25W: Coleman is Real and In Studio + Joe Lunardi on His Bracketology Journey & Tournament Preview + Missouri State's Dana Ford Sits Down with Coleman + Our Favorite Athletes

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is a podcast called twenty basketball and they all
wear a whist so, yeah, bad, But why didn't you
expect it's a podcast called twenty five whistles. Welcome to
episode forty six, where we have Joe Nardi coming on later,
which is pretty cool, although I will admit I think

(00:25):
he thought he was coming on to talk about teams
and bubble teams and and I was like, dude, tell
me everything about your life. He was like, dang, you
care a lot about my life. And I was like, yeah, man,
And I think he liked I think he I think
he liked it. I liked Joelnardi, but I don't think
it was what he thought it was gonna be, which
is cool. He probably liked it. No one ever asked

(00:46):
Joe about Joe, right, like Joey to be like, nobody
ever cares about me, So I hope he felt love.
That's cool. But we did get to basketball as well. Also,
something I learned today is Coleman has legs. You've never
seen him. He's in studio, We've only seen him on face.
I've never met him until today, Like physically, we embraced
a little too long. Sorry about that. Yeah, but it's Okay,
it's okay, but I get it. He's here. His wife's

(01:07):
also in studio too. Yeah, which has she ever been introduced? No,
you don't have to be on the show if you
don't want to. I'm Emily. That she is Emily. Hey, Emily,
how's this whole thing been? Not him traveling around but
him being involved in this because it kind of came
out of nowhere obviously. Yeah, it's crazy. I was like
very shocked about it, but I'm used to it now.

(01:29):
He's been gone for like two months now. Yeah, it's
pretty cool that was gone. How it's fun to live
by myself and then whenever I want it, if he's
like in a cool city, I'll just fly in. This
was all actually her idea, the entire trip. She just
wanted me to get get back out of Yeah. Yeah,
I get it. And he's your new Boyfriend's he muscular? Yeah,
he's a lot bigger yea. Yeah. So look we're all here.

(01:52):
Coleman's here in person, which is pretty cool. Are you
gonna be her Monday too? I will. You went to
the game here in town last night, the Belmont game? Yes?
Did they win? They did by one point? Came back
down seventeen at half. It was awesome. They were down
seventeen seventeen A. And who did you interview for this
show We're gonna do later? Uh, Missouri State. I don't
know if Casey Alexander will be on this one. So
Missouri State Dana Afford, their head coach. And how is he?

(02:14):
He was awesome? You went up there? Is that when
we talked to you in Branson? Yes? Yes? And how
was he like as a dude? Like nice? Incredible? All
three that I've interviewed have been so nice. I mean
for me, that's like a dream to get to talk
to these coaches about their journey. I mean, I've been
playing dynasty modes on nca College Basketball for about the
last twenty years. Like that sort of asked them about

(02:36):
their journey. You know, they're come up from a smaller
conference and now a mid major and then you know,
hopefully looking to make a bigger step. I guess in
the future. Did you get free tickets for that show? Yeah?
Both Missouri State and Belmont hooked me up. Let's go
is it because we're hooking it up? Absolutely? Okay, you
guys have been same changers, right job. I appreciate it.
You're welcome, man, I just you haven't done. I'm gonna

(02:59):
be honest about this. I said. Let's I like one thing.
I said, Hey, can we make sure that Coleman gets
into these games and has access? That's all I said.
And then Kevin and Mike and Lauren freaking bulldog It
and Eddie and I don't do crap except for the Yeah,
so shut up, all right, let him, let him get anything.
We'll shout out to them because they have been making
my world so much easier. Next thing, Gas, can you

(03:21):
get to help with that? Understand? All right, let's let's
warm up here. Here's the warm up question. And there's
a reason I'm asking it, but we'll talk about tennis
for just a second, and that you ever played at all? Like,
what's the most tennis you've ever played? Because today is
National Tennis Day. Really yeah, it's random, exactly, And I
just saw it as a headline because they always with
the stupid days, and I'm like, National Tennis Day. Here's

(03:42):
the history of tennis. Ready for it? Yeah, it's pretty boring.
Tennis has been a favorite sport of mini since the
nineteenth century. Tennis have been around since the mid eighteen hundreds,
though I'm two fronts and exactly Kerry Jim and Alguiro Pierre.
I developed the game on his lawn in England, and
then it goes on and on. But what's the most
tennis you've ever played? Eddie? Middle school? So I played

(04:04):
in seventh grade. I was like, I have to do
an elective and there was a hot girl in tennis,
and I was like, I'm going to do tennis to
get with this hot girl. You gottatives in seventh grade? Yeah, yeah,
I mean it was just like a class, but you
got to pick something. Yeah, you get to pick tennis.
You want to do track, you wanta do whatever? Like yeah,
so I like tennis. I didn't play any matches. I
just went to the class. Do we ever blow the whistle?

(04:26):
No we didn't. I got you, all right, everybody, all right,
show starts. But have you ever played on grass or
ever walked on a grass court? Yeah? It's completely different. Yeah,
what's that like? Like? Is it soft grass, hard grass?
Is it like a green? I would say it's in
the middle. So you have and I only know this
and I can get to my tennis story in a minute,
but there is a hard court, which is like like regular,
what we know? Did you play tennis? I did? Okay,

(04:49):
she's not even she's an ex tennis champion. So I
was like, maybe we should go to Emily for this.
But they're like three levels. It's hard court, there's like
a grass court, and then there's clay court. And the
hard court good for servers because it's like ball flies
off of it. Grass is kind of middle. You can
move and you can serve. And clay is why certain
players like Nadal win because it's all about it takes.

(05:09):
It takes so much. Well no, stop talking, hey, okay
do but I'm saying it's that's moving because the ball
loses a lot of steam. Okay, spin. No, I was
just throwing things up. Yes, he's just saying words lost
city McEnroe say, you can't the ball doesn't bounce off
the ground is hard. Basically that's this clay. So it

(05:29):
takes a lot of that power away in power game.
So those guys that can move dominate clay, which is
why it all wins so many of those and it
seems like they're sliding all over the place when they
play that home You did say that earlier, Thank you
for that. I just why don't you acknowledge that? I
do acknowledge that, Kevin. In high school, I was a
TA for racket sports. It was a class. So that's
probably the closest I've ever been a teacher's assistants. Was
it just tennis or did you do it? Is like tennis? Uh,

(05:53):
handball but with a racket every rocketball? Yes, yes, of
months and they be different games or different things to learn. Mikey,
we sports. I used to be really good very little.
My buddies and I after our senior year that summer
we played a lot of tennis, just a way to
be competitive. But that's been the extent of my tennis career.

(06:15):
Didn't play any tennis at all ever. We didn't have
we had tennis courts, but we played basketball on We
took the net down to play basketball at school. So
we had no no tennis at all. And I became
friends with Andy Roddick, who was three or four in
the world at the time. I didn't know hi when
he was number one when he won the US Open.
He was nineteen then, but we became friends and he
was like, do you want some tennis gear? I was like,

(06:37):
I don't play tennis because I didn't say that. Do
you want tennis gear? Yeah, so like rackets and everything. Bro,
our little group me a mod cruise. We wait a
group of us. We had like ten thousand dollars in tennis, right,
we were like one nickel players with ten thousand dollars gear.
I remember seeing all you guys wearing like the same shoes.
One we were special tennis player. We had the shoes.

(06:58):
We had the racquets. It called like two grand extra
ones that were strong we had. We were covered in
the cost because Andy was like, just how many how
many hear idiot friends? Do you want? You guys go playing?
Make your own league up. So that's what you would do.
People we go up to the course, they'd be like,
Danny's guys must be for real that we can't even
serve it over the head were terrible. You guys would
go to the local high school. Yeah, we would play
all over. We were starting to get some tournament play,

(07:21):
but that's then we stopped. But I much prefer pickleball.
Pickleball is awesome, and then I was pretty good racketball
player in college, but tennis was never played it. And
if you couldn't serve it. It's kind of over and
I just didn't have the patience, didn't grow up at
the game. It's kind of a rich person game. And
you know, it was stupid with you and your buddies,
and like this was a little before me I went
to talk about you. I went to maybe one match

(07:44):
where we went to the high school and played and
you got into a fight with one of our buddies
and it was serious. And what's so stupid is like
there's no judge there, so like they're arguing about it
hit the line, bro, No it didn't. Well, no one's
gonna know who's right, like exactly, that's not exactly what
happened was the line. I remember the line call. But
my argument is if you can't tell, just replay the point.

(08:06):
If there's any argue about whatsoever, replay the point. And
was a cruise. Obviously it doesn't matter who it was.
And obviously I can't see. One of my eyes doesn't
work at all, so I had to do a lot
of trusting. But I would go like that was out,
or let's replay it. They'll be like, well you can't
see anyway, trust me, it hit the line, So we
got to a massive, massive fights. Remember, just competition, you know,

(08:26):
you know what's up. Yeah, all right, let's go to
the tittle tattle tattle. Which quarterback do you think is
more likely to get a big contract? Daniel Jones or
Geno Smith? I just because of the market. Probably Daniel
Jones was asking for forty five million, changed his agent.

