Transcript of The Big Suey: Heavy D & The Boyz (feat. Eric Collins)

Welcome to the Big Suey, presented by DraftKings. Why are you listening to this show? The podcast that seems very similar to the other Dan Lebitard podcast.

I'm sorry. I'm not going to apologize for that.

In fact, the only difference seems to be this imaging. I have been tempted in restaurants just walking past tables to grab somebody's fries if they're just there. That hasn't happened to you guys? I've done it. And now, here's the marching band to nowhere, Fatface and the Pitchou a Liar.

This episode of the Dan Leventard Show is presented by DraftKings. Draftkings, the Crown is yours.

A lot of people are enjoying this Hornets team, but nobody seems to be enjoying this Hornets team more than Eric Collins. We will get to him in a second. He is the voice of America's team, the Charlotte Hornets. He's the play-by-play announcement for the NBA on Prime as well. But before we get to him, let's just air that Jimmy Johnson commercial for erectile dysfunction. I'm Jimmy Jimmy Johnson. No, not the race car driver. I'm the better-looking Jimmy. Since I recently became the spokesperson for Extends, everywhere I go, guys ask me if Extends really works. I'm here to tell you, Extends works for me. I started taking Extends before I became their spokesperson. With over a billion tablets of Extends taken by men of all ages, I was sold, and you should be, too. Extends does things only one way. Really, really big.

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That is the way to introduce Eric Collins. I think I've got it wrong, though. That might not be a erectile dysfunction. It just might be a general lengthening of things. So on that note, a Humdiddly D and a How do you do to Eric Collins. Hello, Eric. Thank you for being on with us, sir.

Hey, guys. My pleasure. Happy Monday. I would love to say Hornets are America's team, but they've lost two consecutive games. First time it's happened in about a month and a half. Tough one last night in Phoenix.

They are fourth in offensive rating, however. And before we get going here, let's just play for the audience again, a little montage of Eric Collins being excited. La Bella. Yes.

With the guts of a cat burgler, we're tied at 97.

Lamb's going to have to fire.

Make it hurt, Trey.

Looking like Vince Carter. Trey, man, come alive. The greatest shot by LaMalle Ball.

Miles, breaches Humdiddly D.

Lamalle.

Oh, a double clutch, Dipsy, Dupoum. Half-court, Alvian. This is Hornets Basketball.

Eric, take me through the origins of Humdiddly Humdiddly D, please. I'd like to hear how it is that Humdiddly D became a thing.

I used to play high school basketball, and I would dig into heavy D and the Boys, and their big song was We Got Our Own Thing, and it always began with Humdiddly Diddly Diddly D. And it was like an earworm for me for many, many years. I'd be sitting on the end of the bench in high school, and it would just be going through my head. And every once in a while, a nice play would happen, and I'd just play what happened, and I'd say Humdiddly D out loud. And years later, when I got a job in the NBA, it just became my thing. But that's the genesis It's a heavy D in the voice reference.

None of the players know who heavy D is, correct?

No way. No chance. But he was hot for a while, man, back in the '80s.

Yeah. So we love her. Yeah. Thank you, Roy. I appreciate it. One of the few guys that's allowed to be the fat entertainer. We don't allow a lot of those, and heavy D embraced it. But none of the players have any idea what you're talking about. I was arguing last week, Eric, that But if LaMelo Ball is your best player, you're going to be what the Hornets have been. But if he's your third best player, you're going to be what the Hornets have been over the last couple of months, which is before this recent streak. That starting lineup was 20 and 2. They had won 16 of their last 19, and the six-game winning streak they had, they were beating everybody by 15, including the last three defending champions. Is this the best time you have seen in all of Hornets history? Wow.

