse.
The Cavs. But the Heat got better.
I think the Cavs by vibes, overall vibes got worse.
Yeah. I don't understand too. I listen, Cavs fans like LeBron, just he just shit on you again. It's crazy. He shit on you again. Yeah, I get it. He wants to be on the best basketball team in the Sixers are the best basketball team.
But like, come on, you can't.
You can't. He did it again.
Max, who gets the last shot?
Embiid will have the ball. Or I keep saying Embiid. LeBron will have the ball and find the right man to take the last shot. That's how— that's how last shot will go.
So LeBron's just taking over the entire team. It's— yeah. LeBron. It's LeBron's team.
Okay.
All right.
It's LeBron's team. LeBron. Yeah. He doesn't need— he doesn't need to shoot it.
And when they don't win a championship, you'll boo whoever's team it is, which would be—
I haven't— I haven't booed.
He's not ready for this. He's not ready.
You keep saying— you keep asking about the boo. You keep talking about this, this fantasy land of when they lose. I'm thinking about winning right now. You guys are thinking about losing.
But every season goes up and down.
Yeah, we're not, we're not booing in the regular season. Okay. Unless it's the Eagles. Eagles, you boo in the regular season.
But okay, then there could be crossover boo though. Like if the city's upset, if the Eagles don't play well, then you know that the fans, they're going to go to Sixers games. They're going to be way easier at the hair trigger to boo.
I'm, I'm ready to boo the Phillies right now.
Oh, okay. See, that's what I'm saying. It's like you got—
Yeah, I don't want to. That feels like that might be— you're going to misdirect your booze.
I think you almost need to have a sit down with LeBron and be like, hey, we appreciate you coming to Philadelphia. Just so you know, this is how it might go, right? There's tough times when we boo you. I don't want you to take it personally, LeBron. That's just what we do. Because I feel like LeBron, he will— he listens to everything. Yeah.
Zach, are the Sixers now the biggest team in Philadelphia?
No. Eagles.
Eagles, Birds, Birds. It's always LeBron unless LeBron plays tight end for the Birds. Which is he going to live in Philadelphia?
I think he is going to. Shams reported. I think he's going to live in New York and helicopter to Philly as his commute. Oh, is that a problem? No, no, no.
I just said, I said, I said, oh, that's what you said. You said, oh. Yeah.
JJ Redick did that.
He didn't helicopter.
He did sometimes when he would come back, but he lived across the street from me.
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Just like from a personal standpoint that— I'm sure they talked about that. Yeah. You hate JJ. You do hate JJ. That doesn't seem like a fun way to live, to like, to work in a different city and then have to commute there every single time.
It's 40 minutes. It's, it's the schedule. It's like a very normal commute. Yeah. And he would just— the scheduling, like he would— because like you're also on the road half the time.
Is this just another example of a wealthy person in New York that has a job job that goes down to Philadelphia for all the Sixers games? Yeah.
Are you worried about a series against New York?
I know. I don't know what's worse though.
You need the White Boy Ricks and Bronze Sexuels of the world to like bolster your defense.
Like, I don't know what's worse though because then if the Knicks can't— Knicks fans can't get in there, then that whole argument I had was, was just, was just wrong.
This is also going to be very interesting season for the Nick Wrights of the world. Who are going to be forced to defend the Philadelphia 76ers while probably at the same time denigrating the Philadelphia Eagles. So you have to be prepared to like—
well, and also like, I think, I think what's going to end up happening— I know I'm being honest here. This is the real take. I think what's going to end up happening and the only person who this move is— I don't want to say bad for, but the pressure has gone to a billion. Is Joel Embiid, because if they don't perform, it will be his— he will get all the blame and no one else. And he is the only— like, think about it, like Maxie's young guy, VJ Edcomb's a young guy, Jaylen Brown's won a title, LeBron's won titles. It's like that. He is the guy. He has to— he will get the inordinate amount of blame for anything that goes bad for the Sixers, and he won't get a lot of the praise. It will go to LeBron.
That's part of playing with LeBron. Well, you got to see how it plays out.
That is part of playing with LeBron. But you got to see how it plays out. We've seen how it played out.
But if— but if he drops 40 in a Finals to win a game, he's going to—
Oh, like Kyrie? Yeah. Yeah. Whose team was that?
Kyrie got credit too.
Yeah, I know. But that's LeBron's team.
Yeah. Kevin Love put the clamps on Steph Curry.
Yeah. Yeah. We know how it goes.
But Max, you know that you can't deny what Big Cat just said. Correct. That, that what LeBron does on a team. The pressure, because the spotlight is so big on LeBron, no matter what happens, it will be looked at like—
and deservedly so. Yeah, he's got the— he's got 20 years of being the, the face of the NBA and, and the guy.
No, that's— I mean, it's absolutely right because it is weird that Embiid hasn't said anything. Yeah, well, he hasn't said anything about anything. He doesn't, he doesn't talk about basketball publicly anymore.
Well, I mean, in a situation—
this isn't about basketball. He had a 2-hour meeting with LeBron a month ago about him coming to Philadelphia and how his health— and that was a big factor of why LeBron wanted to come here.
Do you have—
because Embiid convinced him that he felt like he was healthy to have a long NBA season this year.
Most healthy offseason he's had in 3 years. He's actually—
in that report, he actually said it's his most healthy offseason ever. Ever. Yeah. So he actually is doing the best shape of my life right now. Do you have 15— gained £15 of all muscle? Pure muscle. Pure muscle.
I love that. Do you have a backup coach in mind for when LeBron inevitably starts to turn on Nick Nurse?
Hmm. Good question.
He's a clutch guy. Nick Nurse is a clutch guy. Good question.
PFT. Okay, so no accountability then. Nick Nurse is a clutch guy. So he'll never be fired.
Kumbaya. Kumbaya. Okay.
Because that is one of LeBron's moves. Yeah, but he's a clutch guy. But he's— I don't think he's LeBron's guy. He's a clutch—
that literally means being a clutch guy.
Yeah, that means he's Rich Paul's guy.
But if you're Rich Paul's guy, you're LeBron's guy.
Rich Paul is LeBron's.
Yeah. Has there ever been a coach that was a clutch guy that has been fired that LeBron's played under? It's a genuine question. I don't know.
I don't— I don't know that answer.
I feel like Hank is not taking enough of like he's just—
he just made— Hank, why don't you tell the story about how you made the team and what you made the team.
Yeah, created the team.
But what if, like, what if Brad Stevens knows, like, he knows Jaylen Brown may have been, you know, getting his head, might have been getting a little inflated. He wanted to be a star and he knew that if you trade him to the Sixers, LeBron would go to the Sixers, which would just implode the team. Mm-hmm. It's 4D chess.
Did you see Jason Tatum took a shot at Jaylen Brown? I did. I think that is a trouble in paradise. No, because they're not on the same team.
Oh, they kept it. They were, they were good teammates and projected like— so do you want to apologize to us. For what?
For every time that we said there might be something there and you're like, no. Well, that's also the media.
Like, who knows that that was about Jaylen Brown?
He said— I, I— he said, I don't want to be the smartest person in the room. Hasn't Jaylen Brown said that he's always the smartest person in the room? Yeah, but that—
those don't have to be related things.
But he said that he, he just got done being with somebody who was the smartest person in the room.
He said, I don't want to be around that person. Being around somebody that feels like they know it all I don't want to be around that person. I don't want to be the smartest person in the room. I want to learn from somebody else. I think that's trouble in paradise.
No, that's, that's a good lesson for the kids. He was teaching at a kids basketball camp. He's trying to teach them humility.
When James Harden was like, Darryl Morey is a liar. I will never play. I repeat.
I repeat. Let me say it again. Darryl Morey is a liar.
Just looked it up. Forgot about this. Ty Lue, he was the coach for the Cavs. Clutch guy got fired, I think, 6 games into the season or after a 6-game losing streak at the start of the year.
Mm. Won a championship. Okay, I'll take that.
Okay. Championship or bust.
I would, I would love for Nick Nurse to get fired 6 games after a losing streak. That would be the most Philly thing ever.
Yeah.
Yeah. Okay. All right. One other story. So congrats, Max.
I'm just excited. I'm excited. I'm excited. You just got a lot more excited.
I'm excited to watch.
I want Hank to tell the story of how he found out and what happened. Yeah, I was. Thank God, Max.
Max, I was golfing Friday morning. Max was supposed to be there. He had to, he had to cancel, which honestly made my day. Cause that would've been the worst way to find out. I had to work.
Uh, it would've been great. I, you had to work.
Yeah. I also had to work. I, I was back at work in the afternoon. Um, I found out as I was driving to my second shot, hit a drive in the fairway. I'm driving to my second shot, saw the, saw the alert. Had about a minute to process it, and then I was trying to, you know, lock back in, and I hit my second shot quite literally sideways, like impossibly sideways. It might have went backwards. And I was right. I mean, I was, I was rattled. I had— I've had to come to grips with it and try and, you know, spin zone this in my mind to being a good thing. It is scary. You know, 2 years ago we were NBA champions, talk of the town. Now the Knicks have won and the Sixers have like—
I forgot. I forgot the Knicks won.
The most stacked team in the world. Damn it. But it's Knicks-Sixers. Like, they're going to have to battle it out and we're going to be the scrappy underdog, you know, people that no one's thinking about, that we can just make a run in the playoffs.
And I— the Celtics currently have the third best odds to win the East according to DraftKings.
Okay. Who's 1 and 2?
Yeah. Let's not act like they're— Wizards are the scrappy underdogs right now.
Well, no one knows. No one saw Caleb Wilson. If— if— did the Sixers get LeBron to stop Caleb Wilson?
If two teams have better odds, that would make the third team the underdog, correct? Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
Okay.
Yeah. No, I'm—
but you're acting like you're a 16 seed over here. Like we're underdogs.
3. Fact or fiction? Dog. Fact or fiction? He said Scrappy Underdogs.
Underdogs. Sure. Yeah. No one's talking about them.
Max, you got to get used to championship or bust, dude.
He's not used to it.
He can't handle it. You want to be the Scrappy Underdog?
You've never been an overdog before. Yeah.
I've been an overdog. Okay, so, so the rest of the round, how'd it go?
I had like 2 X's on the scorecard. I left after 16 holes to come to work. It was, it was, I mentally was, was checked out.
You caused this.
Yeah, no. And then, but I think, I think I trust Brad Stevens. It might seem crazy. He might seem like he completely botched this entire situation. Gave the Sixers Jalen Brown and LeBron for nothing, took on Paul George's bad contract. But I trust him. I trust him. I trust Missoula. I trust our young core. Shireman. Shireman, Hugo. And you're getting a new car. And I'm getting a new car.
I get a new car. Memes. What's with the Wizards hate? See, this is what it's all about. Like, I told you. I know it's sad. I told you a month ago, get ready for the new rivalry in the NBA. It's going to be the Wizards against the Knicks. 'cause of the Trae Young factor. Memes said I was crazy. Now look at him. Rent free. They can't— yeah, rent free memes. Wish I was getting that credit.
Hank, we've played the championship or bust and like Max having to deal with booing LeBron and all that. What happens if the Sixers do win a championship?
I cannot think about that. I won't think about it.
Think about it now. We made Max think about the other thing. Think about it.
If the Sixers win the NBA championship with LeBron.
Yeah. Max is about to come. Oh, I—
yeah, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't think about what that will do. That parade. What that, what that summer will be like, what that playoff run will be like.
Oh, the commercials with like LeBron next to the Rocky statue.
I mean, it will, it will, it will crush me because that will be You know, 16 games of pure hate watching and probably whatever, like 25 games of pure hate watching for them to come through all that and win the championship. Oh, it would break me.
It's going to be— so it's championship or bust for Max. It's bust or bust for you.
Like, you need Max to retire.
Now it's retire LeBron. You need Max to bust.
No, it sounds like it's championship or suicide. Or no, bust or suicide.
Bust or suicide. That's the David Carradine special. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. We can retire LeBron.
Look that one up.
That was a good joke. Look that one up.
You got to retire LeBron.
You got to retire LeBron.
Or beat the Knicks.
Or beat the Knicks.
Or have the Wizards just suck.
I got a lot of— No, no, no, no, no. But that doesn't matter. If the Sixers win it all and the Wizards suck, you still are—
That won't give you any joy. That's nothing. You'll drive the El Camino off a bridge.