(08:49):
And because you asked for it doesn't mean you're gonna
get it, doesn't eve mean you really think you're gonna
get it. But if you ask forty five million, it's
easier to get thirty five million. But man, he had
his year. He did have his year. I mean, day
Ball coming in change a kid's life, and he came in,
he played wonderfully. Does he twenty five million? Sure? I
could see that and not that's not a whole lot

(09:09):
of money. That's a crazy amount of money. But when
you look at the market on quarterbacks that can actually produce,
they have to pay him. Don't forget. They didn't take
his fifth year option. They were like, we're good, four years,
We're good, buddy Sea later just finished this year out,
we're out. They said no, they declined the option. Daniel
Jones said, okay, well, we played. New coach comes in.
The greatest thing to ever happened to him, The greatest

(09:30):
thing to ever happened to him was that they didn't
believe in him enough to sign him for another year,
and they had a new coach coming in. They couldn't
get another quarterback, so we're gonna go with Daniel Jones.
And they turned he's rich. He's gonna be rich for
a year. He's good, He's financially set for the rest
of his life, and he might actually be pretty good.
Is the real thing, because people started after what six

(09:52):
seven games, you have enough tape on a guy to
know his tendencies, to know the tendencies of the offensive
coordinator of every So in baseball, you get somebody well tape,
then go, well, we just won't throw there, we won't
throw this pitch, we'll do this. Well, they start to
do it with Daniel Jones, like, fine, I'll just run more.
Oh crap, now he runs well, now we have to.
He had enough tools to actually keep teams from locking

(10:16):
him down on any one specific skill set. But forty
five million, I don't think that's going to happen. I mean,
that's Aaron Rodgers type money. That we even roll our
eyes at, but probably deserves it at this point in
his career. But no, I don't think forty five million
I would go. I would go Daniel Jones at twenty five.
But Geno Smith has earned his money too. He's older too,

(10:37):
and he is he's earned his money too. But he'll
get twenty He should get twenty million for a couple
of a few years. There's no seven year deal here.
There's no guaranteed money like Deshaun Watson or like you know,
Baltimore is being pounded with, like Lamar Jackson wants all
this guaranteed money, like Deshaun Watson. Man, if they do that,

(10:57):
if two quarterbacks get all this this guaranteed money, it
does change it because now they can just look at
the owners of the Browns and go, they're idiots. They
gave them all that money because they're idiots. But if
two owners do that, now it's a real thing that
every owner has to deal with. You know, they're calling
each other going, don't be giving all this guaranteed money.
We have to stick together. Yeah, they're idiots in Cleveland,
but we can't do that. What I would worry about

(11:18):
is Dan Snyder and Washington going to sell the team.
He could really screw up that place before he leaves
by giving somebody a bunch of guaranteed money that then
he doesn't even have to pay. Yeah yeah, Scott free
and then just messing it up for ever. I mean,
he could set the league back. He would do with
quarter hey would all right? Next question, do you think
there's any reality to the rumors of Justin Fields being

(11:39):
traded before the draft? I don't. I think it's hard
to get a good quarterback. We see it. There just
aren't enough, and they draft quarterbacks in the first round
constantly that don't first round quarterbacks that don't make it.
So when you finally have something that you can build
a franchise around, and I think it's cute to think, well,
we'll trade him to get some more picks. We've got
a few quarterbacks coming out of the draft. CJ Strout, Yeah,

(12:01):
Bryce Young. There's no guarantee any of those guys are
gonna be good in the NFL. I don't think any
of em can't miss. I don't think Will Levisa Kentucky's
can't miss, and they're saying he's the number two guy
out this year. Maybe number one, probably not number one,
but you know, every once in a while you see
somebody to say that I do not think they will
trade him. No chance, no chance. And it's also posturing

(12:23):
pre draft. Who don't forget that everybody's posturing pre draft
to figure out what pick they're gonna get, What pick
can they get, who can they get to fall? Who
can they lie about their character? The kid at Georgia,
they're like, bad character guy, and so the story comes
out last week they you know, a bad character guy.
But here's one of the truth is he paid for
one of the walk on's meals all year because walk
ons don't get their food paid for. So you want

(12:44):
to talk about a character and you say it's a
bad character guy. Let's at least have a little reflection
here of what he was doing that nobody even knows about.
There's a walk on on the team who was not
able to be fed because that's the rules, and he
paid for every single meal, so at least mentioned. Hey,
here's some good character too. But all this stuff is
done by teams, so the stock of players will fall
and they can grab him. What else you got, NBA here,

(13:07):
do you think Russell Westbrook chose the Clippers just to
spite the Lakers. I think Russell Westbrook didn't want to
move out of the house. Yeah, he stays right there. Yeah,
So I don't know if it's as much about Laker.
It's the same play. It's a different locker room in
the same building. I think Russell Westbrook I would have
done the same thing. It's like if I were Lamar
Jackson and I wasn't gonna say in Baltimore, maybe you
go play for Washington. You may not have to move.

(13:30):
That's a big deal. We forget that they do have
real lives and they're real people with real houses, real friends,
real families. They don't want to constantly get moved around.
But also, if you live in LA, you probably don't
want to move out of LA. Yeah, if you're Russell Westbrook.
So I don't know if it's despite the Lakers, but
it's probably because he didn't want to have to change
his life. And also he'll probably go and he'll be
more of a factor over there with the clubs, and

(13:52):
I think he'll actually help that team a little bit more.
There's only so much he could do on a bad
LA team that needed shooting. He's not a shooter. They
have shooting with the clips a little bit, so not
that there it's really gonna help them. I saw their
odds change none upward down their Vegas odds whenever he
went over because the line moves a little bit, but

(14:13):
didn't move at all. It's say the same, which was weird.
Clippers Lakers that are like a real rivalry, Like if
they're both good, sure, but what's even a rival? What's
the All Star Game? They don't care? That's true, there
are no rivals. What's the right unless you just genuinely
don't like somebody as a person. It doesn't even matter
what team they're on. There's no rivals. Sometimes that your
rival plays on your same team Lebrono Westbrook. So but yeah,

(14:37):
I do think they probably when they're both good and competing,
I do think they get. They have their little moments.
The Clippers are always disrespected when it comes to Clippers
versus Lakers. The Lakers are the team. I don't know
any Clippers fans. I know Lakers fans. I know Clippers fans.
You do, yeah, because they're like family and they have
seats there. But other than they don't. They don't have
Lakers seats. They have Clipper season tickets a lot cheaper

(14:59):
and there's a Clippers What are these actors? Are they
much cheaper? One of those actors is a big Clipper fan,
like he was a kid actor, like Frankie Moonez or
something him in the middle. Boy, he's a NASCAR driver now,
oh is Yeah, he shouldnt be ANASCAR driver, Mike, Will
you look at who Clippers famous fans are? Billy Crystal

(15:21):
is the first thing that comes up. Really, yeah, well,
I ain't gonna talk about I'm talking about Jesse McCartney
or Frankie Moonez or something. All right, next question, as
the NBA begins the second half of the season, do
you think Yokich is the likely runaway MVP while the
odds have him as the likely runaway MVP? And I
think he probably wins it unless he gets hurt. He

(15:41):
just does it all. He does it all and they
can't stop him. I mean it's Larry Bird the the end.
I mean, he's Larry Bird. He's big, he can shoot,
he can We don't even remember Larry Bird really because
we're I mean he's before and especially Coleman was like

(16:02):
not even spermy yet so but it's wise right here.
Bones Well she wasn't either. But like for us, I
remember Larry Bird being old and doing the McDonald's commercials,
all right, we'll bounce it off one, off the corner,
nothing but net. Oh yeah, I remember the little commercials,
all right, off the rim, off the cat, off the bleachers,

(16:23):
nothing but net. And you remember him being forty five
and planned for the Celtics and then coaching the Pacers.
But we didn't catch prime Bird. But Larry Bird, as
much as we remember m a shooter. He said he
was six ten. You remember Larry Bird was a big dude,
and we don't remember we had six ten because we
don't remember it. But also he he was known so
much as an outside shooter, pass or creator, like now

(16:43):
those are point guard guys, unless you're like Yoka. Cho's
also a massive dude. He's Larry Bird. Unathletic and what
you meant to say white, Yeah, yes, that's what I meant.
Yes he is. Unless he gets hurt, he's gonna win
the thing. Yeah, Okay, going to anti double a here,
how much would you trust Alabama in the tournament if

(17:04):
they end up having to play without Brandon Miller. So
I was watching the game. We record this later on Thursday.
I was watching the game last night Alabama and South Carolina.
South Carolina a chance to win it. They were playing
in South Carolina. Every time Brandon Miller will get the ball,
that the Karody'll lock him up. That crazy, I know, crazy,
and so we can talk about the guns. I saw
him miss a couple of free throws early, but do
went off. He scored for the overtime put him into

(17:28):
the forties. But South Canina played tough. They're they're like
gritty headband. Long haired white dude fouled out at the
end of the game, which hurt him because he was
like just He also was like Chunky, and I always
admired like a Chunky player just goes hard, that doesn't
get tired. I think they do. But he was out

(17:50):
of his mind. He did miss a three late. He
could have won the game with a three late. But
Brandon Miller was awesome and I hate it and I
wish they would suspend him because we play him next.
We play him Saturday. Oh that's why you? Oh yeah,
for sure. All just fighting like crazy online to spend out,
you know, illegally, and we're like, bro, if we weren't
playing them, wouldn't give a crap. But he's amazing. If
he wasn't with that team, I think they're probably a

(18:11):
four or five seed. But he's the leader of that team.
NATO it's always had, has these really athletic long teams,
but they only shoot threes, and they only shoot under
the basket for the most part. If it, and we'll
talk to Joelnardi about it. He's such a game changer.
They could win the whole thing if he's there. If not,
I don't see that really happening. Colemo, what do you think?

