This is on leash Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me?
This is on leash. Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me?
This is on leash Are you listening?
Can you hear me? Hear me?
This is on leash Are you listening?
Can you hear me? What's up everybody?
How's everybody? Interesting day.
Anything new going on today? Anything new going on?
What's happening? BT Unleashed with you off the
red eye and the Jodies are going to the Sweet 16.
It's absolutely amazing. So you better believe I will
spend a lot of time on that. I am not going to spend well.
Then again, I say I'm not going to spend a lot of time on what
was said on WFAN this morning. Who knows, I might.
We'll see where this goes. All right, so I get off the
plane and I get hit with text, text, text, text, text, tweet,
tweet, tweet, tweet, obviously about some things that that Geo
said about me on the air today. So I, I listened to him.
I did a lot of people sent me snippets, right?
And I listened to him and I said, all right, how, how do I,
how do I want to attack this, right?
I could go in lunatic mode, which I think a lot of you are
are probably expecting. And I might like at some point I
might. But the first thing that I
really feel that I have to do is dispel some things that were
said now by Greg himself #1 So I went into that interview right
on Friday with Evan and Tiki, my old buddy Tikka.
And you know, I've got love for Evan and, and I did text Ryan
Hurley. I said, hey, this was a couple
of days ago. I said if I said if anybody
wants me. And I didn't think that Gio and
Boomer would want me. Not because I didn't have a
decent relationship with them. I had no problems with them,
although evidently we do now, at least me and Greg.
But I wanted to offer up my services, talk some Saint Johns,
you know, And if they accepted it, great.
And if they didn't, they didn't. So I don't think I heard back
from Hurley. You got to understand, I've
known Ryan Hurley for 20 something years before it became
the, the, the brand ambassador at WFN.
Ryan, did I go back? Ryan was my old producer at
10:50 SPN Radio. So you know when Greg says I was
begging Hurley nonsense, straight up lie #1 it's a lie.
I mean, I'm not going to rant and rave and yell.
It's just a mistruth. I offered my services.
I think I know a lot about Saint John's.
It's a big story it's the biggest story hey and I've said
many times by the way, I've got no issue with WFN.
I've got love for WFAN doesn't seem like the morning show's got
any love for me at this point, but that's fine OK, so that's
that's that's lie number one now the other thing too, when I went
into the interview, I just because I know the way radio
works I get it and I and I somebody sent me the clip.
I think it was last week where where Greg was talking about, I
guess how you know, he came be. Oh yeah, a year ago that was
that was I'm pretending I'm him a year ago that was me prank and
BT right now there were a lot of things that were said this
morning, lot of things that were said this morning.
All right. I do admit that that younger me
would be taking a different route, like just with a totally
different energy. So what I have learned, and I
really mean this, what I've really learned in life is to
really not give a flying fuck what anybody thinks about me
that doesn't really know me, all right?
And Greg doesn't really know me, like, and I don't really know
Greg, to be fair, right? We don't, we work 10 feet down
the hallway from each other for a couple of years, The three
years I was at the Fan, I was down the hall doing National for
a long time. Always cordial, always what's
up. Couple of texts here and there.
You know, I listen to the morning show going in.
Sometimes they would say something like, oh, I think you
missed this or something with me and Sal little context, Like I
had a good relationship. Not not amazing, but, but good
enough, right? But the, the, the character,
like the character assassination, like, I don't, I
don't care if Greg thinks I'm not good on the air.
That's fine, all right. I don't care if Greg takes a
little jab that I got fired. Which brother?
I wasn't really fired. My contract wasn't renewed.
That's fine. Like I don't talk about that
stuff on the air. I never have.
If Greg wants to do that, knock yourself out.
It's all good. I'm 52 years old.
Do you think I really care what he thinks about my employment?
I really don't and I never will. I never have, right?
But I went into the interview with Evan and Tiki.
I was not going to bring that up, you know, But I will say
that it bothered me. Like I'm not going to lie to you
guys. That bothered me now when when I
said that Greg was not a good teammate, I was talking about
the prank. But let's be very clear about
that. The reason I took that so and I
didn't know because Greg never told me.
I never knew. I I didn't know until the other
day. So I guess I'll give him props
for a pretty good not know, right?
The only reason I was so bothered by that is to me that
this is this is what for me. I'll speak to my character.
There's certain things that I don't do and there's certain
things that I would never do, and that's one of them right
now. I also get like how I present
myself on the air what Greg does 2 very different, you know,
modes of operation. I'm a sports guy who likes to
mess around. Secondarily, Greg is funny.
Greg is a big guy. Greg's good at his job too.
Like I'm not going to say he's not good.
He's good, very successful and at times very funny, right.
But when when you prank a teammate, a guy down the
hallway, when you call on the air and you say that and and you
keep the story going or you keep the story going, right?
That I was out perpetuating a story that, by the way, was
false, that I was out drinking with college players who are
underage, That's not cool. And, and and I don't even if
it's funny, it's not cool. Like there's a line that you
don't cross. And to me, that's crossing a
line. So yeah, that did bother me, but
I was still going to have enough respect for WFAM and the people
who work there full time. I wasn't going to bring it up.
I wasn't now when Evan asked me, I'm not going to lie, because
I'm going to be authentic like that.
If I if, if I'm anything, I'm authentic, right?
I think you guys always know how I feel.
I think I wear my emotions on my sleeve.
I think that's one of the reasons why I've done what I've
done in my career so far. Like, I'm going to tell you
what's in my heart. I'm going to tell you how I
feel. And that did bother me.
And you know, if like if, if I was still working at the station
and I'm, I'm not, trust me, I'm not saying I would have busted
in the studio like a lunatic, but I would be like, yo, that's
pretty fucked up, man. I, I would have said that to his
face. That's fucked up.
Because when you have a job for 20 years as as I have had with
St. John's and you try to comport
yourself a certain way, right? And it's a Catholic University
and, and now you're crossing a line and you're again, he didn't
make it up, but he added to it. And I didn't appreciate that.
OK, So if Greg has a problem with me saying that I didn't
think that he was a good teammate at that point, well,
then that's Greg's problem. That's not my problem.
I'm I'm sorry that he feels that way, but that's the only way
that I could feel what I found out about that now, few other
things here, right? Well, you know, nobody liked
working with them at WFN, OK, I mean, what now you start talking
about character guys like I I do the I do sports.
I do this for a living. I'm not into the gossip.
I'm not into the drama. I'm not even talking about Greg
now I'm talking about in general.
I'm not into the radio beeps. I've never played that.
You've always heard me say that to the point where when things
come up on the tech stream on this show and some of you have
taking a shit on WFN because it bothers you that they got rid of
me, I don't play into that. I always say, hey, you know,
let's go. We don't need to do that.
This is my thing. I've got love for the fan.
So I I think if anything that I've comported myself like a
professional now when Greg's and Greg's opinion, I might not be
good enough to still be on WFAN and that's fine.
That's Greg's opinion. But what, what I do know is that
the person that I was on the air is always going to be the person
that I'm off the air. Like I, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm true
to what I believe in and I'm authentic to me.
And I believe that I'm authentic to good things.
I try to do right by people. Now I'll see this too, like, and
I'll, I'll even be, I'll even be and I don't know if I would have
been able to do this years ago. I'll be fair, I'll even be a
little vulnerable here. I really will when he says like,
oh, he's got no sense of humor. There was a point where I, I
really didn't know how to laugh at myself.
I think that that's fair. I think that that's true.
And I think that one of the ways that I've grown doing this is
that I have learned to laugh at myself.
And I don't take myself very seriously.
I take my job seriously. I take the content very
seriously. I take my responsibility to you,
my fans, my audience, very seriously.
I don't take myself seriously. Now think about, think about
the, think about the, the jobs that I've had.
I was at ESPN Radio for 10 years, OK, 10 years.
Ryan Hurley was my producer. Ryan Hurley will be a friend
until the day that we are out of the business and no longer here.
Check. Michael Kay.
I was at Michael's wedding, OK Michael was one of my first
guest on this show. Love Mike and Mike's got love
for me. Don was a guest on the show.
I love Don and Don's got love for me.
Stephen A's probably coming on this week and has been one of my
biggest champions in the business that the mutual love
that we have for each other and the respect is undeniable.
I worked with Stephen A right. So that's 10 years at one
company, pretty good track record.
And then, you know, 13 years at at, you know, CBS.
I want to see what you know, but I'm very proud of the run and
I'm very proud of how I finished.
And this is not to re litigate like my last show, like the
chapters been written, man, but the way that I walked out of
that studio, I walked out to me the way I would want my son or
my daughter to walk out if they were not, if when they face
adversity in their life, you know, and I I wasn't going to
say this, but I am going to say this all right, because there
were times when Greg was a good teammate and he said that today
and that bothered him. And I can even respect that
because he did go to bath for me and Sal with Carl Banks and I
salute him for that. And I saluted him in real time.
I told him that I walked into the stood.
I said, appreciate that man Thank you.
That's a stand up move right there.
But like being a good teammate to me is not being a good
teammate when it fits. And when Sal and I found out on
air live that Craig was coming back, all right now, they were
already gone that day. And I didn't have the
relationship with them where I expected some long text like, Oh
my God, I just feel like we weren't friends friends at all.
We were cordial and that was it. Kept it moving, right?
Never 1 issue with Greg and never 1 issue with Boomer until
until now with, with, with Greg with this stuff, right?
So the next day, and, and maybe this was overly presumptive on
my part, maybe, but I'm sitting there saying, man, if one of my
teammates just found out on the air that they lost their job, I
know what I would do. And I would pop my head in and I
would say, even though you probably think Craig's better
than me and it's justified, and that's fine.
Craig's a rock star. I got no problem with Craig at
all. But to, to me the human thing,
the decent thing at that point if you're a good teammate, if
you're a good teammate would be to walk down.
Cuz I when I tell you my studio was here and theirs was right
there, right there like 5 feet away.
And to leave the, the station, you've got to walk past our
studio. And I was at the studio
everyday, bar none, by 8:30. That was my process.
Get ready, you know, get ready for crazy Sal and the four hours
of yelling and the four hours of awesomeness.
All right? And he could say whatever he
wants. Yeah.
I don't think we were fired because the show wasn't good.
I think he said we couldn't cut it.
Or I'll say I don't want to get sound bombed.
I couldn't cut it. I don't believe that that's
true. I think the show was really,
really good. And so did management.
It was unique circumstances. But that's fine.
I'm a big boy. I've moved on.
So that day, the next day, now it's in the newspapers and it's
everywhere. Nothing.
And again, I'm not even like, I'm not waiting for it.
But when it was, when it didn't happen, I was like, wow, that,
that OK, that's interesting. And then the next day, and then
the next day, and then the next day and then the next day.
Not a word, not a word. So yeah, there were times you
were a good teammate. I I agree with that.
But I know that and you're very entrenched there and you got
great ratings and you're making a good living and you've earned
it. You're good at what you do.