Well, now, hold on here. I saw the Hornets quite a bit back in the '90s. I was in the NBA back in the time with the Chicago Bulls, and those were really super, super solid teams. I think people go to sleep on them. They had great attendance, but they actually had pretty good teams. This run right now is on par with any of the best runs the Hornets have had as a franchise. 16-5 in the last 21 games, that stands up to a lot of different teams' runs over the years. But it is fun the way that they're playing, the manner in which they're playing. You make a fantastic point with LaMelo Ball. Because he is still the straw that stirs the drink. But the help that he's getting has allowed him to flourish physically and mentally as well. Lamelo is a wonderful, wonderful player who's got a lot of things going on in his wonderful head. He's an artist at heart, but he gets frustrated. And the frustration level has gone so far down because he's got Khan Knippel playing with him. He's got others, but Khan has made everything a little bit better just because the gravity of who he is as a player, the attention that he commands, his ability to be a second ball handler and a second creator.

All of a sudden, LaMelo is not getting double-teamed at half-court. He's not getting physical the minute he gets the ball in bounds. There's other weapons on the floor, and he's thriving because of it. He's smiling again. The Hornets are playing with his type of character and his joy because he's allowed to be free again and not have to worry about some of the other things that he was dealing with for years and years and years when he was the number one option with a bullet.

He's been a problem child, though, no? He seems wildly immature.

I wouldn't call him a problem child by his stretch of imagination. I think he's a good kid. I think he's the product of his upbringing. He had a lot of things that came easy to him, or maybe he definitely didn't have a stereotypical childhood. The guy was taken out of high school and got placed all across the world with his dad. It's hard to get a good feeling for who you are and where you are in the world when that happens. But I think he's growing into his body and growing into his game. I've seen demonstrative changes throughout the course of the year. This is by far the best two-month window I've ever seen him as a professional, and it's translated not just off the floor, but on the floor as well.

There's no way anyone saw Connipple be in this right now, right?

I did not. I'm a big believer in watching adults. I don't watch a lot of college basketball. I just get frustrated. But just everything that I read about the guy, yeah, good shooter, good form, whatever. But the guy is fantastic, man. He is a real player. He understands where to be on the floor. He elevates the level of everyone he's playing with just because, literally, he gets so much attention no matter where he is because he is a knock-down shooter. I'm from Cleveland, Ohio. I I never thought I'd see a better shooter with better form than Mark Price, but this guy is. And just because he's bigger and stronger, and he can shoot from farther distances just because of that size. Concanipal is, man, for people who are debating Cooper flagging Concanipal, you're missing the whole point. You got to fall in love with Concanipal just because he is so uniquely gifted, and it's going to be good for so long.

In terms of names that you enjoy saying, who finishes second place all time to Con Canipple?

Well, I was early, and I used to do a lot of college basketball, and Sandro Mamu Kellechvili, for some reason, I perfected that name years and years and years ago. So I will find a way, virtually every two or three broadcast, even when he's not playing against us, I will find a way to say Sandro Mamu Kellechvili because I feel so comfortable in my ability to say that word.

So you like saying that better than even Khan Kanimple, you're willing to say here nationally, you're willing to put your name on that.

Well, Kanipal is great, but I don't want to get caught sometimes. It's certain names that- You're scared of the nipple? I'm scared, yes. So it's always I got to play it right down the middle. So it's Khan Kanipal, and I don't really vary. I don't give too many illusions. It's just it's con-conipel.

You mentioned that the Hornets had some solid teams in the '90s, but go ahead and give me the greatest moment in franchise history.

Well, it'd be relatively sad, but Alonso Mourning hit jump shot in the second round of the playoffs, I don't recall the year, probably 94, 95, against the Celtics to eliminate the Celtics. In the first round of the play, the only time the Hornets ever made it to the second round. That would be the biggest moment. That's the biggest shot, the biggest win, and it has been 30 years ago.

That's before Heavy D.

It's on par with Heavy D. Heavy D was probably enjoying that one.

That's unbelievable that you went to Alonso morning pre-heat in order to get your biggest memory in franchise history, which got you to the second round.

Yeah. The bigger thing was off the court. The Hornets, the attendance was insane. It changed basketball. They were the origin of all these different things, the PSL. They sold out nine consecutive years. They led the league in attendance with 24,000 for years and years. There was a buzz here, but there has been excessive winning. That's for sure.