(18:32):
This is your expertise here. I'm not a believer even
if they have him in Bama winning a national title.
I think they just have too many facets to what
they do that don't lead to a national title team.
No team has shot the three ball as much as
they do outside of Villanova in recent history that's had
success and winning a national title. We talked about it
in a previous podcast, how little of an impact big

(18:56):
time freshman have had on national championship winning teams over
since twenty five. Team Bama very reliant on freshman this year,
and they played a really fast tempo. Teams that play
at that fast to tempo oftentimes great opportunities to give
themselves a chance at getting upset throughout that six game run.
I don't trust Bama even with them. Without them, I
especially don't trust them. Well, I've changed my mind. I

(19:17):
said that two last game, but I watched them. Now
I've seen him once. I'm like, I watched one good
game against a bad team, and I'm like, no, they
can't win it all, baby, So colemon answer is probably right.
But since I watched them, I was like, no, they're
really good, man, trust me. Um, Okay, what else you got?
Last one? Here? With most of the talk coming out
with the serious contenders in the Big twelve in the SEC,
do you think Arizona and UCL are being overlooked? This

(19:39):
is why I'm gonna say yes, just because they're on
the West coast. Now we don't watch them. They're being overlooked.
Probably not because of their talent or anybody going. They
suck overlooked as they not talked about equally because we
just just don't see them play the football teams get
anybody west because they just play way later and it's
not even that were like, we don't like them because
they're West. When your game doesn't come on until nine

(20:00):
or ten or eleven, Central or Eastern, the eyeballs that
are writing these stories are just gonna accidentally overlooked them.
So they're both very talented teams. But yes, of course
they're overlook They're not getting the attention that they probably deserve,
but it's because of where they live. Colemn Yeah, I
think absolutely they're being overlooked. I think behind Houston, UCLA

(20:21):
is my next favorite to win a national title. I
love their balance. They've got a couple guys on their
team that are veteran that have been to a Final
four before, in Hakes, in Tiger Campbell. I think that
could be a team that makes the run to the
Final four, perhaps wins a national championship. That being on
the West coast is getting overlooked. It's just a bad
situation for players that want to be in prime time.

(20:42):
It's tough to play. They'd have to play a four
thirty or five o'clock game for us to be able
to watch it in prime time, and they ain't doing that.
Seven periods barely over you know what I mean? All right,
that's it. Thank you. Before we started this, Kevin walkdon

(21:04):
and goes, do you know about to Aaron Rodgers Darkness
Retreat And I said, why, what do you mean I
know about what he was doing? Goes, No, is it over?
It's over. It's like the groundhog comes out and we
see the shadow and the wm on. We go all right,
more winter. Well that's the best part two on social
media and I was like, he's out of the darkness,
and like there's pictures of him like walking out, he's
running into things. He's out of the darkness. As of Wednesday,
he was doing it in southern Oregon and this place

(21:26):
is a partially underground Hobbit like structure with three hundred
square feet of space, no light, with a queen bed,
a bathroom, a meditation like matt on the floor, fully powered.
If you want to turn the lights on an endpoint,
you can and this place is booked up for the
next eighteen months. Yeah, I hear you. But what happened
did he come out? And I don't know. He said
they should have a table out front when he walks

(21:47):
out with all the hats on it ye jets yea
retirement and then he does this thing where he's like,
puts one on. I's like, nope, just kidding. Then he
pulls out that this is jeopardy and then he's gonna
go back in the host Jet. That's what he should do,
but instead we got to wait through the process and say, now,
what the heck is going to happen. I would love
for him to go to the Jets. It would be

(22:08):
hilarious because Farve did it. First of all, that's funny
to me. He's doing exactly what Farve did. He treated
his backup quarterback exactly like Farve treated him, like history
is repeating itself. And then him to go to New
York would just it's the two things that love themselves
so much, and it would create the perfect media storm,

(22:30):
either for the Jets to win and he would be
like a Darling or just like a Kyrie Brooklyn type
situation where everything has gone wrong and it's a disaster.
I don't think it goes middle of the road. If
he goes to the Jets. I think he ends up
staying with the Packers. Honestly, I think he does it
again and stays with the Packers. I would love for
car to go to the Jets. I was looking again
at these these Car stats. Play hid the worst defense

(22:51):
period of any quarterback over his time there. When he's
with the Raiders, he had literally the worst defense every year,
and that sucks. I'd like for him to get a shot,
because I believe in him. I don't know why he's gritty.
He cries at press conference. All I need you cry
at press conference. I believe you can show him practice
and I'm done. So I would like to see Car

(23:13):
with the Jets. Rogers will probably stay with the Packers.
I think Lamar stays in Baltimore. I don't know how they.
You can't let him go unless you're just getting all
the picks from somebody. Still, you can't unless you're just
not gonna pay him. And he only wants all this
guaranteed money, and you're gonna be Dan Snyder and go.
I'll give him guaranteed money. I give one billion guaranteed.
And then he sells the team the next day and
somebody's on the hook for a billion bucks. He sells

(23:34):
it to the Lamar the Yes, but we have nothing
for Aaron Rodgers, no indication of what he's gonna do. No, No,
that was it. I don't like that. You said Kevin
that he can turn the lights on. How do we
know that he exactly? We don't. He was watching Netflix
the whole time. That's not a retreat. I'll be on
a darning street all weekend. Guess prove I'm not. Prove

(23:55):
I'm not. The question is we'll go around the room
your favorite athlete in sports now, not as a kid,
but we could do both favorite athlete as a kid
and your favorite athlete right now. And for me, that
perspective changes because now I know professional athletes and some
of them are just idiots, and some of them are awesome,
but they're just like normal people bros. Yeah they got

(24:16):
they have more money, but they're just normal people. It's
like artists that I know that are really famous. Some
of them are awesome, some of them were radiots, but
they're so they're just normal in many many ways. So, Edie,
you go, first, favorite athlete as a kid, favorite athlete
right now? Man, this is weird. As a Cowboys fan,
just to say out loud, So as a kid, Joe
Montana was my favorite. I mean he was just cool

(24:37):
like he was. We would win, but he was always
stress free and I love that about him. So when
he retired, it was tough. That's when I when I
went to the Cowboys and like became a Cowboys fan.
And now it's crazy to say this, but Jalen Hurts
is my current favorite athlete just because how he handles himself.
He's like and again Cowboys fan, like I don't. I'm
not an Eagles fan. I hate the Eagles. Like you've
picked the two teams you should hate the money, That's

(24:58):
what I'm saying. That why I said it's weird for
me to say, you guys, my favorite's a Longhorn. No,
and other favorite is the volunteer. But what do we
know about players They don't care about the teams they
play with. I mean, Hurts could go to the Cowboys
for all and he'll take it if that's the best.
It's weird that you have identified a player on a
team that you should hate. I agree that both of

(25:19):
them or that too, not even just well, but Joe's done,
Like Joe's done, that's that's old or whatever. But with Jalen,
it's just weird the way he like, you know, I like,
he's he's awesome. He's a great player. But at the
same time. He doesn't let his mouth speak for him.
His actions speak for him, and I love that about him.
I wish we had more athletes like that, where it's
like I don't have to say my way into this.
Just watch me play and that'll speak. That'll speak volumes.

