Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / The Truth About Wimbledon | Patrick McEnroe & Chris McKendry Interview

Transcript

The Truth About Wimbledon | Patrick McEnroe & Chris McKendry Interview · The Chuck ToddCast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Dynastics, the podcast that chronicles the in depth
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: histories of iconic professional and college sports teams and institutions.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Today's episode is the second of our two on Wimbledon,
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  Speaker 1: the tennis tournament that is rich in history, tradition, and
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: electrifying matches. The first episode, Chuck and I recounted the
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: history of Wimbledon. Today's episode is a bit of a
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Wimbledon reunion because we've got two guests who together called
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: dozens of matches at Wimbledon and other tennis tournaments for ESPN.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: So first we have Patrick McEnroe. Patrick, of course played
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: over a decade himself on the ATP Tour, winning the
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  Speaker 2: French Open in doubles and reaching the top thirty in singles.
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  Speaker 2: But long before that, he of course was watching his
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  Speaker 2: brother John Wright Wimbledon history, from the unforgettable nineteen eighty
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  Speaker 2: final against be on Board to the moment that gave
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  Speaker 2: us you cannot be serious. So since retiring from the tour,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: Patrick has become one of the most recognizable voices in
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  Speaker 2: tennis broadcasting, calling Wimbledon for ESPN for years while also
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  Speaker 2: serving as US David Cup captain and head of player
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: Development for the US Tennis Association.
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  Speaker 1: And joining Patrick will be Chris McKendree, one of the
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  Speaker 1: most familiar faces and voices in tennis broadcasting and Patrick's
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  Speaker 1: longtime partner for ESPN tennis coverage. Chris has spent years
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  Speaker 1: anchoring Wimbledon and the US Open broadcast, interviewing legends of
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  Speaker 1: the game, and helping shape how millions of fans experience
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  Speaker 1: the sport's biggest moments.
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  Speaker 2: So, look, we're pretty excited about this because together Patrick
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  Speaker 2: and Chris bring a rare combo of perspectives their player, broadcaster, insider, storyteller, reporter.
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  Speaker 2: So we got that together to help us unpack the
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  Speaker 2: history of the most famous tournament in tennis and to
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  Speaker 2: talk about America's place in the tennis world in general. Now,
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  Speaker 2: a few programming notes here before we get started. I
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  Speaker 2: want to remind you to follow us on our social
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: media at Dynastic Pod and to follow, like, and review
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: us wherever you listen to your podcast, or of course
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: on our YouTube channel or we'd like to like a subscribe.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: And about two thirds of the way through our interview,
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  Speaker 2: Patrick McEnroe had to step away, so you will see
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: that we will go from start to finish with Chris
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: McKendree and Patrick will join us for the first two
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: thirds of that. And with that, let's get started with
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: our interview with Patrick.
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  Speaker 1: And Chris, and thanks for joining us. Patrick growing up
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: watching your brother John and Wimbledon, and Chris coming to
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  Speaker 1: the tournament later as a broadcaster, What did each of
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: you think Wimbledon meant before you actually got to experience
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  Speaker 1: it up close? And then how did it change once
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  Speaker 1: you did go there yourselves?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I'll start because I first watched Wimbledon when while
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  Speaker 3: I was My first memory, i should say, was watching
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  Speaker 3: the epic final that my brother played with Borg in
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  Speaker 3: nineteen eighty.
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  Speaker 4: And how old were you, Patrick, I was.
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  Speaker 3: Thirteen, maybe fourteen, and I was in a motel room
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  Speaker 3: in Fort Worth, Texas playing in the National Boys Hardcourt Championships,
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: and my parents had flown over just for the final.
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  Speaker 3: And I had gone to this tournament with my doubles
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  Speaker 3: partner from New.
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  Speaker 5: Jersey and his coach.
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  Speaker 3: So we were watching it literally from like a hotel room,
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  Speaker 3: one of those ones you drive, you know, you drive
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  Speaker 3: up to your room and there's a pool and then
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: you just go right to your room.
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  Speaker 5: We were living large.
