Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Scott Kaplan | ESPN 710 LA Host | 07-01-26

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Scott Kaplan | ESPN 710 LA Host | 07-01-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

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  Speaker 1: Scott Kaplan, who had experience at a station down there
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  Speaker 1: five or sixty WQAM with Hank Oldberg, started this radio
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  Speaker 1: division at this internet company, and he liked me and
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  Speaker 1: he gave me an opportunity on his show, which at
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  Speaker 1: the time, again was strictly an internet radio show. But
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  Speaker 1: we were good, real good, two young kids, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: he knew more about the radio business than I did.
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  Speaker 1: I had no idea, but we were good enough to
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  Speaker 1: eventually be syndicated on terrestrial radio and traded to one
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  Speaker 1: or two point seven WNWFM, And like most radio partners,
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  Speaker 1: we had a tough time thiss ochayad with Craig Carton
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  Speaker 1: and others. But for a long time we've been very,
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  Speaker 1: very close and I love him. I legitimately love him.
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  Speaker 1: He's a great radio talent. He taught me a lot
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  Speaker 1: about this business almost thirty years ago. He's an even
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  Speaker 1: better guy. He's on AM Sports radio in Los Angeles.
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  Speaker 1: He dust up in San Diego as well, and he's
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  Speaker 1: my main man. Scott Kaplan cap good morning, buddy, How
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  Speaker 1: are you?
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  Speaker 2: Hello, Kidney?
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  Speaker 1: Hello Scottie, and what do I want to know? Are
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  Speaker 1: you in San Diego right now? With driving towards Los Angeles.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm in LA this morning, and I was listening
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  Speaker 2: to yesterday morning when I was driving up and I
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  Speaker 2: heard that Rejoin that you just played with Mark Turnoff.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been following your adventures over the last week
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  Speaker 2: and change. I'm very jealous that you keep going back
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  Speaker 2: to Israel. I'm fifty six years old and I've still
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  Speaker 2: never been to Israel. And my Shi's a girlfriend, doesn't
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  Speaker 2: want to go to Israel, and I'm trying to get
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  Speaker 2: her to go. She does.
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  Speaker 1: She not want to go because she doesn't like Israel
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  Speaker 1: and Bibie or she just doesn't like it's too long
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  Speaker 1: of a twit. Maybe I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: No, it's more that she has like typical American fear
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  Speaker 2: of going to is and saying, well, you can't go
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  Speaker 2: there now. I mean, look what's going on over there?
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  Speaker 2: And I am all the opinion like now would be
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  Speaker 2: the best time to.
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  Speaker 1: Go, which is right? That's right?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so.
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  Speaker 1: And ultimately, bybe a six A corporate, it's a heck
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  Speaker 1: of a lot safer, believe it or not, than taking
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  Speaker 1: any one of about ten subways in New York City.
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  Speaker 2: I mean that, Oh, I believe that. I mean, listen,
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  Speaker 2: I realized the whole world is not really really on
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  Speaker 2: social media, and that the things that we see on
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  Speaker 2: social media are not necessarily like They may be filmed
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  Speaker 2: and part of what you see in that moment, but
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  Speaker 2: it doesn't mean that all of New York City happens
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  Speaker 2: to be like this one little isolated area and incident.
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  Speaker 2: But I would believe that being in Israel right now
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  Speaker 2: would be you know, I would feel very safe going
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  Speaker 2: over there. But I just I haven't been able to
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  Speaker 2: convince her yet because every time we talk about going
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  Speaker 2: on some sort of I would call it a more
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  Speaker 2: exotic trip, which we never go on because I'm married
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  Speaker 2: to microphone and I never leave. But if we would,
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  Speaker 2: you know, she has all these other places she wants
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  Speaker 2: to I'm like, no, we got to go to Israel.
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  Speaker 2: She just doesn't understand what you've seen, what you've experienced,
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  Speaker 2: and I know what I'd like to see in experience.