Goddamn it. The playoffs are—
That actually might be what I do. Wow.
Wow. I'd hate to see you go, Hank. This is—
is there a part of you too? Because we had the take-ease on Friday and we talked about how you, you want to take-e for all your losses. And we're like, this is where it turns for you because you finally won something. And then immediately after LeBron went to Philadelphia. Yeah.
Someone, someone in one of the comments section said like it was the— it's the, it's the summer of Max leading into the fall of Hank, creating the fall of Hank. Wow. Which I hope that means like it's going to be a good fall.
But no, I think they're talking about the fall of your empire. Yeah. Yeah. I think it would.
I don't know.
Has it been the summer of Max? I mean, he got married 4 times.
Yeah, he's had a good time for sure. Yeah. Just 2 times because, like, that's kind of encroaching on the summer of memes.
It's something we don't—
why would it be the summer? We're not acknowledging that anymore. Why would it be the summer of memes?
Because the Jets got better.
Oh, but what did he win?
I don't know. Did you guys have Spain and—
yeah. Oh, yeah. King's Cup. We had Spain. Yeah.
But outside of that, I mean, yeah, that's the beautiful cyclical nature of this show is the second one person starts to feel really good, reality comes in.
Comes LeBron. Yeah. Shout out that one guy who had the, is LeBron a Sixer yet from any updated. His last tweet was July 1st, 2018. Yeah. He said, no, he never will be. Now time to deactivate whole whatever it is. 8 years later. Insane. It's crazy that he's a Sixer. I did not think that was gonna happen. I thought it was Cavs, I thought it was Heat. I thought there was no chance. I'm pretty sure we put our reputation on the line as a podcast for like the 75th time, so that's tarnished again. I think, I think we did it for both the Cavs and also Zach.
Yeah, at least Zach got Zach.
Oh yeah, Zach, talk us through what happened because you, your, your one job was to tweet, I think today is the day that LeBron signs, every single day until he mind?
I think— I mean, as I'm new to the insider game, it's a tough game. I got the right team, just wasn't the first guy to break it. Okay, so when did you break it? I broke it, uh, if we're doing Central Time to Eastern Time, I think I may have broken it before some of the guys who broke it on the East. Okay. But I broke it roughly 45 minutes before the best guy.
Got it, got it.
Okay, so within the same calendar hour.
I will say that you broke it before Marlins Man because he texted me about 2 hours later saying LeBron LeBron to the Sixers.
He's not covered. The Insider Game. No, he's not.
He's not ready to be an insider, that's for sure. OK, should we do Who's Back of the Week? We'll cover some more sports stuff and Who's Back of the Week. I'm sure we all have a lot. Yeah, it is brought to you by our friends at SimpliSafe. In the US, there's a break in every— break in every 26 seconds. That means somewhere right now an intruder is getting closer. The problem is most security systems only alert you after a break-in has already started, and that's too late. That's why I chose SimpliSafe to secure my home using the Outdoor Camera Series 2 and Advanced AI Alerts. SimpliSafe's US-based live agents identify threats on your property and help deter them, stopping crime before it starts. That's real peace of mind. SimpliSafe has been a game changer for me. I want you to experience the same peace of mind I do, which is why I partnered with SimpliSafe to offer an exclusive discount to all of our listeners right now. You get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com/pmt. That's half off at simplisafe.com/pmt. There's nothing like peace of mind, and that's what SimpliSafe does for you.
There's no safe like SimpliSafe. Go to simplisafe.com/pmt, you get 50% off your new system by visiting simplisafe.com/pmt. Okay, Hank, your Who's Back of the Week?
Uh, my Who's Back of the Week is Tony Romo.
Yeah, who's back BAC. Yeah, who's back BAC? Here we go, Jin.
Uh, he got arrested on Friday for an OWI in Milwaukee. He was competing in the, uh, Wisconsin amateur tournament, amateur golf tournament. I think he was 35 over after 4 rounds. Yep. Don't know if those two things are related, but which came first? He was like— that was kind of a creepy, creepy mug shot too. Smiling. Yeah, it was like cheese.
Well, I mean, in Wisconsin it is kind of like a badge of honor. So like, do you get your first— you get your first, you know, they cut your tie.
They, uh, they first sale. They created an entire new level of DUI for beginners, right? For first-timers in Wisconsin.
Well, yeah, you don't get— it's, it's a civil penalty. It's not— you don't go to jail.
Yeah, that's crazy. It's just a fine. So the OWI in Wisconsin is like Fisher-Price My First DUI. Yeah.
Yeah, you're just like, hey, you got to, you got to give us like $300 and don't do it again.
Yeah, it's pretty much boys will be boys. That's crazy. Yeah, it's not. Scott likes to drink. The old gunslinger at it again. Yeah, shots a bullet. I saw that he withdrew from this week's celebrity golf tournament though. Okay, it's like when you, uh, if you win the, the Open Championship, yeah, in golf, you withdraw from the next one because you're like, I need to take a week celebrating. If you get an OWI in Wisconsin, you need to do a, a victory lap, I guess.
I'll say this, Spin Zone. Good job, Tony Romo, coming on PMT and being super likable with us because we're probably taking it a little easy on you.
Yeah, we're just making jokes.
Yeah. Like, I do like Tony Romo, so shouldn't drink and drive. Don't do that or operate. Bad idea. Don't operate. Just get an Uber. But yeah, it's fine. Just fine. Yeah, just fine. Just fine. Okay. You got any other who's backs?
No others. Okay. All things considered, like, if you compare popular color analysts in football, former quarterbacks getting arrested this year for alcohol-related offenses, this one doesn't seem that bad. Who else?
Wait, what am I missing? Popular? Oh, wait. Sanchez. Oh, yeah. Sanchez. Sanchez. I just— I forgot that he was— that's like the Knicks championship. It's like, don't even remember it happened.
Completely forget about it. Yeah. So you got to take the good with the bad memes.
Memes is just doing the Arthur meme right now. He's just, oh, these fucking guys.
Do you think he's going to be like, is there any sort of discipline that CBS is going to put down?
Well, if it's just a fine, not a felony, then yeah, probably not.
Yeah, I don't, I don't think so. I'll also say we did learn about this right away, unlike Kyle Shanahan, which that was weird. Heard. I'm happy Kyle Shanahan's okay. Yeah, that was crazy. That had nothing to do with like DUI or anything, but he got in a car crash 2 weeks ago and has like really bad injuries, and we just learned about it on the first day of training camp.
They said severe concussion. Yeah, which is crazy. Like, he might have been knocked out. I guess that would be a severe concussion. Yeah. So we went to the hospital, broke ribs on July 14th. So yeah, it was like 10 days, 11 days ago, and now he won't, he won't be able to coach the team at the start of training camp at least. So Chris Forrester, you might remember him. Oh yeah, from a few years ago. Oh yeah, was what Frank the Tank say?
I don't remember.
What was this joke, Hank? You remember this joke? Yeah, I don't remember. Frank the Tank had a banger.
Chris Forrester had some nice videos.
I think it was, uh, he was a, uh, a line coach. Yep. And now he's coaching lines. I think that's the Frank the Tank joke.
Yeah, but that was a weird story. It was very strange.
Yeah, like that it just never—
and it felt like some of the reporters might have known but didn't report on it. I don't know.
I saw one reporter say that they, they found out that he would not be coaching the team a few days ago, but they didn't know why. Okay. They could take an educated guess that something happened. I hope he's okay. They didn't know why. I hope he's okay too. That sounds like it was pretty scary. Yeah, it is strange, though, that nothing got put out. Usually if something like that happens to a head coach one way or another, people will find out. People will leak that news somehow. Yep. Not to say that, like, it's a good thing that it always gets leaked, but it is pretty common. I would say it would be uncommon for something like this to happen. Okay.
You're who's back the week, PFT.
I mean, the NFL's back. Football's— football is back. Football's back. Football's back. So bad. This is— this Monday show will be the last Monday show that we have where we can't discuss any on-the-field football until after the Super Bowl. Love it. How about that? Love it. Football is officially back. Love it. I'm just excited reading every storyline coming out of training camp, which guys are on the PUP list, the most meaningless reports that come out of any training camp. I am addicted to reading all that. I'm very excited. Patrick Mahomes is back. Patrick Mahomes is back. That's one of the— yeah, one of the stories. He was—
knee looks great.
What do you mean? Being sarcastic?
Left knee is— well, I mean, rehabbing an injury, that's what happens.
But what happened?
The size difference of his left— well, yeah, and right is somewhat concerning. So that was sarcastic.
Yeah, that's very atrophy.
It's a little smaller than it was. It'll get back.
Me, I'm going to look up his name. Yeah, but football's back.
Football's back. So there was the Mahomes thing. Brandon Aiyuk just bought a house in Northern Virginia for $10 million. Pretty normal stuff. Okay. Pretty normal place to invest in real estate for a guy that can definitely afford to spend $10 million on a house that he doesn't live in across the country, that he has no connection to. Somebody check on Brandon Aiyuk. Yeah. Does Brandon— does he have anybody in his life that can and like look after him. I'm actually worried about the guy.
I'm— I— yeah, I mean, he's— it's very bizarre what he's doing.
It's— he's not— he's in a bad spot. He's in a bad spot mentally. I don't know that he's— he's got any friends or any teammates that can reach out to him. It doesn't sound like he does. Sounds like he's going through a very kind of self-destructive time right now. Mm-hmm. Very, very strange for him to spend $10 million on a house. Because it's located right next to my mom. Yeah, he's essentially living next door to my mom. So mostly I'm just worried about my mom because she does use those roads. She drives on those same roads. Yeah. So if, if somebody could just keep an eye on Brandon Aiyuk, make sure he doesn't crash a car into my mom, that would be awesome.
Yeah. Someone, someone make sure you're on that. Yeah, it is very bizarre. Okay. My Who's Back Week football-related acronyms. Did you guys see my former coach Matt Nagy has a new acronym and I think he doesn't even realize it. It, but his acronym is Physical, Tough, Smart, Detailed.
PTSD. PTSD. Now, where did you see this acronym?
He did— it was, it was some meeting in April where he didn't say the acronym, but he was like, here's what— he put it up on the big board. Yeah. He's like, here's what we're going to be, boys. We're going to be Physical, Tough, Smart, Detailed. Oh my God. Yeah. We can't see this computer, Max. You never set it up. You're too— you're thinking too much about Championship or Bust.
I like that. Also, I did not see this part about it, but in that same— it might have been the same video that came out. That was the Jon Harbaugh motivational speech that he gave to the Giants where he just kept looking around the room saying, the New York Football Giants. Watching that, it was pretty obvious. I'm not going to— I'm not going to judge Harbaugh too harshly on this because it was pretty clear that he forgot that he was supposed to give a speech that day and he just got up in front of the room and started talking. In front of the room and started just saying what he was looking at. Yeah, he's like, we got the vets in the back of the room.
Well, it's also fun to say New York Football Giants. It is. It's Chris Berman.
We got the coaches over here. He was just narrating what he saw in the room at the time and just kind of hoping that he was going to land that plane.
We got Nagy over here. He's got PTSD. Again, it doesn't really— it's not like he's, you know, after Cody Parker did the double doink, he had 9 kickers try out all from the 43-yard line.
So he doesn't have any of No, definitely not. It's not.
It's not a— it's not an issue. All right. My other who back— who's back is PCA. Just the MVP. I just want to say PCA should be the MVP. Shohei is not pitching as of right now. PCA just continues to be a joy to watch. An absolute— every night it's appointment television to watch Pete Crow-Armstrong play baseball. And my last who's back is Zach, because you got to tell us the story you were going to tell us. We didn't do a Fyre Fest during the take. Please tell us the story.
Oh my, uh, my— who's back? I guess, yeah, time travel, because we did want to talk about Friday on Monday. Yeah, uh, it— not, not too much. It wasn't— it may have gotten blown out of proportion. We went to, uh, we went to a boat movie the other day. We're watching a movie on a boat, movie about a boat on a boat. Mutiny, great movie, great film, a lot of action, pretty immersive because we got like real boat horns going, helicopters going.
Quickly, before Zach finishes, we, we— the movie ended out and Zach was like, oh, it was a good movie. And I was like, Zach, What, what does that make your year-long movie total now? And he said, one.
Oh, good job. Yeah. I feel like that was a strong way to get into the movie game this year. Yeah. One and done.