We we're very different talent wise, but you're very
successful. I've always said that we go go
and Google any article, all right, that was written about me
going to FAN or me talking and espousing about WFAN.
I mean, the first go to line was Boomer and Gio are a monster.
Like I always gave love. I always showed respect to the
morning show because I show respect to everybody.
So then now it's like wow, like a week or two, I guess.
I guess he really doesn't care that I'm basically getting fired
and that's fine. All right, so then the then Sal
finishes up and now I do, as many of you know, I do last show
by myself, right? The last week by myself.
And there were five chances. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday. I don't need you to come in and
tell me something you don't believe.
I don't need you to come in and even emotionally prop me up
because I'm pretty resilient. But again, I know what I would
have done. Yo, Gio, that's a tough break,
man. Honestly, good luck, dude.
Miss you. That's it.
Even if you don't mean it like to me being, being a good
teammate is not selective. Being good, a good teammate is
when somebody that you worked with for a couple of years 5
feet away and the show right after you, they lose their job.
And you know, I've got two kids, you know, I've got a pretty
expensive mortgage because you've been to my home once, but
you've been here, you've seen it.
It's nice. It's not cheap.
Not a word. So I didn't forget that because
I, I, I wouldn't have done that. I would have done the exact
opposite. So he went on a little rant
today. That's fine.
You know, you know, that's that awesome.
Knock yourself out, All right? You know, we, if you had any
real issues with me over over the years that we were together,
you can walk down the hall to talk to me because I think I'm
very approachable. That's what grown men do.
I've done that with other people.
You know, I, I believe in that kind of communication.
If I ever did something so wrong to you, come and come and
address it, you know, and you know all the other stuff too,
you know, like the, the not once did I ever a matter of fact, I
laughed. I thought it was hysterical,
like the drops, the a gap. And you know, Brian Cashman,
that didn't bother me. I laughed.
You know what?
I didn't laugh when you pranked your teammate.
You called me on the air and kept the story going.
That one wasn't true and two, was potentially dangerous for me
in terms of employment. So that's where I'm at with
that. So I mean, there's a good chance
that I'll never see Greg again the rest of my life unless I
bump into him in the game. I mean, we, we, we, we have no
bearing on each other's lives. I don't need him.
He obviously doesn't need me. I don't care.
He doesn't care. But don't come off as Mr.
Rennison here. You actually picked up the phone
and you punked a teammate is what you did.
And for a whole year, you never told me.
And that was the story that bothered me.
All right, so I'm going to start dialing it down now before I get
too worked up and really say the wrong thing.
All right, Again, years ago, this probably would have been a
very different presentation. I'm very comfortable where I am.
I'm very comfortable how I'm pivoting and making something of
my situation. Very proud of that.
It's not easy, you know? And Greg, I hope someday you
don't have to do it. Maybe you won't.
You know, you're you're WFAN royalty.
It's different for you. You know, you got Boomer, you
got a rock store next to you. You guys are coasting and you're
going to coast as long as you want because everything, the
ratings are there and the revenues there.
All right. So as you sit in your tower and
you view downward on on the rest of us peasants understand.
I never once had a problem with you at all until that one time.
And if you didn't like what I said with Evan, I'm sorry.
You shouldn't have done it. That's on you that that's not a
me thing. That's a you thing.
I didn't pick up the phone and prank you.
I didn't pick up the phone and prank Boomer.
I didn't. I didn't prank you and pretend I
was Mike Francesa when Mike called your show and blasted
you, eviscerated you. I didn't do that.
I kept my mouth shut because that's not what I do.
You know what I mean? Like I Gen. like and I I I don't
want this to be misconstrued because I'm not wired this way
when the I don't even not meltdown because I don't think
that that's fair. I'm trying to be respectful.
The the show where you even said you, you had anxiety, whatever
it was like I felt so I felt for you.
I'm like, wow, I'm like, he's really dealing with some shit
here. I hope he's going to be all
right. You know, so being a good
teammate is not just making good radio, shitting on Carl Banks
and shitting on other people. And I did appreciate it because
you did have my back. But when nobody was watching,
where there was no bit to be done on the radio, when there
was nothing funny to be said, no drop to hit by Eddie Scissari,
who, by the way, did come into the studio and gave me a hug.
I won't forget that. Eddie's been there since day
one. That meant something to me.
I'm like, and I even told him like, wow, I'm really touched by
that. Eddie, thank you very much, man.
Thank you. And I don't keep score about who
did what because I'm moving on. You know, Evan asked me a
question. I answered it honestly.
You didn't like it Too bad. I don't know what to tell you.
You're the one who made the call, not me.
Not me, you know? And by the way, since since I
have such a rough time working with people at WFAN, why don't
you go and ask Sean Morash how I've treated Sean since he got
every promotion. Check Sean's text chain, every
promotion that that dude's gotten.
Dude, I'm so happy for you. Keep killing it.
This was after they let me go. Now I don't.
I don't have that relationship with Tommy.
I don't have Tommy's number. But I remember walking out of
the studio that day and you know, he, everybody was kind of
waiting and I said, dude, knock him out, man.
This is your shot. Go get it.
Like I, I, I don't operate with grudges or bias or jealousy.
And I'm not even saying that you do I'm not, I'm not, I'm not
pulling you into that. But you could say whatever you
want about my lack of humor or anything that you want.
When you talk about my character now, you're fucking dead wrong.
Now you're dead. That's the one thing that I will
defend to the end of the earth, because there's not a part now
there might be a few people there that we I'll beat.
You know, he, he, he wants a certain thing on the air or you
know, he's, he's a little hot. You know, whatever hot, intense
with certain things. Ask Rami about the text I sent
Rami, you know, when I found out he was taking over for Eddie,
thrilled for him. Talk to Connor.
Hey, Connor, how you doing, buddy?
How's everybody treating you here?
Has I have always gone out of my way to make sure people below me
and just in terms of money, like in terms of status on the on the
on the pecking order of radio, which I am no longer a part of,
right? I have always gone out of my way
to try to do the right thing by people, by people, you know,
it's just a genuine care for others.
And you know, I'm not attacking your character like I'm not.
I'm not even doing that. But what I am saying is, and
I've said this now three times. That was your straight up week,
what you did with that prank call.
And now you got a problem because I didn't like it.
I don't know what to tell you, buddy.
That's that's just the way it's going to be, you know, So I'm
going to eventually move on from this and have a blast with the
Johnnies and the Sweet 16 for the first time in forever.
But some of those things that were said, yeah, maybe one or
two are true. And he'd always laugh at
himself. Yeah, I got it.
I own it, you know, And you know what it's called?
It's it's also Greg for me. It's also called looking in a
mirror, Right. And for me, trying to be better
at certain things, Right. I'll tell you something else.
And I wasn't even going to say this.
And I didn't say it in real time and you didn't bring this up.
So I want to be, I don't want anything miss something because
I know you're going to be talking about this again on the
show tomorrow, right? Are we just going to go back and
forth with this? I mean, I, I, I prefer not to,
but you know, guy calls you up, right?
Guy calls you up. Oh, I heard BT got kicked out of
the game. I'm on vacation.
I am on a beach in Florida, Rosemary, Florida with my
family. Negan, I'm not saying you
started this. I won't be clear, but if I like,
if I was you in that moment, I would have shot that down out of
respect to you, you know, and, and maybe you did, maybe you did
more than I'm giving you credit for, but that's something that I
would not have leaned into because to me, you know, that's
I, I look at the things that I try to do for people and it
wanted and you know, and all you guys know at the station how
much I love coaching, right? And to get pulled into that
while I'm on vacation, standing up for my team when we were
wronged. And it's like a bit on WFAN,
like I wouldn't have done that. I just would have done it and
you know, it, it bothered me, but you know, just kept it
moving. You do your show.
I do my show. But the the thing about like,
even if you would have said and it I didn't know it was you, if
you would have been like, as we're getting ready to hang up
BT you're an idiot. How do you not know it's Gio?
I would have left but for a year.
So again, when I look at teammates and when I look at,
you know, foxhole people and you were foxhole guys sometimes you
definitely weren't. I, I'm giving you that.
You were. But when I lost my job, you
didn't even say goodbye. And I don't think anybody knows
that. So if you want to, you want to
attack my character. I want people to know just how
flippantly you ignored somebody losing their job.
Not even goodbye, not even good luck, nothing. 0 not AP.
So I am perfectly fine with what I've said, how I've responded.
You know, you can make the jokes and you guys can play the drops,
and those drops will be funny, I'm sure forever.
Knock yourself out. And I think that that's
genuinely funny, but I think that there's certain things,
even in radio, you know, with bits and with ratings, to me,
there's certain things that are off base.
And and I just gave you one was the call to me and Sal.
So that's that's where I'm at. I mean, J Rod, I get off the
air. Where's my guy?
What's up? I I get off the airplane today,
right? I'm half asleep.
We are on the tarmac for. Let's see a we so the game put
like we, they wound up getting, they gave up the rooms, but then
they got the rooms back because we had like 3 hours.
And then we go to the to the to the private airport and we're on
the we're in the bus still for like 2 hours.
Then we get on the plane. It's like, Oh my God, I landed I
think it was like 8 O3 812, whatever the hell it was right?
Something like that, barely. I got Minko like this next to me
snoring. He's got, you know, he's got
drool covered. No, man, he doesn't have drool.
But he was like it was an uncomfortable, believe it or
not, it was not a good charter. Like it was the NCAA chief down
on the truck, very tight, very tight, awesome weekend chief
charter. So I'm, I, I, I literally slept
about 36 minutes and then I opened my phone because I wanted
to try to see the kids before I, you know, I, I thought that
there was a chance. I was trying to time this out.
If daddy gets home around 8:00, they leave for school around
8:20. I haven't seen them for five
days. I want a couple of hugs and
kisses there. I missed the heck out of them
and I'm like, I'm not going to get.
So now as I'm texting my wife and I text my son, he's having
breakfast. I text my daughter on her iPad.
Daddy's not going to see it. All of a sudden, Ding, Ding.
You know how like you get on a plane thing start popping off,
Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding, Ding.
I'm like, and I and I and I, and I figured I really did.
I figured. I figured that that Greg would
probably address that. I figured that he would.
What he failed to address and the manner in which he addressed
my character is the only thing that I care about.
Anything else? Knock yourself out, radio
fodder. Have fun.
That's cool. We never had a deep relationship
and we never will. And I don't need it and you
don't need me. And that's OK.
That's OK with the character stuff.
I'm I mean, that's what that's the only thing that you take to
your grave and I don't give a flying fuck what you think about
me. I really don't I just I don't
care because there's enough evidence with the kids that I
coach and the people that I've worked with for a long time that
will say, you know what, it's a good dude, man.
He generally try to do the right thing independent of is he great
on the air? Is he good on the air?
Did he get screwed by the fan? Was the fan just, I'm not
talking about that subjective radio and interpretation stuff.
I'm talking about the reliable emotional, be like the
emotionally reliable person who genuinely cared about somebody's
daughter at the station or their son's first game or God forbid,
if somebody passed away. Shoot the tag.