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  Speaker 2: A true motel. I always say motel as opposed to
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  Speaker 2: a hotel.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, so, you know, obviously the grandeur of Wimbledon was
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  Speaker 3: obvious to me at a young age, but when I
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  Speaker 3: first got there. It was a couple of years later
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  Speaker 3: as an older teenager, and I think, what just hits
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  Speaker 3: you is just the beauty of it, the tradition. You know,
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  Speaker 3: the courts are so lush, and especially you know, Chris
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  Speaker 3: and I are lucky enough to be there before the
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  Speaker 3: tournament starts, which to me is always the most special
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  Speaker 3: every year, being there the weekend before it starts arts
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: and seeing the way they get the grounds ready and
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  Speaker 3: the court's ready, and sort of the calm before the
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  Speaker 3: storm or the tournament. But I think they figured out
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  Speaker 3: how to combine the great tradition of tennis in the
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  Speaker 3: history of tennis while still modernizing the sport for the fans,
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  Speaker 3: for the media, for the players. It usually takes them
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  Speaker 3: a little longer than the other majors to decide to
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  Speaker 3: you know, make a change, but when they do, they
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  Speaker 3: go all in and they do it incredibly well.
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  Speaker 6: I would agree. My first memories were, like everyone else,
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  Speaker 6: just a sports fan, a young girl who just loved
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  Speaker 6: every sport, but in the summer, and you hit on
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  Speaker 6: it in your podcast, The Two of You. It hits
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  Speaker 6: the American sports calendar at such a sweet spot, you know,
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  Speaker 6: right there middle of July, there's not really a lot
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  Speaker 6: going on, and it was really really special. And I
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  Speaker 6: always played as a kid, so my first memories are
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  Speaker 6: seeing Chrissy and on Jimmy, that wave of American tennis
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  Speaker 6: that popularized the sport in our country. And then in
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  Speaker 6: high school started playing a lot more and it was
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  Speaker 6: Becker and Stephie and you know, Boom boom Becker. And
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  Speaker 6: I even liked Von Lindall a ton, and it might
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  Speaker 6: have been because I was just kind of the contrarian
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  Speaker 6: and everybody liked other people and Lindell wasn't always so popular,
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  Speaker 6: but I loved watching him play. And then when I
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  Speaker 6: got there. The first time I went was two thousand
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  Speaker 6: and seven to do a highlight show, and I just
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  Speaker 6: couldn't believe it. It's exactly as I remembered seeing on TV.
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  Speaker 6: The flowers don't change, you know. The match courts are
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  Speaker 6: so gorgeous. I mean, shout out to Neil Stubbley. He's
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  Speaker 6: the head of courts and horticulture, so you know, incredible
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  Speaker 6: job with his nine tons of grass seats every year,
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  Speaker 6: so it was just so beautiful. And then just to
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  Speaker 6: see the players, like Patrick said, that first weekend, you
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  Speaker 6: go out to the practice courts called a range, which
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  Speaker 6: is at the far end of the of the park,
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  Speaker 6: and just to watch the players and watch them hit
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  Speaker 6: on the grass. I didn't grow up around a lot
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  Speaker 6: of grass courts, so that itself to really watch how
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  Speaker 6: they play, and it was. It was a thrill, and
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  Speaker 6: it is every single year. You always we talk about this,
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  Speaker 6: right Patrick, We don't always sleep that well the night
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  Speaker 6: before you think we're playing or something. But it's just
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  Speaker 6: so exciting, and there's just always that little like butterfly
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  Speaker 6: feeling in your gut because you don't want to mess
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  Speaker 6: it up, you know, it's wimbled in. I remember the
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  Speaker 6: first time I had to say breakfast at Wimbledon. I
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  Speaker 6: almost couldn't believe those words were coming out of my mouth,
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  Speaker 6: you know, so I'd be honest.
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  Speaker 2: You guys are describing a Faberge egg to me.
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  Speaker 5: I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: You know, like you're very careful. You don't want to
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: you don't want to mess it up. Patrick how do
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: you wear in America? Do you practice on grass courts?
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  Speaker 6: Oh?
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  Speaker 5: No, really, I mean a Chris's point.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, that's part of what makes it so special
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  Speaker 3: and unique, is you know as a kid, as a
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  Speaker 3: junior player. I mean, there are some grass courts here
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  Speaker 3: in the Northeast and the New York era, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the old time clubs which are usually for the ultra wealthy.