Best movie of the year. Best movie I've seen this year. Yeah. Yeah. Love that. Certainly. Okay. So that was like, it was like pretty social, like watch the movie, eat some popcorn. They had great caramel cheddar mints. I brought a couple home. Those were banging. But, uh, it was like some drinks as well socially.
So, uh, oh, so you were having some social drinks.
I had a couple of social drinks just to socialize, you know. You have boat drinks? Boat drinks, which are a little tricky with the, with the current going. Boat drinks, not to be slept on. Kind of like an airplane beer. But, uh, so yeah, the at-sea beers got caught up to me a little bit. So after the boat, I was like, all right, maybe I just do a couple drinks on the way home because the boat beers were fun. Yeah. So went— that's normal. Got some frozen drinks as, as men do there. And I was alone, so they were tasty. I just lean into the frozen, you know, I love that.
I don't have to answer to anyone.
When you say When you say frozen drinks, what kind of frozen drinks are we talking about?
Jackery's. So the one was like a, like a mint citrus situation. And the other one was just run the ball. Yeah, you know, they do that Jack and Pepsi combo with the frozen as well. Very good.
Very tasty. Okay.
This is by yourself? Yeah, it was just in because— yes.
Okay. It was— were you still on the boat for these drinks?
No, I was off the boat for these.
These were on the way home. Okay.
So you did like a bar crawl on the way back?
Yeah, quick little bar crawl on the way back. And then I get to the apartment. I'm like, you know how you end this evening? Taco Bell. Taco Bell. That was delicious. And then ate the tacos, went Lucy Pouch, as one does after a meal. It's like, you know, it goes great with the Lucy Pouch. Diet Pepsi. I just was in bed. One sip of Pepsi, fell asleep, woke up, 24 ounces of Pepsi just all over my body.
You fell asleep big.
Sip. I got one because the combo is so good of the pouch and the Pepsi after a meal.
It knocks you out. The guys who get it, get it. Yeah. So did you wake up from the actual spillage or was it already spilled? And when you opened your eyes, you were just wet?
I cracked that thing, passed out, woke up, kind of looked at my comforter like, what? What is this?
What time was it? Morning time. Like, oh, so you slept all the way through? I—
we went to this interview. My sheets were still soiled.
Okay, so you woke up and it was like like the— the— your drink was on the floor somewhere and you just had brown sheets.
My phone was wet and I look, I'm like, did I— somebody shit this bed? And I check and like, no, this is Pepsi. Oh, I was just sticky. And then I was in here kind of sticky. Yeah. And I don't really do the best waking up with too much time before we get here, so then I'm in here sticky. Oh, you didn't shower? I like— like, you know, like the ho bath, like the—
like the wipes.
Yeah, I didn't have time.
Okay. Damn, Zach, that was tough.
That's brutal. And I think I would have been okay, but there's— on the way home from the bar, I found a nightclub. Never been there before. You guys check it out. Great time. I think we could go as a team. Would be good. Yeah. So I think that's what did it.
I think nightclub did it. That's awesome, Zach. All right. You have another who's back?
Who's back of the week? Also, Mike Rabel, because Mike Rabel may have used a dog as a shield.
Oh, yeah. The human shield. Yeah, I thought that was a classic smart PR 101. Yeah, it is actually a genius move. Classy move. Yeah. The dog had a jersey on.
They're trying to save dogs. We're trying to save dogs. We're, we're, we're all pro saving dogs.
That's a fact.
And that's, that's what he was trying to do is bring awareness. 100%.
Much thoughts on him bringing the dog, maybe not an arm-sized dog in an arm-sized dog position.
I just chose how much of a beast.
Yeah, he's a man. All right.
So double who's back.
Riddle might be a beast. Thoughts on maybe Maybe it's Mike Vrabel, maybe it's someone else, but like, why aren't we taking this further? Like, why wouldn't a coach coach with the dog in their hands?
Pops on the sideline.
Yeah. Like, you can't get that upset if you see it's going to be like, like Mike McCarthy's dumb face when he's trying to figure out what just happened. But there's a wiener dog under his arm.
Or yeah, if you had a—
that would be a great visual if he had a pug that was like sitting on his shoulder.
Yeah. Backpack with like a pair of Peanut butter. Yeah. Funny. Ditch analytics.
Lean into Dachshunds. They make game time decisions based on peanut butter on playbook.
Yeah. Yeah, we go. I feel like Andy Reid would have maybe an Australian Shepherd, like a really smart, maybe border collie, really smart dog that you just look at and the dog would go.
I think Andy Reid might be sneaky, tiny dog guy.
He could be a tiny— it's funny if you know, dog.
Yeah. He's a recliner with him.
Yeah. But this is a good idea. Like, this should be something. It would be hard to be mad at a coach like big moment. They zoom in and he's just got the cutest puppy in his arms and he's just petting it as like sympathy for himself.
Yeah. My favorite part of this was just how, how transparent the thing that Mike Vrabel was doing was. It's so transparent. So that his first time talking to the media, that is, that is, it's hilarious.
I love it. Yeah. You put a dog in a jersey too. It's like everyone's like, oh, Yeah.
Yeah.
Do we have this? It's good. Good play.
You think it's a Juice situation? You think that's really his dog?
What situation? A Juice. Oh, do we think that's Juice Kiffin?
We've—
well, we confirmed that.
Well, Kiffin, that's confirmed. Kiffin's dog. But I'm talking about dog speculations online.
I don't know.
I feel like this is where they start. No, I think that this is— this is a dog that you two could adopt. Mm-hmm. It's like, actually, Vrabel just saved a life in that press conference. Mm-hmm.
Good. Who's bad? Back. Any other, uh, sports stories that we missed?
Oh yeah, the biggest sports story of the day.
What, Holly Rowe singing Mo Bamba? That was so funny.
Um, no, our long national nightmare is over. Oh yeah, Jacoby Brissett has agreed to a contract with the Arizona Cardinals. We should have led with the show. So he'll be back. That's— thank God that's over. Um, you talk about just a giant albatross hanging around the neck of an organization. Brissett's back now. People might hate on Brissett. I think he had the highest amount of yards per game of any quarterback in the NFL last year. That's how bad the Cardinals were for the first 3 quarters. Yeah, that his garbage time was good enough to lead the league.
Yeah, so good job, Jacoby Brissett. You, you knew your worth and you got your worth.
It turns out he was right. Yeah, like they, they did end up paying him. So also tough day for Carson Beck, who is operating as if he was going to be the He'll get there. Yeah, maybe I'll have a chance.
He might have a chance. Also, the USA Today did the Who's Back of the Week is just everyone still losing their mind about Caitlin Clark because we had the one on Friday. Yeah, the article basically blaming her for all racism. And then USA Today just wrote a story just being like Caitlin Clark missed the red— the orange carpet for WNBA All-Star Game to get a haircut. Cut. Yeah, in her hometown. Turns out she was actually going to a charity event that she ran in her hometown.
People are incapable. She's destroyed more brains in this country than cocaine. It's nuts. Like, she is— it's impossible to have any rational take online about Caitlin Clark anymore. It's absolutely nuts. Okay, uh, Hank, also, yeah, the Red Sox might be back. Yeah. Oh yeah, hot stove. They've been back. You know about the trade? Do tell. So Oh, you guys traded with the Nationals. You got Curtis Mead, our Australian guy. We got a lefty arm from you guys.
You're not excited about Curtis? We're buyers. Yeah, we're buying.
Well, also, also selling at the same time. You traded. We're making moves. You are making moves.
I hate that guy's name. Which guy? Connelly Early.
Connelly Early.
His name should be Connor, not Connelly. I don't understand. That's not a first name.
Connelly might be a family name.
Connelly Early. But I think with Early too, it's like I just want to say Connor Early.
Connor Early is a good name. Yeah. Yeah, I'll give you that. Yeah. Curtis Mead, you're going to like him, Hank. That was my—
that was my take on it.
Curtis.
Okay, let's get to our interview. We got Patrick Kane in studio and then afterwards we're going to do our Mount Rushmore of Fuji with a spoon.
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Okay, we now welcome on a very, very, very special guest. It is 3-time Stanley Cup champion and now back on the Blackhawks, Patrick Kane, in person, in studio. Kaner, first of all, thank you from everyone. Thank you in Chicago. Thank you.
Because that was like— I feel like you guys played a big role in it, you know, with the ice cream offer. The ice cream.
Yeah. So your son's going to have to get some ice cream. You too. You can get— I'll just give you a key card to the office and you can come in whenever. Um, so thank you for re-signing with the Blackhawks. Uh, what— I mean, so this is— we're taping this on Friday afternoon, we're gonna run it on Monday. It's been like 24 hours. What is the last 24 hours? Were you— did you have the, the wave of emotions that every fan had?
I mean, I feel like, uh, you know, what was it, uh, it would have been Wednesday night, I— we kind of finalized the contract and I signed it. And then, um, you know, I didn't really know when that it was going to be announced, so I woke up early, went to the gym, like, was after the gym, was on my way to the skate, and it must have just been announced like right as I was driving to the skate. And, um, you know, I walk into the locker room, whatever, and, you know, everyone's just like congratulating me or whatever. All my equipment's changed out, like no more Red Wings pants, no more Red Wings, uh, stickers on the helmet, like I had to change, change everything over to the Blackhawks pants, Blackhawks jersey, Blackhawks helmet. And then, you know, after that you can kind of just feel the buzz, you know, throughout the city and definitely through like social media and things like that. Right. So, but I tell you what, Chicago fans are like, they're incredible. Like, I feel like ever since I started here, they've, you know, had my back. They've been, you know, huge fans.
I mean, you guys. Yeah. Chief as well. I feel like it's been incredible, the support from, from the people in Chicago. So, you know, and then that plays a factor too. I think just knowing that you're loved by the city and the people here is— it's such a great feeling. So, I mean, obviously I come back here for the summers and things, but to be back— it's different.
Yeah. Yeah.
Playing for the Blackhawks now, it's to be a Blackhawk again. It's just incredible feeling.
I don't know if you saw this, but I was driving into work this morning and there was a giant billboard over the highway and it said Interstate 90 welcomes back Kane.
Really?
I didn't see that one at all. It said we miss you. Did you miss the highway? Because it missed you. Literally, it was a welcome back to the highway.
I think I've been more angry at the highway than maybe I've missed it. No, I mean, like I said, someone sent me a picture that it was like at Wrigley Field, you know, yesterday. Welcome back, number 88. Yeah, things like that. Like, that's, that's unbelievable. Yeah, think about Wrigley Field. It's such a big venue, you know, iconic, historic place, and something like that is up there for, for, you know, just coming back and signing a contract. It's, it's unbelievable. You can feel it.
I— so, so my, my question that I saved when I saw you at the front door, and I wanted to save it for the show, Did you listen to Old Thing Back at all yesterday? What's that? The Old Thing Back, or I Want the Old Thing Back, the song from the 2015 team, because I listened to it probably 20 times. What's the song? You know, you know the song. Got that old thing back. Yeah. You guys played it in the locker room every single time. Yeah, I got it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got— I know what you're saying.
I've got to listen to it.
I haven't listened to that one, but what did I listen to? Oh, do you remember Wake Me Up by Avicii? Yeah, that was— that was like our 2013, 13. Yeah, that was Uh, okay, that was, um, good vibes with that one too. But yeah, I feel like all those, uh, all those, uh, Stanley Cup runs have like a certain song that's kind of, yeah, correlated with that, with that time, you know. So, uh, well, now, yeah, I mean, I listened to the wrong song. I fucked up. Honestly, we were— me and my buddies were actually, uh, we were looking through like— I had— I have a playlist on my phone like 2015 Stanley Cup and just listen, listening to like those songs again. It it brings you back to memories. Yeah, uh, uh, like I remember being in the limo bus like going to Jimmy Buffett and we're listening to like total opposite music. Yeah, Jimmy Buffett, Jimmy Buffett, you know, and then we go to Jimmy Buffett, have a great time, come back, and then we're going to like Paris to Paris club to hang out with Tiesto. Yeah, it was just like, like you didn't even realize back in the day like how lucky you were and how great those, um those times were.
So, hey, hopefully we can, we can recreate something like that.