(25:40):
I saw one of the receivers and Philly say, that's
what it was like, if he leaves, ship me out
with him, Okay, that's awesome. Yeah, he was like, if
he goes, just send me with him. That's like you
like that too with a quarterback where other players are
like I'll run though wall for him, Like, that's the
guy right there. That's pretty cool to see. So I

(26:00):
come on, big of me to take teams that. I'm like,
you can't compliment yourself how big you are. No one
acknowledged me, but okay, no, we acknowledged it was weird
that both of them were rivals. Are your favorite team
that you live and die with? That was a weirdness.
It's very weird to say it Coleman. For me, yeah,
for me as a kid, it's Russell Westbrook. I know
he takes a whole lot of criticism though, right right, absolutely,

(26:23):
But for me, like if I have a kid, I'm
going to tell him that's how you conduct yourself. Doesn't
matter if it's a preseason game against Sacmano King's an
NBA championship. He is going one hundred percent the entire game.
And he's never been a guy that bad mouths a teammate.
Teammates always seem to have great things to say about
him and let let the media run with their own stories. So,
Russell Westbrook as a kid, what do you But what
about now Russell Westbrook? Now I'm a little disappointed. I mean,

(26:47):
we had to see this drop off coming a guy
that relied so much on his athletic ability. Now when
NAT's gone, he doesn't quite have the fundamentals to be
able to succeed. And then for a guy that has
the mental approach that he does, you know, he's going
to continue to see himself as the guy or the dog.
And so the end of his career is not going
to look pretty. I mean we may not even be

(27:08):
at the ugliest part of it yet. But for what
he meant to Oklahoma City and how he conducted himself
favorite as a kid, for sure, my wife loved us too.
We have in Russ we trust sweaters and hoodies at
the house because she's a big thunderfan and she's all in.
She was all in and I can't badmouth Russ at
all in the house even now. She's like, we don't
talk about bad about us now, even now do it?

(27:29):
It's almost like rest in peace, but don't talk bad
about him? And what about now? Now, I'd have to
go with Justin Thomas. So as Russ has fallen off,
Baker easily could have been one, but didn't quite have
the success that I'd hope for Justin Thomas. I went
to the PGA Championship this past year that he won,
watching him live, that was sweet. But I feel like
he's done a great job kind of not to say

(27:50):
that he's this guy's level, but taking the torch from
Tiger as to be the young guy to lead this
generation of golfers. I guess and expand and grow the game,
and then he's just a ruthless competitor. I feel like
he's the real Captain America. Patrick Reid got that after
you know, a great one, great Perpatrick. It's hilarious, by
the way, Yeah, go ahead. But Justin Thomas I believe

(28:10):
is the true captain America. You know what's interesting, I
don't feel and it's you're like sixty years old picking
a golfer is your favorite? Yeah, yeah, which is wild.
So aside from that, if you had to pick somebody
that tiger quote unquote passes the torch to, who would
you say it was? Would you say what? Justin Thomas?
I don't think I will. I wouldn't. I don't think

(28:32):
I would. I think Rory. But he's not American. And
you did say captain American and you only love American people?
Who got it? John Rom's not American, although he looks
like he's American. Was gut hanging, you know, he's like
eats the processed foods like we do. Does that thing? No,
I'm not saying in terms of a talent perspective, but

(28:53):
in terms of being the face of the sport. What
about Justin Well yeah? Or what Jordan's Yeah? What about
Jordan Sho? I know Jordan a little bit right, Jordan's um.
I love Jordan's speed. I love the commentary that he
has that we can almost like get into his and
his daddy's Michaels. Yeah, yeah, we hear him talking throughout
every single shot. Oh, yeah, Ed, Michael's best friend. We
played around with it. What are you talking about? Thought?
I am Michael's best We walked with Jordan Michael, we

(29:15):
played around with them. Ed he would forget my clubs
walking with Michael and I'm like, bro, he's carrying Jordans.
Why do you I have mine? You're yeah? And He's like,
while I was talking to Michael, okay, we're trading. We're
trading dad stories. And Bobby's like, hey, sand Wedge, I'm like,
you got it the bags over there, Michael. Yeah. And
I don't know. Speth just hasn't been as consistent as JT.

(29:37):
JT has been a top ten player consistently now for
the last six years. Speith's had that fall off, but
no doubt he could be argued right up there with them.
Have y'all watched that show on Netflix? Swing It. I
can't sway for this journey then, because that's the first
thing I'm doing. Hey, the first the first episode features
Jordan and Justin so their and their relationship, which is
really cool. They did it. Yeah, well, I guess um,

(30:01):
I haven't want I want to. There's also the show
coming out that they just announced that Peyton Mannings Production
Company finished. That's like the Quarterbacks on Netflix, where all
those guys are Mike the whole season. We didn't know it.
Kirk Cousins, Yeah, Mariota too. They were, Wow, that's gonna
be good. They were. And that's good too, because you
got Mahomes who want it, Cousins who played better than
normal and they choked it, and then Mariota who kind

(30:24):
of flashed early but didn't have a great season overall. Right,
wouldn't you say, like, he's not gonna have a job
next year guaranteed. So we're watching We're not watching three
quarterbacks win the whole thing or get deep in the playoffs.
It's like three different journeys of three different players. So
that's cool too. My favorite athlete as a kid was
Mark Grace, first based for the Cubs. I played first base.

(30:46):
I was left handed, he was number seventeen. Wasn't a
power hitter, neither was I. He would get on bass
a lot. I was like, that's my guy. Everything about him,
Mark Grace, Mark Grace I was. And why I brought
this up is I think my favorite athlete as an
adult is Pat bev Woow because for a couple of reasons.
He just doesn't stop when you talking about he's a
guy that you want on your team, but if he's
not a team, you hate his guts. Yeah, exactly. And

(31:10):
that's the dude that I feel like he would have
everybody's back if he's in the locker room with you,
even if he may not get along with you right
then if something happens out on the court, like he's
got you. Like I would hear him defending Westbrook even
with the Lakers. He was like, that's my dude. Somebody's
gonna get into with him. We're gonna go right there.
But like Pat Bev always goes hard and he's playing

(31:31):
with the Bulls now, which will be interesting to see.
He's gone back home, that's where he's from, Chicago. I
just admire tenacity. And also he did play at Arkansas.
I don't know if that affects anything problem being a
Russell Westbrook guy. I didn't like the knee injury that
you're a guy caused. I think I don't own I'm
a fantasy player that I've drafted or anything. So shut up, Emily,

(31:56):
what about you? Were you an athlete? Not at all?
I have a favorite like athlete adjacent. I have a
weird obsession with Jim Nance, Like his voice is like
my favorite. I met him really, yeah, he's so nice.
I love him. He called we were playing at Pebble
Beach and they did a thing on TV and they
they're like, okay, up next, Bobby Bones, and I get

(32:16):
up and I was. I was in the group of Aaron.
I'd be Daron Rodgers. Yeah you did. You can always
say that I did in the But Jim Nance called
the shots and he's like, I'm next, uh, host of
Snake in the grass and all right there it is,
oh yeah, And it's crazy to say, like obviously he
talks like that in normal life, but he really does.
When he's just talking to he's like, oh, are you

(32:37):
having fun? You beat the chicken today? It's pretty good.
It looks like Eddie's walking over toward me right now.
So was that yours now? Or as a kid? Just
like always always, I don't really have one now. I
guess I just keep up with the thunder okay, And
who's every thunder player? Shay or uh, what's the other guy?

(32:57):
Jay Williams, the one that looks like Timothy Element. Yeah,
that's funny. He's like a tall Timothy Shall. Yeah, they
call him Himothy Him. That's good. He's cute. That's I
think we found out why guys like thirteen numbers long.

(33:22):
It's like an Australian area code. Okay, so we're gonna
go to Joelnardi here. Who Joelnardi's I mean, he's that
guy for sure. Joelnardi is the guy who created bracketology,
who has nailed it. I just if we'd have had
more time, I would have been like, seriously, somebody's like
tipping you off on stuff occasionally too right, because he's
got to have so many resources, not illegally, but somebody's

(33:43):
gotta be calling and being like, I feel like in
the room, this is happening. And now people like you know, uh,
Coleman exist, and Coleman's trying this whole new thing. But
if Leonardi's not there creating this industry, people like Coleman
probably aren't driving all over the country in mid majors
going I'm gonna find my niche inside of this niche.