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  Speaker 3: Once in a while they'd let my brother and I
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  Speaker 3: come in practice on them if John didn't piss him off,
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  Speaker 3: which you.
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  Speaker 5: Know he usually did at some point.
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  Speaker 3: But you know Forest Hills, of course, we grew up
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  Speaker 3: going to Forest Hills, which was close to where we
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: grew up in Douglaston and Queens, New York. So there
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  Speaker 3: is you know where you first had the US Open
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  Speaker 3: fork moved to Flushing and they had it on grass
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  Speaker 3: for a while before it switched believe it or not,
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  Speaker 3: to Hartshrew to clay for a couple of years before
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  Speaker 3: it went to Flushing. But so there's not that many
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  Speaker 3: places in the grass in England, particularly at Wimbledon, is
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  Speaker 3: really unique. It's so well taken care of. It's mode diligently,
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  Speaker 3: it's watered. You know, the amount of effort it takes
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  Speaker 3: to make a really good grass court prett much takes
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  Speaker 3: them all year to do it. I mean they dig
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  Speaker 3: up those those courts, the main couple of show courts.
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  Speaker 3: They dig them up like the week or two after
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  Speaker 3: the tournament's over, and they read them from start to finish.
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  Speaker 5: So the attention to detail is incredible.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, the grass plays much differently in Wimbledon
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  Speaker 3: than it does anywhere else.
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  Speaker 5: It's a harder surface.
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  Speaker 2: It's more like what is it? Like what the first
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  Speaker 2: time you experienced it, you were like, WHOA, I didn't
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  Speaker 2: know it was going to do that, Like what is
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  Speaker 2: that moment?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, it actually changed a lot in the early two thousand,
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  Speaker 3: two thousand and one. They changed the texture of the
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  Speaker 3: grass and it became a little more you know, bounce
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  Speaker 3: heer like I used to.
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  Speaker 5: You know, I have a ritual.
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  Speaker 3: I bounced the ball three times before I'd serve and
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  Speaker 3: it Wimbledon the grass was so lust you know back
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  Speaker 3: when I played in the late eighties through the nineties
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  Speaker 3: that you had to throw the ball like this to
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  Speaker 3: get it to bounce. Now you just throw it like
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  Speaker 3: you're on a hard court. It bounces like almost like
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  Speaker 3: you're hardcourt, so it's gotten much firmer and a lot harder,
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  Speaker 3: and that means it bounces, generally speaking, quite a bit higher.
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  Speaker 3: And the reason that the All England Club did that
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  Speaker 3: was because a lot of the players at the end
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  Speaker 3: of the nineties and in the early two thousands, a
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  Speaker 3: lot of European players were not playing Wimbledon anymore. They
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: weren't going to play because it was so different. And
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  Speaker 3: then you had guys like Samprus and Evanisovitch and philippousas
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  Speaker 3: you know, starting to dominate with the serve, and Wimbledon
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  Speaker 3: saw the writing on the wall, which was at first
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  Speaker 3: of all, they didn't want the points to be over
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  Speaker 3: in one or two shots.
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  Speaker 5: And second of all, if.
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  Speaker 3: You're the greatest tournament in the world, you need all
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  Speaker 3: the greatest players to play, not just the ones that
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  Speaker 3: can play on grass. So that's when they started to
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  Speaker 3: change it so that it gave everybody. It's still different.
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  Speaker 3: It's still you know, the ball stays lower, it still
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  Speaker 3: skids a little bit more. You got to have, you know,
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  Speaker 3: an array of shots, maybe more so than playing on
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  Speaker 3: a clay or hardcourt, but it's much more similar now
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  Speaker 3: to playing on the other services than it ever was.
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  Speaker 6: And it's tested every day, guys. I mean, that's to
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  Speaker 6: Patrick's point, the work they put into these courts before
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  Speaker 6: play begins. You can see, you know, the gardeners and
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: the people all around the grounds, but they test the
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  Speaker 6: courts every day to make sure, they test the hardness
• 10:14
  Speaker 6: of the surface and the bounce of the ball to
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  Speaker 6: keep it the same, you know, all throughout the tournament.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So this grass discussion reminds me of golf and sometimes
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: how the changes and types of grass can effect the play.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: But also we made a lot of comparisons to Augusta
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: National Golf Course in the course of our Wimbledon episode,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: and the Agustin National is very famous for the restrictions
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and the preferred verbiage that they have for the announcers
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: when when they're broadcasting, right the it's patrons and not fans,
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  Speaker 1: et cetera.