Could you solve a long-standing mystery for me? Because Purple Shirt guy in the eyes of Miami Heat fans, it's an iconic moment. He was back and forth with Dwyane Wade. Dwyane Wade went demigod on him, and the heat ended up advancing in that. Purple Shirt guy never returned. It's almost as if he actually felt shame, which today is weird. Usually, they double down and just wear a Purple shirt forever and become the guy that's sitting courtside that will always annoy them. But he disappeared. Why was that?

No one knows, but he definitely... I don't even think he's even come back to the arena incognito. That would have been spring of 2016. That was the last time that the Hornets in the playoffs, and they probably should have won that payoff series. They were up through five games. They just needed to win one more, and they couldn't do it. Now, Dwyane Wade is a huge part of that. But yeah, I do think there's a bit of shame. We don't do certain things in Charlotte, North Carolina. It's a Southern gentile Seale City, and he was ostentatious. And I think the locals thought that we don't need any of that. And I think a lot of hardcore Hornets fans thought that, Dude, you cost us a win, man. Why are you getting it in underneath Dwyane Wade's skin? And yeah, he has not been around. To the best of my knowledge, he's not come That was old Wade, too.

That was Wade at the very end, the last embers of Dwyane Wade. We didn't think any of that was still in him by that point.

He was always prime Wade when he played against the Hornets. No matter what year of his career, it was always prime Dwyane Wade. I'm here to tell you.

Eric, how does the Hornet fan feel about Michael Jordan these days?

Well, there's always going to be a reference and respect because Michael, just of everything he meant, not only to basketball, but to this particular region. But I think the time is perfect for there to be a changing of the guard. We've got literally 180 degree different representation in terms of ownership. We've got younger guys who were not basketball players who just fell in love with the game and want to do things in a different way. And I think it's been a massive shot in the arm. We've got this fantastically young, hip, smart front office, and they're working in conjunction with the coaching staff to get players that are moldable and are malleable to the ideas of, Hey, this is Hornets basketball, and these are the ways we're going to have to try and win. I just think the trade deadline deal of Kobe White was hugely indicative of what the Hornets can do in the future. The Hornets with a young core, a lot of people just figured, let's build with LaMelo, let's build with Brandon Miller, build with Kyle Knippel. But they saw a distressed asset in Kobe White. They knew that Kobe was a guy who could fill a definitive need that the coaching staff had been talking about for months.

The Hornets were not great in end-of-quarter situations. Kobe White is Fantastic in two for ones, in getting his own shot, in setting up guys, in taking heaves. And so they went out and got him. And I think that has raised the floor for this team quite a bit. And I think they have a really good chance of doing something over the final 17 games of the season, and maybe in the plan, maybe, possibly, possibly get into the sixth spot. But yeah, I think things are really, really looking up right now. I think people are super excited.

Do you think there is any way that we can trick that young, smart, hip front office into taking back Terry Rozier?

No, sorry. He's all yours. That was really rough, yes. But yes, no, that's not going to be rescinded. I've had one trade rescinded recently. That was Mark Williams' fiasco. I did not LA with the Lakers, and nothing's going to happen again.

How many times will you physically actually get out of your seat while broadcasting a game?

I do. It's a very physical experience for me. I've got a partner in Del Curry who suffers me, and he's totally cool with it. It's like a George Kistanza effect. We started one way, and the next year we take it to another level, another level. It's all natural and fun to me, and it's just the way that I enjoy a basketball game. But to give it an actual number, it's probably six times a game. Oh, wow, really?

Six times a game. Something moved me. Are you ever has there been during this stretch at any point, your glutes or thighs or anything in the hamstrings or nether regions is sore the next day from the amount that you're getting up out of your seat?

Nothing is ever sore, but my ego every once in a while takes a couple of hits because the people, particularly on the road, when they see me get up and down and get excited about something that they deem to be trivial, I get glares. But I've figured out a long time in this career that having a really low bar in terms of embarrassment is probably a good thing. But yes, people think that I'm a nutso on the sidelines, but who cares? It is what it is.

Yeah, that sounds like a man being shivved in prison. Let me hear that again. If I take out the ambient noise, that is somebody being stabbed by their bunk. No, that one was more exciting. That guy's pretty pumped for that. Eric, thank you for being on with us. Congratulations on the success, sir.