I'm not saying I'm the only one who does that.
I don't mean that. But you would make it seem like
I'm walking around, you know, the way Greg planned this or
plotted this or or laid this out today, like I'm walking around
the station and I'm taking mics and everybody's back.
And it couldn't be. It's the complete antithesis.
Like I generally have great pride and and I will look back
with great fondness at my time at WFAN.
I really, really will. But I got pulled into this today
and again, I wasn't even going to get into this when evident
tiki, you know, And yeah, I I texted Ryan.
I've known Ryan for 20 years. Yo, hurls you.
Hey, if anybody. It wasn't even like, oh, I got
to get on the fan. No, I don't have to.
If anybody wants to talk Saint John's, it's the story.
Dicks aren't in the playoffs yet.
Yanks and the Mets haven't started yet.
Giants hired horribaugh, Jets haven't drafted anybody yet.
Rangers suck. Like it's St.
John's. So I'm thinking, OK, you know,
if there's one person that could really talk St.
John's, it would be me. I'm not saying men can.
I'm not saying that there aren't others.
Of course there are. But that's been one of my
connections for two decades. So I volunteered my services.
He, I think he said like, yeah, we'll see.
And then I think, I think this was after going into the Big
East tournament. I think I texted him and then I
circle back said, hey, listen, I'm not gonna, I did say so I'm
not gonna keep asking. I said, if you want somebody,
let me know. And then he's like evident Tiki
said they love to have you on Tiki's.
My guy worked with him for 10 years.
And I, I, I want, I, I really do want like Greg failed to miss.
He missed this. He just didn't incorporate this
in what he was saying. I was not at all.
I was not going to bring that up at all.
But how weak would it be and how disingenuous and inauthentic of
me would it be when Evan asks me?
Oh yeah, it was funny. I didn't think it was funny, no.
I, you know, that kind of thing messes with your career.
I mean, I could go on a whole tangent, right?
I mean if, if you'll allow me. By all means, did you?
I just want to make sure I treat.
You're right here, Jared. Yeah, yeah.
So, so whatever, I wake up this morning, and I said this before,
it was like Paul Revere running through Boston going the British
are coming. I wake up in like a sweat to you
calling me going, you see what Gio said, You see what Gio said.
So I see it. And this is my thing with the
character assassination as well. It it just led to here's a big
word. It led to like a cognitive
dissonance when I'm watching it because the way he described you
is just not the human being I've interacted with whatsoever in
terms of how he's treated his producers, how he's treated
people around him, how he can't laugh at himself.
I feel like 90% of this show is you laughing at yourself having
a good time, neither here nor there.
Try to, you know, I mean, I'm not saying I'm the funniest guy
in the world, but jeez, I I take a lot of things seriously.
Taking myself seriously is not one of them.
Yeah, yeah. So it just it felt strange like
at least to somebody maybe looking in from an outside
perspective and I just I didn't see it.
And then another thing, he just completely twisted the Joe B
common thing about you talking about the fan.
Like he clearly just saw the 33 second Instagram clip of you
talking and clearly didn't see the episode where you louded the
fan, where you you gave them their flowers always.
And you and, and you were more so talking about, you know, the
radio landscape and all that, you know, and how it's kind of
shifted to the more of a digital sort of thing.
So you just completely missed there too.
I just, I, I can't believe it, you know, onward and upward.
Turn the other cheek. Come on now.
Well, I mean, listen, even the I'm happy that you bring that up
with Joe like, and I'm not going to say that Greg didn't see the
whole thing. I don't I don't know, but it
sounds like maybe he didn't, but I'll leave the door open.
Maybe that he did. Maybe that's his subjective
interpretation of what I said and that's his right.
That's fine. Like that's his opinion.
One thing I learned a long time ago, you can't tell somebody
that their opinions not right. You can say I don't agree with
your opinion or maybe you have it wrong or you construe this,
you know, incorrect misconstrued this.
But I I don't know. I doubt that he saw the whole
thing because I don't think that he's going out there watching
BTL least YouTube shows. You know, maybe you see a short,
maybe stick with that. So maybe it was of the shorter
variety, whatever, but what I said was true.
There has been and it was after much lauding of the almighty
FAN. It's the greatest sports radio
station in the history of sports stations.
I said that forever. Chris Olivero is one of the most
brilliant, you know, decision makers and just voices that are
he's a Titan of our industry, man, and before that, so is Mark
Chernoff. Like I'm not going to re
litigate how amazing FAN is. That's not the point, you know,
or, but, but the, the point from that day where he pulled me into
the Joe stuff today with, with Boomer was that I was shitting
all over the fan and I and I didn't it was called, it's
called contextualizing the evolving marketplace.
I mean, and even W, even when I was there, WFAN leaned very
heavily into the digital aspect for a reason.
They're not doing it for their health.
They're doing it because digital, like the digital
traction that they get on YouTube, they got 100,000
followers, I guess a month or so ago and a lot of the clicks and
that you monetize that they're not idiots.
It's another revenue stream. So to me when I say that the,
the, the, the radio relevance and the radio revenue is
slightly diminished from what it was in its heyday, that's fact.
That's a, that's not a knock at anybody.
That's not saying this show is not good.
That show's not good. I never once, I never once
criticized a show publicly. There were times and you know, I
I I don't need that public validation, but I will just
communicate to you. And how many times there are,
especially now, like since things went down with the fan
where I'm coaching third base or I'm at one of my kids basketball
games or I'm coaching a basketball game.
And you know, I don't mean my friend.
So I know like my real close friends in town, but you know,
maybe other towns that playing out, whatever they're like,
dude, you know, what are they doing?
How do they get rid of you? And and and keep.
I'm like, yeah, it's their decision.
Like, I never leaned into it. Like I never walked around with
an ounce of animosity. I walked out of the station with
great gratitude for the platform.
Now I earned it. I fought my way there.
They didn't give me a fucking gift and say, this guy really
wants to work here. Maybe we should put them.
They put me on the air because I'm good.
That's why they did it. And if you want to say they took
me off the air because I'm not good, if that's what Greg
thinks, that's what Greg thinks, that I don't care.
I don't think that that's true, but that's his opinion.
Evidently, you know? No, but any and anything that I
said about the fan too, like I was reacting to what Joe said,
which by the way is what you do in the content era, like Greg
always reacts to things that are said on Barstool and other
outlets. So to me, for a place that I
worked for three years and it was in the building for 13, you
know, over 345 Hudson. You know, I'm not saying to Mike
and Chris or or even those guys in the morning, I'm not an FAN
lifer, but I kind of am based on the fact that I listened to it
from day one and I did work there.
I I know a little bit more about the station than the average
person. And to me, what what I did say
was that those guys back then, they had a, it was almost
easier. And I'll put quotes around the
word easier, easier to be a star because there was no ESPN 880.
There was no, you know, bar stool.
There was no SNY there just there's nothing.
It was, I mean, there was just WFAN.
So if you wanted to listen to sports, you listen to WFAN, even
if the person that you listen to you thought was terrible or you
hated them. And by the way, I know for a
fact that some people got pleasure listening to me and Sal
because they hated us. I'm not an idiot.
I understand that we rub people the wrong way based on our
rawness. Come on.
But that was, you know, that was just being authentic to the job.
Like that's I was telling you what I was feeling.
So I'll never apologize for the effort because I don't need to
the effort that I put into during my time there.
I'm proud of it. I walked out with my head held
high. I don't have any beefs with
anybody there, but Greg was off base.
Greg was out of bounds today. And you know, listen, if Greg
now this I'll be Greg wouldn't have done this if I didn't say
what I said with evident tiki. But and if and, and that's why
I'm also mad enough to say that he was a good teammate at times.
That's why I want to make sure because he did say this.
I heard this part when he was on his little rant today about the
Carl Bank stuff And, and, and maybe my Gary Myers, he did have
her. He had our back, no doubt.
But you know that that's, that's only one side of the coin.
The other side of the coin is you call up and you know, you
keep a story going. That's not true.
That could have got me in a lot of trouble and and maybe lost a
job, but I choosed tremendously. So that's what I'm pushing back
on. That's it, Jay Rod.
Otherwise, dude, I just want a piece.
I don't want any problems man. I mean, I mean.
Hey. Listen, I feel like a big a big
line of the unleashed mantra has been the listen, I don't do the
radio beef thing. I don't want to get into this
whole thing. Obviously here, you know, you
got to address it and it's just ridiculous.
It's just ridiculous. I I mean, I, I couldn't have
seen something that, and the word isn't disagree, but just
that I haven't found to be my experience with you whatsoever.
Like I mean, listen, I, I could, I could go on right now.
Yo, BT he's a tyrant. He's a tyrant to the producer,
but not at all, not at all. This guy, this guy's giving me a
platform. This guy's genuinely tried to
lift me up as his producer, give me a space to speak, give me a
space to do my thing, get comfortable on Cam, work, learn,
turn, grow, turn this thing into a monster.
So I, I, I couldn't see any other differently.
I I'm not sure who this is. The Good Shepherd Shep, he's one
of your producers. He said produce for BT back in
2013 at the network. Good man, good teammate.
I know Shep. Criticism.
I was with Shep for a couple of years.
Yeah. I mean, yeah, let's, let's,
let's get all the old producers come on in.
I mean, let's, let's, let's get a scoreboard going here.
Yeah, I mean. I'm such a bad dude to so many
people, you know, I'd like to hear him speak out.
I mean, I, I really well, you know, I mean, if they want to
be, maybe I don't, I don't know. No, listen, I'm also not going
to sit here and say that there were at times that I was the
always the easiest person to ask my wife.
I'm not the easiest person to live with, you know, I mean,
when you are a high energy, very opinionated, you know, type a
kind of personality who is used to doing it a certain way.
You know, if you bump into certain people that aren't as
you know, malleable, maybe moldable, like where you know,
they push back and you push back.
I'm not saying it's it's it's always rainbows and and sunshine
every single day, but I really I like I'm I'm not even saying
this to make myself feel good. I really genuinely do feel good
about, you know, the relationships that I had there,
that I had there. Some were deeper than others, of
course. By the way, I just got a text
message. I'm not going to tell you who
it's from that would not do that from somebody at WFANI.
Just caught up this morning on drama and and me, but I want to
make sure because if I read certain things, then it might
divulge who it is. Never had issues working with
you, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I mean, again, guys, this
at the end of the day, what what are we talking about here, man?
I mean, life, life is hard, all right?
If you think about how think about how hard life is, right?
Life is hard. And not to get overly deep and
overly dramatic here, but life is hard.
It's not easy. You know, whether it's a job,
whether it's covered somebody in your family is sick or you know,
your, your, your kids are having a rough time learning
disabilities. I'm just throwing things that
are afflicting so many people like I'm not going to take this
very seriously and I'm not going to keep playing this game going
back and forth with Geo every. I've got no interest.
No, I don't know. I don't know if he does, but
he's going to be violin to himself.