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  Speaker 1: It is amazing. And listen, you are busy these days,
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  Speaker 1: I mean, before we get to our career conversation. Even
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  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles today, the big sports story across the
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  Speaker 1: country is lebron is leaving. Will it be Golden state,
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  Speaker 1: Stay in the state. Will it be Cleveland, will it
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  Speaker 1: be Miami? And then I'm not exactly how short how
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  Speaker 1: far you are from Santa Clara. But there's a big
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  Speaker 1: soccer game about to take place tonight, the US taken
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  Speaker 1: on Bosnia. So you right now, your city, your state
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  Speaker 1: is the center of sports talk.
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  Speaker 2: Oh sir, let me tell you. You know, I think
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  Speaker 2: when you're in New York, and I know this is
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  Speaker 2: the way it was for me when I was in Florida,
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  Speaker 2: when I was in New York, when I was East
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  Speaker 2: Coast based, I really thought of people in California. First
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  Speaker 2: I thought of them as being slow and dumb, and
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  Speaker 2: then I thought of them as being, you know, not
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  Speaker 2: passionate sports fans show up lately early, all these kinds
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  Speaker 2: of things. Every perception I had twenty five years ago
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  Speaker 2: of La the West Coast was completely wrong. We think
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  Speaker 2: about New York and again, back in the day, you know,
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  Speaker 2: you're fighting to get a cab on the streets, the
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  Speaker 2: grocery stores, you know, you're they're they're tighter, You're you're
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  Speaker 2: fighting to get to different products and stuff. Just New
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  Speaker 2: York back then to me seemed like, you know, one
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  Speaker 2: hundred miles an hour and vibrating at all times. Southern California, Sydney.
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  Speaker 2: I'm telling you it may not be as public transportation,
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  Speaker 2: although there is a subway system in LA, and it
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  Speaker 2: may not be fighting for cabs, and the freeways may
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  Speaker 2: be gigantic, but there's just because there's so many cars.
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  Speaker 2: But people out here grind, they hustle, they're smart, they're competitive,
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  Speaker 2: and when it comes to sports, the fan bases are
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  Speaker 2: insanely passionate. Whether you know, I cover the Lakers and
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  Speaker 2: the Dodgers in particular, and the Rams and USC football
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  Speaker 2: and these these programs, these organizations and these fan bases
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  Speaker 2: are really serious and they're really vast. And when it
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  Speaker 2: comes to sports, right now, we are in an epicenter
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  Speaker 2: because sid Lebron James yesterday. I'm on the air live
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  Speaker 2: at nine oh one am yesterday, and when this news
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  Speaker 2: breaks that Lebron has gone, and half the people absolutely
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  Speaker 2: love him and appreciate the fact that he brought the
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  Speaker 2: Lakers a championship because the post Kobe era was so
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  Speaker 2: bad in Lakers history. And then there's another half of
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  Speaker 2: the people that are like, get them out of here.
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  Speaker 2: It's time to build a new team. I look at
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  Speaker 2: the Knicks, and I look at the stars that the
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  Speaker 2: Knicks have, But how long it took for the Knicks
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  Speaker 2: to achieve a championship and really make a true championship run.
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  Speaker 2: The Lakers have to start over, and the only way
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  Speaker 2: to do that is to get rid of this overbearing
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  Speaker 2: presence that has had control of the organization. And when
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  Speaker 2: you talk about the World Cup, sid last night, I'm
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  Speaker 2: in downtown La at a fancy Mexican restaurant called Javier's.
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  Speaker 2: This is you know, this is not street tacos man.
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  Speaker 2: This is like high end five so are super fancy
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  Speaker 2: Mexican restaurant, and the place is just jam packed. And
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  Speaker 2: when Mexico scores these goals in the World Cup, the
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  Speaker 2: place is on fire. And so you've got Canada who's
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  Speaker 2: made it through. You've got Mexico who's made it through.
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  Speaker 2: And tonight the US you guys are up. You guys
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  Speaker 2: are on the stage, and Santa Clara is up. And
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  Speaker 2: there's a little bit south of San Francisco where the
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  Speaker 2: forty nine ers play, but Sofi Stadium where the Rams
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  Speaker 2: play has also been hosting so many of these games.