(34:05):
Would you agree with that at that fair? No? Absolutely.
When I originally started the Twitter that I have now,
it was a bracketology twitter. Joe was posting like once
every four days or something like that. That wasn't enough
for me. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna try
and be a bracketologist myself. So Joe definitely inspired the
journey for sure. It's like guys for me that would
be like a Howard Stern Rush Limball. Although I'm not

(34:29):
like them. They did things on television and radio, and
so had they not kicked indoors, I wouldn't have been
able to go, oh, I want to do that too.
I'm gonna do a little different, but like respect right, Yeah,
that's cool. That's it. So Joelnardi ESPN bracketologist. We're talking
to him now. Hi Joe, Hi Bobby, good to talk
to you. Is it weird being famous now? Because I

(34:49):
mean your name is as famous as anybody in sports media.
I just this is such a you know, you you've
cornered this market. Is it weird to be Joelnardi parentheses
famous guy? Only four these two or three weeks a year?
You know you say that, But I feel like I'm Joe.
I feel like I'm living kind of in an out
of body experience for about a month. I watch your

(35:11):
brackets also, like the first week of the season and
like November, right, and I'm a big Arkansas guy, but
we're playing like practice games and it's like, here's Lenardi's bracket,
and I'm like, Joe's working like full time. Now, this
is not even like getting close to the tournament. He's
going hard all the time. So I would do people
recognize you at the airport now, I'm like, there's Joelnardi. Yeah,
I can tell people are staring a little bit from

(35:32):
time to time, but it's more seasonal than anything else.
You know, I keep a pretty low profile in the offseason.
I wouldn't be cool if I saw you. I would geek.
I literally would be nervous to talk to you because
to me, you know, we're in a fractured fame world
where everybody's you know, just because you're famous to somebody
doesn't mean you're famous to somebody else. But I would
see you in an airport and go like, I can

(35:53):
never go up and talk to Joelnardi because I'm a
massive fan of what he does, so I'm just gonna
let him be. I would be intimidated by you because
of how much I respect your work. Is that weird
to hear that? That would happen. Only the part about
not coming up to say hi, Like I have no
issue with that. Like if somebody kind of gives me

(36:14):
a look sometimes, especially if it's like a high school
kid or youngster, like I'll almost just put my hand
out and shake their hand and say, hey, I'm Joe.
And if they're obviously a college basketball person, I'll say, like,
who's your squad? And that's an easy way to start
a conversation. Yeah, please do that to me if you

(36:34):
ever see me, because I'll be too intimidated because I
want to bother the big famous Joelnardi. But if you
see me, say hey, I'm Joe, who's your squad? And
then we'll be well right off and run and Joe,
me and you buddies for life. There you go. Okay, Joe,
where did it start for you back in the day,
like when you first started to go I want to
do this job. Were you a writer at a small
newspaper something like that. I did do a lot of

(36:55):
sports writing in and around Philadelphia. It's kind of a
college basketball city because there's six Division One schools, and
generally in any given season, there's a couple three of
them that are in the national picture, so you know,
the tournament is pretty much an annual event. And you know,

(37:18):
I can't say that during those years of being a sportswriter,
I ever said to myself, Man, I want to work
at ESPN someday and I want to be a bracketologist,
because frankly, when I started, there was no ESPN, and
there definitely wasn't bracketology much less the Internet as a
way to kind of convey all this and generate a

(37:40):
following and you know, maybe kind of create something from nothing, Bobby, Like,
I'd like to say there was this grand business plan,
but there wasn't, and it just evolved into something that
fueled by the passion frankly of people like you, Like,

(38:03):
do a lot of people know that you're a college
basketball junkie. I've found that they're out there and you know,
the people from all walks of life, because it's it's
kind of a unique sport in that way, right, Like,
you know, pro sports are kind of dominated by the
big cities, but everybody has a team because everybody went

(38:24):
to school somewhere. Yeah, you know, it could be the
biggest city in America, you know, UCLA, or it could
be a small college stam making a run and being
a Cinderella. And I think in a way that's why
that the NCAA Tournament is unique in that it's so
inclusive geographically and all kinds of people. No, I do

(38:49):
want to get down to brass tacks in a second,
but I'm just interested in your story so much. And
have friends who are in the creative space, and you
know they had to work, well we'll call it a
real job, until they got to the point where quit
their a real job to do their passion. So you
spent thirty years a close to thirty years at Saint Joe's.
You had a real job communications in marketing. A real
job is untlike you go, you show up, you do

(39:11):
the work, and then you go home. But at what
point did you go, Man, this crazy idea, I can
actually make my full living. I'm gonna quit my real
job and do the dream job. Because that's a huge step.
When did you do that and were you nervous about
doing it or did you feel set? I didn't really
ever quit my real job. I just, in a way

(39:32):
maybe maybe just kind of rose out of it over
time when our youngest finished college and it became a
point where I didn't have to be a nine to
five administrator or a VP and higher ed anymore. And yeah,

(39:54):
I had always slept to myself, what would happen or
what could happen with basketball if I didn't have a
day job. But I loved my day job, and you know,
it was it was my school. I met my wife there,
one of our children went to Saint Joe's and and
you know, you just kind of wake up one morning

(40:14):
and go, man, I economically I wasn't sure I hadn't
do that anymore. So it was it was a little
bit of a risk. But in retrospect, maybe I should
have made the jump sooner because I'm having a ball. Man. Yeah,
I mean it's everything that I've worked for, right, It's

(40:34):
you know, we worked so hard to have a shot
at our dream, and then once we get it, it's like, man,
like it can actually be done. I never thought it
could be done until I was able to like grind
myself into it. And like, I hope to be somebody
that people can look at and go, if he can
do it, then I can do it. But like, you
created this whole new space and like I really like
admire that and the fact that this wasn't happening until

(40:55):
freaking Joel Nardi did it, and he was doing it
a long time before it really popped. When did it
pop for you? Where I went to the next level
where you're like, holy crapple, what I'm doing is so
loved by people, and I didn't expect it to be
this big. There were a couple of inflection points, certainly
when Bracketology got its own space and page and real

(41:17):
estate on ESPN dot com. I have been doing it
for a few years, you know, before frankly, sports websites
had evolved very much. They were pretty much HTML and ugly.
And then in twenty o two, somebody got the idea

(41:41):
to give it its own kind of space and platform
within college basketball the ESPN, and it launched on a
Monday night in January. I'll never forget because because I
went from Philly up to Bristol, you know, to be
there and help out, and I mean the traffic in

(42:03):
the first hour or two, the editors and we just
kind of looked at each other and went, oh, we
found something. And you know, I'm not very good at
the business of business, or I suppose I would have
asked right the end to you know, get paid by
the hit or something like that. But clearly there was

(42:26):
Clearly there was an audience, and it coincided with the
time when frankly, the people who actually picked the tournament
and CIA Men's Basketball committee was not very open about
what they did or how they did it. So there
was if you're a fan of I don't know, Arkansas

(42:48):
or Boise State or Minnesota or Connecticut, you know, you're
you're going with what you get out of the local
paper or maybe a paragraph every once in a while
in USA today, like back when we had newspapers and
they'd be outside your hotel room during the morning, and
here was here. I was kind of letting people into

(43:11):
something that they were incredibly interested in, but no one
would have had a way of knowing that. So so
the combination of digital media and the Internet, and to
ESPN's credit, you know, look, I'm five five and slow
on a good day, and like I can't touch the rim.

(43:40):
I can barely coach a cyo team. And you know,
the typical model of sports experts on television is former coach,
former player, right, big name, you know, somebody with a
built in following, and you know, here. I am just

(44:01):
the kind of a nobody higher ed person from Philadelphia
who happens to like college basketball lot. And to ESPN's credit,
they were about the content, not about you know, how
I looked or how I sounded, or the fact that
my resume wouldn't have gotten me interviewed for an assistant

(44:24):
coaching position at a middle school. Uh. And then you know,
being reasonably accurate certainly helped over time, but I never
took it very seriously, probably for another ten or fifteen

(44:44):
years after that, because it was more of a hobby
than it was an advocation. Yeah, I just love a vocation.
I should say one final question about just your story
and we will get to basketball. And I'm so much
that enjoy the person because this is it like he
he's like he's a revolution. I mean he is. He'd
started something and I know it sounds dramatic, but it's
the truth. And how you know, how I've done things

(45:06):
I've been in I wouldn't say trouble, but it was
difficult for me because I'm in the spaces that I've
been in, I've been very different, which people did not like.
The old guard did not like. Did you get any
pushback when you were revealing things from people who were
working inside of maybe schools or the NCAA, like, hey,
you shouldn't share that, Joe. I think it probably took
a little while to gain some credibility in the NCAA

(45:31):
and athletic administrative world because most people that come into
something like this have a bias towards their school, toward
their region, toward their point of view, whatever it might be.
And I was only interested in learning and getting it right. Yeah.

(45:53):
I have favorite schools and favorite coaches and favorite players,
just like anybody else. But you know, at the end
of the day, I get judged on how well I
can predict what those ten and now twelve people in
the committee are going to do. It doesn't really matter

(46:15):
if I think Alabama is better than Houston or better
than Kansas or better than Perdue. It matters what they
think and how much and how well do I understand
their process to replicate it. You know, coaches and administrators
call me all the time asking for insight, and I
have to remind it. I don't have a vote. I'm

(46:38):
never going to never going to have a vote. I'm
like an election pundit. I look at the polls. I
look at the numbers I observe and forecast, but you know,
and I'm unfortunate to have been the first to do it,

(46:58):
so I have the largest platform, I suppose, but many, many,
many other people are doing it now and doing it
quite well and maybe understand the math better than I
ever will. But my communications background, I think allows me
to convey it in a way that hopefully makes it watchable.