Well, that's the thing I was going to ask is like, you know, obviously there's a nostalgia factor. I think everyone wanted to see you back in a Blackhawks jersey, especially, you know, I was there the night that you came back with the Red Wings and they had the video. And actually, let's start with that. Was there— because it felt like that was like a different emotion than you've ever shown, where it was like being there in, in— it was Chelios night. Yeah. And you get this video tribute, and I think the standing ovation was like 10 minutes long. I told you the story, but my— it was my son's first ever Blackhawks game and going to the, to the UC. I told him like, this is the team we root for. And then when, when we had a 10-minute ovation for you, he's like, he, he looked at me like, yeah, just betrayed me. Like, why are we cheering for this guy? But that did feel like different emotion. Was there a part of you at that moment? It's like, I really hope I can come back at some point.
I think at that point the door was like— I thought the door was probably closed. So, you know, I think you're playing in a game like that, you're almost trying to like stick it to the team that I don't want to say didn't want you, but they were going in a different direction, right? Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, I mean, that night with, with Chelios and the ovation and just being back in the United Center and be on the opposite side for the first time. And then, you know, like, I didn't play good at all that game. Game. And then, you know, I get the game-winning chance in overtime and score, right? So it's like, uh, and what was so cool about that is I feel like half the people were kind of like mad the Blackhawks lost, and then half were kind of like cheering for me, you know? So it was, uh, it was, it was a great moment scoring that goal. And then almost like everybody skated off the ice and I did like another lap and just feeling the love from the fans. I'm like, this is, this is just— there's nothing like this place, you know?
Right. Even last year, you know, I we came back in and I was on the ice, you know, starting the game and on the blue line for the national anthem. And I was like, is it always this loud in here? Like, is this national anthem always this loud? Like, like, did I take it for granted? Right. 16 years I was, I was here. And so definitely looking forward to that. But yeah, I mean, you know, it's, it's funny the way things work out. I mean, if you would ask me last year, I thought like at the end of the season, I thought I would be going back to Detroit. And, you know, things happen and then it's like, okay, let's just take our time, see what's out there. July 1st and Danny Wirtz called me like at 11:03 or something like as soon as free agency opened. And it was actually kind of like an emotional call from him. You know, it was, it was, you know, a call I'll never forget. But, you know, all of a sudden you start thinking about, okay, well, you know, there's, there's interest. Maybe it'd be a cool place to come back and play.
Yeah.
Was that the first time you allowed yourself to think about that or did you get yourself like, was there a moment maybe a year ago where you're like, you know, I can see myself kind of going back there at the end.
Yeah, maybe a little bit, but nothing like too serious where I thought it could actually happen, you know? And I think things just kind of worked out where they're kind of like at the stage where they're trying to take a step as a team, you know? And, you know, I was a free agent and just, you know, kind of where I'm at, I'm feeling like feeling good about my body, about myself, about my game. And yeah, I mean, I think just obviously they made some big moves this summer, getting Byram, signing Connor, some other players coming in, some free agents, some veteran guys. And I thought it would be a great fit, not only just because, you know, I'm living in Chicago or because I played for the Blackhawks, because I actually think it's a good fit for me personally as a hockey player. Yeah. So I'm excited about it.
It's going to be great. Have you talked to Connor about playing on the same line as him? Because like, that's, that's the thing is like, it's obviously there's the nostalgia factor, but it's also a good hockey fit. Yeah. You still are like, you know, you're not the same player as you were in your 20s, but you're still a very good player that can contribute to a team. So you had those conversations like, this is going to be fun to have two incredibly skilled guys on the same line.
Yeah, I mean, not, not in, in like real, like real depth or anything like that, but just excited to play with one another. You know, obviously he's dealing with his injury. He signed his contract and then, you know, shortly after I signed my contract. So it's kind of been a whirlwind for for both of us. But I told him I'd like to catch up with him in a few days just to kind of see where his head is at about the team and the direction and what he thinks we need. And listen, I'd love to play with him. He's an incredible player. If not, I mean, you saw in the past, like, Taser kind of had his line for a while. I had my line. You create that inner competition. It's not such a bad thing sometimes. Yeah. So there's a lot of great other players that have a lot of potential, I think, with their team. So yeah, it'll be interesting. How's the hip feeling? It feels great. It's good. It's actually, it's actually unbelievable. You know, I feel like when I first got it done, it was, it was, it was okay. It wasn't painful anymore, but it kind of felt like a little bit foreign, you know?
Yeah. And I feel like at that, like 2, 2 and a half years in, I really started feeling like my own hip. So yeah, it's, it feels awesome.
It's a crazy procedure you had, right?
Yeah. Yeah. So it's kind of of— how would I explain it? It's, it's not really like a full hip replacement, but they just like, they replace like the, the top of the femur head, and then you still have like your, your, uh, your femur, your, your bone. So it's just like they kind of like cap the top and get rid of, uh, all the arthritis. So, uh, yeah, I mean, it's, uh, it was, it was kind of crazy because it's such this big procedure, and then as soon as the surgery was over, like, I felt better right away. Yeah. Like there was no more pain. But obviously you have to build up, like, you know, they cut into your muscles, you got to build those back up and kind of get used to just having like almost like a new joint, you know. So it took, uh, I mean, listen, it was— I'm really happy I did it, and, uh, it was, it was nice to be pain-free for a bit. But, um, you know, it took, I would say, a couple years to, to actually feel like my own.
Yeah, that's got to be one of those things where you put it off for a long time and you know that your hip hurts, you feel it all the time, and you don't want to you know, take any, any months away from the game of hockey. At some point, like, you have to say, okay, we need to take a step back to take a step forward. What was there a moment where you're like, okay, I can't, I can't just tough this out anymore. I got to do it. Yeah.
Yeah, I think so. What happened? You know, my hip, I was feeling my hip that the one season I think I had like, you know, 92 points or something and I was like, you know, I could probably play like this. And then that offseason, the Blackhawks got rid of like Strome and DeBrinca, and they traded Hagel. So we were coming back in with a new group, and I was, I was okay that year, but I was struggling a little bit. And then all of a sudden, I like, right before the trade deadline, I just like popped. I had like 7 goals in 4 or 5 games, I think it was. And I was like, maybe, you know, maybe I'll go somewhere else and, and try to win, you know. I went to New York, and it was a great experience. It was awesome. I loved it. But I just didn't really play at the level I was used to, you know. You know, so I think at that point it was like, you know, I should probably do something here.
Yeah. Uh, I got a tough question for you. Obviously you would have liked to be on the men's, uh, national team this year with the gold medal. Uh, but was there a part of you that could watch it as maybe not a fan, maybe a fan, and be proud of the fact that like you are arguably, I would make the argument that you're the best American-born player of all time and all these guys playing, winning the gold feel like a lot of them were shaped because of you and like your game and what you did for hockey, that, yeah, you'd rather be on the team, but there is like the— all these guys idolize you.
Yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, of course, like, you know, I was, I was hoping I'd be on the team. I had a good start to the season and I kind of got injured, came back, got injured again. So it was, you know, I knew that the chances weren't weren't, you know, gonna be too good. But, uh, you know, I play with Larkin in Detroit, a lot of respect for him. The Hughes brothers, like, they, you know, supposedly loved me as a player when they were younger too. Those, those kids are awesome. Um, so watching them win and like having the reaction they did, it was, it was pretty cool to see. And even, you know, after the fact, they're like FaceTiming me, texting me, all that stuff, you know. So I was like not that I was like a part of the team or anything, but you feel like you're—
you laid the groundwork. I think it's anyone who played on, on a, you know, the U.S. team in years past. Yeah, it feels like that because we talked about it when it happened. It's like the guys who won the gold medal in 15 years, there's going to be a lot of kids that are going to be like, I looked up to them. So it's all kind of built on itself.
Yeah, you could feel the gratitude, especially from those guys, which was, which is pretty cool. That's awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Can we do some nostalgia porn?
Just like some walk back, walk through memory lane?
Yeah, I love it.
Can you talk about the game-winning goal in 2010?
Absolutely. Yeah. So that was kind of a crazy game, obviously. Game 6 in Philly. You know, we're up 3-2 going into the third. I was like, this is awesome. We're going to win the Stanley Cup. They tie it up with like 5 minutes left, make it 3-3, and Yeah, I mean, I just— Brian Campbell walked the line, gave it back to me. I just had a little time and space to try and make a move around Kimo Tieminen, who actually became my teammate on the team in 2015 when we won and just was trying to throw it on net and went through Michael Layden's legs and kind of stuck in the back pad of the net. Yeah. So, you know, I was like celebrating that the puck was in and there was really no reaction. So you're the only one who knew. Yeah. So, I mean, I think Sharpie actually knew. Yeah. Yeah, he was throwing his stuff, but I'm like celebrating like crazy, you know, throwing my stuff off, going down the ice to our goalie, Antti Niemi. And, you know, the celebration was wild because guys are like coming to the pile and they're looking back at the ref looking for an answer.
Is the puck in? I'm like, yeah, it's in, it's in. And sure enough, they got confirmation that the goal was in and it was like a whole nother celebration. But I've actually had bad dreams where like I shoot that puck and it doesn't go in. In and I'm like celebrating and throwing my stuff off. Yeah, it's no goal. So that's happened a few times, but thankfully it actually did go in.
I think like 30 seconds later the goalie was still looking around like, are we sure? Yeah, he didn't know.
Yeah, wedged in there, they're like stuck in the back pad and just like stuck there as the puck went in.
So the move that you put on them, uh, to get open— yeah, how many head fakes is too many head fakes? Did you know how that you were gonna do like forehead fakes, or—
I was like, uh, I like playing basketball when I was younger. So like, you know, you always try the Allen Iverson crossover or whatever, right? So I guess that was kind of my version of like a, like a hockey crossover, right? But yeah, I probably put— I put a couple of different ones on and found just a little space, I guess. So just enough. Keep going.
You got more? I mean, yeah. What's your favorite championship? What's your favorite, favorite cup in terms of like the best team that you were on?
Oh, I mean, I feel like they all had their, their moments, you know, 2013, I think that was the lockout year. I think we started 20 or 21-0-3 or something.
Didn't lose for, yeah, like, like 2 months.
It was crazy. It was a 48-game season. We didn't lose for 24. So half the season we didn't lose. But, you know, we faced some adversity. We're down 3-1 to Detroit, came back in Game 7, Seabrook goal, ended up winning in Boston. That one was, was pretty cool. That's the year I won Conn Smythe, which is pretty special. 2015 at home, winning at home was, was unbelievable, especially since we won 2010 and '13 on the road. Yeah. Yeah. They all have their moments. I mean, we had a special group like, like that core group of players, you know, myself, Taser, Sharpie, Seabs, Dunks, Hossa, Crawford, Jalmerson, like those guys. It was a special group.
What was it about the Canadian dollar that made the captain go upright?
Yeah, the cap got stuck, right? Like it just like froze in place for a couple of years.
I remember when we— what was that? I think, I think Taser and I signed extensions in 2014 maybe, and we signed a 10.5 and our agent was like, listen, we should probably, you know, maybe ask for a little bit more because the cap's going to go up. I think he was saying like Stamkos and Kopitar were up the next year and they're going to be making like $13 or $14 million. And the cap never went up. So like all of a sudden, like Kopitar signing at like 10, Stamkos was 8.5, you know, and we thought these guys were getting way more. So it's just kind of weird the way it worked out.
I think I've told you, but I— the— from, from that run, I mean, there's so many big moments and it's like, yeah, we've talked to like Chief and I talk about Eddie and all the guys like that. It just felt like every spring was just like your schedule set that like every Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday should be at a bar. It's like there's a big game going on. On. But my favorite game from that entire run was the Game 7 against the Ducks in 2015, which I think was like the perfect hockey game. Yeah. And it also came off the heels of Kessler saying that like no human can withstand the hits that we're going to give the Blackhawks, because it was like right in that like the, the like big team versus skilled team debate, and you guys would just keep winning.
I know, I know. We found ways. We really did back, back in that, that run. I mean, there's I feel like there's games that could have went the other way too. Like, like 2014, we lost the Game 7 in LA. Yeah. You know, like the puck hit, I think Nick Letti's pants and went through and we lost that game. Martinez, right? Yeah. Martinez. Yep. Yep. But that game was, yeah, we were on the road. Taser had 2 quick goals to get us up 2-0. And like you said, I think they were so physical. They were trying to like run us out of the building. Of course, it went 7 games. You know, we were down 3-2 in the series, came back home. Won Game 6 and then to win it in Game 7 was really— that was not like the stamp that we were a good team, but like, I think we kind of like crossed off every type of like situation we had to deal with, right? You know, getting through Detroit down 3-1, you know, beating those teams out west, Vancouver, Calgary, you know, LA, like those were tough matchups. We beat them in '13, lost them in '14, beat them in '15.