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  Speaker 2: So the world top out here I'm presuming it's the
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  Speaker 2: exact same way, given that the finals in met life,
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  Speaker 2: the town, the state, the world of sports on fire
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  Speaker 2: right now out here.
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  Speaker 1: No, it is. That's you just really explained it perfectly
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  Speaker 1: all that's going on out there, and also very similar
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  Speaker 1: to New York, not just the rabbit sports fan and
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  Speaker 1: the hustle on the bustle is you guys also cheat
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  Speaker 1: on your elections because somewhere in La today Spencer Pratt
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  Speaker 1: is walking around looking for a job when he'll be
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  Speaker 1: the next mayor.
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  Speaker 2: Well, every time you and I have these conversations, I
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  Speaker 2: always say the same thing to you. If you want
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  Speaker 2: to talk about Tommy Edmonds, who just returned from injury
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  Speaker 2: from the Dodgers, and you want to talk about the
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  Speaker 2: spectacular diving play he made at third base last night
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  Speaker 2: against the Oakland A's, or I guess now you call
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  Speaker 2: them the Sacramento Athletics on the way to Las Vegas.
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  Speaker 2: I am your guy when it comes to talking about politics,
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  Speaker 2: and you mentioned Spencer Pratt, I'm like, who is that?
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  Speaker 1: No, No, see you you say that, but it's not
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  Speaker 1: really true. See. One of the things I love most
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  Speaker 1: about you. And by the way, your son Justin would
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  Speaker 1: make sure you know who Spencer Pratt is. Justin's the
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  Speaker 1: real deal, like us. You told me, I mean not.
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  Speaker 1: He's a great kid. He's such a smart kid.
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  Speaker 2: Look, Sidney, Sidney, my son, Justin is one of these
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  Speaker 2: kids that gets his information from TikTok and can't wait
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  Speaker 2: to remove himself from the state of California. When I
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  Speaker 2: say to him, I say, gas prices are so expensive.
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  Speaker 2: I wish the war would come to an end so
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  Speaker 2: gas prices would come down, you know, he says to me.
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  Speaker 2: He goes, it's not about the war, you big dummy.
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  Speaker 2: He goes, it's about the taxes in the state of
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  Speaker 2: Gavin Newsom's fault.
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  Speaker 1: So my son, yeah, he's a genius. My son gets
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  Speaker 1: all of it from Yeah, he's very He's right. So
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  Speaker 1: wherever he gets it from, Justin is a very smart boy.
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  Speaker 1: But you told me way back when as I get
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  Speaker 1: set to get inducted in October that listen, we're doing sports,
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  Speaker 1: sid But it's not all about sports. It's great that
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  Speaker 1: you know that. I'll never forget this. You gotta fight
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  Speaker 1: one time at a golf course with Sandy Kovak's down
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  Speaker 1: in South Florida. He said, it's great that you know
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  Speaker 1: that Richard Hamilton's nickname is Rip, but not everybody knows that.
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  Speaker 1: And I remember the time I was like, what are
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  Speaker 1: you stupid? Everybody knows that. What I'm going to tell
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  Speaker 1: you is that a lot of the stuff you told
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  Speaker 1: me thirty years ago, if not all, of it, was right.
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  Speaker 1: And as my career moved along and I made that
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  Speaker 1: switch from sports to politics, even though I do a
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  Speaker 1: ton of sports on this show every morning, what you
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  Speaker 1: wanted me to be com and our show to be
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  Speaker 1: come was more than that, no matter what the genre is,
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  Speaker 1: sports politics, Scott. When I started to do that, that's
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  Speaker 1: when my career took off. So what I'm telling you
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  Speaker 1: is in the mid nineteen nineties when no one was
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  Speaker 1: saying that you did.
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  Speaker 2: And you're right, yeah, and well, thank you, and you
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  Speaker 2: know listen, you and I and I know you said
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  Speaker 2: this at the beginning when we were first coming on.