• 10:45
  Speaker 4: I'm wondering are.
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  Speaker 1: There any similar types of guidelines on what you can
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: and can't say when you're broadcasting Wimbledon.
• 10:51
  Speaker 6: Chris, No, I don't recall to you Patrick No, Well,
• 10:56
  Speaker 6: you know, call it the championships or call it you know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 6: we we call it championships. We'll call it Wimbledon. No,
• 11:03
  Speaker 6: I've never been told to say patrons or anything like that,
• 11:07
  Speaker 6: and not that I can recall to you Patrick.
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: You know Wimbledon, No, Wimbledon has a history by the
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: way of you know, years ago there used to let
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  Speaker 3: fans in into standing room only sections, right, So there's
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: that side of it that's a little bit, you know,
• 11:24
  Speaker 3: despite its god of upper class when you look at
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: the Royal Box and all that, there's a part of
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: Wimbledon that's you know, for you know, the status to
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: society in England, the way it works of the common man.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: You know that the common man or woman can come
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: to Wimbledon, and they used to you know, now they
• 11:38
  Speaker 3: queue up to come in later in the day. They
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: used to queue up to be first in line and
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: they would literally wait outside the gates and they would
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: sprint through the grounds to get to center court to
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: get those coveted couple hundred seats that were standing room only,
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: that were first come, first served. They used to do
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: that at all the England Premier League soccer matches until
• 12:01
  Speaker 3: they had you know, some some serious situations happen in soccer.
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: When the government finally decided we got to get rid
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: of Sandy Ramoni because there was you know, people dying.
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  Speaker 5: That never happened luckily in Wimbledon.
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  Speaker 3: But they used to have designated runners who people would
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: pay and they would be like sprinters and they would
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: sprint through the grounds when the gates open at exactly
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: ten am, which they still do today, and get those
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: seats and wait there on center court for play to happen.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah.
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  Speaker 6: You know one thing I know when you were talking
• 12:29
  Speaker 6: about Augusta, you were talking about you know, foods and
• 12:32
  Speaker 6: and so on. The Other thing I love about Wimbledon
• 12:35
  Speaker 6: it's a b yo B tournament, Like bring your own boobs, you.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: Know, I mean you can everybody can you walk in
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: with it? Huh?
• 12:42
  Speaker 6: You walk in with it. And there's always one person
• 12:46
  Speaker 6: every tournament on center court that pops himpig right, Patrick,
• 12:49
  Speaker 6: and then play us to stop. Like there have campaign
• 12:54
  Speaker 6: corks that have flown onto center court, you know, and
• 12:57
  Speaker 6: people bring a bottle of lunch whatever they want. They'll
• 13:00
  Speaker 6: sit on Henman Hill with their picnic lunch and yeah,
• 13:04
  Speaker 6: bring it all in with you.
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  Speaker 2: Patrick. You really struck me when your answer there about
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  Speaker 2: the grass and how they had to change the grass
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  Speaker 2: and the because and you are you are describing this
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  Speaker 2: period that, yes, like even my own memory where you
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: felt like Wimbledon was losing something. You couldn't figure out
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: what it was, and you just sort of explained to me,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: gave it the best explanation I've heard. And what it
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: is that is revitalized in some ways Wimbledon is because
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: there it is they have essentially what they've changed the
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: grass surface to be more hardcourt.
• 13:37
  Speaker 3: Like yeah, you know, it's definitely different, but it's it's
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: more of a surface that any you can play from
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: the baseline.
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: You know, you could be a baseline player.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: Obviously, it's still favors of players that can come forward
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: and attacking players that can take the ball on the
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: rise a lah Roger Fetter. But if you see, you know,
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: there's no more serve and volley in grass court tennis.