Um, and then, uh, Anaheim was—
yeah, I remember the, the '14 one was a brutal one because I was on a bachelor party in Nashville and we got— the whole bachelor party got back to Chicago just so fucking like, yeah, gassed. And we all just went straight from the airport to the bar to watch Game 7. And I remember that puck just dropping in and just being like Well, what the fuck do we do now? Actually, I messed up.
I said LA, but I meant Anaheim in '15. Yeah, but, uh, yeah, that game was tough too, because if you look back, I think we were up like 4-2 with like 10 minutes left. Yeah. And they scored 2 goals. Yeah. 4-4. So it's just like, you know, who knows? Maybe there could have been another one in there, or maybe, maybe we could have, could have not won at all.
Yeah. It shows how hard it is to win these things. Like, it's, it's crazy. Like the, the barrage you have to go through in playoff hockey. Yeah. Um, yeah, go ahead.
I was just wondering when when you knew that the team was capable of doing something special, like obviously winning a Stanley Cup special. Yeah, but, but going on a little dynasty run. Yeah. Did you, did you think that was possible before 2010, or was it maybe it was after you even won the first one that you allowed yourself to think like, yeah, we could do 2, 3?
I think sometimes we're so like young and naive to the situation we were in. Like, I remember coming to Chicago, being drafted first overall, and we had preseason games. There's like 3,000 people in the building. And me and some of my teammates went into the crowd and just sat in the crowd and watched the game and didn't get bothered by one person. Yeah. And by Christmas that year, the games were starting to sell out. So there was excitement, you know, there was— something was built. And I think we missed the playoffs by maybe 4 points. And then the next year we made it to the conference finals, lost to Detroit. Right? And everyone was like, okay, you know, you know, maybe we're coming here. We signed Bryan Campbell after my first season, then we signed, uh, Hossa after, after my second year. And those are big free agent signings, you know. You go get a guy like Hossa who's at, you know, 2 Stanley Cup Finals previous to, to that year. And then obviously one of the greatest, you know, free agent signings in sports history, right? Especially, uh, Chicago sports. But then you win the next year, you know, it's like it all happened so fast and it was just like, this is the way it's supposed to be, you know, for us.
Like, this was just how we thought it was supposed to be. So looking back on it, I just think we were so young and naive to the situation. We like— I feel like especially at that time, like we kind of craved the attention a little bit. Like it was cool to, to be cool, you know, to feel like you're popular, you know? So I think our team enjoyed that too.
Yeah. Do you talk to Taze after you signed? And he said that he was was a little jealous?
Well, I just wanted to let him know. Yeah, the night before I was announced, I wanted to let him know that, hey, listen, I'm gonna go— I'm gonna be going back to the Blackhawks. I just want to let you know so you're not caught off guard or whatever. And I didn't really know what to expect to hear from him, to be honest with you, but it was cool, his response, just to say that, that's, you know, that's awesome. I wish I was doing that. I'm definitely jealous of you. So Um, cool to hear that from him.
Well, he— we, we have a, a longstanding take on this show because I saw that the Blackhawks said they're going to do a 1-day, you know, signing retirement for Taze. You should have to play if you sign for one day, which would be sick. You know what I mean? Like just one game. You just have to play one game.
Well, yeah. What was he saying? He was, he was like, I'm actually jealous. I'm like, hey, maybe, maybe you come back for a year. Yeah. I don't know. Listen, he's like, I'm thinking about it.
That would be Yeah. Now you're talking about nostalgia. Yeah. Yeah. He's incredible.
A 1-day contract. And then at the end of the day, you go back into the general manager's office, you'd be like, okay, so let's talk about an extension. Yeah. Like 2 days. Let's double it. Go 3. Yeah.
Well, then they used to do like 10-day contracts in the NBA. Yeah, they have. That's kind of crazy. Yeah. Yeah. They still do that.
Yeah, they have 10 days. Yeah. They have the up and down with the G League.
On this show, we like to give every hockey guest an opportunity to talk about the NBA, positive or negative, whatever way you want to go. It's the Ryan Whitney rule.
Yeah. Yeah. I'm actually— I love basketball.
Oh, he's not going to like that. Patent.
So— oh, he doesn't like that. Um, you know, obviously being in Chicago, like, Jordan's— Jordan's the answer to everything. But I actually grew up, like, loving LeBron. Like, oh no, okay, I thought he was clapping right now.
Yeah, it's our Philly producer.
Like, he gave me and some of my friends and my cousin so many, like, memories just watching him, like, in the playoffs and how good he was, it was, it was incredible. So, and he's going into what, his 24th and 25th year? Like, yeah, it's, it's crazy. So a lot of respect for LeBron.
He doesn't play every night though, you know, like, take some time off, load management. Yeah. Be careful.
Yeah. But he still played a lot last year, didn't he? Like 65 or 66 games. Yeah, which he's not going to like this at all.
No, he's going to hate this.
He's going to hate this.
Hey, was your, was your dad a little disappointed that you didn't sign with the Sabers knowing that he— so he drives to every home game, right? Well, he, He did one year in Chicago.
He made all 41 home games. Okay. From Buffalo. He was— it's an 8-hour drive. Yeah. Like he's coming in and staying for a month, you know, he'll come in for one, drive back, come in for two, drive back. That's crazy. He's nuts.
But did you ever say like, hey, maybe get an extended stay hotel or a flight?
They have a lot that you can fly.
Well, it actually worked out where I had like one of my places I didn't sell, so he would just come in, stay there. There. That's perfect. Like, he almost had like his, his own place. Yeah, his own place, but like freedom to come and go whenever he wanted. Yeah. So it worked out for him. Um, but actually, you know what, he was, uh, like, I think he would have been happy if I went to Buffalo. Yeah. You know, just especially with like my son being 5 years old and then, then being able to see him more often and like every day. But, um, I think he actually wanted me to come to Chicago. Really? Yeah, yeah. He's got his— he's got a good life here.
He comes in, you know, he's like— he knows Every steakhouse.
Yeah. He knows all the security guards at the United Center. Yeah. He's got his little, you know, breakfast places he goes to. But yeah, he'll walk into the rink, you know, chat it up with the security guys, go and watch practice, leave whenever he wants.
So it's basically like he resigned too.
It's not like I'm having to— yeah, it's not like I'm having to babysit him the whole time, right? He kind of just does his own thing and he's comfortable with it. And it's not like you signed with Anaheim or something.
That would probably bother him.
Yeah. Yeah. So You know, actually, when I was in Detroit, that's like only 4 hours from— and he didn't come to as many games because I think he wasn't like as comfortable with like the people around.
Yeah, right.
So I'm sure he'll be coming to a lot more now. Oh, that's perfect.
Chicago, they got it. The Blackhawks have to— I don't want to tell the social media team how to do their job, but like your dad's homecoming would be very funny. Like him, like, shaking everyone's hand. Like, hey, he's back. Like, it's awesome. They should absolutely do that.
That's actually a great idea.
Yes, absolutely got to do that.
Track how many miles he drives per year. Yeah, coming back and forth to the games.
Yeah, like, like a new security guard being like, oh, the bathroom's— he's like, you don't have to tell me, I know, I know exactly where I'm going, don't you worry.
Might have to, uh, uh, keep that idea to yourself and maybe—
yeah, well, I just said it, it's a free—
maybe trademark it before it gets, gets popular.
Yeah, we got to get him, we got to get him some ice cream too.
Yeah, yeah, he'd probably love this place too.
We did, uh, we, we So Kane came on the stretch last year, which is great, but we told some of the stories, but I'll retell this one. The first time that Kane and I ever actually met was in 2013 on the bus with the Stanley Cup. And he just walked up to me, he goes, who the fuck invited this blogger? And I almost shit myself. I was so fucking nervous because I already was like, well, I shouldn't be here. I bet you Sharpie like told me to do it or something. Dude, no, Sharpie, like he was like, he's cool. He's all right. Because it was the party in the West Loop. Sharpie hit me up and was like, hey, come to this bar. Yeah, you get to see the cup, take a picture with the cup. And I come and I take a picture with the cup, and like after 20 minutes I'm like, Patrick, thank you so much, like I appreciate so much, like that was so incredible, what a night. And he goes, what do you mean what a night? You're coming with us. What do you mean I'm coming with you? And then it was just— he was like, yeah, get on the bus.
And I remember I was doing— everyone was doing on social media, they were trying to do the like Stanley Cup tracker, like where the cup's going, because it would basically be— it was just go to a bar for 20 minutes, pop like 17 champagne bottles, spray it everywhere, get back on the bus, go to another bar. So everyone's like, where's the cup going? Where's the cup going? And I was just giving updates and people were like, how would you— how do you know where it's going? And I just took a selfie with me and the cup sitting on the bus. I'm like, because I'm staying— I'm right next to it. But yeah, that was, uh, and then by '15 you were like, oh, you were pumped to see me.
You're at Sharpie's house. Yeah, Sharpie's house. And then on, on the field, '15 was funny too because, uh we did like a big picture. I think I told this on the stretch, but we did a big, a big picture with like the Blackhawks, the Cubs, the White Sox. Well, the White Sox were there, right?
No, it was just the Cubs. Yeah. Okay.
Blackhawks and Cubs. And then there's like two other guys in the picture and one of them is like my best buddy and the other one is Big Cat.
Yeah. Is that the one that was your avatar for a while? Yeah. Yeah. Just on the field at Wrigley.
On the field. But that was because your buddy, your best friend. Yeah. He said that's— that was— it was him who did it. So we were like, We were with the Cup. We're walking in the concourse. It's like, all right, guys, ready to go on the field? And Kaner's best friend just looks at me, goes, we're going. And I was like, I love it. Okay, we are. All right, let's fucking go. And we're just waving at everyone in the outfield.
It's like, those were like such good times.
Oh, such good memory. I also remember that we were at, I think we were at Rocket when it was still in Wrigleyville, and it was like maybe an hour after we left Sharpie's house. And Corey Crawford, the goalie, incredible goalie. Goalie, was at Sharpie's front door being like, where, where is everyone? He's like, dude, we left so long ago. That was that one. And then the, the, in 2015, one of my favorite moments was there's like a night, how the Cup works is like you guys go out with it like the first, second night, party, everything, and then the parade happens. And then like after the parade, there's always a night where where the cup goes somewhere and like all the behind the scenes staff, like all the ticket people, everyone from the Blackhawks gets to go. So it was at the Pony. Yeah. And I showed up because Sharpie told me like, go get your buddies to get a picture with the cup. Like, go. He's like, I'm not going, but you go. And I'm sitting there and Johnny O'Duya is sitting at the table and he looks at me, he goes, where is everyone?
And I was like, dude, I'm not on the team. I was like, why are you asking me? He was the last one at the party. He was the only player there. There. He's like, where the fuck is everyone? I was like, I think they're done partying, dude.
Thought the night was for him too.
Yeah, he's like, I just was going to keep going out with the cup.
When did you have to like— it's got to be a different realization, I guess, for everybody, but what's the moment where you say to yourself, okay, I think, I think I'm done partying with the cup, time to call it a night?
Oh man, there's, uh, there's actually, uh, I feel like we got so used to it. Um, in 2015, after we won in the locker room. Like, this is right after. There's pictures of like me and my sisters and my buddies, and the cup's just like behind us. Like, no one's even paying attention to it, you know? And you know, that didn't happen very often, but there, there's just like, you know, one shot of it where it's just like chilling by itself, like behind everyone, you know? Yeah. And, uh, an afterthought. Yeah, yeah. So, but honestly, it was probably— I feel like guys stuck around for like a couple weeks. Yeah. And then, you know, once it gets around like a week, 10 days, yeah. It's like, all right, all right, I got— you know, maybe I gotta get out of here.
Season comes around so fast.
It's like, yeah, yeah, especially right when you go that long, right? Like, right.
So, um, it does have a curfew though, the Cup. Yeah, the guy would— he would like at like, I don't know, midnight, yeah, around then, I remember, pack it in and be like, all right, that's enough Cup tonight. Like, but the party would keep going, but he'd be like, Cup's got to go home, it's got a curfew.