It's been a lot of fun. Thank you, guys.

Really appreciate it. Thank you.

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Quick break to tell you about a special Miller time I had with my good buddy, Mochetta. Mochetta texted me the other day. He said, Hey, what are you doing for the game? I said, I'm just on my couch right now doing nothing, enjoying it. He's like, Hey, do you want some company? I I said, From you, Mochetta? Absolutely. Mochetta comes over to the house and I pull out the Miller light. Miller light made that casual hang, a memorable good Miller time with my good friend, Mochetta, because Miller light brought us together. We took that first sip after we toasted our beers, and we knew we made the right call. We watched a game. All of a sudden, we're standing up on our feet. Big threes are being drained and white cans are being clanged. See, times like these, that's exactly why Miller light is my go-to. Clean, refreshing, easy to drink, brewed for taste with simple ingredients. The original light beer since 1975, and it still hits different for yours truly and his good friend Mochette. Cheers to legendary moments made with Miller Light. Great taste, 96 calories. Go to millerlight. Com/dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some Miller Light pretty much anywhere they sell beer.

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Limited time offer. Dan Levatard.

I've never stepped foot on that campus. If you told me right now, your life depends on it, go to Santa Fe University and just take a picture.

Stugatz.

I would die. I don't know where it is.

This is the Dan Levatard show with the Stugatz.

Staying with basketball says a couple of things that I wanted to get to. And today is the beginning of NFL free agency at noon, so there's going to be a lot of activity, noise, names. But there was an interesting thing that happened last week, and we have been talking about, do you fix the All-Star Game? How do you fix the All-Star Game? Well, it's nice to see the players care. Then you have Matt Isch are going on with Pat McAfee and saying, I know how I'll fix the three-point competition and the dunk competition. I'll offer a million dollars to each player, even though it's against the rules, to get them to care. We've been talking for two seasons as Steph Curry and LeBron James age, who's going to be the face of the league? How do they become the face of the league? Ja Morant falls off. Anthony Edwards. Minnesota is confusing to me. Anthony Edwards has fallen in love with the three. They're not actually that good. They're not going to win anything. How do you become the face of the league? Crying after a regular season game because you care so much, because you're with the Spurs, you're rallying from 25 down.

It is the second biggest homecome back that the Spurs have had this century. Wemby was so tired. He got help from the Clippers. Somehow, Nicolas Batum, just at the end of that game, is standing out of bounds when they pass them the ball.

I wish you were there with me when I'm sitting on my couch watching this incredible comeback on a second TV and being like, I know this person. That can't be Batum. I cannot be nick Batum playing meaningful minutes in 2026.

He's been for years for them.

It can't be.

They just want him to shoot threes, and he's so comfortable doing it that he caught a ball out of bounds because that's within his range. It's where they want him. They want him further and further away from the basket. But at the end of that game, the Clippers disintegrated, the Spurs won, and I was legitimately stunned to see Wemby exhausted, crying on the court because he cares like that, and it buys him so much. Do you know how rare it is for somebody who's not an American basketball player to take the path of face of the league. Jokić hasn't been allowed to do it, even though he's been unbelievably great, at least in part because his personality doesn't reveal this emotion to He's stoic. It seems sometimes we wonder how much he actually cares. Crying at the end of a regular season game stunned me. I love it.

I can't sit here. Obviously, it's a regular season game in March that he's crying over, and that's a very cynical way to look at it. But I can't sit here and tell you my biggest criticism for the last however many years of the NBA, and certainly of the NBA player, is that they don't care because they don't. And then also will be critical because this player right here is crying after a win against an under-500 team in March. You can't play both sides like that. I love that he cares. I love when the players care. And I feel like I said this last week, I think the Spurs are going to win the whole thing this year. I think they're going to win the whole thing. And Victor Wembenyama is doing something unprecedented because this is a player who came into the league with hype that has never been topped. Now, maybe there's hype that's equal to it. Like, LeBron was equal hype, okay? Maybe even Zion Williamson was equal hype. Magic Johnson was probably equal hype as well. Magic is not exactly a great analogy because he was drafted by a really good team number one overall because they made a trade and it gave them the number one overall pick.