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: That used to be the game. It used to be
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: serve and volley. Everybody would come to the net. Why well,
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: because first of all, there were wood rackets, so you
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: couldn't hit the ball as hard. Second of all, the
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: bounce was more unpredictable. So the more times you let
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: the ball bounce, the more chances you would get a
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: bad bounce, Now that rarely happens, so you combine all
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: those things. So now that's why you see essentially the
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: same players winning at Wimbledon that win on other surfaces.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: So in some ways it's made it more predictable, which
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: in a way is you know, maybe not great because
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: you know, you don't have any experts, but in the
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: long run, you know, that's why Federer Djokovic basically have
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: you know, dominated Wimbledon for so many years, and now
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: you've got two guys in center and outres on the
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: men's lide. It'still a little more wide open on the
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: women's but it's not as specific to being just a
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: great grass court player.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Chris, Yeah, go ahead.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Well I was just gonna say, you know, so the
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: spanishs who traditionally are are great on clay, right, So
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: that explains the success that a nay do dollar are
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: had as of late at Wimbledon.
• 15:03
  Speaker 7: Patrick, Uh, well.
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so so guys like Carlos Costa, Carlos Moya, who
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: was in the Dallas coach Barristigue. I could go through
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: a list of guys, Albert Costa, We're all great clay
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: court players. Those are the guys that were complaining and
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: not coming to Wimbledon, and then when they changed it,
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: most of those players came back because they had at
• 15:24
  Speaker 3: least a chance, you know, to win a few rounds.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: The doubt, to me, one of the all time great
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: efforts by him was that he won two Wimbledon's because
• 15:32
  Speaker 3: he lost in the first week of Wimbledon more so
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: than any other of those three all time greats and
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: any other tournament, because the grass was still the much
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: much more difficult for him. Now, Alcaraz is a different
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: beast altogether. He's just a freak.
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: He can play on mud, he can play on cow dung,
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: which they play on in India. But yes, you know,
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: a lot of this, a lot of the Spanish players
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: now you know, yes, they play a lot on clay,
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: but they also play a lot on hardcourt.
• 16:00
  Speaker 5: But here's the king.
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: None of these players, particularly the Europeans, play on grass
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: at all until they come and play at Wimbledon. So
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: a lot of the best young juniors on the planet,
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: the first time they ever see a grass court.
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: Is when they played Junior Wimbledon as a seventeen or
• 16:15
  Speaker 5: eighteen year old. Yeah, yeah, I.
• 16:18
  Speaker 6: Mean, that's why we were so surprised two years ago
• 16:20
  Speaker 6: when Edith Fiantc won. I mean, she still says, I'm
• 16:23
  Speaker 6: still trying to learn how to play on the grass.
• 16:26
  Speaker 6: I'm still learning the graps. And she won Junior Wimbledon too,
• 16:30
  Speaker 6: and that was one of the first times she ever
• 16:32
  Speaker 6: played on the grass. So there's a lot of these
• 16:35
  Speaker 6: players are still figuring it out even though they're champions.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: Chris, how much does Wimbledon think about this? The organizers
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: you feel as if, I mean, it's interesting to me
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: that you know, it's in some cases right, Wimbledon decides
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: what the rules of tennis are and yet they had
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: to respond in order to stay as relevant as possible.
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah, very true, guess to all the above. And you know,
• 17:00
  Speaker 6: we talked about it. Finally, all the four majors have
• 17:04
  Speaker 6: the same tie break. You know, we we know how
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: these matches are going to end. We know that they
• 17:08
  Speaker 6: will end eventually, and that was something Wimbledon had to
• 17:12
  Speaker 6: look at and change too after you know, some extremely
• 17:17
  Speaker 6: long matches. I think a lot of that. I think
• 17:20
  Speaker 6: all majors, I mean, Patrick, I think you'll agree, we
• 17:23
  Speaker 6: talk about this. I think a lot of them have
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: adjusted and the surfaces all play rather similar. You know,
• 17:30
  Speaker 6: I think the clay has changed too, and you know,
• 17:33
  Speaker 6: it brings up another discussion point, and that is some
• 17:36
  Speaker 6: of the players, you know, the points are so long,
• 17:39
  Speaker 6: they are so long, and the matches are long, and
• 17:42
  Speaker 6: the tour schedule is long, a lot of it because
• 17:45
  Speaker 6: of how these clubs have adjusted to make you know,
• 17:48
  Speaker 6: the points better and frankly product more entertaining.