Like unless he says something that's a complete overt lie,
like to me, the character stuff, then I'm always going to defend
myself. But I'm not, I'm not turning
this into a bit. And yeah, I would probably have
a few more viewers today. And the crazy thing is, is that
this kind of stuff, sadly, this shit actually drives the medium.
And that's one of the reasons. We got 600 live viewers.
Yeah, Well, well, we've had more than that, but yeah, we've had
1000. We've got AG.
Oh yeah, no, I know. But no, it's it's a decent
number. Whatever.
I've never been in the. Business to say things that I
don't believe in and, or, or to start friction and start
trouble. And I, I just, that's not my
world, man. There's too many other things
that are just very important to me that I just don't.
I've never jumped into that. I remember saying to salve a
couple of times like, yeah, I, I just, I'm, I'm not a radio beef
guy. I'm not a radio war guy.
It's just, it's boring to me. I don't know.
It's, it's just not me. Like I didn't get into this to
try to be Howard Stern. I got into this to talk sports
and over the course of talking sports, I think that when I let
my guard down and I fuck around, I can fuck around as much as
anybody. And you started seeing more and
more on this channel, but I'm not going to force it.
I'm not even talking about Greg now.
I'm just talking about in general.
Like I'm not going to force stuff.
I wouldn't do what comes natural and that's it.
So here we are. You can, by the way, you can pop
up, pop up some text here. I know people want to jump in
and you know. Yeah.
I mean, there's a, there's a million we'll.
Let's. Go once I'll get to the party.
Don't worry. All right, well, let's just go.
Let's go with our main man Omar, real quick.
All right, Omar, what do we got here?
Another new low for FA. And one thing.
I like Craig. I like Craig.
I do. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
No, no, sorry. No.
You sync to a new low when you shamefully bash people who did
good, honest work at your station.
I mean, I tried to, I tried to do good, honest work.
I, I should have probably said like, I don't want to pull other
people's names into it. Like I, I actually, I really do
like Craig and Craig's talented. And I also said, you know, I
don't know if other talents would be so transparent, but I
even said in one of the interviews, I forget which one,
maybe Barrett Media, one of the one of the one of the articles
that was written at the end, I said, hey, if I was running the
fan and Craig wanted to come back, I get it.
You know, you talk a business, you're talking about a an FAN
superstar. And and that that was never me.
I was a guy who got there late, but I'll tell you this, I, I
will, I will take a lot of pride in in for a guy being there for
a fairly short amount of time in a midday slot.
I'm not talking about Joe and Evan that they were they had a
long, great run together where there was a lot of volatility
and there was a lot of changing voices and a lot of changing
teams. You know, we Salvati, we're not
going to wind up being there 57101215 years.
But I'll tell you what we carved out a little identity.
Show had some juice. Show had some balls.
Show had some range. Show made a lot of headlines in
the midday. So, you know, I, I don't know
what Greg's ultimate barometer is for a good show.
I mean, of course rating, sure, but you know, the midday ratings
are never going to be like the morning show or the afternoon
drive ever, historically ever at any successful radio station.
That's just not how it goes based on the amount of people
who are in cars and the, the meter exposure.
Like, I'm not going to lift up the curtain and I'm not even
trying to take away from those guys.
They do a good show. They do.
But what Greg said today was bullshit, man.
A lot of it was off base and just not right.
It's not accurate, you know. All right.
You can tell that you had problems with BT when they
brought up the Stephen A Smith and Tiki beef years ago.
Yeah, I don't. I remember that vaguely.
What did Stevie did Steven take a shot of tiki?
What did Greg said? I didn't defend tiki enough.
Is that what it was? I don't even remember.
What? The story.
Something like that. Whatever, we're going to drudge
up all the other stuff. I, you know, I don't, I don't
know. I don't know.
All I know is that, you know, I'm about at my point where I'm
getting ready to go into the St. John's talk here.
I want to make sure that I didn't miss anything here
because this is important to me. Really.
Again, if it was something stupid, if it honestly, if it
was a story where Geo pranked me, was like, oh, yo, I heard
you were, you know, I heard you had seven shots of Jameson with
a couple of boosters last night. You fell asleep in the hotel
lobby. What do you want?
Come on, What kind of like that? Like, that's one thing.
Because it's not. It's not with underage students.
You know, I'm saying like people here.
Hold on, Jay, people hear stuff and they no longer sadly, sadly,
the way people consume our medium now, they no longer take
the time to really delve into the actual meat of the story.
It's surface headlines. It's a click 20.
It's a quick 22nd pop. It's alright.
Let me read this lifted, extrapolate this and move on.
You know, and sometimes when you move on, there's some collateral
damage that that can be done. And to me, there's just a
distinct difference between being funny.
And I do think he's funny and I do think he's talented.
But being funny and being talented and being a morning
guy, which is different than doing middays and afternoons, I
get it. It's a different speed, it's a
different energy. It's a different, it's more
light. And he's very good at that.
But that was crossing the line. And I did.
And again, I wasn't even going to say anything because Greg is
no longer in my world. And I did not know about, I did
not know it was him until three, 4-5 days ago.
Now I'm trying to put myself in the shoes of if I was still
working there because there were times I would like, I would walk
in and I would say what's up to those guys a lot and just
bullshit with them, right? Whether it's about a Jets game
or, or Saint John's. Like I know Geo's mom is a big
Saint John's fan. I know Greg's a Saint John's
fan. Like little things like that.
Never too deep obviously. But if I was still working there
and it came out that it was Greg, like, again, I wouldn't
have kicked the door open like it like a maniac, but I, I, I
would have addressed it in my own way, in my own more mature
way. I would have been like, dude,
that's fucked up, man. Like that's fucked up.
He could have gotten me in real trouble there.
You know, it may have been funny to you, but not that funny, you
know? And again, I would have
presented in a way where he would have known where I was
coming from. And then, you know, the onus
would have been on him to, you know, I'm sure we would have had
a laugh over it. We would have been throwing
fists. But, you know, if I was still
there, I, I would have said something within bounds for
sure. I would have, yeah.
I guess here. Here's another from Robert
Huerta. So yeah, this is kind of like
how he ended it, like when he was like, yeah, if I ever need
you, like if I ever need a motivational speech, I'll hit
you. So like, yeah, like Robert, here
he goes. Gio tried to take a shot about
your speaking engagements. How the fuck is that something
to knock with you, Gio? Yeah, to me, dude, like.
This is a man making his living, doing his thing, giving people,
not only himself, his talents, his communication skills in both
the digital landscape, but bringing them to other people.
How can you knock that? This is a man just trying to,
like you said, feed his family, pay his mortgage.
What kind of shit is that? And that just takes it to
another. Just weird.
Again, high school personal level that has nothing to do
with this is Jack shit shit. Well, I mean, you know, listen,
I'm very proud of the motivation speaking number one.
I love it. And #2 I think I'm pretty good
at it because I think I have a lot of, a lot of messages to, to
share, especially given what's happened the last four or five
months. And you know, one of my, one of
my core messages is resiliency. You know, listen, Greg is, is a
very successful, highly successful New York radio talk
show host. And, and I'm not petty like I,
I, I, I don't, I don't wish ill will toward him professionally
and certainly not personally at all.
But, you know, for Greg's sake, let's hope that he doesn't have
to do this. You know, let's hope that he
could do this another 1520 years and keep banking that fat check
that he's earned, that he's earned, OK, and not have to be
at home and look into a camera and start over.
Because to me that to me, that's emblematic of being a man like
that. I'd take immense pride in that.
So to walk into a room like I did last week of 150 high level
Verizon executives, OK and communicate to them and, and be
asked to come and speak to them to help elevate them and, and,
and like their mindset, that room is a room of winners.
I mean massive winners for a massive company.
They thought enough for me to go there and it was awesome.
And couple of weeks before that I was over at Cross Country
Mortgage, which is the highest in terms of volume mortgage
lending company in America. And there was about 100 high
level mortgage executives in the room.
They asked me to go and speak to them to motivate them to share,
you know, preparation. How do you know resiliency,
pivoting from when you think you have something that's gone, What
do you do? Where do you dig?
So, yeah, I mean, if people want to take shots at that, that's
now we're getting a little different now we're getting a
little different level of personal and and that's, that's,
that's going to set me off in a different way.
So I'm going to ignore that part.
I'm going to ignore that part now.
I'm going to ignore that. I'm going to, I'm going to
choose to ignore that part now. And I'm just going to say that
I've got great pride in that and I love it and it's awesome and
it's great. It's a great opportunity.
So I mean, if people want to shit on that, man, that that's,
that's pretty low to go reaching for that.
Yeah, I know. So Sam and I put together a show
with with Carl, right? I know.
So I think he took a dump on that as well.
It's it's called providing for your family.
Like you do not get that. I know you, I know you're in
your your bubble. I get that your successful
bubble. And I hope that you don't have
to do this. Some people don't have that
opportunity like they they aren't afforded that, that, that
that comfort right now. And again, you've earned it.
I'm not taking anything away from you with that, Greg.
I'm not. But yeah, that other stuff.
I just it just that that's that's the stuff that I don't do
that and I've never done that. So you know that here we are.
And I'm already tired of talking about this and I'm going to move
on after a few more texts here. What does this one say?
What do we got? He's all talk.
His whole tone changed when Francesa called it and pressed
him. Keep rocking, BT you have a
whole community behind you. Listen, I feel the community,
right? I do.
Yeah.
I mean, he didn't really say much to Mike that day, did he?
He didn't say anything really. At least when Carl called up me
and we fought back, at least we fought back and and defended our
show. I mean, Greg just kind of sat
there, didn't do anything. Right.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, so.
That's a rhetorical question. We all know the answer.
You don't. You don't even have to answer
that. But you know, it's, it was an
interesting morning. And listen, I'm 52 years old,
right? 52.
And my first job was in 1999, my first radio partner, Tommy,
Tommy Foundlin just literally texted me a week ago because he
does Lehigh basketball. And they finally got to the
first four and he texted me and he, he knows, you know what I do
for Saint John's all these years later, still friends, all right?
Guys that I worked with in Las Vegas and lived with in Vegas
and worked with in Vegas to the we're at my wedding to this day,
still friends. You know, I'm talking about guys
like Kay and La Greca and Stephen, A guys I worked with at
10:50 friends, you know, so I, it's, it's just, you know, I
think a lot of it's unfounded. If that's if that's it.
Now listen, he's also more deeply entrenched there.
If you, I'm not going to be so naive to like, if, if we were
all working there, if I was still there and you walked
around, you said, you know who's I don't know who's a better
team, However you want to frame it.
I mean, Gio's known these people for 20 years when he was an
intern. I don't know.
I think he intern certainly was a producer, worked his way up,
respected. I always respected his grind.
Man went to Pittsburgh. I always have always have, but
you know to to to not respect my grind.
That's on you. That's that's that's you.
That's definitely not a me thing.
You know what? I.