But for Wemba Niama, the amount of hype that he came into the league with If he wins the Championship this year in just his third year in the league, LeBron didn't win a Championship until year seven, and it wasn't with the team that drafted him. For him to go to a team that was terrible. If he wins the Championship in year three, matching, meeting all of the expectation. We've never seen anything like this before.

I thought he might potentially, because of his size and his game, be so unstoppable in this league that he might ruin it. He's basically Basically, the Terminator in Terminator 2, which is like he's humanity's greatest salvation, potentially. He is going to save this league. He's not jaded yet as a superstar. He goes to the All-Star game, and you would think that complacency would bleed over to him, and he'd get affected by it, trying to impress all the vets in that room. No, he's going to try, and everybody follows his lead. It's a refreshing perspective to be reminded, Oh, these guys play games for a living. This should be fun. And superstars should care like that for a regular season game. It's like hearing Roger Bennett talk about the ideals of America. You have this appreciation for someone that is coming to you wide-eyed and looking at you full of the potential and hope and striving for who you desire to be. I think Wemben Ketamah is great for this league.

And Zaz, whether he wins a championship or not, he could get bounced in the second round by Jokić, going head to head with him. But what he's done for the league this season, moments like this with crying after a regular season win and showing the emotion that comes with just playing a great basketball game, doing what he did for the All-Star game. It felt like he saved the All-Star game. And partially it was the format, but the way that he motivated a guy like Anthony Edwards. I pray that the Timberwolves can build a good enough team around him so that we can see those guys going head to head despite positional differences for years to come. Wemby is doing something for this league that is rarely seen.

One of the things that I find most interesting about this, I'm not going to make it the most interesting thing, but it's pretty damn close. You mentioned Anthony Edwards, Ja Morant, face of the league. These people are a bit superhero in terms of human dimension. I've told you before, I was sitting courtside during a game with my wife, and she says, How tall is that small guy out there? And I'm like, He's taller than I am, Valarie. That's not a small person. That's a 6'5 person who looks small compared to everyone else. Kobe and Michael get credit that Kareem doesn't because we don't give the giant guy this. I've told you guys before that when it comes to reading and publishing, the people who read, the smaller the ball, the more people read. And Shaq, even though he's a spokesman for everything, whenever they put him on magazine covers, they would always fail because of how much he had to overcome as Goliath. This is the perfect player at the perfect time. You're not noticing that he's got an unfair advantage over everybody that does threaten to wreck the league. Because if he cares like this and stays healthy, he's too tall to play against.

Okc slaunters everybody and can't do anything against the height of him and the disproportionate nature of that sport, where if you've got one guy like that, you don't even have to build a team around him. They have good players around him, but still, you don't have to have that many when you have that at the center of everything.

I think it speaks to the level of problems that the league has because it's so systemic with the superstars. It'll follow the lead of the superstars. Superstars aren't playing, and they're willing to go with it, and they don't care, and they all have this laze their attitude. And everyone's like, Well, I wish it were the '90s, where there was intensity, and people cared about things like All-Star Games, and they wouldn't miss games. That leads itself to a mentality discussion. And for whatever reason, this generation of players do not have them mentality. Wembeya is a shock to the system because he cares so deeply. He's trying to reinvent the way that those fans participate in their games, doing the chance, injecting this European soccer influence into it. And he's basically the rising tide there, not just for that franchise, but I think for the game as a whole. Okay, Nikola, quiz Frage. Homeoffice Bastado or Fadenkosten. Was bringt uns mehr?

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I went in the margins. I'm like, You're a money ball of sex? I'm basically Scott Hatterberg for a lot of w A lot of walks, but I'm on base. When it comes to sex, it's got to have tips. Other dudes, they can be Giambi.

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This is the Dan Levatard Show with the Stugatz.