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: I would slightly disagree with what you just said, Chuck,
• 17:55
  Speaker 3: in this way, Wimbledon does what's best for Wimbledon, not
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: for ten. And what I mean by that is what
• 18:04
  Speaker 3: sort of what my initials comment about Wimbledon was. They
• 18:08
  Speaker 3: they they follow what the other tournaments do and they
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: usually don't make them move until they've sussed out. You
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: know how that worked out when there's electronic line calling system,
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: whether it's you know, the instant replay, whatever it is.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: And the reason that they made the change on the
• 18:25
  Speaker 3: surface was because it was bad for Wimbledon.
• 18:28
  Speaker 5: You know that, you know, for the top ten players.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: I'm making up the number, but something like that, we're
• 18:33
  Speaker 3: not playing because of the surface. So yeah, when they
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: they they take a while, but they don't really get
• 18:39
  Speaker 3: that involved in what's going on on the rest of
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: the tour.
• 18:43
  Speaker 5: You know, they have a little bit like, you know,
• 18:44
  Speaker 5: we're Wimbledon, We're the All England club. We'll we'll do
• 18:47
  Speaker 5: it our way.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: And as I said, they usually come around, but it
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: usually takes them a while.
• 18:53
  Speaker 5: They want to see how it how it goes, you know.
• 18:55
  Speaker 5: The tie break thing. You know, yet.
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: Extenuating circumstances is with the Isner match seventy sixty eight
• 19:02
  Speaker 3: and the semifinals another Isner match but went I think
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: twenty six to twenty four in the final set, and
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: those that was the impetus to come up with the
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: final set tiebreak was thankfully all the majors adopted at
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: the same time.
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: Let's talk American tennis for a bit and Patrick, having
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: run player development for the USTA, how would you assess
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: where Americans men's tennis stands right now compared to when
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: you first started with that job.
• 19:30
  Speaker 5: I think it's about it a B plus now.
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: And I say that because I think we you know,
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: part of the team that I put in place. You know,
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: our goal was to get as many top one hundred
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: players as possible. Our goal was never to find the
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: next John McEnroe or Serena Williams. I think that's unlikely,
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: but it was to create more better players, and I
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: think we did that. The problem is, we don't have
• 19:55
  Speaker 3: any mail players that have won majors, and that's what
• 19:58
  Speaker 3: the casual American sports fan really cares about. We have
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: a lot of women that have in the last you know,
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: even since Serena and Venus, did they retire?
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: Are they unretired? I guess they both undertire. But you
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: know what I'm saying.
• 20:10
  Speaker 3: So we have a you know, the most male players
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: in the top hundred of any country. But as you
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: know Ja and Chuck, you know, the question we always
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: get asked, when's the next American gonna win a Major? Well,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: we had the Big Three, they were taking everything for
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: a long time.
• 20:26
  Speaker 5: And though you had other guys like.
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: Murray and Vavrinka and you know Del Potrow and you
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: know Andy Roddicks still the last American to have won
• 20:32
  Speaker 3: a major. I hope Ben Shelton. I think he's got
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: the best chance right now of doing it. You know,
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: we've got a bunch of other guys that are solid
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: top ten to twenty players like Taylor, Fritz Francis, Tiafo Lerner, TNN,
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: all different backgrounds, all different game styles.
• 20:49
  Speaker 5: So I think in a lot.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Of ways we doing what we did accomplish what we
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: wanted to, which is getting more players into the top hundred,
• 20:57
  Speaker 3: but creating a top player I'm not something that's any
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: that any federation can actually do.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: You know, It's interesting. I follow youth sports quite closely
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: in different ways, and one of the unique things is
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: how that Bulletary Tennis Academy essentially transformed into what is
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: now I m G, which is this entire sort of
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: almost like boarding school for young American athletes. And I'm
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: curious Chris and Patrick, but Patrick tackle at first, which
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: is the European way of incubating youth sports and the
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: American way of doing it are radically different. Does that
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: make it harder for us to get to get better
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: youth tennis players are easier?
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: Makes it harder? We're also not getting you know, the
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: cream of the crop. You know, it's a more club
• 21:53
  Speaker 3: based culture in Europe where people and not just rich people,
• 21:57
  Speaker 3: but people that are more middle class, you know, belong
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: to clubs. And what are the kids do in the clubs?