Mean yeah, and and also just on that last comment before we get
to this one, I think that's the my main take away is just that
last sentence. You have a whole community
behind you and that's, you know, that's really how this feels is
listen, they can say whatever the fuck they want on the radio
or whatever, like right here, right here in this YouTube.
We're actually building a community community catered
around, yes, catered around true sports talk and also genuine
honesty, good being good people. I think that's, I think that's a
big mantra of what we've been building here is like an honest
approach to speaking and an honest approach to communication
and being a good person. I meant something you espouse as
well along with the sports talk. So that's something to to look
at like a moment like this where you've got a guy who's on radio,
on professional radio acting less professional than a than a
guy who's at the crib on YouTube, building a true
community based on being a good person and loving sports.
That's my main take away. Yeah, I, I appreciate that.
That's certainly what we're doing here.
I mean, listen, after a crazy jet loss, you're going to get on
Hinge BT you're going to get on leash beat, that's it.
Like that's, those things are never going to change.
But you know, I, I've got a very, for me, I've got a very
clear mission with this show and #1 it's obviously to be able to
provide, but it's also for me, it's a next level thing where,
you know, and, and, and I've always talked about like not not
shoving politics down people's throats.
I don't do that. But, but I do believe that we're
at a very, we're a very bad spot as as a country, as a world.
A lot of lot of reasons that I'm that we all know, just watch the
news for a second. And to me, like, all right, I
don't think I'm on the 15th hole of my career, you know, but I've
made the turn. I'm not on the 3rd hole.
I mean, I'm smart enough to know that I made the turn.
You know, I bet, I think I'm, I think for me, I'm on the Earl.
I'm in the early stages of the back nine.
You know, I teed off, probably didn't get a par, that's for
sure. Probably, you know, probably
going to the 12 hole, I got a snowman and a bogey and all this
on the card, but I got a lot of holes to play still not as many
as I've played already just based on my age, but I've got a
platform to try to do something good and, and, and, and that
that's what this is about really.
It's about sports, of course, and let it RIP and taking pride
and, and, and knowing a lot and caring a lot and being able to
communicate to you in a very different what I think is a
unique way, you know, that that I take pride in that.
But the, you know, the other stuff, I've been in this
business since 99 and, and I really don't think that I've had
one single radio beef. I, I, I really, I really don't.
And I'm not about to start now. I got no interest in it.
I've got no energy for it. I won't run from it.
This I won't run from this I won't run from because this got
personal. But I'm moving on.
Like I've said what I've said, I've also said good things about
Greg here today. You know, he's talented, he's
earned it. He's successful, he's funny, but
you know that, that, that, that thing you, you know, you, you
can do, you can do a lot of things, right?
I'm not even talking about him. You can do a lot of things,
right? My, my mom told me this.
She said, you know, as a parent, you can do so many things well,
right? And like the one time that you
overreact as a parent unnecessarily is kind of the one
thing that they remember, you know what I mean?
So, so that's why I wanted to be transparent and not just come
out with some hit piece on Greg, because I'm not a hit piece guy.
And that's why I made sure that I said, yes, you did have our
bank with our back with Carl and, and some other and Gary
Myers. And there's something else.
I forget what it was, but you did and you, you did have our
back more than anybody else really at the station.
And, and I, I, we appreciated that we did, but you know, you
also did something that could have got me fired.
And you also didn't even say good luck when I got fired.
So and to me, that kind of usurps the other stuff, but
that's it Ready, you know what I mean?
That's it. I'm tapped out with this now.
Jay tapping out. You know, I'm going to end the
match here. So I'm sure he'll keep talking
about it and that's fine. You know, I don't think.
Did Boomer chime in? No, you know, I got no problem.
With I got no problem with prank until I found out about the
prank. As a meezy BX5O43, I think
Boomer was just kind of menacingly sitting there just
like smirking wow like a little gremlin.
Yeah, what a big gremlin it was. That's part, but that's part of
the dynamics of a morning show, you know what I mean?
Like again, there were there were four guys on the show and,
and Eddie Skuzaria was the one who came and gave me a hug and
I, you know, I didn't forget that.
So shout out to Eddie and and listen shout.
Out to Tom. Always shout out to Eddie.
Love Eddie. Yeah.
Yeah, no doubt he's going to have a great retirement.
He's probably going to be wandering the wilderness,
tripping on mushrooms, you know, having a good time.
Man. Oh, man.
All right, guys.
So aside from the fact that I didn't think I was going to get
pulled into whatever the hell this was this morning on the
morning show, I also didn't really think for most of my to
the last decade that I would ever see St.
John's do this ever. I, I, I, there was, I can't tell
you, man, how many times I walked out of that arena of
beaten man. I'm like, it's over.
It's over it. There's no going back.
All we have is memories. Like I was telling the story.
I went live from the hotel room yesterday after the win.
I was telling the story How I Met my wife in 2008 and like,
oh, you know, of course I talk about the Yankees and The Jets.
She's a Yankee fan and she knows my fan, my teams and she knows
when I met her. I'm doing Saint John's right.
She's like, man, you love Saint John's.
I'm like, you don't understand because she's from Dallas.
You don't understand. When I was growing up, it was
we, every one of us had a starter St.
John's jacket, unless of course, you had a Hoyas 1 and it would
Georgetown Hoyas and St. John's.
We hated each other is what it is right now.
We're kind of apathetic toward the Hoyas because they're
they're where we were for so many years.
I'd like to see him battle back. But the point is, is that when I
was at my most impressionable age, 10/11/12, like right where
my son is now, right. Saint John's was bigger than the
Knicks. You had to live it.
No, But if you didn't live it, you don't understand it.
And then, you know, I would tell her about this like wax poetic.
Oh, Chris Mullen, the final four.
Louis, this one's for you. Louis, we ain't done.
We're taking down Duke, too. We ain't done.
Saint John's going to push Duke around.
They're going to get in their chest.
We'll do more preview like later in the week here.
But the big grown man strength in the front court for St.
John's, I think it's a pretty good match up.
Like don't tell me that St. John's can't be Duke.
I actually think that they will. But we'll do that more.
So all these years. Excuse me where you know, I'm
propping up St. John's and she's like, my God,
they stink like nobody's at the game.
St. John's like it was a complete
nothing to her. And I get it because she born
and raised in Dallas, TX, you know, and I would walk out of
the arena and I would just be despondent, just beaten down.
Like one of the things that I know hyperbole like this, the,
the St. Saint John's where they were at
that pivotal point in my sports fandom and my brain developing
and wanting to 1st replaced automatically be a first baseman
for the Yankees, which of course, it never came close to
doing. But then eventually want to be a
sports host. Like Saint John's is so much of
the oxygen and and the wind behind my sails that that gave
me this passion, right? And the, the, the, the fall was
just it, it was swift and it seemed fatal.
It seemed final, like there's just no more coming back from
this because the game had changed.
And, you know, the the teams left the conference and they
didn't have the football money and they hadn't evolved
monetarily. They didn't look at football.
They don't look at basketball as a vehicle to make money.
This is the older administrations.
They were hanging on to the good old days.
And it was just exhausting and it was tiring and it was sad.
OK. And you know, I remember my
first year was the year that Mike Jarvis got fired and that
was my first year ever doing St. John's.
It was after they so they won the NIT in O3 and I was at the
game. I've just been I just been hired
at at 10:50 ESPN Radio from Detroit and St.
John's won the NIT March, whatever it was, something like
that. And I was just hired and 10:50
fifty was the rights holder to Saint to St.
John's basketball. And I remember, I don't really
know anybody at the station yet, but they're like.
How do I came up around the office.
You have a huge Saint John's fan.
They're like, oh, you want to go?
You want to go to the game? I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
So I went with like 3 of my boys that I grew up with and we go to
the game and they win the end. They beat Georgetown, the NIT,
and I remember I'm on the floor. Not that like the 20,000 people
stormed the court. It was only like 10,000 people
there. But I remember being on the
court. I've called my dad and I'm like,
pretend that I'm shooting a foul shot.
I'm like that's I'm like, I'm on the garden floor.
Johnny's won the NIT, right? And then right after that, I get
the gig the next year. And I'll never forget my first
game was the Coaches versus Cancer Classic against
Marquette. And it was at the Garden.
I'm in the Marty Glickman Memorial radio booth and I'm
sitting there and I'm I'm calling a St.
John's game. And it was like, wow, I'm at the
Garden and I'm actually calling a St.
John's game. And you know, I was one of those
guys, quite frankly, I was probably one of those guys who
talked about St. John's on the air too much
because they didn't really merit and they didn't warrant that
kind of exposure most of the years.
Like going back to 10:50, I didn't really talk about it much
on the fan with Tiki. But then Rick came, obviously
and, and me and Sal, we'd have Rick on whatever.
I am so happy for the university.
I am so happy for the old guard, you know, and I've said, man,
they travelled out there. There was a good contingent of
St. John's fans in San Diego.
I mean, it was it was a good sea of red behind the bench, behind
the broadcast area. They were going freaking bananas
when Dylan Darling hit that shot.
I mean, first of all, he was over his last 15 shooting
threes. Now I'm pretty confident, but
I'm not that confident. Like if I'm over, let's let's
keep it real if I'm over 15 or more specifically if I'm like,
oh, from my last nine in baseball and I got like 5
strikeouts and A and a roll over to second base and a pop up foul
out to the catcher. You know, putting myself in my
playing days, I can lie and say, yeah, I want to be up there
about with the bases loaded down too.
I don't know how confident I would have been in that
situation. Dylan Darling, the way the story
went, because they kept fouling, fouling, fouling, fouling and
they had like 3.9 to go. So when they inbound the ball,
you would have had passed you, you would have had time for one
pass in a shot. But when they go to the huddle,
it wasn't even Pitino who said, hey, we're gonna run this play
for Darling. It was Darling who said run this
play for me, talk about the stones on this kid.
And then he's a lefty to finish with his right hand in traffic.
Wow. And then when they jumped on
him, there's a picture of I think that the photographer
buried beneath a mass of euphoria and excitement.
And it was just wild, man. It like, I mean, this is going
to sound incredibly corny, but it's the truth.
I mean, I, I dreamed the stuff like this.
I just dreamt of it. I'm like, you know, when am I
going to get a little taste of, of March Madness, my goodness
gracious. And the first game.
So again, the first year I did it was O3.
And in 2015 they made it barely. I was with Lavin and I remember
we were watching the selection show in the basement and they
were, they barely got. No, wait, hold on.
Yeah, they barely got in and they lost to San Diego State.
Whatever. We went to Charlotte.
But I was like, man, I finally got to call the game.
Awesome. Like, check.
And then, you know, went went sideways.
And then it didn't really work with with Mullen.
But then Mullen got to the first four and I got smacked by Bobby
Hurley's Arizona State, Arizona State team.
All right, hey, at least I got to go to a building that I watch
on TV date and historic old building.
You know, I appreciate the history.
Check. They lost, but check.