In 2010 they said said, we're going to give you the cup a little bit later in the summer, but you're going to have it in Buffalo, and then you're going to bring it to Chicago the next day and bring it to Jimmy Buffett concert. So you're gonna have it for 2 days, you know. So I was like, yeah, that works, whatever. So we have it in Buffalo, we go to Jimmy Buffett concert, we take it out in Wrigleyville, and the guy with the cup's like, you know, I'll stay out with you guys a little bit later tonight, like, uh, I'll stay out till like 2 or 3 AM. So we're like all pumped up or whatever. And by that time we're like spraying each other with champagne, like spraying each other with beers. Everybody's soaked. And, uh, we kind of look at the cup guy and we're like, should we spray him? Should we get him? And he's like, if you guys spray me, I'm taking the cup home. Spray him. And then he just got up all wet with the cup and went home. He was so mad. We were just like, oh, maybe we shouldn't have did that.
But, um, and he's the guy, the guy with the hair, which is, he's, you can spot him from a mile away. Yeah. He's the man.
He's got the white gloves. Yeah.
There's a couple of them, but he feels the main guy and you just Just like, it's so funny, like the scene of being at a bar where it's just absolute chaos and there's just this one guy who's sober who's just staring at this thing being like, please don't drop it. Please don't fuck this up.
It always gets you drunk. Yeah.
He's got the most stressful job in the world. Oh man. All right. So have you thought about like, is there any part of you like coming back where now you're, you are like the veteran in the locker room? I know you were the veterans when you were last with the Blackhawks. But the team's changed over. Is there like something that you're going to, you know, take the boys out or something like that where it's like try to help everyone? Yeah, it's a young team, you know, there's young guys trying to get to the playoffs.
Yeah, I'll have to figure it out a little bit. But I definitely want these— like, I want these kids to treat me like their teammate, you know? I don't want it to be like they're just like looking up to me or anything like that. Like, I want to be friends with these guys and have them treat me like one of their own. Like if I turn the puck over, I want someone to like yell at me for doing that.
Yeah.
Say, hey, you can't do that. You know, I want it to be the same across the board, that accountability. So yeah, definitely try to get to know them a little bit more. You know, I've skated with a lot of these guys in the past few summers, you know, like Nazar and Vlasic and Lev Shunov and Kaisar, guys like that. I've actually skated with with Bedard at hockey camps before and whatnot. So I feel like I know these guys well. It's just more like, you know, just having the respect factor on an even level, right? So it's kind of even across the board. But yeah, someone— I saw something today that it was like Anton Frondel is closer in age with my son than I am with him, you know? So it's like It's like these guys are pretty young, but at the same time, I feel like I've done really well with young players in the past, you know? Yeah. Looking back on like Schmaltz and Hartman and those guys, and then it was like Panarin and then it was DeBrinket, you know, Raymond in Detroit, you know, so I fit it off well with the young guys.
So I'm not too, too concerned about it.
When you, when you're in the summer, like, and you're going to to skate? How long do you skate?
This is a dumb question, but like, I think every day is— every day is different. Yeah, I think yesterday we were on for like an hour and 15. And what are you guys doing, just drills?
Or you actually—
today was like actually like a fun— like we do like a game day, you know, like so we play like 3-on-3 across the ice or neutral zone games. Um, other than that, like, uh, I've actually been— I've had some skates this year where it's just me and Frankie, Frankie Nazar, on, on the ice, and we're just kind of like working on skills and stuff. So kind of trying to develop some chemistry with him a little bit just because like he's here and, you know, I didn't— I mean, it wasn't like I was thinking I was going to play here, but at the same time, in the back of my mind, I knew it was maybe an option, right? So you think about that stuff. But yeah, I mean, every skate's different. It's probably anywhere from like an hour to an hour and a half. Yeah.
So I actually had a question about the free agency because there was an article, I think in The Athletic, Athletic, uh, your agent talking about it. Like, usually guys, you want to sign July 1st, July 2nd. Yeah. Uh, and you were like, I want to take my time. Yeah. Was there any time in those 3 weeks where you're like, fuck, I gotta— like, all this money's going away. Like, what's— you know, uh, no, spots are filling up.
No, I never really thought, thought about it from, from the, you know, money aspect. I think it was, you know, at first you kind of feel that pressure, right? Because teams, I think they, they want an answer, right? Like, especially early on. So I felt that pressure a little bit from some teams, and I was like, not ready to make a decision, so I was just gonna wait it out. And then after like the first 2 or 3 days, everything like really quieted down, and I was pretty much like on my own schedule. And my agent's like, take as much time as you need. So that was kind of comforting. And, um, yeah, it was pretty much between Buffalo and Chicago.
So yeah, um, he said that he had like 10 different teams that were inquiring, which has got to feel good, you like at this point of your career, the teams are still wanting you.
Yeah, there's, there's some great options out there. And, you know, like I said, it was never really about the money or anything, just more about the fit. And I think like for me, from ages like 5 to 13, I would go to Sabers games, you know, that's what I would do like that. That's how I grew up. Like I loved being a Sabers fan and I love the Sabers, so you know, that little like kid you still have in you was like telling me to go back to Buffalo. But then, you know, you have like the nostalgia factor of Chicago and just like the fit here. So just it was, it was nice to have my time to just kind of like go through it all. And you would talk to different people every day, whether it was, you know, like Danny Wirtz or Jeff Blaschel or people in Buffalo, different players would reach out. You know, Bedard reached out saying he would love to have me here, things like that. So makes you feel good and gives you more information the more time you have too, right?
Yeah. Yeah. Are you a Bills fan?
Yeah. Yeah, I am.
Have you seen the new stadium out there? I haven't been to it.
You know, I've seen different videos of it, but I know they play Detroit actually, I think in their home opener this year. So place will be rocking.
We're big Josh Allen guys.
You guys like Josh Allen? Yeah, he's unbelievable.
Well, we like got to know him before he even got drafted. Drafted, and he's been a friend of ours for a long time.
He's come on the show.
Oh yeah. Oh really? Yeah, he's actually in the book. Oh, he wrote a chapter in the book.
Yeah, that's awesome.
And then I was just looking at the new stadium today. They have a giant— I think it's like a 40-foot folding table statue that's broken and smashed down the middle. Have you ever— you ever broken a table?
I've never broken a table.
We got to get you to—
I don't think I'm Bills Mafia, but I'm a Bills fan, you know, so I'm not on that level.
Maybe after you retire you can just be the guy who just gained like £50.
Yeah, put on the Zumba Yeah. You start jumping through shit.
That's what Ryan Fitzpatrick pretty much did. Yeah. He's just like, I'm just going to go to Bills games, get shirtless and drink a bunch of beer. Yeah. Who does that? Fitzpatrick. Oh really? Yeah. Yeah. Fitz, he loves it out there. Yeah. Do you have any, any superstitions? Because we had, we had Strome on the show and he's got like a million superstitions.
Oh, you had Don Strome on? Yeah. Oh really?
He's got— it was actually insane. I don't know how he plays a hockey game with the amount of superstitions he has.
Yeah. Some guys are like that. I'm not really like that with the superstitions. I think it's just more routine. Routine, you know, you kind of stick to just your routine of, you know, what comes natural and how you go about your day. But nothing really crazy, like superstition-wise. Yeah, pregame meal. Yeah, but I'll like switch it up. I won't, I won't, you know, stick to the same thing. Um, you know, if things are working, you know, you kind of keep it the same. But, um, it's not like I have to do, do something just, you know, because it's like superstition or routine, you know. I'll switch it up if I want.
Yeah, yeah. What about, what about playoff, uh, Mario Kart? Oh yeah, yeah, that's— is that, is that something you'll bring back?
I would love to bring that back. Yeah, it'd be—
that would be incredible, just locking in with the boys and playing Mario Kart.
Good memories, great way to, uh, turn off the brain a little bit. Yeah, a little competition with the boys, you know. Um, you know, it's a— it's a— it's the 4-man game, right? Yeah, with the Wii. And then you'd have like a— like an A-game A game, like all the top players were in the A game, and then you'd have a B game, like, uh, guys that were trying to get up to the top level and win. And if you're like the low guy, you got kicked out and the next guy would come in that won in the B level.
So who was the best player?
Um, I think John Merson was actually— okay, John Merson was probably the best.
John Merson was one of those guys that like, if you see him in a suit, you're like, how are you the toughest guy ever? Yeah, because he looks like an accountant from Deloitte and you're just like— and you're, you're just nails.
Like, you are the toughest Oh man, the way that guy played the game. Yeah, I don't know how you play hockey like that.
It's not— it can't be fun.
No, and he's not like a big dude blocking shots. Like, yeah, he would get run over all the time, and it's just like he'd become limping back to the bench. This guy's done. Yeah, he'd be out there next shift.
Yeah. What Mario Kart character would you, uh, what was I?
I was, uh, King Boo.
Okay, King Boo. Yeah.
Oh, so it's a new Mario Kart? No, no, it was the one. Wait, King— I don't know if we— like, gotta be new one, right? I don't know if we unlocked the characters or whatever, but, uh, was that on Wii?
Yeah, it was on the Wii. Oh, Max, you know King Boo? Or you— yeah, what is it for sure?
What does King Boo mean? What does that tell us about the guy?
He's the big ghost. So is that like power hitter?
Power hitter.
But he's slower, but he can hit everything? Yeah.
Okay, it's like perfect for me, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You get to just like cosplay.
Dude, characters, uh, Seabs was Bowser.
Okay, so that would make sense. That actually fits perfectly.
Taser was Waluigi. Luigi.
Okay, um, this actually is like a good experiment.
And like, Sharpie was Princess Peach.
It's just a beauty. Oh, that's King Boo.
Okay, I know. Yeah, I don't even remember who Jalmerson was. Oh, uh, Jalmerson might have been Wario. Okay, um, that's good.
That's it. Yeah, break it down. That should be like a, a combine question.
Yeah, it was a Where are you in, uh, Mario Kart?
Uh, Chief, you got any questions? You want to come sit down for a sec? Chief's in here. Kind of covered everything. Chief, you got something?
I don't know why Chief didn't get into the show.
Yeah, they didn't want to be in here right now. Yeah, he's been here, he's been here the whole time back in there. Yeah, is it?
Is that right? Yeah, I think so. Okay, yeah, welcome Chief. Yeah, thanks for having me, big fan. AWL.
Um, no, I don't know, I, I guess it's Like, it's kind of more serious question, but like the goals, like, do you— did you talk it to Davidson and Blaschel? I'm dying to know what Danny Wirtz said to you too.
Oh yeah. Um, no, it was like with Danny, I feel like it was actually like pretty emotional. Like, uh, you know, you start getting all the feels back when you're talking to him. But one thing he said was, um, if you came back, it would be nothing like the city's ever seen before. So, you know, you start thinking about that, like that's the city of Chicago and how great of a sports town it is. And the memories here. So that one, that one hit me pretty hard. But he was great. He was great on the phone. Davidson was— Kyle was— has been awesome through the whole thing. Um, uh, Blaschow was actually very impressive, just kind of breaking down the roster, where he sees the team, where he sees guys kind of popping off. Uh, so he was great. Um, you got my dad to buy tickets again.
Oh yeah, yeah, he had season tickets from '06 to '17.
No way, he gave him up?
He gave him up.
How'd he get off auto Renew? I don't know.
He had some guy, Kevin. I think there's just a little bug in here.
Dude, I can't figure it out. It was the day they traded Panarin and Jalmersen. He's like, I'm out.
Really? Yeah, that was it.
He texted me yesterday. He's like, we got to get tickets. I'm like, all right. Yeah.
So that's awesome. Yeah. So he's back.
He's back in. Yeah.
I love that. Yeah. I think this team has a lot of potential, a lot of firepower. Just actually, when we played them last year, year with Detroit. I think we beat them like 4 or 5 to 1, but they, they like kind of like buzzed on us, you know, like they, they had some chances, they had some looks. Um, so I think there's, there's definitely, uh, some potential. So I'm excited for it. I mean, um, I feel like the last, you know, week or two it's kind of been, you know, just like Chicago. I'm, I'm, I'm going to, I'm going to go to Chicago and just, you know, not really waiting on anything, but just, you know, kind of making sure it's the right, it's the right move and And, uh, um, I think Buffalo would have been, you know, pretty fun too. But I think, uh, yeah, my heart was, was definitely here. Yeah.
