Latest / Stugotz and Company / Big Stu-ey: Country is Behind the Knicks (w/Dave Pasch)

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Big Stu-ey: Country is Behind the Knicks (w/Dave Pasch) · Stugotz and Company

0:21
Speaker 1: He is fresh off his call of the twenty to
0:23
Speaker 1: twenty six NBA Eastern Conference Finals on ESPN Radio.
0:27
Speaker 2: He's one of the best in the business.
0:29
Speaker 1: Dave past joins us right now and also you can
0:32
Speaker 1: check them out. The NBA Finals will tip off on
0:34
Speaker 1: ABC at eight thirty pm Eastern on Wednesday, June third.
0:38
Speaker 1: Dave pash or the Knicks winning it all.
0:41
Speaker 3: First of all, thanks for the kind words. Look, man,
0:45
Speaker 3: there's a chance. I was surprised that a lot of
0:49
Speaker 3: people still felt the winner of Casey and San Antonio
0:53
Speaker 3: was guaranteed to win the finals. You don't win eleven
0:56
Speaker 3: in a row the way the Knicks are winning, it
0:58
Speaker 3: not be capable of winning at all. It wouldn't surprise
1:01
Speaker 3: me if they want it. And I think the longer
1:02
Speaker 3: this goes, if it goes to seven, the better chance
1:06
Speaker 3: the Knicks have because the Spurs and Thunder just beating
1:08
Speaker 3: the snot out of each other right.
1:10
Speaker 1: Now, Dave, I've always wanted to ask you this. I've
1:12
Speaker 1: talked to Sean mcdona and others about it. Is there
1:14
Speaker 1: a sport that you prefer calling?
1:16
Speaker 2: Like?
1:16
Speaker 1: Is there a sport that you enjoy the most? Because
1:18
Speaker 1: you've called so many big games and so many different sports.
1:21
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you prefer one over the other.
1:24
Speaker 3: It's a great question. I get it, asked it a lot.
1:27
Speaker 3: I don't know. I love that I don't have to choose,
1:29
Speaker 3: at least not yet. I like the fact that I
1:32
Speaker 3: can do the NFL, I can do college football, NBA
1:36
Speaker 3: college troops still here and there. I enjoy it all.
1:39
Speaker 3: I mean, there's something special about each of them, and
1:43
Speaker 3: so it's really hard to just say I enjoy this
1:45
Speaker 3: particular sport college or pro over the other.
1:48
Speaker 4: Dave, I've gotten priced out of going to Knicks games
1:52
Speaker 4: right now at Madison Square Garden, And since you were
1:54
Speaker 4: on the call, can you just put me in the
1:56
Speaker 4: building and kind of set the scene for me what
1:58
Speaker 4: the atmosphere was like.
2:00
Speaker 3: It was nuts. What really shocked me was how wild
2:03
Speaker 3: it was in Cleveland, how many Knick fans there were there.
2:07
Speaker 3: We were surrounded where our booth position was by Nick
2:10
Speaker 3: fans everywhere but the garden was and I've done a
2:13
Speaker 3: lot of games there. I did Big East Tournament games
2:17
Speaker 3: the year Kemba, Walker and Yukon made that incredible run
2:20
Speaker 3: to win the Big East Tournament, and the day games
2:23
Speaker 3: were packed with college basketball fans, Big East fans, Yukon fans,
2:29
Speaker 3: and it was loud the entire time. But I've never
2:32
Speaker 3: heard as loud as I heard it during the Eastern
2:34
Speaker 3: Conference Finals. It was insane. It was a little quiet
2:37
Speaker 3: for a while in Game one for obvious reasons.
2:39
Speaker 2: I got down, But.
2:40
Speaker 3: When they started to storm back and the Knick fans
2:43
Speaker 3: started getting into it, it was like every basket felt
2:47
Speaker 3: like a game winning shot just because of how loud
2:50
Speaker 3: the crowd was, it was awesome.