(47:21):
Yeah and readable. Five minutes for basketball questions, I would
just do a whole talk about Joe's life, honestly, but
being good our listeners, I want to know, Well, you're
the one, You're the one who's interested in it, so
I appreciate you. Well, we could do an hour about
you Joe. Basketball wise, I watched the Alabama South Carolina
game last night and I watched Brandon Miller just go
off scoring forty points. I want to overtime, and I'm

(47:43):
amazed to watch this kid. It's freshman, but he's also
in all this trouble, not trouble. All of this stuff
is coming out about the gun, so not asking about
that situation. But if he is not on the team
and Alabama is a clear number one right now, does
that affect us. I think I do too. Does that
affect us the seeding without him? Even let's say they

(48:03):
don't lose a game, but he gets is not able
to play in the tournament, would they drop him the tide? Probably?
And I'd say probably because we don't know when he
would go out, and would there be an opportunity for
the committee to observe them without him. This actually happened

(48:25):
once in I want to say it was two thousand
and nineteen nine, two thousand season. The number one team
in the country was Cincinnati. The player of the year
was Kenyan Martin, and in their first conference tournament game
as the presumptive number one team and top seed, he

(48:48):
broke his leg and he was out. I mean, obviously
you're not coming back and playing a week later, right,
And you know, what do you do at that point?
You're guessing at what that team is going to be like.
They ended up getting a two seed, Cincinnati, and they
lost in the second round. I think to whoever the

(49:12):
seven was, something in me wants to say Tulsa, but
I'm not one hundred percent sure of that. And you know,
that was kind of an experiment in how to observe
what the committee would do like that was on They
had no way of logically approaching that. But they couldn't

(49:35):
make them number one overall just on common sense, because
then they're giving a disadvantage to some other teams who
who might have been legitimately better at that point. I
think in Alabama's case, well, first of all, I don't
think he's going to miss any games. The university I'm
putting my higher ed had on universities made it very

(49:57):
clear what their position is, and I think, barring a
significant change in evidence, it's not going to change, and
we could have another whole show on whether that's right
or wrong. I'm just saying Brandon Miller playing in the
tournament and this situation being talked about for another month
is pretty much a guarantee. North Carolina Kentucky because we

(50:21):
have like three minutes left before I know, you gotta go,
but North Carolina Kentucky. North Carolina needs to probably make
a run it. I've never seen aything like it. What's
happened to them this season versus last season in the expectation.
And then also Kentucky, who just and they're playing a
little better now. But both of those teams what do
they need to do to get in. I think Kentucky's
reasonably safe at this point. You know, they swept Tennessee.

(50:44):
I'm not a big eye test guy. I'm more of
a data of results guy. But it's it's it's pretty
clear that they figured out a better way to play
and it involves, you know, keeping the ball in the
hands more often of their better players, which seems kind
of a basic and intuitive. But but they they're probably

(51:07):
going to keep rising a little bit. They're not going
to meet the preseason expectations in terms of seating, but
they're gonna be wearing white in their first game. I'm
pretty convinced of that. As for North Carolina, without being
there every day, like clearly they're a mess in something
that's not basketball related, and we may never know what

(51:31):
that is. I mean, this is a team, Bobby, you know,
like they have four starters back in an age where
that doesn't happen much, and those players had a sixteen
point halftime lead in the National championship game, and like, yeah,
Brady Mannock was a really good player and he's not there.

(51:53):
But they can't make a shot, and they made enough
shots to be in the National championship game, So like,
something is not right, and I don't think they're gonna
make it because I just don't think they're good enough
and their body language tells me that they're not. They

(52:14):
don't really care enough about being in it, right. They
won list night, but yeah the Notre Dame game, but yeah,
it weren't good. It was sloppy, and yeah it did
not and they beat a bad Notre Dame team too.
It was not good at all. And I watched, going,
maybe they're gonna play so much better, maybe they know now,
and it just was like a group of guys that
they were just a little better, and they won their

(52:34):
game and it was over. Like Kentucky found a gear, Yeah,
because they were. They were on the apps a couple
of weeks ago. Caroline, Maybe they do find the gear.
I'm just not seeing it all right, one minute left here,
and this is not a biased question, n except it's
extremely biased. Arkansas has Nick Smith finally back Listen, we
lost two starters. Nick Smith is finally back lottery pick.

(52:55):
He's playing scored twenty five lott More twenty five against Georgia.
Well that affect the seating at all If Arkansas does
get in, which I hope and think they will. But
now that they're their best player is back, well they
give them a lift with the committee or are they
just like you are who you are. I think it's
gonna be more the ladder. I could see maybe a
seed line improvement from seeding. But but I'll give you

(53:16):
the flip of that, Bobby, which is they're going to
get a seed that they're probably better than and able
to outperform. So it's not so much in an Arkansas
situation as it is like who do they play and
those opponents are going to be getting probably a much

(53:38):
tougher draw because you know, Arkansas has like two seed
three seed talent. I think when they really have it
together and they've proven their ability to win in March,
I think they're very dangerous. All right, we have to
let Joe go. Here's the thing, Joe, I'm gonna I'm
feeling it for rich Eisin next week on Riches's show,
and hopefully I can get you on over there and
we'll go straight basketball. I'm just such a big fan.

(54:00):
And you guys followed Joe espn Lenardi, Uh, donate to us,
go fund me. I don't even know if he has one.
But if he does, pay send him some money. You know,
I don't. But if you want to do coaches versus cancer,
that would be my boom. That's cool. Here we go,
all right, Joe Lenard, Joe, we got a clap for
you because you're the guy I would appreciate you and
we will hopefully see it soon. Joe, see your buddy.
All right. That was Joe Lenardi. It's awesome. I wish

(54:22):
we'd had more time, but you know, I'm grateful for
the like doctors who said, don't be sad because it's over,
be happy because it happened, or some crap like that.
Not verb. Do you know, Emily what he said said,
I don't know what he's smile because it happened. Call him.
Did not ask you and ask your wife? This is
what happens at the house. I wouldn't want him home either, Yeah,

(54:43):
I don't listen. Well, yeah, I would be like you
need to go to Winchester you for a couple of
days and watching their third stream. I get it. I
didn't get it, Emily, but now I get it. Yeah. Um,
so thanks to Joe for coming on. That's pretty cool.
That's pretty cool. I want to talk about this rich
Eysen thing in a seconds. I'll be feeling it for
rich Eyesend next week, which I'm super excited about, and
I'll get to that on my final thought here. But

(55:03):
I'll be doing a series on TikTok called old people
in sports who didn't know We're really cool. Oh that's
cool because there are so many awesome We talked about
Larry Bird earlier. Right, if we don't see a bunch
of old clips in him dominating, we have no idea
really how good he was, or TV shows or we
depend on that. We depend on content to remind us
at how good some of these old folks were. So

(55:25):
I have all these people that I'm gonna do on
my TikTok, which is mister Bobby Bones. But I'm gonna
start with Pistol Pete, which just listen to the few notes,
and if you've seen the Pistoeet movie back in the day,
or if you've seen clips, I don't think people can
fully appreciate how good Pete Mirovich was for a bunch
of reasons. But I mean, he was showtime before the Lakers.

(55:45):
He was doing no look passes, the ball handling, that
would be advanced today he was doing then. But think
about how advanced it was then. He was a great
shooter if they would have had the three point line.
They didn't have the three point line. His popping on
from three when there was no three. He averaged forty
four points a game at LSU was no three point line.

(56:06):
Forty four points a game without a thing. I mean,
you're talking about fifty five a game probably if there's
a three point line. Can't even fathom that. It's so wild.
His number has been retired, And here's the thing. People
go like, well, he was a failure in the NBA.
His number has been retired by three different NBA teams,
the Hawks, the Jazz, and the Pelicans. The NBA did

(56:28):
not even put in three point line until his final
season in the NBA, and so he averaged I think
twenty or so in the NBA before his knees gave out.
But with no three point line, he was just so
ahead of his time. So what I'll be doing in
the series and showing videos and the pistol Pete thing,
I just get angry even in myself for not given

(56:49):
the respect he deserves. Yeah, I'm like, I'm so stupid.
Why do I not love Pete more? It's because I didn't.
I haven't been educated properly. So I'm doing a series
soon called Old People. I don't really have the name
yet work out that's something about I don't know if
this will be in your series. But this was a
little tidbit I got. So people on Twitter, um, some
have been joining me for games. So I got joined

(57:09):
by this North Carolina kid that he's a diehard NC
State people are just like, you're like fish or yeah,
They'll they'll just DM me be like, hey, I'm going
to that game. Fans. It's like grateful dead something like that. Yeah,
he tells you that Pete was supposed to go to
NC State, didn't make the act score high enough, and
then he went to LSU. Could have been an NC

(57:31):
State player, but then your TikTok, that won't make it
a failure. Awesome, So that'll be coming up. I do
want to go over to this interview with coach Dana
four from Missouri State. What was he like as a
guy man? He was awesome to meet with, just a
very respectable dude. Has an incredible foundation called the Rebound Foundation.
He and his wife started where um, they take homes