And then Mike Anderson, there was like a little flicker of
hope, like some good players, but just never got over the then
COVID when they were beating Creighton at the end and the Big
East tournament, they were beating him at the half.
Who knows? Maybe that would have been the
year. I don't know.
But what see and, and, and I, I, I didn't want to say it because
I didn't want to really. Not that I was afraid to say it.
I just I didn't want to jinx anything because I thought it
would have been misinterpreted. Not by the school.
The school has never once said, don't say.
The school just gives me the latitude.
One of the reasons I love Saint John's is they they let me be me
during the down times. I mean, I would absolutely crush
them on the air, crush them. And they never once said, hey,
we've probably pulled this back. They always let me be honest
because they knew. But you don't think I was
thinking going out to San Diego, I'm like, you got to get to the
Sweet 16. Not for me.
You've got to get to the Sweet 16 at least to validate the
coverage, the energy, the juice, the excitement.
You have to do it. Because if they would have lost
to Kansas yesterday, even though we all know what they've done
and they've they've never done this back-to-back regular season
championships, back-to-back Big East tournament championships.
31 wins last year, I mean, but 30 again this year.
Pitino coach of the year last year nationally, Zubi player of
the year, defensive player of the year, scholar athlete of the
year. There's only been two players in
the history of the Big East since 79, going back to the the
inception till now, that have been the player of the year, the
DPO Y and the Scholar. And that was a Mecca Okafor in
O4 with UConn and that was Zubi this year.
And all those things are amazing and I've lived them because I've
called a lot of the games and I've done the TV show every week
with Rick every every, every three years, the Red Storm
report. And it's it's an honor.
I mean, it's, it's an education. I mean, the way Rick treats me
is phenomenal. Like the the stories about the
Knicks before we start shooting, Bernard King because he was
coached with Hubie Brown. Like I'm in heaven, I'm in
basketball heaven. But I know how the story goes
and I I know how the story goes in New York with St.
John's. Like there was a point in the
80s where they were bigger than the Knicks before Ewing got
drafted and went to the Knicks because the Knicks were awful
after Menard King ripped up his knee.
They were like 10, eleven, 12,000 people at these games,
right? But you're really, yeah, you
have to when if unless you're a die hard Saint Johns fan, the
skepticism would have been well, and I and I would have
understood this to an extent, you know, Hey, listen, great
story. But I mean, come on, you won one
game and you got bounced. You didn't even get to the Sweet
16. So I wanted it.
Yes. I'm pumped to go to DC.
And there's going to be a throng of red and white fans now.
I mean, if they made it out to San Diego, there's going to be
thousands of fans, St. John's fans in in in Washington,
DC. It's going to be absolutely
awesome. So, so I personally, it's going
to be a highlight. Never done a Sweet 16.
Like I'm honored, I'm blessed, I'm truly thankful.
It's great. My whole family, they're all St.
John's fans. Like it's just, it just, it
makes my heart happy. It really does, but I'm really
just happy for the university cuz there's so many good people
there, like people like Melissa in the ticket office and Eddie
Cole, who's the AD now, who started out as you know, I don't
know if it was an intern, but like my first year in O3 O 4 was
his first year at St. John's and he went on to become
the AD at Fordham. Came back home.
Mike, I met Mike Ropoli over the weekend.
Like I gave him a high five. I think maybe the Biggies
tournament, but I actually got to talk to him.
We were having breakfast in the in the hotel on I guess 2 days
ago and Mike was there with Ed and and a bunch of boosters and
we got to know each other a little bit out of his mind.
I mean, talk about energy. Wow.
I mean, it's tough to get a word with Mike.
Awesome dude. I'm so happy for for a Catholic
school that lost its way in the big business of college
basketball was an afterthought and was left for dead to be
resuscitated to this extent. It's just awesome for the city.
And, you know, if they would have lost yesterday, the air out
of the balloon would have been palpable and it would have been
very hard for me to fend it off like it would have been, you
know, would have been tough to, you know, hey, but we did this,
we did that, we did this, but Rick did this and we won 31
games and zoo be this and you know, the Big East championship
and banner, but you didn't even get to the Sweet 16.
So it is on. Who knows where this story is
going? I don't know where it's going to
go. I don't know where it's going to
go. I mean, could it go all the way
to Indianapolis? Why not?
You know, the thing about Saint John's, I was saying this to
Mink. Was it during the pregame show?
I think it was. I think it was.
And by the way, don't think for a second I was not possessed to
make sure that I laid out and gave Mink as, as every color
commentator should. But they they don't, you know, I
wanted to Mink, this is you. You are the voice of Saint
John's. You are the sage voice that's
been doing the play by play forever.
You're an industry legend and a just a hell of a good spirited
person and a great human being is your call, brother.
But don't think for a second I was like, come on, hurry up man,
let's go. I want to jump in here.
He's going on and Saint John's. And I'm like, I even gave it the
extra beat to make sure he was done because the last thing I
was going to do was step on that man's call because you hear it
all the time. You hear it all like here in the
NFL, like if you listen to these national calls, you know, I
don't know why. I know the Bengals team does
this quite a bit. You know, here's Joe Burrow back
to pass, you know, so and so wide open down there.
Oh, touchdown. Oh, he's got him.
Like you got the color guy just jumping on the play by dude,
Shut up, know your role, be quiet, let the play by play man
do his job. So I think Mink nailed it.
But I I couldn't wait for him to finish so I could jump in a
little bit. My own little piece of history.
That's a forever moment for me. But I did say that to Mink
during the pregame show. I said, and I think you guys
will appreciate this. As golfers, most of us are bad.
Every one of us. And I don't mean if you were 3
or 4 handicapped, right? Every one of us has a shot or a
club that we just try to avoid. Just now, unfortunately I have
more than one. But you know, for a while it was
like the mid irons where you know, it was before I hurt my
back. I would swing like a lunatic and
when I'd catch it, I'd smash one off the tee, say like a par 5
and then say if I have like 230 in or, or or 220 instead of hit
like 4 iron. Like I just I, I just couldn't
hit it well. So I would hit the wrong club or
like even if I was like 170 out and it was too, too much for a
hybrid, I would hit a hybrid and try to hit it soft because I
thought I could hit the hybrid better because I would always
kind of clip the irons and not pure it anyway.
There's shots in your bag and clubs that you just don't want
to touch. Whether it's a flop shot, you
know if you're short sided, you got to get it up quick and get
it over a bunker and you're short sided, you got to get some
heightened let's stick fast or whatever.
Whatever shot it might be, bump and run.
You might not like or some people hate drivers.
They go 3 woods or hybrids or irons off the tee.
What I would say to Mink that that that.
By the way, Jared, this is a short story made long by
faculty. Yeah.
There we go. Instead of a Long story short, I
I am the I am a Wizard of making a short story long.
Anyway, I think there's usually pay off at the end.
Then I think you'll like to pay off fears.
There we go. A little verbose.
What do you want? And I'm also like half asleep
and also in an interesting mood from what I woke up to today.
Yeah, you. Might be going through it right
now. I'm, I'm good.
I'm good. So I'm a little tired, but I'm
definitely good. So when I said to Mink, I said,
you know, St. John's has a couple of clubs in
their bag that if you touch them, you don't know how they're
going to respond. And I was really talking about
Ian Jackson and Satin, to a lesser extent.
Satin, who's been playing better than Ian Jackson.
Now, what I meant by that was as good as the front court is
Zoby's an animal. Bryce Hopkins the last two
months has been on an absolute Bender.
He's been playing great, phenomenal.
And and Rick called him out a little bit.
I just a little Side Story. I remember interviewing Rick for
the for the TV show and you know, I was feeding into it like
Bryce was playing OK, but not great.
And I said, and this was live on the air and I see, you know, I
see, you know, Bryce still still, you know, learning to
trust his knee because many of you know, he had ripped up his
knee in Providence. Yeah.
Still trying to learn to trust his body.
And Rick's like, no nonsense. Like, got a little agitated.
He's like, he's past that. He's fine.
He's like, he's got to learn. He's got to jump.
He's got to jump higher. It's exactly what he's saying.
He got to jump higher. He's got to move quicker.
Like, he's fine. He's healthy, all right.
He's got enough time. I'm like, OK, you would know I
got you. So since then, I'm not saying my
question was the impetus to the rise of Bryce Hopkins, but
surely I'm sure Rick was in his ass every day in practice.
Bryce Hopkins started playing great.
And then Dylan Mitchell was inserted into the starting five.
And really the front court for Saint John's is as good of it's
as good. It's not, I don't know, another
one that's better in the entire country because they're
athletic. They can defend everybody.
You know, Bryce can shoot a little bit, Dylan can handle.
Zubie's a monster. They rebound, they block shots,
they finish on the break. They're all Zubie's a very good
interior passer. Bryce can create with his
dribble a little bit more than Zubie.
Like, it's just they're wildly talented.
But the back court and then Darling's ascension kind of
mitigated the inconsistencies from Ian Jackson.
So anyway, now we finish up the short story long.
My point was that like Ian Jackson was like the club that
you don't want to really touch. But if you want to break 100 for
the first time or if you want to break 90 or whatever that
benchmark that you want to break, you want to break 80 or
you want to get in the set, you know, 75, whatever, wherever you
are relative to your game, eventually you're going to have
to stare that beast and say, all right, damn, the flop shot shit,
man, I'm pinched in and you got to just trust it and you can't
be jerky. You got to just open up that
club face. You got to get some some grass
or whatever he got pop that puppy up and you got to let it
sit on the green and he got to make the putt.
And if you do, you going to break the benchmark.
If you don't, you're not. So to me to see Ian Jackson now
start to have some moments and he scored against Northern Iowa
and and I didn't minimize it. I remember saying to make up
like filed it even though they routed Northern Iowa.
I'm like file this away is very interesting for the next game
where he had 9 points in 9 minutes and like for his
confidence that Serge and he was also the first man off the
bench. I believe you.
I believe he was the first player that Rick went to.
And after the game when they were leaving the court against
northern Zubi because they wrote stories about the Zubi said to
him, pull, pull them aside. He said we're going to need you
to win this thing. We're going to need you.
So I look at him as the hybrid or the wedge or the whatever,
the putter that you don't like. If he plays well, Saint Johns
can win the championship. They really can, yeah.
I mean a great, a great 1010 point performance yesterday to
follow up a 9.9 point game. Feel like, you know, showing
some consistencies out here. So let's go Ian Jackson, Big
Three from Prey yesterday too. Yes, that was one that was from
the corner. Yeah, yeah.
I remember that one. Yeah, you know what I something
else I remember saying the Mink too, I think 20, they're 23
shots to start. I think 15 were threes and
Hopkins hit one early. Now they're not a three-point
shooting team. They're right around 34.7%.
So they're slightly below average what Rick wants.
I understand Rick's point of view.
He's like, we got to get it in volume.
You're like, we're not going to take 11 and hit five, you know,
and, and be, you know, just just over 50.