2:52
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I've been uncomfortable and it's
2:54
Speaker 1: a weird thing that's happening here where the country seems
2:57
Speaker 1: to be getting behind the New York Knicks like they're
2:59
Speaker 1: a lovable underdog that everyone wants to see win an
3:02
Speaker 1: NBA title, And I am not familiar with that. Usually
3:04
Speaker 1: fans don't want us to have anything good in New York.
3:07
Speaker 2: I know.
3:07
Speaker 3: Isn't it funny how now the thunder have kind of
3:09
Speaker 3: become the villains and Nick? I think it's because I
3:15
Speaker 3: think the reason people are getting on the Knicks bandwagon
3:20
Speaker 3: is Jalen Brunson. He is a likable superstar who did
3:26
Speaker 3: not have everything served to him. On a silver platter.
3:30
Speaker 3: Even though his dead was an NBA player, he wasn't
3:32
Speaker 3: a high draft pick. He didn't even start early in
3:35
Speaker 3: his career. He was on a team that didn't think
3:37
Speaker 3: he was good enough to help them win a championship.
3:39
Speaker 3: He had to go elsewhere. He's a guy that's tough, nasty,
3:44
Speaker 3: plays through injury, and makes incredible shots and is a
3:48
Speaker 3: great guy. He's the complete package. He's everything that you
3:52
Speaker 3: want as a fan to root for. I'm not saying
3:55
Speaker 3: the Thunder don't have players like that. They do, but
3:57
Speaker 3: for whatever reason, this I think because a lot of
4:00
Speaker 3: fans are tired of the calls that shake Gill just
4:02
Speaker 3: Hale like Xander Getz. Now the Thunder of the villains
4:05
Speaker 3: and the knicks of the team that everybody wants to
4:08
Speaker 3: root for. Which you're right, So you got that. I
4:11
Speaker 3: never saw that come right.
4:13
Speaker 1: There's no way to see that coming. It would be impossible, Dave,
4:16
Speaker 1: I am wondering. I became friendly and I know he
4:19
Speaker 1: was a dear friend of yours with Bill Walton, through
4:23
Speaker 1: going to Grateful Dead shows, Dead and Company talking about
4:26
Speaker 1: the Grateful Dead. He came on my show once for
4:28
Speaker 1: a half hour. I asked him one question. That was it, Dave,
4:30
Speaker 1: just one question. He filled the remaining twenty nine minutes.
4:34
Speaker 1: Because he's Bill Walton. He's a legend, he's great, and man,
4:37
Speaker 1: did he love you. Used to tell me stories about
4:39
Speaker 1: you all the time. And so I am wondering here
4:42
Speaker 1: what you learn most by sitting next to Bill Walton
4:45
Speaker 1: and how we helped your broadcasting career just because Bill
4:49
Speaker 1: Walton was doing it his way, he was doing it
4:51
Speaker 1: differently than everyone else, and you, Dave, had to be
4:53
Speaker 1: on your toes.
4:54
Speaker 2: And you were great at it.
4:57
Speaker 3: Surprised he actually told you stories about me. That means
5:00
Speaker 3: he actually knew my name all these years he was lying.
5:04
Speaker 3: You know, today's actually the two year anniversary of his passing. Yeah,
5:08
Speaker 3: and it's still I was actually texting with Lori Walton
5:13
Speaker 3: the other day. She, you know, had a lot of
5:15
Speaker 3: pictures of my time with Bill, and she texted me
5:19
Speaker 3: a picture of me with my cat because Bill loved
5:22
Speaker 3: the cat and used to. Somehow his dog versus my
5:25
Speaker 3: cat became like a subplot in our rivalry. But you know, yes,
5:35
Speaker 3: he made me everything you said, he made me better.
5:38
Speaker 3: He challenged me. I remember the first time I worked
5:41
Speaker 3: with him was on the NBA. It was my first
5:43
Speaker 3: year in two thousand and six, and there was a
5:45
Speaker 3: game where a player took his head band off and
5:47
Speaker 3: kind of threw it towards the scores table, and I
5:49
Speaker 3: was just happy to be sitting next to Bill Walton.