Jokuj says he's glad he's retiring soon before Wembenyama takes over the league. He says, he's changing basketball. I'm glad that I'll probably retire before Wembe holds the entire league in a chokehold, end quote. I object to what you guys are saying there, and I know it's common perception. You can't do what those people do for a living and not care at all. It's just not possible. The people who don't care get weeded out by all of the people in management who are investing and will not allow you to not care. Now, the All-Star game is a different animal. That is obviously not caring. Guys aren't and there's load management because of how the game has changed physically, how much people are getting hurt. Don't tell me Norman Powell doesn't care.

I'll tell you James Harden doesn't care.

Okay, but he plays all the games, though. You say he doesn't care, but one of the things he's always out there, he's not one of the ones load management. And he is.

There's so many of these guys, and there's just an attitude to them.

Mike, I can't let you say an MVP of the league doesn't care. Care. You can't be better than everyone else in that sport not caring. It's not possible.

I think we're having a semantics discussion. Okay, fine. Wemby cares more, and it's obvious. This is not an opinion thing. The guy's crying after a regular season game- I'm just objecting to- I'm just objecting to- against Kawhi Leonard, who I can never tell if he's going to be out there.

I'm just objecting to you saying flatly that nobody out there cares. It's not true.

Go ahead, Jeremy.

It's the collective nature of the care, because what it is is so many of these guys, when they come into the league with hype, are trying to earn their max contract. They're looking at their individual success and their individual growth. And so that random regular season Friday night game against a team that you're probably not going to... I mean, you might face in the playoffs, but you're probably not going to face in the playoffs. It's just a random comeback. Might not mean as much that you got the victory. There's trash talk, there's moments, there's work in the gym, there's all sorts of guys who do that. But But I think what we're seeing, and the reason this is standing out, is you're looking at an individual who has an opportunity to be one of the greatest individual players of all time. But what he cares about is the collective right from the jump of his career, and that's rare.

That's how I feel. I think there's a difference between caring, meaning you want to win a championship. Like, big picture, you care. I think there's a difference between that and caring every time you're out there. I think Wemba Niama cares every time he's out there. I think most guys just care about the big picture, which is, I want to win a championship. It is very important.

You have a generation of Superstar that is like Kawhi. Why aren't you having fun? This is games. You have Durant, who seems miserable all the time. I think there's a difference. Jimmy Butler is surly. Kyrie willingly said, I'm not taking that vaccine. I don't want to play these games. I'm just not going to show up. Harden doesn't care.

This is top line. When Banyama is not going to get up there to press conference to complain about playing a back and forth.

I never know when Joel Embiid is playing. These are not small names. These are some of the biggest names. At times, there were guys that were considered potential face of the league. It's even jaded Giannis to the point that now he's becoming the disenfranchized superstar. So to see the optimism that is very clear along Wemby himself and his fans, it's a breath of fresh air.

I'm objecting again and again to you guys thinking in any way or form that anyone can get to something as competitive as the meritocracy of sports where all of them care about money. You could say they don't care about other things. All of them care about money. You can't be MVP of the league because you're so prenaturally gifted that you can beat a whole bunch of other people who are caring while you don't care.

I'm not following you to that hard line. I'm not having that discussion with you. They very clearly care about their profession and making their money and on-court success Des is cool, but they'll play it cool. They all play it a certain way. Wemby doesn't. He cares differently. And that is obvious to everyone else. And that's the space that I'm living in. I'm not going to get into a debate. Jalen Brunson doesn't care about basketball. He very clearly does. I'm not saying that. I'm saying, does he care night in, night out to play? Wemby cares more.

You guys want guys crying at the end of every game where it doesn't stand out unless Wemby does it because no one else is doing that.

Again, you're taking me to the extremes. No, he doesn't have to cry every game, but it's great to see occasionally. What I'm saying is the easiest thing in the world. Wemby cares in ways that are different and obvious to everybody, and it's refreshing. More of that, please.