We're just under 50%. Like we're going to have to
shoot X amount. And if we can stick 8 or 9 with
our inside play and our defense, that will be enough to get a
separation from whomever we play.
So he's always imploring these guys shoot, shoot.
They shot like 4 air balls. Dylan Darling shot a couple air
balls from three. Bright shot an air ball.
I think Zubi shot an air ball as well.
And I was a little worried because, you know, each game is
different. And don't forget, Kansas is
trying to get make St. John's do things as well.
It's not just St. John's trying to make Kansas do
stuff. Kansas is trying to make St.
John's do things that they don't do very well either.
So I'm like, all right, they've got the lead.
They look good. But man, 15 out of 20 threes
attempts or threes, that's that's that's untenable.
That is not sustainable in my opinion and and it worked out.
So they've got to be, you know, very cognizant of the ratio of
of now Kansas is also big inside and that was going to have to be
they were it was going to be a bit of a deterrent.
Like you can tell right away and it's easier to see like when
you're on the court, the like the resistance that they were
like Zubi number one of his run. It was a little tough for Zubi
to get to his spot in the post because he was getting pushed
off the post. And then you know, he's got
sublime footwork and up fakes and all that and he's strong.
But you know, he kept getting pushed out a little bit and a
lot of his shots were like double pumps and he didn't look
very comfortable. So I don't think it's going to
be that way against Duke. Now Duke is is going to try to
beat you different ways with a few pros, but just an amazing
win. It feels better to be It's not a
vintage Kansas team, but to beat Kansas?
A blue blood of college. Squad.
Yeah, it just looks good on the resume.
Oh, big times, Week 16. Yeah, I mean, just such a great
win. I was saying I was with like my
friends in a restaurant and like multiple guys are going, oh,
guys went nuts. Yeah.
Oh, my gosh, we went nuts. New York was certainly up last
night. Like, like in the moment that it
occurred, like you could just see there's excitement on a on a
bunch of people's faces all around.
So just a great way. And then I mean it, you know,
similarly to when the Knicks are good, like I think this is like,
Bree, what's the word? Breathe?
Given a breath, given a breath of life into the, into the, you
know, New York basketball. Yes, in a way gives you.
Gives you something to like, really look forward to every day
where? OK, me, I went to Syracuse.
Syracuse basketball is awful. Although shout out GMAC.
Yes, huge, absolutely huge. I'm going to be great.
I'm excited, hopefully return, hopefully return to form.
You know, he did awesome with Sienna.
But yeah, I mean, you know, there's nowhere else to look
for. Obviously I've got, you know,
some biases tied into Saint John's now where I've got a root
for him. But yeah, I mean it just like,
like feels like everyone I speak to, you know, even if they went
to a different university, they want to see the Johnny succeed
out here. So Yep, Yep.
And listen. And how about this region too?
You got Rick Pitino, you got Tom Izzo, you've got Dandy Hurley.
And why might? What was the 4th 1?
Hold on, Rick Hurley, Izzo? Why am I forgetting the 4th?
Who else is out there? I've got to remember in a
second. I mean, you got Titans.
I mean, a lot of ways it. Oh, Shire from Duke, What am I
saying? He's not quite, you know,
because he's younger, but I mean, absolute Titans of the
game. And it's funny because think
about how much college basketball, college football
too. But college sports has changed,
right? You know, the NIL and that's
obviously bolstered Saint John's.
There's no question. I mean, anybody who doesn't
admit that is just not being truthful.
One of the main reasons is that's like the main reason
Saint John's is here is because they're finally spending money
which enabled them to hide Rick, which enable them to hire a
roster. And now you've got, I think the
greatest coach of all time coaching them and here we are.
But think about the the the older coaches that are coaching
in DC this weekend coming up, think about their ages.
Rick is in the 70s, Tom Izzo's in the 70s Danny Hurley's been.
You know, he's not in the 70s, but he's not in his 30s or 40s.
He's in his early 50s. Been doing it for a minute.
And, and Shire's on the younger side too.
But you know, the adaptability of of these coaches should not
be overlooked because they won one way back in the day when the
college landscaping game was totally different.
And they're still winning at an incredibly high level.
And it just shows you that. That's why I always look at
adaptability is one of the great characteristics for any coach
and that's why I always know I this will be a short story
short. That's why I always reference
Pat Riley. Pat Riley Lakers try to win 140
to 97, fast break you out of the gym with Magic Johnson, Worthy
and Byron Scott and Cooper and obviously cream in the post, but
run you out of the gym. Bang.
That's how Pat Riley won there. Then he comes to the Knicks.
They've got nothing like that. They have a 33 year old point
guard in Derek Harper. They got Pat, you know who's
amazing, but you know, plotting a little bit up and down the
court a little bit. And they got a bunch of guys who
want to beat the shit out of you.
You know, he's like, OK, that's what we're going to win.
We're going to win 87 to 79. And then he went, when he went
to the Heat, you know, he had a little bit more of a hybrid
where eventually, you know, with Wade and those guys, they wound
up winning differently. And obviously as a president,
he's built out a a team that that's won and can score more
than those old Nick teams did. So he was adaptable to the
personnel, adaptable to the times.
And I saw something and nano man, some people are really just
so soft. There was I can't believe that
this actually offends people. There was something.
Let me see. St.
John's was up 20 to 3 going to time out against Northern Iowa.
Did you see this clip? Jay, Rod.
No. Potentially lay it out.
Probably did. I'll lay it out for you.
So they going to break and the Johnnys looking good back to San
Diego in a second. And as they're going to
commercial break the music, you see Rick Pitino absolutely
eviscerating Lefty left topless. I actually thought it was
darling, but then I it was Lefty.
I think he missed it, went under the screen or over the screen,
whatever it was. And there were people now,
people like me loved it. And, you know, a lot of the old
heads loved it. They were actually people who
were like, Oh my God, look at him.
This is so bad for the game. How do you coach?
He's so mean. You're up by 17 points.
Oh, get the fuck out of here. Are you serious, man?
That's why Rick Pitino's amazing.
What's a coach supposed to do? You get a lollipop.
Yeah, Yeah. But I want to give you context
here. Like, they're like, if you're a
tyrant, OK. And that, that's not Rick.
I'm just saying that in general, right?
Because a lot of people react to the imagery of that.
Oh, my God, did this. You could still do this in 2026.
Yeah. If you want to win, you could.
Yeah. And if you recruit, if you
recruit young men who are amenable to being coached hard,
yeah, you could, because they are.
And the thing about Rick and about any coach, if you're going
to be that way, it will be well received as long as the guys
know that you have their back. Now, when I tell you they
freaking love him, they really look at him as like the the Don,
like the head of the mafia, like they do.
I mean, he's got. That vibe the suits everything.
The way he dresses, even when he wears a sweat suit, you know,
like I love that he wears a regular suit when he coaches.
But the way he's dressed, the way he walks, just the hair,
the, the way he really doesn't care what he says in a press
conference. And he's just so loose and so
honest and so transparent at this point.
And it's, it's beautiful to see. Now if you are now Danny Hurley
can get away with that as well because he's got 2
championships. And Danny Hurley, his guys know
that, that they love him, that he loves them and that he has
their back. And when push comes to shove,
Danny's going to be right there standing up for them.
Much like remember when I remember when Hopkins got fouled
up in Providence and you had that little melee.
Rick was right in the middle of it.
I'm not throwing punches out, thank God.
But he, he was, he wasn't on, he went Jeff Van Gundy on you on,
on Alonzo. He jumped in there a little bit.
So it's just, it really is the perfect storm.
It's the perfect timing where, you know, it just seemed like a
basketball renaissance to this extent was not achievable #1 #2
the fact that it's Rick and that it's a New York guy and it's
full circle. Come on.
Queens, Long Island Billy Donovan, 87 Providence, you
know, coach the Knicks, Mark Jackson, rookie of the year
under Pitino and, you know, gets got in trouble and he owned it.
You know, Rick messed up. He's very transparent about
that. He's come back a very humble,
very different person. He's told me that in interviews.
Like I've learned humility. I think we all do as we get a
little bit older. It's a great thing.
Humility and and awareness, self-awareness.
And he's like, yeah, I'm not going anywhere.
So all these stories that were written and maybe Rick at a
jump, Rick's not going anywhere. Rick's coaching Saint John's
until he's done coaching. I do remember asking him when
when was this? When.
Oh, it was up in Providence. Not this year.
Last, remember the viral clip where he just he I don't want to
just keep throwing F bombs out there, but he's like where the F
is your heart? How the F will you raise?
I just. Watched that the other day.
I don't know, just to get me a little like give me a little
juice to threw my veins and it literally.
Got me injected baby. And now that night, that night
was one of my old. I'm sure Rick, you know, barely
remembers it. It was one of my all time
favorite nights because that night Zubi hit a game winner at
the buzzer. It was an 830 tip up in
Providence and it was like December 23rd, I want to say.
And so it was right before Christmas and get like
83930103011 post game, get in the car.
I would have been getting in the car around 12:30, you know, And
my wife said just get a hotel, like just yeah.
And I'm like, you know what I'm going to.
But the team went back on the bus.
But the university got me a room, right, So I'm like, I got
no responsibility. I go take my suit off.
I I go down to the bar. I'm like, let me at least enjoy.
I don't know anybody. Let me just have a beer.
And you know, I wound up talking to a few Providence fans, great
people. And I look across the bar and
there's Rick Pitino, right? It was right before Christmas,
as I said, and the his charter, the engine was frozen.
They couldn't de ice it. He was going to go to his one of
his other homes in Miami to spend Christmas with his family
and and fly. You know, the team was going
back to school and and and he was going to Miami.
So he wound up making a night of it and I'm like, and I and I
knew him, but I didn't know him great yet.
I don't want to bother. I don't want to be up his ass.
And finally, I'm like, come on, you do the TV.
She got to go have a drink with him, right?
So I go over there and we wind up.
I mean, we closed the bar, right, And I never forget.
He's like, what are you drinking?
I'm like, I'm like Scotch, right?
So I think he I think he was having martinis.
So I go to grab my my wallet just like the Don puts it.
He's like, no, no, he's like, I got you.
I got you. And I remember asking him.
I'm like I said, would you ever coach anywhere else?
And we talked about St. John's and all that stuff.
I said, what about the NBA? Because I wasn't sure about
TomTom. Thibodeau was still the coach.
But I'm like, if it doesn't work out with Tom Thibodeau and the
Knicks ever called you, would you ever do it?
And he's like, I can't, he's like, I'm, I'm, I don't have the
energy anymore. He said.
He said, you see me coach every possession.
He's like, he can't do that in the NBA 82 times.
I just, I'm, I'm too old. I don't have that that level of,
of, of engagement necessary to coach in the NBA.
You know, and, and, and I got to, I got to really know him.
So when I saw him this morning, he, you know, the, the, the
coaches sit up front like the band and the cheerleaders are in
the back, the players right behind the coach.
And then it's like some boosters and some wives and some family
members. And I was right next to make
Madge was behind me and I, I, I was walking out.