5:51
Speaker 3: I was just happy to be in the NBA. And
5:53
Speaker 3: Bill's going off. It's a technical foul. He wasn't as
5:56
Speaker 3: wild then as he got when we did the Pac
5:58
Speaker 3: twelve games, but it was still something you don't normally
6:01
Speaker 3: hear from an NBA analyst, where he's just going off
6:04
Speaker 3: and off and how you don't want a disgrace. It's
6:06
Speaker 3: a technical foul. And I didn't say anything. I just
6:09
Speaker 3: kind of let him go. And Mike Turko, who is
6:11
Speaker 3: his normal partner that year, called me the next day
6:14
Speaker 3: and said, you have to stop him. Your job, that's
6:18
Speaker 3: your job, right And it was great advice because when
6:21
Speaker 3: they put us together in twenty twelve, when we got
6:24
Speaker 3: the Pack twelve at ESPN, I kind of filed that away,
6:27
Speaker 3: like you got to stop him. You can't just let
6:29
Speaker 3: him do what he wants. And the first game we
6:31
Speaker 3: did together was an Arizona Oregon game, and I did
6:34
Speaker 3: stop him, and sometimes I'd stop him with a little
6:37
Speaker 3: dig or a retort. And he loved it. He loved
6:40
Speaker 3: every second of it. He like he take his head
6:42
Speaker 3: set off. He goes, keep coming at me, don't stop.
6:44
Speaker 3: Nothing you can say will ever offend me. And my
6:48
Speaker 3: phone was blowing up during the game. After the game,
6:51
Speaker 3: you know, some people hated it, like what is this?
6:53
Speaker 3: This is awful? Let me watch the game. Some people
6:55
Speaker 3: are like, this is funny. I'm enjoying this. And it
6:58
Speaker 3: just kind of went from there and I miss him dearly.
7:01
Speaker 3: We had a great relationship. We're so different, our world
7:04
Speaker 3: views are so different, but we had a respect and
7:06
Speaker 3: love for each other. And I consider for hours and
7:10
Speaker 3: talk about Bill as a person, and obviously tell a
7:12
Speaker 3: lot of Bill stories that would have you, guys rolling.
7:15
Speaker 1: Did you guys ever, well, did he ever invite you
7:18
Speaker 1: to a Dead in Company show?
7:19
Speaker 2: Have you had the pleasure of doing that with Bill?
7:21
Speaker 3: So I did not. He invited me into the TP.
7:24
Speaker 3: I've been to his house a few times and I
7:26
Speaker 3: ventured into the TP. Nothing happened, the record, just the
7:32
Speaker 3: TP with the bed. Yes, but he tried to get
7:39
Speaker 3: my son at the time, who's now twenty. I think
7:41
Speaker 3: he was like eleven, and he was trying to get
7:43
Speaker 3: my son to come on the road with him to
7:45
Speaker 3: go watch dead shows. I'm like Bill, he's eleven. First
7:49
Speaker 3: of all, I'm not letting my sonnywhere near you, even
7:52
Speaker 3: when he's an adult, certainly not at age eleven. No,
7:56
Speaker 3: we didn't get a chance, but I still have. I
7:58
Speaker 3: have all these memorabilia that either Bill gave me or
8:02
Speaker 3: others gave me. One time, we started talking about Fleetwood,
8:07
Speaker 3: Mac and Mick Fleetwood, and all of a sudden, you know,
8:09
Speaker 3: Bill's phone was always next to him. You could see
8:11
Speaker 3: who was texting him, and you would be amazed the
8:13
Speaker 3: people that would text him during games. And Mick Fleetwood
8:16
Speaker 3: starts texting him. So the next thing, you know, about
8:19
Speaker 3: a week letter a week later, I get the album
8:21
Speaker 3: Tusk and it's signed by Mick Fleetwood. It says, hang
8:24
Speaker 3: in there, Dave, don't stop keep going at Bill. So
8:29
Speaker 3: that was my only musical connection I guess was that
8:32
Speaker 3: Mick Fleetwood was on my side, right.
8:35
Speaker 1: Yes, I mean he had great connections. When did you realize, Man,
8:39
Speaker 1: I can't really stop Bill. I just got to work
8:41
Speaker 1: within the confines of what Bill is doing because to
8:44
Speaker 1: Rico's advice was good advice, but I mean it's Bill yeah, yeah, correct.