I think I set the record for refreshing Twitter the last 3 weeks.
So yeah, thanks for that.
Yeah. No, I mean, like, you guys, you guys are awesome. I mean, like, the support you guys have given me, and especially you, Chief, like, throughout the years, like, that's, that doesn't go unnoticed, you know. And I, I, I love that part about you guys.
So, please, yeah, there you go.
Give love where the love's due.
Yeah. Um, you got any other questions? We can go to Zach if you don't. Go to Zach. All right, Zach. All right, so put on the headphones, cater. Zach, you ready?
This is a big moment for you. Headphones here?
Yeah, headphones right there. Uh, Rowback question. rhoback.com, promo code TAKE, 20% off your first purchase. Q-zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Rowback.com, promo code TAKE. Zach, you're up. You ready? Oh, yes, sir.
How you doing there, sir? Do more. I had a quick question.
Zach's very nervous, if you can't tell, all the time, so don't All good.
I appreciate your time today very much. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Being here. I did have a quick question. All right. So drafted at 18, you're going into your 20th season. You spent more time as a professional hockey player than not a professional. Yeah. What's like a main— what's the key to longevity when it comes to playing at that kind of clip this long? And how many more years do you think you can execute that? Oh, yeah, that's a good question.
I think—
good question. Good question, Zach.
Honestly, I think it comes down to the love of the game and just the desire to want to put the work in, whether it's the offseason, every day during the season, whatever it may be to keep your body right. I actually feel really good. So, you know, not really, really sure how many years I have left, but, you know, I signed a 2-year contract. I mean, I would like to think I could still play after that. We'll see. Yeah, I think at this point, especially, you know, 37 turning 38 this year, it's probably more of like a year-to-year thing. And we'll see as we go. But I still love the game, still love playing. Definitely excited that I got a 2-year contract. You know, the last few years, I think every year, the last 3 years, it's been 1-year contracts along the way. So nice to get a 2-year deal and kind of to, uh, try and see this thing through a little bit here in Chicago.
Yeah, good question.
You got a follow-up?
Uh, you spoke a little bit earlier in the interview about how, uh, you feel it's important for your teammates to look at you not just as like, uh, someone to look up to, but more so as a teammate. Uh, do you feel a responsibility though to kind of try to pass on those same values to the younger guys and instill that in them for the team, or, or not so much?
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm gonna try to help these guys as much as possible I mean, I want to— any way I can help, you know, whether it's help Connor as much as possible, help, you know, Frankie, help all these guys. I think one of the best things you can do in the NHL is play with confidence. And if you have that confidence, that swagger, which I feel like a lot of these guys do, and take it onto the ice and play You know, not like pond hockey, but play the right way. I think the sky's the limit, especially with the potential here. So, yeah, I'm going to help as much as I possibly can. But I do think it is important that, you know, I'm one of the guys, you know, I'm not just like the old guy in the room that's, you know, riding into the sunset and, you know, just accepting his money and moving on, you know, like I still want to play. I want to be a player. Want to, uh, help the team as much as possible and be a factor. So, um, that's going to be important.
Zach, by the way, I did a bad job of introducing him. He is, uh, he's— he and Jacob are the cream team here. So they have— when I bought him team— yeah, when I bought the ice cream machine, ice cream, I told Zach and Jacob— what were you thinking? I was like, yeah, yeah, I told Zach and Jacob, I was like, as long as this ice cream machine works, you have have a job. Uh, now they've done a lot more since then, but, uh, fix it at all. They've had to fix it. They have to make sure it's running. They got to get the deliveries.
How's the, uh, what do you get? Do you guys have one flavor?
Chocolate and vanilla. Chocolate with toppings. Yeah, everything. Really? So Zach will get you hooked up.
Waffle cones, sugar cones, uh, the real thin crispy cones.
Yeah, he was, he was here on Saturday.
A lot of options.
What?
Zach was here Saturday. Oh yeah, fixing it. Yeah, because we had some issues.
Yeah, it's like anything else in life, you know, there's ups and downs, but right now we're back in a good spot.
Oh boy, Zach.
Yeah, if it's not working for Kane in a minute, like, I'll, I'll hit the side door.
I understand.
Okay, he did say the lever was left down for a little bit.
Oh no, but that's okay.
They took care of that before the interview.
I don't know what else he can do.
He's on his phone.
Put up a sign that says do not leave the lever down. If people won't look after their things, then that's kind of on them. So you can't police it.
We might have to start finding people who leave lever down.
Yeah, I would be against that. Okay, maybe hard time, put him in jail.
And Mitzi was in charge of the toppings bar, but I think that lasted about one day. Yeah, no, that didn't work.
Yeah, that didn't work. All right, well, uh, Kaner, thank you so much.
Yeah, welcome back.
It's such an awesome, awesome thing, and, uh, I can't wait to watch you play hockey at the United Center again.
Yeah, it's gonna be great. I'm glad I got to make my debut on Pardon My Take. Yeah, the same day.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're just locked together. Yeah, it's going down in the history books.
Yeah, it's like when Dolly Parton wrote I Will Always Love You and Jolene on the same day.
Yeah, she did that on the same day.
Same great day.
This is a better day. Yeah, yeah. Two heavy hitters, same day. Same day. All right. Thanks so much, man.
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All right, Mount Rushmore time. Look alive, everyone. Uh, it is the Mount Rushmore of things you eat with a spoon. And right now it is myself, Max, Memes at 30 points, PFT at 23, Hank and Zach at 19. I do have a question before we start. We left the listeners on a little bit of a cliffhanger on Friday with the Who said kumbaya first?
I said the words kumbaya first.
Oh, interesting. I thought so. Interesting.
That's it. That's it.
You want to say something to me?
I said it. I said it. You claimed that I did. When you guys were trying to do kumbaya, I said that I was physically the first person to say kumbaya. So on a technicality, you were right.
I said that Hank said it. And then Hank, you also gaslit me by telling me that I was gaslit.
Gaslighting you, and you then gaslit me and made me almost cop to it.
I was just fighting back, and you guys were like, why are you fighting back? This was supposed to be like a fun Mount Rushmore. And I said, oh, I forgot we're doing kumbaya. So again, like, I was not the one pushing for kumbaya.
I just said none of us were. You guys socially implied it, and then he said the word. Yes.
Oh, Zach, there was social implications. Social implications. I socially implied it after Hank scoffed at the fact that he said that you couldn't just eat turkey. I forgot that, Hank. That was crazy. That was crazy. That's everything. That's how the fight started. Yeah, I said it first.
I said it first. So why, why did you just now say technically I was the first person to have kumbaya?
Because I was not the one that was like— I was trying to fight back. Yeah, I didn't want kumbaya.
Neither do I.
But you, you were like, this is supposed to be fun, Mount Rushmore. We thought we did well.
There's going to be no disagreement. Easing into the first one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You wanted a fun, cheesy kumbaya.
So you said the kumbaya word?
I said the kumbaya word. I said that. Okay.
All right. Mount Rushmore of things you eat with a spoon. Who wants to order? We screwed up every time we go.
All right, so we're first. I have a question. So we're back to first on Mondays, by the way. I have a question. Yeah. Hank and Zach, have you guys won yet? No. Okay. Because I saw that stat. I didn't know if it was true. It's true.
Okay, you guys, yeah, I mean, the, the lava lamp was bullshit. You won that one, your team. I mean, Big Cat Chicken said, but you could have voted and you didn't, so it's—
no, my team voted. I know you voted. My team voted for it. Max voted. No, no. Oh yeah, Max voted for it.
I voted on— no, I did. I voted on behalf of PFT.
Yeah, that was stupid. Whatever, that's a democracy. Yeah.
Kumbaya.
Kumbaya. Oh yeah, you said who's—
you didn't vote though. You didn't vote. Vote with your heart. You voted with— you literally said, who's going to get the least mad at me? Correct. So that's not really democracy, but it is.
That's kind of— you can vote for whatever reason you want to vote.
Yeah. Wait, and aren't you wrong now because Hank's the most mad at you? True. So that backfired, actually.
But I'm used to Hank being mad at me.
Got it. That's resting. Yeah, that's resting level. Oh man. Championship or bust for Max is not— he's—
we're doing Rushmore, right? All right.
Okay. All right.
Championship or bust for you guys. Guys? For what?
Rushmore season? No, just can't come in last.
You can't come in last.
You know the answer to that. It's always been Rushmore.
But with this big of a lead, it's—
there's a lot. I heard from this guy there's a lot to left to play.
No ring is a big 3.
That would be— why are you coming at my team? I'm not the one who asked you a question. But I'm not the one who asked you if you had won one. That was PFT.
I was asking if you guys are championship.
Do you think PFT actually was asking that question, or do you think he knew the answer?
He knew the answer. I didn't know.
He was being— you, you're, you're being a little cheeky with it.
I was being curious. Okay, PFT, so cheeky.
All right, uh, you're cracky. Oh, that is a great shirt. Get a life, a football life. Oh, fuck yeah, that guy rocks.
Okay, we have the first pick, and who's second?
Hank and Zach, is that correct? Correct. Memes? Correct. Are you sure? Same order every time, PFT. What's that? Just same order every time. The problem is when we miss a day, then like, because I was used to like Friday we go last. Now it's Monday we go or Friday we go first. Now it's Monday we go first. All right. Our first pick is ice cream. Good pick. It's a good pick. I'm an ice cream guy through and through. Had to do it.
There's no other way. Had to be ice cream.
Yep. Had to be ice cream. All right. And then we talked about this earlier, but this means we get all the entirety of all, all of them. We're going to take soup. Okay. Good pick.
All soup. Good pick. Good pick. Good pick. Good pick. Good pick. I'm going to go with— I mean, there's a clear 1, 2 in this draft. So third is— third's a tough spot to be. I'm going to go with gelato.
Here we go.
Here we go. Okay. What? You're going to go with gelato?
It's ice cream. Good pick. It's different.
It's different from ice cream. Okay.
You're going to go with gelato.
We picked ice cream and you're going to go with gelato.
It's different from ice cream. It's a different dish.
I would like for you to explain it to me. Should we put it— I would like for you to explain the difference.
Okay. It's got a different—
I'm fine with it. Fat content.
Great.
That was a great explanation of the difference.
I honestly don't know. I'll be honest with you. I don't know the difference between gelato and ice cream.
I'm fine with it. I'm more air whipped in.
I don't. I don't know it. So point taken.
I won't take gelato. No, you can take gelato. No, it's bad. Max, you let him take it. No, gelato is the pick.
I would not protest it.
I would not officially protest. I withdraw my pick. You know you can't do that. You can't. Yeah, you picked it. You picked it. You picked it. The pick is in. Gelato. We're not— we're not making a protest. We're not protesting because— okay, you're not protesting gelato.
I'm going to go mashed potatoes.
Okay. It was on our list.
Second. Good pick. Good pick. I use a fork. Hank, Zach, I think we go 3.
You think 3? You think 4?
I'll let you pick. 4, 3. All right.
Uh, all right, we would like to take Cereal.
Yeah. How did that fall?
How did Cereal fall? How did it fall?
It's a good pick. Super. I was shocked. I didn't say anything after PFT's pick because I was like, how did you guys want— you guys won. I just won. PFT jinxed that you guys hadn't won, and then he didn't take Cereal with his first pick.
That's a great win. Why did you not take cereal?
Dude, I was like, argument that cereal is a type of soup.
Dude, that was one of the most shocking things I've ever seen.
I like that argument. I like that argument.
Tell me why cereal is different from soup.
I like that argument.
It's not cooked. Soup's in a can, cereal's in a box.
Gazpacho is also not—
I was shocked. I was— the only reason I didn't say anything is because I was hoping that you guys didn't take it. Yeah, we thought it was such a—
I realized that that's what you were doing, and that's why I was like, all right, fine, let him have it.
It was most, but we fucked up. It was the most 1, 2, 3, everyone gets an awesome pick. Ice cream, soup, cereal. I think cereal is, uh, clear third.
Oh, we did think about taking ice cream lamp, but, uh, now this—
all right, now we're—
now we're buckling up.
Now I can't believe that you want to do that, Beavs.
I like Eleven. Okay.
Yep.
BFD, you remember?
Yeah. Here we go. What—
here we go.