Meanwhile, I'm looking at I'm looking at my, as I'm walking
out, I'm looking at my phone, seeing an interesting day here.
And Rick is the only one outside.
I think he was waiting for a car to come pick him up and it's
just two of us. And he was like, he had his
Saint John's track jacket on, his track suit on.
And I looked, I go, I just go, I go, you're the fucking man.
I go, you're the man. I go.
This is awesome dude. I never gave him so cool I.
Just gave him a hug. I'm like, this is awesome.
I said I'll see you in DC. And he told me like he and I
didn't want to bother him. I thought he was tired.
That's the thing about Rick, like he never gets.
He always has time for people. He says something like he goes
and I was starting to walk away again.
I had other things on my mind. And as I'm walking away, he
goes, how about, how about big bells, darling?
He goes, how about darling? And he tells me again, because I
don't know if he, maybe he didn't see me at the press
conference, maybe he didn't. He didn't know if I heard the
story. He's like, yeah, He's like he
came into the huddle. He said, coach, run the play for
me. I forget what the play's called.
Not stack, whatever it's called. Let's just say it's stacked.
Coach, run stacked for me. I got it and one of the coaches
actually said to Rick, he's like he hasn't made a shot all day
and Rick's like go for it. Yeah, I saw that press
conference. I I had to hit that with a like,
it was probably like 1:00 AM just seeing that.
Oh, man. Yeah.
Man, I'll tell you the other thing too.
Good. OK, no, I mean the thing that I
saw last night, my favorite, I think Clipper moment was just
him, just the stone cold expression.
And then he does like a little like a little lip quiver, little
lip like scrunch when darling hit that hit the buzzer beater.
Just cold, stoic. A man.
A man absolutely possessed. Absolutely, dude.
This is a big week, by the way, so we got to find a way to make
sure we weave in a lot of Saint John's and a lot of Yanks and
Mets here. Man, Yeah, wait.
I am ready for some baseball too.
Let's go. I mean, it's so exciting.
I can't wait. It's going.
To be I am ready for some baseball I think tomorrow.
I started working on this on the plane. 55 things for each 5 for
the Yanks, 5 for the Mets, like 5 season defining things that
I'm that I'm really looking for. We'll do that on the show
tomorrow. A lot of baseball tomorrow.
God, I but is it I I believe that maybe somebody could text
this. I know that the Yankees are on
Netflix. I don't I don't believe that
Gary and the Mets crew has do they have the game on Snyi feel
like I saw that on social media. Somebody confirmed that.
I don't, I don't, I don't want to be out of bounds on that.
But if that I know the Yankees aren't.
So to me that's a problem like. The Yankees Winston is crazy.
Yeah. Well, James Winston, he's well,
he's doing the baseball stuff now, which is not a bit higher.
He played college baseball, Florida.
OK, yeah, yeah. And he's a great personality.
Kind of odd that you got to tap into football to bring
personality into the booth, But, and I think Bonds is going to be
good actually doing this stuff too.
Bonds. Oh yeah, that'll.
Be cool. I do.
But the fact that you know, and if you can, I just want to know
where the Mets opening day, what channel they're on but for the
Yankees to be on. And I love Netflix, but come on,
how UN American are we getting here?
Like you got to have the you got to have every Major League team.
I know things are changing with streams.
I get it. I we stream all the time here,
big stream family, but to not have on conventional television
opening day, the Yanks and the Mets.
I know the Yankees aren't, but either way, and and also
because, you know, I've been busy.
Shout out to Howie Rose. I saw that Howie last year in
the booth. I think Howie's great.
I love him. I think the thing that how he
does probably better than than anybody really that that I've
heard do baseball and I don't know how we very personally very
well at all. I think Sam and I may have had
him on once or twice. Just always been an admirer from
a distance. Don't pretend to have any sort
of relationship with Howie outside of admiration, good at
his job, all timer, stuff like that, right.
But even as a obviously Yankee fan, like I love listening to
Howie Rose on the radio. I think his best skill and I
think the thing that he does better than everybody in the
business, not that I've heard everybody, but everybody that
I've heard, is that he so seamlessly weaves in a story and
then and the pitch, like his history and his ability to
expand and like it'll be a whole story woven within like 2 at
bats. Here's the pitch, foul ball
Tapper, right side, pop up left field, back to the story.
Like you really just feel like you're listening to a guy tell a
story and he's happening. He's doing a game as well.
Very he's awesome. So I hope someone confirmed.
It, NBC and Peacock has the Mets open.
Yeah, I mean, come on, man. Between St.
John's and UConn being on Peacock, the Mets being on
Peacock and the Yankees being on Netflix, I mean, my God.
A little different from Dix. Yeah, yeah, a little different
from the Scooter and and Connor's corner back in the day.
Channel 9. Oh, my God.
I have not slept at all. You know, my, my, my least
favorite thing is, and I get, I don't get anxious about much.
I don't get much anxiety. I get anxious about packing and
I get anxious about unpacking. I, I don't know why.
Like I'm already thinking now I'm going to drive down to DC.
That'll be much easier. But I was like all my shorts
are, I don't even know where though.
I don't even know where my wife puts them.
Like somewhere like like in our workout room, there's like to
the side, there's like these big buckets of shorts and shirts.
Like I'm, I'm, I'm thinking San Diego is going to be 80 every
day, you know, do I try to play golf?
Do I bring a couple of shorts? I, I didn't, I couldn't find
them and then I just got busy and I didn't bring them.
So I didn't pack, right? Yeah.
Yeah, I get old, man. You're not comfortable with that
stuff. Sure, sure, sure.
What else, Jay? Did we miss anything?
Do we need to circle back to anything You you tell me there.
Like, do I treat you well as my producer, Jay?
No, I'm in a sweatshop chained to a wall until I create a
certain amount of clips. And that, no, of course you
treat me well. Of course you treat me well.
I mean, this has been even thus far, and I've said it before on
the show, so I don't mean to, you know, as the kids say, be a
Glazer here. Oh, Glazer.
Yeah, the kids say that. I hear the.
Yeah, I don't. Mean to be sunset, I don't
think. He's a BT Glazer.
Here I know nobody glazes me. I mean, I'll take.
A. Little glaze here.
I guess if anything, somebody was trying to shit on me today.
I'll take a little glaze. No, I like you know, I'll say
this again and again. This experience producing this
show has thus far been an the not only the career experience
of my my lifetime so far where, you know, you really feel like,
OK, we're doing something where we're taking off, you know,
where it really feels like I'm getting a starting point, but
it's also just it's been. It's been such an.
Addition to my personal life, into my life as well.
I look forward to it every day. That's awesome, dude.
I mean, of course, of course, dude.
So there's not like there's no question about that.
I look forward to it every day. Such an additive to my life.
And also I just love getting to know you.
It's a it's a great time. I love the fun we have so.
I'm so happy you're here, man. I mean that.
I really, really mean that. Like one.
Yes, there's no doubt. I feel it.
You're a you're a soldier, man.
You're a foxhole guy. You're, you know, I text you
something, you know, it's done right away.
You're invested in the show emotionally, you're connected.
We're connected. It's just starting out.
And and, and, you know, I, I generally don't get involved in
the stuff, guys. I I really don't.
But I had to talk about that one aspect here.
And, you know, listen, there, there were a couple things that
that Greg said they were probably true.
Yeah. I think I did take things too
seriously when I was a little bit younger, you know, didn't
really know how to laugh at myself.
But I think, I think I've grown. I think I've evolved a little
bit. I'm proud of that.
Still work in progress, you know, But the one thing that I
will take to the grave is that, you know, I do try to, I do try
to treat people the right way. And I think that that's pretty
evident. I think that I think that you
guys can feel that. I think people that know me know
that no one's perfect. No doubt I've had my explosions
like everybody. You know, I, it's funny, I tell
my kids what what you do, what you do when nobody's watching.
I say this to them. I mean, I say a lot of stuff to
them. They're probably they're
probably exhausted of it. Work hard, have fun, be a
leader. I've got all these sayings in
the morning, right. Say more to more to my son, like
when we're practicing baseball, like, hey, you know what you do
when when nobody's watching determines what happens when
everybody's watching. But that's really that's just
like pertaining to sports in the grand scheme, that doesn't mean
much. I think that that's very
transferable to life. I believe that, you know what,
what you do when nobody's watching, you know, really
determines, I think how people will most people will view you.
And I've always been, I got this from my parents and I'm proud of
this. And I try to instill this in my
kids. And you know, I'm just, I'm
going to be the guy where if I'm getting into an elevator, I'm
going to hold it for you. Not just the women and children,
grown man as well. I'm going to say thank you,
going to say excuse me if I bump into you by accident.
I'm going to try to be a good dude, you know, and I'm
confident that I am. So the character stuff that that
Greg got into, that's the only thing.
If it wasn't that, I wouldn't, I wouldn't have even touched it
because I would not have cared. So that's a wrap on that.
All right, there we go. Let.
Me bounce more super chat Funny. Gio needs to be a boomer Glazer
to be relevant. Uh oh, that's kind of cruel.
The second line. See, but I I don't get it.
What did you say? You got bullet I, don't I.
Don't. But now he thinks he's caught
45. You know, but then if I start
doing that, you know, or, or like kind of leaning into a game
that, that I'm, you know, that I'm not gonna play, you know
what I mean? So I don't know.
I, I don't know him again up until today or up until I found
out that he pranked me, I never had never had an issue with
Greg. I really didn't.
I'd never had an issue with Greg.
And you know, I'm done saying what I had to say.
He could keep going. I, I, I said what was important
to me because I wanted you to hear that from me.
So we're going to bounce. I got to unpack.
I got a lot of stuff to do, a lot of homework here.
Sweet 16, which is what really matters for Saint John's
baseball this week. My God, now the channel starts
to blow up. I can't wait.
I cannot wait. I felt bad that I was a little
bit out of pocket when I when I was in San Diego.
Like with the live show. I know I did some live hits with
Mink and I did some stuff. I did a live reaction after the
game yesterday, but don't think for a second that my mind wasn't
on unleashed. I'm like, you know, the live
show. I got to get back to it.
So I was a little little uneasy about that because we we did lay
a nice foundation. You guys have been great.
You guys been rolling with me from day one and let's keep
growing like it. Subscribe it, get that traction
out there. Let's have a little fun.
Lot of baseball tomorrow, lot of Yanks, lot of Mets.
Obviously Johnny's a theme all week.
Cannot wait. So Levy bounce, I got to come.
I don't know if I'm going to take a nap.
I don't know if I'm going to work.
I don't know what I'm going to do man, but I am definitely
going to go. So have an awesome.
Is it Monday? What is it?
Monday? It's Monday, right Monday it's
Monday. It's got to be Monday.
It's Monday. Have a great rest of you Monday.
I appreciate you guys and I will check you out tomorrow at 10
right here on unleashed. I'll see you.
Bye. This is on leash.
Are you listening? Can you hear me?
Hear me. This is on leash.
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You listening?