• 22:02
  Speaker 3: For the most part, they always play soccer and they
• 22:05
  Speaker 3: play another sport like tennis, or depending on what part
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: of Europe you're in, maybe it's scheme, maybe it's basketball.
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: It's getting very popular in Serbia and Spain, for example,
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: but tennis is usually second or third, and in in
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: our country, you know, it's ninth or tenth maybe, So
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: that makes it a little trickier, and it makes it
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: also makes it more about money unfortunately, which I think
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: is what you're getting.
• 22:28
  Speaker 5: To that chuck and persons read between the lines here.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: That's an issue that's just come up in our discussions
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: of you soccer, you know, because I call it the
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: over professionalization of youth sports, you know, and and and
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: we're responsible even in our John Macron No Tennis Academy.
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: Here where I'm at right now, to a certain extent.
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: Now we have a scholarship program that helps kids that
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: can't afford it. But you're doing it kind of in
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: a more haphazard kind of way. And obviously the USCA
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: is is a you know, is a governing body that
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: can and they do that. But it's definitely much trickier
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: because it's almost like you have to give up everything
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: to become a tennis player, and in Europe it's you know,
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: it's not quite the same model.
• 23:14
  Speaker 6: Yeah, i'd agree. I felt that way, and I felt
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: this way about youth soccer for a long time, only
• 23:20
  Speaker 6: in America, that we take soccer the sport for everyone
• 23:25
  Speaker 6: and make it you know, suburban prepping, very expensive sport.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Well, and then we wonder why they don't have a
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: killer instinct, no offense. But it's like, I think that
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: has something to do with it, right, Like if you
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: have to if you're if you're coming out of tougher circumstances,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: proby makes you slightly more competitive. If you're in pampered circumstances,
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: maybe you're not.
• 23:47
  Speaker 4: Whatever.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: That extra edge is, right that only you professional athletes know, Patrick,
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: But there's an edge, and you wonder if the pampering
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: takes away the edge.
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: Well, there's definitely a desire, you know, like you said,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: there's you know, to me, it's more about giving more
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: kids the opportunity, so opening up to you know, just
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: more athletes. Right, if you have more of them playing,
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: you'll have a better chance. It doesn't matter what their
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: background is. There's plenty of excellent players that came from
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: you know, uh uh families that were fairly well off,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: you know, feder in a doubt. We're struggling to you know,
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: get fed when they were kids. So it's a it's
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: a it's a combination, but you're definitely onto something that
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: it's part of it. It's a part of the larger equation,
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: which is what you know, and it's also part of
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: the reason why we have a lot of incredible athletes
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: that are young women playing tennis. Now, I ask you all,
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: why do you think that's different than than men than men?
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: Answer what you answer me the question, Chuck, why do
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: you think that is?
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: Uh, there's just more team sport opportunities for for young
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: boys and there as young women.
• 24:54
  Speaker 5: Well, that's part of it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: The other one is the other one is you.
• 24:58
  Speaker 3: Can make a lot of money playing tennis in women's tennis.
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: And even though there's a lot of opportunities now and
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: more so thankfully for women to play basketball and soccer,
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: they're not making the kind of money tennis players are making.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: Female Chris, I'm talking about yeah that that I mean,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: there hasn't been that drop off on the on women's
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: side in Americans tennis. And you know, from Serena to
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Venus and now Coco. Despite the rise of you know,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the arrival of the WNBA in the mid nineties, or
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the explosion in women's soccer after that Women's World Cup
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: in ninety nine. Chris, why do you think it is
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: that there has been sustained great players or at least
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: competing for majors type of players on the women's side
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: in American tennis for the women.
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: Look, I also think it's encouraged by you know, I
• 25:48
  Speaker 6: think there's something that men's tennis. And first let's go
• 25:51
  Speaker 6: back in Title nine. I mean, we are the world
• 25:54
  Speaker 6: leaders in female athletics, like across the board. I mean
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: that showed itself as Title nine grew and the generation
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: of women hit the ninety six Olympics, and we always
• 26:04
  Speaker 6: win team sports. I was on the sidelines during the
• 26:06
  Speaker 6: World Cup of ninety nine as a reporter for ESPN,
• 26:10
  Speaker 6: and the other people were looking to the US how
• 26:14
  Speaker 6: to build women's soccer.