(57:54):
that had domestic violence. The female they helped support for
the next six months to a year try to find
a job, find living things that awesome. So he seemed
like an incredible dude in my time with him. So
here he is. This is Coleman with coach Dana Ford
doing a big at Missouri State. Here with coach Dana
Ford had basketball coach of Missouri State, Coach Ford. I

(58:14):
just wanted to ask you, growing up great high school
basketball player, played college basketball at Illinois State. What pushed
you to pursue basketball and then coaching after your playing career. Well,
I grew up in a small town in southern Illinois
and basketball was king and that's really the only thing
that we had to do, and fell in love with
the game at a young age. Was fortunate enough to

(58:36):
play in college. And after college, you had a decision
to make. And I've been impacted by coaches my entire life.
My high school coach Chuck Nody, my college coach is
Tom Richardson, Porter Moser, and so fortunately I chose that
path and it's been a great experience. I'm o you, alum,
So I gotta here. Coach Moser speak before the season

(58:58):
this year. His inner g is just contagious from What
is something that you learned from coach Moja and your
playing career that you implement with your current teams today. Well,
I learned a lot from him, and he's very He's
got a tremendous basketball mine. Just the importance of body language,
you know, the importance of habits, you know, the importance

(59:19):
of commitment, attending to detail. There are so many things
that we try to implement in our program right now
on a daily basis as well. What was it like
before you're even thirty years old getting offered a head
Division one coaching job, being the youngest coach in college basketball?
You know, it was a very humbling experience. It was
unique twenty eight years old head coach, something that you

(59:42):
dream about, not necessarily doing it by that age, but
but you feel like one day you can run your program.
And Teresa Phillips, athletic director at Tennessee State at the time,
I believed in me and so very appreciative for that.
And you know, just every day of my life from
banking to be a college basketball Take me through the lows,

(01:00:05):
I guess of your first season five wins to then
the highs of your very next year, quadrupling that getting
twenty wins at a program that it only had a
winning season two times in the last nineteen years. You know,
the first year was tough and took over a program
and it basically we had to bring in twelve new
players and that that was not an easy task, but
it was something that had to be done. And you know,

(01:00:27):
it was sort of a blessing in the skies because
we had a chance to implement our culture from day
one because all the players were guys that we had
brought in and the one returner was a guy that
died signed when I was an assistant coach there, and
so that that was fortunately that helped us the following year.
Our culture was in place. We just added we just
need to add a few more bodies, anew more guys

(01:00:48):
that can do some things. Our kids played really hard,
great kids, and won a lot of close games and
ultimately ended up with twenty win season. When you're an
assistant at which state you landed Fred Vanfleet, When you're
at Tennessee States ahead you land Robert Covington, How are
you able to find those diamonds in the rough, and
then what is it like seeing their success in the NBA.

(01:01:10):
You know, I'm just a blushed man. I mean, I'd
like to say that it's something else, but just the
Lord lead me to the right places at the right times.
To be honest, both of those guys are our coach's dream,
high character kids, are tough, underachievers, play with a chip
on their shoulder and become over achievers, you know. But

(01:01:32):
you know, it's it's exciting to see those guys have
success because they're following their dreams. And you know, I
use those guys as examples to our players every single
day that you can you can obtain your dream somebody
where you go. Right. Last year, twenty three wins here
at Missouri State, most wins in the program in the
last eleven years. What did that mean for you personally?

(01:01:53):
And then for this program? Well, just personal I was
happy for our players. We had a couple of guys
that had stuck together for a few years and uh,
you know, we got a big key Engauge brand that
could have transferred when anywhere in the country, but but
stuck with us. And then we had a dynamic guard
Isaiah Mosley, probably the same scenario. But and then we
had a host of high character guys playing around them,

(01:02:16):
uh you know, Jamonte Black and Scott Patterson, Isaac Haney,
Keith and Hervey, Donnie Clay. I mean, so we had
a nice mixture of guys and so so just personally,
I was just happy for the players this year, replacing
essentially your entire roster nearly Donovan Clay the only guy
averaging over two points a game returning. What was that

(01:02:38):
challenge like? And how are you able to get chemistry
to jail so quickly? Yeah, you know, it wasn't an
ideal situation, but we had to play the hand of
cards that we were dealt, and uh, you know, it
was it was challenging because that's a lot of phone calls,
it's a lot of official visits, it's a lot of
background check, character check, and uh, you know, I give

(01:02:58):
credit to our staff a great job, and we've assembled
a group of guys that have the potential to develop
into a really good team. This year has been up
and down due to a lot of different reasons, but
I think most importantly just struggling with the level of consistency.
You need to be good every day. But I think
that comes from age. And you know, I have a

(01:03:20):
lot of fun coaching this group, very fun group, and
so looking forward to see how they can develop over
the next couple of years. How integral has Donovan Clay
played in being able to carry that identity, the culture
that you've established in previous years to this team with
so many newcomers. He's played a big part of that.
And just you know, having an understanding of what we
like to do in regards to how we like to operate,

(01:03:44):
having a voice in the locker room, uh, you know,
especially dealing with so many first year Division one players,
I think that that's very important. And you know, Donnie
wants to win verst and foremost, and I think that that,
you know, throughout the course of this year has helped
bring along some guy a little quicker at what we imagine.
You've been able to bring in three Power six transfers

(01:04:05):
along with two guys that played for NCAA tournament teams
have been majors a year ago. What are your thoughts
just in general on the transfer portal. Clearly you're able
to utilize it for your success, you know, I think
it's some positives and some negatives with our situation of
signing some of the players, we felt that it was
necessary to tap into it a little bit. You know,

(01:04:27):
each year is a different challenge. Each team needs a
different type of player. But it's it's good to have
that option if you need it, and then it's good
for the players to have the option if you're using
it for the right reasons. But that's like anything, and
so you know, my thoughts on the portal is it's
here to stay, and I think that the best device
is to figure out how to utilize it in order

(01:04:49):
to help your approgram. The previous three years, you all
have been about the middle of the pack in the
country in tempo this year three hundred and fifty fifth
out of three sixty three. What has been the reasoning
for that? Concerted that third to play a slower style. Well,
we struggle taking care of the ball, and uh, you know,
when we played really really fast, we turn the ball
over and then other team gets it in lazy in

(01:05:09):
it gets open shot. So until we can mature and
develop our skill to where we can take care of
the ball, and it's best that we take our time
and at least get a shot at the rim. Right
that makes sense. Do you feel like your team is
peaking at the right time as we head towards March
and Arch madness. Well, you know, prior to our last
two games, I felt like we were starting to play really,

(01:05:30):
really a lot better. Our last few games, we haven't.
We haven't necessarily started one game very well and then
finished another game very well. I do think in between
we're doing some good things. What I like about our
group is their high character. They keep working, They're a
lot of fun, and I do think that they can
get hot and beat anybody. We've proven that we've got

(01:05:52):
I want to say, four wins against the top five
teams in our league, and that's not easy to do, right, So,
you know, looking to you to work at it and
hopefully play our best basketball a week from now. Right
to that point, you all have already swept Drake. What
kind of confidence does that give your guys in the
locker room that, hey, we can play with anybody in
this conference. We just have to be playing our best

(01:06:14):
basketball come early March. I think it gives the guys
a lot of confidence. Drake's a really good team, a
program we have a lot of respect for. They're obviously
one of the best bidden major. It's not one of
the best programs in the country issue, and so just
being able to draw back from those experiences throughout the
year should help us and and no only help us
this year, but help us in the years ago. I've

(01:06:35):
got a bit of a tough question for you. I
noticed through your career you had six conference tournament losses
by one possession or less. What is the lows of
that like to end your season when you're so close
to surviving and advancing, and then conversely, does that fuel
your fire even more to bring home a conference championship.
It's a great question, and I think it does. You know.

(01:06:55):
I think those hardships that we dealt with have to
have fueled us to continue to keep keep going and
and um, you know, looking for our opportunity eventually break
through one day. I didn't quite notice that many. Remember,
I wanted to give you a chance, if you'd like to,

(01:07:15):
to speak on your faith and what that's done for
you within coaching and impacting young people's lives as a coach. Yeah,
it's been really important to me, and it's developed over time.
My wife Christina has really helped me. Um, it's something
that I hold near and dear to my heart. I
take very serious. Um, you know, no one's perfect, but
I think that's the beauty of your faith. It's just
having someone to lean on, to carry you and just

(01:07:38):
be there for you, especially and in tough times, you know.
And so we've all got to spend eternity somewhere, and
so I'd like to spend mine in Paradise, yes, sir.
Last question for you, I'd like to give you a
second to speak on your foundation, what that is and
what I guess inspired you to start that. So the

(01:07:59):
Rebound Foundation was started by my wife Christina and I
and both being from families who are domestic violence as
a nasty history, and after the birth of our daughter,
Charlie Rose, eight years ago, we felt like we needed
to be able to reach out and help our community
that she was growing up in in some way, and
so we started Rebound Foundation and we provide transitional housing

(01:08:20):
for women and children that leave a shelter and we
do that for six months to a year and pay
their bills and by their groceries. We give them everything
they need to rebuild their lives. And the job place
me financial literacy, and we just try to give people
a second chance. You know, it's no different in basketball.
You miss your first shot, get the rebounding shot. That's amazing.