8:48
Speaker 3: And look, Mike is the best I think when it
8:50
Speaker 3: comes to how he works with an analyst. He gets,
8:53
Speaker 3: he understands each analyst is different. And he's been a
8:56
Speaker 3: mentor of mine for a long time. Sean McDonough, Iron
8:59
Speaker 3: Eagle or two other guys that are so good with
9:02
Speaker 3: their analysts and how they get the most out of
9:04
Speaker 3: them depending on who the analyst is, their strengths. And
9:08
Speaker 3: obviously he didn't mean stop him like every second, but
9:12
Speaker 3: you got to kind of pick your spots when to interrupt,
9:15
Speaker 3: when to let it go, when to respond. And it
9:18
Speaker 3: took some time. But look, I think if I, you know,
9:22
Speaker 3: didn't do that, it probably wouldn't have worked. I think
9:24
Speaker 3: if I, you know, would have just ignored him every
9:27
Speaker 3: time or stopped him every time and redirected, I think
9:30
Speaker 3: that's why he had fun. I remember Lionel Hollins, who
9:32
Speaker 3: they won a championship together with the Blazer's former NBA coach,
9:35
Speaker 3: came up to me and he's just laughing. He couldn't
9:37
Speaker 3: get a word out. He's just laughing, and he's like,
9:39
Speaker 3: you make Bilt feel like he's in the locker room
9:41
Speaker 3: again because he's having fun. He likes the camaraderie and
9:46
Speaker 3: the friendship, but he likes even more the combative back
9:50
Speaker 3: and forth. We had Kareem on one time and our
9:53
Speaker 3: producer said to Kareem, you know Bill is boxing Dave out.
9:58
Speaker 3: He's actually like clearing space and elbowing. Feel free to
10:03
Speaker 3: defend Dave and hit him back. And you should have
10:05
Speaker 3: seen Kareem's eyes light up, like really, So, Kareem's in
10:10
Speaker 3: the middle of us, and you know, Bill's doing his
10:12
Speaker 3: thing and kind of ripping me, and Kareem puts his
10:15
Speaker 3: elbow up and boom, catches Bill right in the face
10:19
Speaker 3: and knocks Bill back. And Bill loved it. I mean,
10:22
Speaker 3: it was like, how many times have you heard of
10:25
Speaker 3: that guy gets hit in the face and he's happy.
10:28
Speaker 2: It just just.
10:29
Speaker 3: Accentuated the whole thing of all them in the locker room.
10:33
Speaker 3: This is fun, it's great, you know it just and
10:36
Speaker 3: but yeah, Kareem got him pretty good. And believe me,
10:38
Speaker 3: Kareem enjoyed every second.
10:40
Speaker 2: I'm sure he did.
10:40
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Taylor, Dave, before you got to ESPN, what's
10:44
Speaker 4: the event that you called that you felt the furthest
10:46
Speaker 4: away from ESPN.
10:50
Speaker 3: Wow, meaning like I have no shot ever getting Yeah,
10:53
Speaker 3: you're just.
10:54
Speaker 4: You're just in some like small town maybe where you
10:56
Speaker 4: start questioning everything you're that got you to that.
10:59
Speaker 2: It's like this day end up comic because doing like
11:01
Speaker 2: a local comedy bar. Yes, yes, I I a question
11:04
Speaker 2: I've never.