I think that what is the irony within all of this is that for Mike individually, he has looked at a team over the last five years or so where their superstar, Jimmy Butler, is the example of what he's talking about. Someone who cares so deeply. He does. You won't find a deeper competitor or a guy who cares about his craft the way that Jimmy Butler does. At the same time, he looked at the regular season as a tune-up for the postseason. And so as someone who's consuming the product all season long, Mike became someone who didn't really want to watch regular season games of his own team because he felt like on any given night, Jimmy might Coast through that game, might be conserving energy for another game later in the year. So what I'm intrigued for is Wemby, later in his career, once he's won, one, two, three, four championships. Is that emotion still going to be there the way it was with someone like Michael Jordan, who every single night was that competitor? I actually think so. But that's really, I think, where this comes from.

I think the modern NBA player is a lot like Kevin Durant in that I know you care. Kevin Durant, very clearly, all he cares about, I think, is the game. But why are you so miserable? We're playing games.

Okay. He's miserable, though, because of everything that surrounds the games, if indeed you believe he's I think he likes this one thing and is exceptional at this one thing and cares deeply about this one thing. But I'm just going to continue to stop you when you tell me that I'm watching the era of Steph Curry's the greatest shooter I've ever seen. How did he get that way? How did he become- I'm not following you there.

I know Steph cares, but- But LeBron, how is LeBron an unprecedented player?

How does that happen?

Do you care every night? Do you care the way that I care watching the TV Because I want you to care. I buy your jersey. I'm buying a ticket. You don't care to play because the league is at a different place right now. They're saving their legs, and there's minutes restrictions, and all this and that. The person watching TV wants people to care the way that Wemby does. And what I'm saying is more of that please.

How do you guys not notice, though? Honestly, I get how it is that basketball used to be and the way that we long for a different time. But how do we forget so quickly the lessons of the pandemic, which is when these guys weren't traveling all over the place, weren't tired, it's the best basketball you've ever seen. When they weren't flying all over the place, having practices in different places, trying to get Because I really don't think that the average fan, sports fan, not basketball fan, understands that these guys, after the Miami Heat are playing two games because they've changed the schedule at home against Brooklyn, that they're flying out and they're getting to Charlotte at five o'clock in the that they're flying overnight and they're arriving in a city at five o'clock in the morning after... I know they fly private and everything else, but they're flying on the airplane. They're sleeping on airplanes. How do you guys forget that during the bubble, we saw better basketball than we've ever seen, at least in part because these guys were simply rested.

I'll just give you an example. I was on the Miami Heat broadcast for 12 years, okay? And there would be home games where it's the first night of a back to back. And so the team is going to fly immediately after the game. Mike Inglis, who was our play-by-play guy, was the only one of our radio team who traveled with the team. I didn't travel. Obviously, John Crotty didn't travel back then. He was on the radio with us. And after the game, we'd get up and I would leave, and Mike would head toward where the team is going to go to travel. I remember thinking myself like, Holy shit. That sounds really terrible to get on an airplane right now. I'm just a broadcaster, and these guys are going to be like, This sounds miserable if I had to go get on an airplane right now.

I do think that most people listening to this simply lose sight because they are such majestic athletes. And the past did us no favors by making 82 games a regular thing. But we've seen all of these organizations care less about the regular season, and you guys keep blaming the players for caring less. And it's never management doing this because they're trying to get to the playoffs healthy. You're never putting that blame on management because systemically, they're allowing guys to take off who are making a bunch of money because they're trying to protect their bodies.

In a world full of kawais, be a Wemby.

Put it on the poll at Lebitard Show. In a world full of kawais, be a Wemby.

Mike, you know I have one rule to live by, right?

Don't place parlays on multiple long shots. Don't say a game is one when it hasn't hit triple zero.

Always drink your Jägermeister cold.

That's the rule. Everything else is merely a suggestion.

Everything else?

Everything else.

Wearing clean underwear every day?

Well, that's just a personal decision.

Brushing your teeth?

Obviously smart, but not a rule.

Never PP on an electric fence. Okay, maybe there are two rules, but the one that is 100% that I insist on completely, Jägermeister must be drunk ice cold.

Or don't drink it at all. Damn, that's cold.

Exactly. You're finally starting to get it.

Drink responsibly. Jägermeister L'Core, 35% alcohol by by Mass Jägermeister US, White Plains, New York.