Our team voting for you for Lava Lamp, which got you away. Uh, we're gonna take— we're gonna take chili. Yeah. Is chili soup? Yeah.
No, no, okay. Chili's different. It's not a soup. I had chili on my list too.
You good with that, Hank?
So you would have fought for chili as well?
Yes. Chili is not a soup.
Are you good with that, Hank and Zach? Yep. I do think chili is different than soup. It is like we're not taking, you know, clam chowder or anything like that. Chili is a different category than 6 or 7.
I like 6 or 7. Yeah, I think so. I think, I think 6.
I think 7.
OK, 7.
What means we get 7 on that? I think we get, I think we can get 6 on the way back. I do too.
I think we get 6. I'm not going to say 7. I think we get 6 on the way back. You think we get 6 on the way back? I do. I do. 6. 6.
No. 7. 7. 7. 7. 7. 6.
No, no, no, I'm letting the booth decide. 7. You think 7?
What do you think? I think 7.
What do you think, Hank? Hank, you decide. 6 or 7? 8. No. Oh no. You got to say 6 or 7.
No, definitely not 8.
Big Cat was fighting for 8. Oh, 8. 8. We'll, we'll have a, a conversation about afterwards.
I think you guys have enough people, you can figure it out.
Okay. You pick it, Max.
What are we doing? 6.
Definitely doing 6. A little too—
all right, peanut butter. Peanut butter.
Peanut butter.
Spoonful of peanut butter. It's great. Okay. Fantastic snack.
Just you got to— I mean, you can't do it without anything else.
Yeah. Blake's favorite thing.
You like 5, Zach? I like 5 for you guys.
Or 7. Do 7. 7. 7. 7.
Is your 7 our 7? 7. 7. 7. 7. 7.
What do you think about 7 in the middle of the list? That's a little Friends reference.
What number?
Uh, it's number 1 between 1 and 21.
You guys have no pressure. I don't want to put any pressure on you guys. You can't lose this.
If you— shut the fuck up.
In a spoon draft, you cannot lose this.
What do you think, Hank? You think we go—
it's a huge pick.
This is like pizza topping equivalent.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right, we'll go, we'll go mac and cheese.
Oh, mac and cheese. I always go with a fork.
Yeah. Wow. Okay. I always eat with a fork.
Same. But that's fine. I do a spoon.
Okay. To each his own.
Interesting. What about like, uh, Chick-fil-A mac and cheese? What about it?
They might be— they give you utensils with everything.
I know, but like, that's a—
that's a— that's a— that's a hearty mac and cheese.
For sure.
It's a hearty mac and cheese.
If I'm making mac and cheese on the stove, I'm putting in a bowl and eating it with a spoon.
It's like, yeah, if you're making like Blue Box, I will give you that. When I stir it up, I usually typically eat the mac and cheese with the same thing I started with, right?
Yeah. Which is—
yeah. All right.
Okay. I actually— I do too. We had it.
Yeah, we had a fight.
They didn't want me to pick it because they all— only Max and Memes only eat it with a fork.
I only eat it with a spoon. I think that'll cause some division out there. No, but I'm starting— there'll be some people—
if you're eating Kraft mac and cheese, you have to use a spoon. Yeah, that's a fact. Like, that's you. I don't— I asked Memes how he gets the rest out of the bowl, and he said the bowl. I was like, you're savage. Just use a fucking spoon. Yeah, there is a, like, elevated version of mac and cheese, but that's like a steakhouse mac and cheese. That's, you know what I mean? Yeah, it's like on the side. Yeah, yeah, the big noodles. But yeah, Kraft mac and cheese or Annie's, you got to get a spoon.
All right. All right. I'm going to go with, with yogurt. Mm. All right. Good, good, good, good, good, good, good pick. How else are you going to get that fruit on the bottom?
Yep.
Good pick. Good pick.
And then this is a thin— it's a thin draft. Oh, we had 22.
We had 20.
Applesauce. I guess it is a thin draft. Applesauce. Did you have cereal on your list?
I did have cereal on my list. It wasn't popping at the time.
It didn't jump off the page to me. It had to jump off the page.
Listen, I love Honey Nut Cheerios, but— At the time, maybe it's because I'm hungry for dinner right now. Yeah, I wasn't— I wasn't feeling— this is actually going to— cereal is going to play really good in the morning. Yeah. On that graph. Yeah. People on the West Coast. Yeah. It's going to be 9 a.m. Cereal is going to hit like crack. Yeah. Applesauce.
Good pick, though. We had applesauce as well.
I think send it, Zach.
What do you think?
We send it. All right. Whatever. Whatever.
Go on it, Zach. I think—
do you feel good about that one that's written in between the two lists?
I know I do, but it's up.
Us. I know, man. Do it, Zach.
You guys got this. You got this.
Or what do you think about 8?
You can't lose.
Honestly, you should be high stepping. You should be Dion high stepping in the end zone. Safe pick. No, don't go safe. You guys have it. You guys have—
you have super— go 8. You're up 25 points in the Super Bowl. Go for it.
Go 8. Go 8.
Go 8. Sad Zach.
Sad Zach. Zach, you used to— like, people look to you to be like, you know, remember when you threw that?
We're going to go Pudding.
Yeah, it's good. You guys want—
fine. It's a good pick if you're 80. It's fine.
That's a good pick.
Pudding's good.
Pudding's good. Pudding's good. Pudding's good. Pudding's good. OK, 7.
Yeah, we knew it was good. Yeah, we got back to fall.
Fried rice. Fried rice out of the container with a spoon. OK, great. All right. What do we got missed? The one we were going to take debating was cookie skillet.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, we had molten lava cake. On there. Give you a spoon for that.
I usually— I'll eat cheesesteak with a spoon too, or cheesecake with a spoon.
Yeah.
Yeah. Cheesesteak.
I was cheesesteak.
No. All right. So here's, here's what else we had. Would you have— Mad. Would you have fought against Jambalaya's soup? Yes. Yes. OK, because gumbo is a soup.
Jumbo is pretty dense.
Yeah. Yeah. I think Jambalaya would have played gumbo. No.
Yeah. The only thing is with Jambalaya, there's usually— you got shrimp in there. Yeah, that's a fork food.
I had chicken pot pie. I like chicken pot pie with a spoon.
Red beans and rice. Yeah, chicken pot pie is— that's a miss.
Yeah, chicken pot pie is great with spoon. Italian ice.
Italian ice. We had—
Hank, did you have this one? I thought you would say it. Oh, your favorite. No, oatmeal sucks. We had it, but it's street corn.
Yeah, I had like— I had it high. Zach was right. He's like, it's kind of niche.
Yeah, true. But I thought of you when I thought of it.
Cream corn is delicious.
Delicious. Yeah. We also had baked beans. Mm-hmm. Tiramisu.
Curry. Curry. I like curry.
It's good.
And cocaine. Oh, cocaine. A little spoon. You don't eat it. You don't eat it, but you do ingest it.
You ingest it.
Yeah. What about pie?
You can't eat pie. I feel like a lot of these are— you can go either way. Like if you gave me a spoon to eat a slice of pie, I wouldn't think twice about apple pie because it comes with ice cream too.
They usually get to you with a spoon. Yeah.
With a spoon. I think you guys got your first one.
What about a— you guys won't— what would you guys have said to milkshake or root beer float?
Zach was trying to do milkshake. I said that I would— I would not accept.
Yeah, it's strong and it's also ice cream.
Yeah. But ramen soup.
Ramen. Yes.
That's a soup. A lot of these. Yeah.
Yeah. Jjajangmyeon. I like to eat out of a—
I just like— oh, yeah, yeah. I don't hate that.
Smash some hot pepper peppers, just get a little sweat going. But that's, that's probably not, yeah, a normal thing. Um, I was good. Mount Rushmore. Yeah, yeah, jambalaya is so good. Yeah, red beans and rice, so good. Would gumbo count? I said I thought gumbo's more soup than jambalaya. I think gumbo has a lot more broth. Yeah, gumbo to me is more soup than jambalaya.
I would agree with that, but it's maybe with the rice base, some people would I— it's not a soup. In fact, I think I've argued against it being a soup before.
Like, that doesn't look like a soup right there.
Yeah, that's not a soup.
No, that doesn't. That's been— that looks like it's been sitting out a little bit.
It's kind of locked up.
All right, cereal was a miss. That was a mistake. I—
it just didn't— you fucked up that whole draft, to be honest.
It didn't— it didn't pop. We would have—
it would have been a good draft all the way through if you just took cereal.
Cereal wasn't popping to me at the time. I don't know what that means. That's a mistake.
I was praying it got back to us. We got ice cream and cereal. Yeah, but dunzo, that was a mistake.
We almost took chili. Really?
Really?
Yeah, I thought about chili too. It's a good pick, Zach.
Yeah, but it was— yeah, it's good that you diversified. Chili's a good pick. Chili's the best.
I love chili, but also mashed potatoes.
Yeah, mashed potatoes was on our list. I ate them with a fork. You eat everything with a fork, dude.
Yeah, I don't think I own spoons. I'm the inverse.
Oh, all right. Good show, boys. Let's do numbers.
3.
We go 5.
23. 27. Oh, you son of a bitch.
It's a good number. I go— a lot of people that wear 23.
Max, you're going to get a jersey.
59. Yeah, I want to see what the City— City Connect jerseys. There's rumors that they're not they're not gonna play the Iverson, the black Iverson jerseys this year, which would really—
whoa, whoa, you can't do that.
Can't do that. We can't do that. You can't— all the photoshops were him in there. I know. Yeah, you're disappointed the Photoshop makers. Shams had a bad one. I do like that Shams, uh, went out there and he credited Rich Paul, not only talking about Clutch Sports but also, uh, the host of— was it the Game On show?
59. Hurry up, Shane! Hurry up! 86. Zach, mash it, man! Hurry up! 17 for Jacob.
I already said 3.
2. What is it? What is it?
We got—
is it a single day? 53. 53. 3.
One more, one more, one more.
By the way, I know the end of the show take is we were talking about God being in AWO and I flipped the coin. I mean, LeBron signing with the Sixers right after, that's crazy.
Although God not being in AWO, then it broke on Friday morning.
Oh, 23, 63. Oh, why did you say it like that, Hank?
I saw the 3.
6, 3. You want to do one more? I do say it all. You want to do one more, Maxi?
Let's do one more.
Yeah, sure. I mean, I already won this.
Yeah, but if you could win this right now with MJ's number, you set it. 68. Ah, that 7 plus. One more.
No, you said 69, right?
Oh, I said 50.
What if we do 23 numbers right now?
No, that's not—
no, you really want to get it and you're not going to get it. You're not going to get it.
I did get it that one time. Happy birthday to Uncle Chaps. Happy birthday, Nikki Smokes.
Happy birthday, Uncle Chaps's birthday tomorrow.
I'm happy you remember Nikki Smokes's birthday and not mine. What's that? I'm happy you remember Nikki Smokes's birthday and not mine.
Yeah, happy birthday, Smokes. Smokes.
Yeah, wait, what?
It's his birthday on Monday. Smokes on Monday.
That's— he's gonna have like a birthday. He's gonna have a birthday month.
Yeah, blown out backs by the weekend, blown out candles by the week. Uh, happy birthday to Coach O also on Monday. Happy birthday to Max Scherzer. Happy birthday to somebody named Andy Lockwood. Hank, is that your uncle? I have— uh, yeah. Happy birthday. To your uncle.
It's like my second uncle.
Yeah, yeah. Shout out, dad's cousin.
No, no, is it—
is it actually his birthday? Yeah, happy birthday.
Are you doing all of Hank's family now?
I'm gonna try.
Shout out. Yeah, fuck yeah.
Happy birthday to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and, uh, happy birthday to Soulja Boy. Love you guys.
LeBron James is a Philadelphia 76er. We break it down from all angles. Is Max ready for Championship or bust? How Hank is to blame for all of this. Pressure on Joel Embiid. Memes not talking to Max and more (00:00:00-00:50:36). Who’s back of the week including football, Tony Romo’s DUI, Zac’s early Fyre fest and more (00:50:36-01:10:17). Patrick Kane joins the show in studio fresh off his press conference announcing his return to the Blackhawks to talk about his free agency, the future with Bedard and the Hawks, memories of Cup runs and tons more (01:10:17-02:00:22). We finish with Mt Rushmore of foods you eat with a spoon.You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or Netflix. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/pardon-my-take