(01:08:44):
Thank you so much for your time today, coach wishing
you and your team best of luck the rest of
the way. Thank you all right, thanks to coach Forward
for that. That's awesome. Actually haven't heard it yet. I
recorded the end and out of that interview and I
listen to it later, but I'm sure it was awesome.
It was all right. Let's do final thoughts, Mike. You
want to final thoughts? Yeah, I gotta go over to
the NHL team, the Preds and do a shoot. Was

(01:09:05):
supposed to happen in forty minutes, but instead it's in ten.
Where are you gonna play for him? What are you doing? Well?
I don't want to really spoil I get drafted at
age forty two. Around the room, Eddie final thought. So
I was given homework to watch the slam Dunk contest
and I did. Dude was mcl awesome. Mac mcclough was awesome.
But I don't know how inc Max Gray. I don't

(01:09:27):
know how he plays, Like, how's he doing the NBA?
Is he good? Because he looks like he could be
good and Coleman can speak on this after I mess
it up. He is a nightmare if to have out
there defensively, it's it's tough. It's tough for him to
guard these guys right now, and so it's a little struggle.
Bus Well. I mean, look at him, he's a small guy.

(01:09:47):
He can jump. I just think defensively right now, he
ain't there and I think that's that's what's tough. What
do you think about that answer? No, I agree completely, Yeah,
small guard to play the two, he's not really a one,
you know. Okay, Well, I mean should that he dominated
that dunk contest, but I don't understand too how they
judge it. Like to me, I'm like this, these were

(01:10:08):
all awesome, like every single one except Jericho Sims like
doing the whole thing hanging on his even moved. Did
you see the like none of the other players has
been reacted when he did it, they were like, okay,
it's and it's and then afterwards he grabbed his elbow
like ow that hurts, Like that of course it hurts. Yeah,
it was awesome. Thanks for the homework, dude. I enjoyed
watching that. Kevin beginning of the football season. You know,

(01:10:30):
we came up with the great name. Of course Coleman
wasn't here, but kick off Kevin. So I was thinking
the other day, I was like, well, do I need
to change it from basketball? You can't know, you can't
change it. You are who you are. But tip off
Kevin sounds pretty day. There's no alliteration, and we're really
doing this basketball for six weeks and football is like
a four month thing. I like, then you should be

(01:10:52):
tip off Tevin. It's like a chop part of our
tongue off. Now, tip off Tevin, It's how I feeling
up my tongue. Okay, my final thoughts, I think Russell
Westbrook in his prime talking about my former favorite player.
Um was a poor man's Lebron James and you could

(01:11:13):
have won an NBA championship around him. He never had
a team set around his skill set, had terrible shooters
and was still leading the league and assists with guys
like Andre Robertson standing there in the corner. But what
about when like we'll go to the Okay, see days
when Pardon was coming off as a six man Durant obviously,
like that was a pretty good team but you're saying
because it wasn't built around him. Look at what Lebron's

(01:11:34):
always had. He's always had a great big that he
can use in the pick and pop or pick and
roll a bosh Anthony Davis to Kevin Love. Russell Westbrook
has never had that guy. He made Steven Adams look
like he had offensive ability that it just feels like blasphemy.
Comparing him to Lebron poor Man's poor Man's with Porson
like third World country. Ye like nothing, we want to

(01:11:56):
give your kitch all this praise, but triple double and
Russell Westbrook. The movie was trying to knock me, but
Westbrook's like he's a stat pack whatever, it's his own. Emily,
have a final thought for the day, Glad I can
make my podcast debut on a sports podcast where my
favorite athlete is Jim Nay Yeah, and Blake because he's big.

(01:12:20):
It's a big dude. Yeah. I'm sure he played at
some high school level of college level. Bi wow, yeah, Um,
Emily had what kind of podcast would you do though?
If someone said, Emily, you get to a podcast, but
anything in the world that you're an expert on? Um?
I listened to the morning toes. So it's my wife. Yeah.
I have talked to Caitlin about it before. Um yeah,

(01:12:40):
just like pop culture news probably what's really filling your
cup right now pop culture wise or something that's like, oh,
this is what I'm thinking about right now. Come on
you guys. I got to come back to you think
about it. It's like, here's my final thought. Um. So
Rich eyes And called me yesterday and I was with Eddie.
We're working out, and I had my Apple Watch on
just because I like to see where we are time wise.

(01:13:01):
I'm just a big time freak and so pop pops up.
But I don't have his number on my phone. But
sometimes their name will be attached to their number and
it's like, la rich Eisen, And I'm like, Eddie, rich
Eisen's calling me right now. He's in the middle of
a push up. Yeah, And so I'm not gonna answer. Hey, Rich,
I call him, dude, pick up the phone. He's like,
I can't. I'm not gonna talk from my watch. And
second of all, Rich, hey, buddy, So I don't. I

(01:13:22):
don't answer it there, and then I feel like I
got to be in the right head space to talk
to rich Eisen. And like he's been on the show,
but that was professional, like I could talk to anybody
in this space, but like human, I struggle a little bit,
like one on one. And so I didn't call him
back at all last night. What you didn't, Well, like
I was pretty busy, but still I couldn't. I just
wasn't in the right head space. I was tired. I

(01:13:43):
don't want to like remember first talk to the rich
and I'll be good. It's like first day. And so
I texted him and said, hey, man, I'll be around.
So I'm gonna talk to him today like what later
this afternoon at like five, And I'm know he's gonna say.
I hope it's cool, but I'm a little nervous about it.
I have at my calendar. Dude, what if he's like, hey,
here's what you're gonna do. Don't do this, do that,
do that? When you'd be like, oh, oh yes, mister, yes,

(01:14:08):
I did see him comment on your Instagram that was cool.
Which one when when I was stead of stilling in yeah, yeah,
I said I'll leave the keys under the matter or something. Yeah, hope, awesome.
I hope he's like that in person. I don't know,
but I was nervous. It was like watching it like
I was in eighth grade and the girl called except
no girl ever called me an eighth grade, So I
know what that was really like, Emily, what do you
have now? What do you what do you think about
that time? I feel like I've been keeping up with

(01:14:28):
like Rihanna's baby announcement and then em Rada. Do you
guys keep up with em Rada and her new boyfriend Eric?
Do you know who these people are? Hold on him?
Eric Andre? Though I thought he was with Emily Radakowski Emrada. Yeah,
oh that's what they call her, em Rada. Yeah, okay,
that's a picture of them. She said that like we'd

(01:14:48):
all know. But then I acted like I knew because
I was. But so I also have been falling. He's
the Valenti picture they posted. They were like naked, Yeah,
like he gives hope. Together, we were just like funny
and normal because it's it's not like he's ripped up
or anything. Right, Yeah, so Europe set you like that relationship? Yeah,
it's just like something current I've been following. I don't
know if they're going to be together in a week
from now, but was crazy you ship them a ship. Okay,

(01:15:13):
what are you talking about this podcast? Look, here's the thing.
I'll go and cover fashion for Eat and then I'll
go to rich Eysen. That's how diverted. I am versatile.
That's right, that was right. We thank you Emilly for
hopping in here. And I was just like, Emily, you
can come sit with us. And I was like, we'll
just going sitt in a microphone. She's like this one
is like just go and talk, all right. I was like,
check your mind. She's like why. I was like, who
knows that? Turning her podcast into the Breakfast Toast, the

(01:15:37):
Morning Toet whatever. Don't talk about my girls. Okay, I'm big.
Jackie stands okay, alright, alright, so it's COVID. Yeah, yeah,
Jackie is awesome. They're both awesome, but I'm more of
a Jackie, you know. She she she plays a straight person.
She's smart, she sets her sister up for success and
obviously hilarious. But Jackie like that's my girl. Yeah, she's good.
I'm leaving with Eddie maybe here we're about to go

(01:16:00):
back and listen to it. Mike. We're good, We're good.
All right, Thank you guys, we will see you Monday.
Coleman will be in studio and Emily, you're welcome to
join us again if you'd like. I'll be gone, but
thanks for having me. I'm glad. Its like she was
about to be the yes this podcast. Yeah, yeah know,
she's olay favorite. Coleman's out. It's just her, all right,

(01:16:20):
Thank you guys, and go ahead, uh, go ahead, and
Kevin blow us out. I'm not gonna lie. I don't
know more money, guys. I'm the dependable one. I got you,
all right. We'll see you guys next week

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Hosts And Creators

Bobby Bones

Amy Brown

Lunchbox

Eddie Garcia

Morgan Huelsman

Raymundo

Mike D

Abby Anderson

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