11:04
Speaker 3: Been asked him. Before I graduated Syracuse and my first
11:10
Speaker 3: job was in Morgantown, West Virginia. I was there for
11:12
Speaker 3: about ten months, and I did high school football and
11:15
Speaker 3: high school basketball there and it was like twenty bucks
11:18
Speaker 3: a game, and so I think, you know then, I
11:22
Speaker 3: never even thought about ESPN. I'm just like, Okay, how
11:24
Speaker 3: am I going to survive? At this point, I guess
11:27
Speaker 3: that was it. I did minor league hockey for the
11:29
Speaker 3: Detroit Vipers of the IHL. I was not a good
11:32
Speaker 3: hockey play by play announcer. I didn't really know the
11:34
Speaker 3: sport very well. That was probably another step where I
11:38
Speaker 3: was like, Okay, I'm just hoping to one day get
11:40
Speaker 3: to do NHL games. But I would say probably that
11:46
Speaker 3: first job when you're in a small town. Actually, I
11:49
Speaker 3: have a ton of friends still that I even though
11:51
Speaker 3: it was only there ten months that I still keep
11:55
Speaker 3: in touch with. They really Tony KAREDI, who's been the
11:59
Speaker 3: voice in the Mountaineers for a long time and a
12:00
Speaker 3: huge impact on me, And you're just hoping one day
12:03
Speaker 3: I could be part of the pregame show when you're
12:05
Speaker 3: doing you know, high school football for twenty bucks a game.
12:08
Speaker 3: But yeah, I definitely look back at the dues paying
12:12
Speaker 3: stages and think, you know, what was I thinking at
12:15
Speaker 3: that point. I certainly wasn't thinking about ESPN. I think
12:18
Speaker 3: I was just thinking about surviving in the business.
12:20
Speaker 2: Yeah, but those are the best days, right Dave.
12:22
Speaker 1: I mean they really when you think back on it
12:23
Speaker 1: now that you've had the success and you arrived at
12:25
Speaker 1: ESPN and you look back at those days with fondness,
12:28
Speaker 1: I would imagine.
12:28
Speaker 3: Right absolutely, Again, That's why I still have friends that
12:32
Speaker 3: I taught to. We went to Detroit from there, I
12:35
Speaker 3: was only in Detroit for two years. I still have
12:37
Speaker 3: friends back there that I taught to because there were
12:39
Speaker 3: so many people that impacted me as mentors and challenged me.
12:44
Speaker 3: You know, one thing Tony told me I got there.
12:46
Speaker 3: You know, you leave Syracuse. A lot of us leave Syracuse,
12:49
Speaker 3: a place that produced so many great announcers, and you think, oh, man,
12:53
Speaker 3: I'm on my way.
12:54
Speaker 2: Man.
12:54
Speaker 3: You know, at the time, ESPN this is in you know,
12:56
Speaker 3: the the mid nineties. ESPN was still big, but it
12:59
Speaker 3: was of what it is now. You know, CBS and
13:03
Speaker 3: NBC we're just as big, if not bigger at that time.
13:08
Speaker 3: And so you think, oh, it's you know, a couple
13:09
Speaker 3: of years, I'll be I'll be at CBS, I'll be
13:12
Speaker 3: the main guy. And you realize you kind of suck, like,
13:16
Speaker 3: you know, you listen to yourself, You're like, man, I'm
13:19
Speaker 3: not very good. Thankfully, Tony told me, He's like, man,
13:22
Speaker 3: you're not good. You got a ways to go, Like
13:23
Speaker 3: we got to fix your voice, you got to work
13:25
Speaker 3: on how to write. It was great. I'm glad I
13:27
Speaker 3: hadn't because I think I was so arrogant thinking, oh,
13:30
Speaker 3: you know, I went to Syracuse. It's a you know,
13:33
Speaker 3: free free lunch all the way to the top. And
13:36
Speaker 3: you realize quickly, I mean, there are a lot of
13:37
Speaker 3: good people in this business. I mean there's times I
13:40
Speaker 3: still listen to myself. I'm like, man, that sucked. What
13:43
Speaker 3: was I saying? So you know, it's good though, it
13:46
Speaker 3: keeps you hopefully keeps you humble.
13:48
Speaker 5: Yeah, Dave, you're one of these for play by play guys,
14:01
Speaker 5: and we've had a few on recently, Sean McDonough, Mike Breen.
14:04
Speaker 5: And one of my favorite things to ask you guys is,
14:06
Speaker 5: as you're doing these series, how much are you rooting
14:10
Speaker 5: for storylines versus location versus man, I don't want to
14:15
Speaker 5: go to Oklahoma. I don't want to go to San Antonio.
14:18
Speaker 3: Can't the Lakers win this?
14:19
Speaker 2: Well, he's got no choice now, so.