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  Speaker 2: I know your audience adores you and loves you. When
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  Speaker 2: we were younger and we had this vision of what
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  Speaker 2: we wanted to be and we were both crazy sports fans,
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  Speaker 2: but we both had a lot of strong opinions about
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  Speaker 2: other stuff and in the right venue. You can really
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  Speaker 2: do that, and you have achieved a place in your
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  Speaker 2: career where you've been able to do it. Listen, when
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  Speaker 2: you and I were at any W we were asked,
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  Speaker 2: if you will with trying to stay on course, but
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  Speaker 2: we didn't really know what the course was, and honestly,
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  Speaker 2: neither did management, because they had a lot of outlandish, comedic,
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  Speaker 2: controversial type broadcasts that were happening on that station at
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  Speaker 2: that time. And you and I we were that. We
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  Speaker 2: just we incorporated sports. I mean, I'll never forget the
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  Speaker 2: one time the Lakers won the NBA Championship and Shaquille
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  Speaker 2: O'Neill was making a tour around New York. He was
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  Speaker 2: doing the Today Show and Good Morning America and what
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  Speaker 2: have you, and he came to us because we had
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  Speaker 2: created a relationship with Shaquille O'Neill back in our South Florida.
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  Speaker 1: Theay, you're being very nice when you're saying way, the
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  Speaker 1: truth is, he loved you. All those guys did to
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  Speaker 1: your credit, Tiger Woods, Pete Sampras, Wayne Gretzky, especially Shack,
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  Speaker 1: they really did love you. So thank you. It was we,
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  Speaker 1: but it really was you. And I think you're about
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  Speaker 1: to tell the audience that he made his way towards
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  Speaker 1: studios right, well, he made.
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  Speaker 2: His way into our studio. And if you remember, we
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  Speaker 2: spent about an hour with Shaquille O'Neill and were doing
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  Speaker 2: what you and I did. Man, We were funny. We
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  Speaker 2: were singing songs with Shaquille O'Neil. He was having the
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  Speaker 2: best time ever. He wouldn't leave, you know. And and
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  Speaker 2: when it was over, two things I'll never forget happened.
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  Speaker 2: One wf AN called because we were sister stations at WNW.
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  Speaker 2: Wf AN called and said, how the hell did you
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  Speaker 2: guys do that? And can you guys get us Shaquille
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  Speaker 2: to come over here to w f AN. And we
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  Speaker 2: were like, we do that. We had a relationship with
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  Speaker 2: the guy in his forest. Can we get him over there?
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  Speaker 2: Not really, you know, I mean. But then the manager,
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  Speaker 2: this guy named Jeremy Coleman, who is our station manager
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  Speaker 2: at the time, he brought me into his office and
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  Speaker 2: he goes, what the hell was that? And I was like,
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  Speaker 2: what do you mean? He goes, guy, what are you
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: doing for an hour? This guy? And I was like,
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  Speaker 2: that's Shaquille. Oh, he's the biggest star in sports. He
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  Speaker 2: just won the championship and he's making his rounds and
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  Speaker 2: he came to us and this guy sip and he goes,
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  Speaker 2: o't ever do that again. So you see, we didn't
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  Speaker 2: we didn't really have direction. Now we knew that we
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  Speaker 2: were good, but the state you were on a station
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  Speaker 2: that really couldn't deal with what we brought to them.
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  Speaker 2: And now you're you're in an environment now where you
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  Speaker 2: can do what you're doing, talk sports because you're passionate
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  Speaker 2: about it. And everybody knows you love the Nicks and
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  Speaker 2: the Rangers and apparently now you love the Yankees. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: crashed me up. I'll never forget the Yankees will playing
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  Speaker 2: the Mets for the first ever subway here World Series
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  Speaker 2: and we went to the game or sitting in right field,
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  Speaker 2: you're wearing Mets here, I'm wearing Yankee gear.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to Sit and Friends in the Morning.
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  Speaker 2: You can hear Sit and.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Friends in the morning weekday mornings.
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  Speaker 1: It's six.
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  Speaker 3: If you like the podcast, share it with your friends
• 12:39
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• 12:43
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• 12:53
  Speaker 3: and X see you next time for a new episode,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: so you never have to wonder what the heck is
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Going on here six