14:23
Speaker 3: And you're getting you're asking some questions. It could give
14:25
Speaker 3: me in trouble here.
14:26
Speaker 1: But okay, I mean, listen, you're vine, Dave. I mean
14:30
Speaker 1: this is like being on I know.
14:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, now you you root for look, you root for
14:35
Speaker 3: close games, you root for great storylines. That that's the
14:38
Speaker 3: bottom line. Everybody wants a close game. I was so
14:41
Speaker 3: happy for Mike. Uh, I know, he's such a pro
14:44
Speaker 3: Breen And you know, I was doing the raid of
14:46
Speaker 3: he's doing the TV. So I'm not you know, I'm
14:48
Speaker 3: not listening to him obviously, but just knowing him, he's
14:50
Speaker 3: such a pro. I'm sure he handled it great. But
14:53
Speaker 3: that game one, uh, you know, like I saw Mike
14:56
Speaker 3: after the game, we were talking for a while. Of course,
14:58
Speaker 3: a part of him is is happy. He he's been
15:00
Speaker 3: calling the Knicks forever, right. He's so professional and unbiased
15:04
Speaker 3: on the air. He handles it great. But I'm rooting
15:09
Speaker 3: for close games and great storylines because I think that's
15:12
Speaker 3: what the viewer wants. They want a close game, they
15:15
Speaker 3: want great storylines, they want to be entertained. Nobody wants
15:17
Speaker 3: to watch blowouts. The city doesn't matter. It doesn't matter
15:21
Speaker 3: where you go, because even that the smaller markets in
15:25
Speaker 3: the NBA, there are great aspects of the city and
15:29
Speaker 3: the fans are great, probably the best other than New York.
15:32
Speaker 3: Probably the best fans are the thunder Spurs, Blazers, the
15:36
Speaker 3: smaller market fan bases that live and die with every game.
15:42
Speaker 1: We'll get you out here in just a second. My
15:44
Speaker 1: daughter just graduated from Syracuse. I did a show, my
15:48
Speaker 1: show from the New House School there, and so we've
15:50
Speaker 1: asked a bunch of people. McDonough came on and he said, hey, congratulations,
15:53
Speaker 1: it cost you four hundred thousand dollars, but you finally
15:55
Speaker 1: got into the school, which was really funny. The mount
15:59
Speaker 1: Rushmore of Syracuse broadcasters, according to Dave Pash I'm not
16:03
Speaker 1: going to get you try. I mean, well, maybe I
16:05
Speaker 1: am getting you in trouble here, but.
16:08
Speaker 3: Man, that's so hard. There's so many guys.
16:11
Speaker 2: Yeah.
16:11
Speaker 3: Look, I grew up. I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin,
16:15
Speaker 3: so I was not that familiar with Marty Glickman until
16:17
Speaker 3: I got to Syracuse so good, and so I think
16:21
Speaker 3: any mount Rushmore has to start with him and then
16:27
Speaker 3: other guys I grew up watching. You know, it's funny
16:30
Speaker 3: because I grew up watching Bob Costas and Marv Albert
16:32
Speaker 3: and wanting to be them, and Dick Stockton, all three
16:34
Speaker 3: Syracuse guys. But I also grew up watching Sean. I mean,
16:37
Speaker 3: Sean was doing you know, the World Series when I'm
16:41
Speaker 3: in college. Mike Turka's at ESPN when I'm in college.
16:44
Speaker 3: Iron Eagle was at CBS very early on when I'm
16:48
Speaker 3: in college. These are guys that I looked up to
16:51
Speaker 3: and wanted to emulate my style after and wanted to be.
16:56
Speaker 3: So if a Mount Rushmore conclude, eight or nine guys
17:00
Speaker 3: can probably give you them, and those are all beyond it.
17:02
Speaker 3: Buring it down of course. Pretty tough.
17:04
Speaker 2: Yeap, that is tough, and I am sorry to put
17:07
Speaker 2: you in a bad spot.
17:09
Speaker 3: That's fine.
17:10
Speaker 2: What do you remember?
17:11
Speaker 1: Mike Golic Senior is guest co hosting the radio show
17:15
Speaker 1: today with me and I love him. And I know
17:18
Speaker 1: you've worked with Mike Golic. What do you remember about
17:20
Speaker 1: working with Mike Golick Senior anything?
17:23
Speaker 3: So it's so funny, Mike. So that was the COVID year.
17:28
Speaker 3: And you know, prior to twenty twenty, would anyone ever
17:31
Speaker 3: have thought, oh, yeah, we'll be calling games from our houses.
17:35
Speaker 3: You never would even thought that was possible. So here
17:37
Speaker 3: we are in twenty twenty. Mike is calling the game
17:41
Speaker 3: from the studio in Bristol. I'm calling the game from
17:44
Speaker 3: my house, right, And we had like Michigan Penn State
17:48
Speaker 3: on ABC that year. We had a couple of Notre
17:50
Speaker 3: Dame games on ABC. I remember one time my internet
17:53
Speaker 3: went out. He had to call the game for a while.
17:57
Speaker 3: So again he's and I think I'm a little bit
18:00
Speaker 3: of a delay. He's not. So it was very awkward.
18:03
Speaker 3: The first game actually in person was the Festa Bowl,
18:06
Speaker 3: I think it was Iowa State or again that year
18:10
Speaker 3: with Brock Party and Mike looks at me, he goes,
18:13
Speaker 3: so this is what you look like joking we'd met before,
18:16
Speaker 3: but as the first time all the year we saw
18:17
Speaker 3: each other in person. Yes, it was such a weird year,
18:20
Speaker 3: but it was great. It was a lot of fun.
18:21
Speaker 3: And obviously Mike's such a great guy.
18:23
Speaker 1: Since it is the two year anniversary of Bill leaving us,
18:26
Speaker 1: of him passing away, the most on the way out here,
18:29
Speaker 1: Dave the most valuable lesson you learned about life from
18:33
Speaker 1: Bill Walton?
18:36
Speaker 3: Oh Man, you know again, I go back to we
18:42
Speaker 3: had very different worldviews, very different people, but loved each other,
18:47
Speaker 3: had a great respect for each other. I think the
18:50
Speaker 3: way Bill treated people regardless I never saw. I mean,
18:58
Speaker 3: I've been around a lot of great players who get
19:02
Speaker 3: people coming up to them all the time asking for
19:04
Speaker 3: pictures and autographs. But Bill, after the game, he'd always
19:08
Speaker 3: saved when people come up. He's after the game, after
19:10
Speaker 3: the game, after the game, and he would he'd sit
19:12
Speaker 3: there for like an hour sometimes after the game. But
19:15
Speaker 3: you would see people of all shape, sizes, backgrounds coming
19:19
Speaker 3: up to Bill. People that were Bill's age that remember
19:22
Speaker 3: him as a player, people that were younger than him
19:25
Speaker 3: that primarily remember him, you know, maybe on NBC as
19:29
Speaker 3: a broadcaster and as a Celtic, which is kind of
19:31
Speaker 3: what I remembered. I was too young when he was
19:33
Speaker 3: with the Blazers. I kind of remember Boston and then
19:36
Speaker 3: him at NBC, and then you got college kids and
19:39
Speaker 3: you got younger kids. But Bill always had time for everybody, always,
19:46
Speaker 3: and he treated everybody with respect and dignity, everybody the same.
19:51
Speaker 3: And that's a great lesson for all of us. And
19:54
Speaker 3: he had a great joy. I'm not saying his life
19:56
Speaker 3: was perfect. Clearly Bill went through a lot with his health,
19:59
Speaker 3: physical health, but I just I'll never forget how he
20:05
Speaker 3: treated people, and I just have so much love and
20:08
Speaker 3: respect for him because.
20:09
Speaker 2: Of that, well said sir.
20:12
Speaker 1: The NBA Finals will tip off on ABC at a
20:14
Speaker 1: thirty pm Eastern on Wednesday, June third day. Pash will
20:18
Speaker 1: be all over the next winning an NBA title. You
20:20
Speaker 1: are great, my friend. We appreciate you doing this, sir,
20:23
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
20:24
Speaker 3: You got it. Guys, appreciate you hatting me on, all right,