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: You know, it feels like only France is even close
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: to us on developing girls sports, right, Yeah.
• 26:22
  Speaker 6: Spain has a great youth system. Not to get off
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: on a tangent, so we definitely lead the way and
• 26:28
  Speaker 6: we're showing the world how beneficial it is to have
• 26:32
  Speaker 6: women's sports be at the forefront. And I think for
• 26:35
  Speaker 6: for American tennis, you know, we've always had somebody to
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: look up to and say I want to be like
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: that person, you know, and and a lot of fathers
• 26:45
  Speaker 6: looked and said, oh, I want my daughter. I want
• 26:48
  Speaker 6: that for my daughter. You know from Chrissy that the
• 26:51
  Speaker 6: Williams sisters, I mean, Christy popularized it for my whole generation.
• 26:57
  Speaker 6: And then the Williams sisters, I mean, they're incredible. To
• 27:00
  Speaker 6: watch them on the court, like a living legacy is
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: what they're playing against, you know, the Cocos, even Naomi,
• 27:08
  Speaker 6: I mean she grew up playing in the in the US,
• 27:10
  Speaker 6: you know, Taylor Townsend, Swan Stevens, Madison Keys, like just
• 27:14
  Speaker 6: on and on and on to all of these champions
• 27:16
  Speaker 6: that they inspired, and you know, it's it's really you
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: see it, you can be it.
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: And this is a bit I mean, I think the
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: answer is semi obvious, but I feel like we saw
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: it a bit with World Cup and FIFA. FIFA made
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: more money probably having World Cup here than it has
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: in other places, even though it is not our number
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: one sport. How important is it to the health of
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: Wimbledon and tennis to have American players in this tournament
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: in that second week, and do you feel it during
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: the broadcast? Do you feel it in the run up?
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: Is the business of broadcasting tennis, you know, need American
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: men and American players on both men and women.
• 27:56
  Speaker 5: Twenty years ago I would have said yes, but.
• 27:58
  Speaker 2: Now I don't think so.
• 28:00
  Speaker 5: It's so global. The tournaments themselves are so successful. Players
• 28:06
  Speaker 5: are coming from all over the world.
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: We feel that At ESPN, of course, we want to
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: see the Americans do well.
• 28:11
  Speaker 5: It's better for us, it's better for the ratings.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: I think this tournament would say the same thing essentially,
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: but for the most part, I hate to say it.
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: It doesn't really matter.
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: And well, a foreign player can become famous here in
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: America now, I mean we see it in in the NBA,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: right You see it with the Yo Kitchen. Yeah, I
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: think has a ton of big fans here in the
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: United States. You see it totally.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: Alcarez is the biggest name in tennis right now. I mean,
• 28:40
  Speaker 3: he's complete box office anywhere he goes. So I think
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: when I started player development, I think that was part
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: of the impetus for the USTA to put more money
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: behind it at the time. But I think as the
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: events grown and they've been able to market more players
• 28:54
  Speaker 3: than just the top two or three, I think that's changed,
• 28:58
  Speaker 3: and I think that would be the same in all
• 28:59
  Speaker 3: the major countries. Of course, in Australia, you know, if
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: an Australian does well, it's great for their ratings in
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: that country. When asked Barty wanted a couple of years ago,
• 29:08
  Speaker 3: that was the highest rated show they had, but it
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: still does pretty well. It's really about the big names.
• 29:15
  Speaker 3: The big international name's doing well. That's what moves ratings
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: globally in each country. Of course, if a player from
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: that country does well, it helps for that particular major.
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: We know that Patrick had to get going, Chris, But
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: I want to sort of transition to when I listened
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: to your coverage, and you know, it's interesting as somebody
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: who gets criticized, who has been criticized for how I
• 29:42
  Speaker 2: might characterize a politician, I might characterize a candidate. Maybe
• 29:46
  Speaker 2: it's doing analysis after a debate, and people will hear
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: something and take it very personally, and I'm of course
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: trying to paint a broader picture and stuff like this,
• 29:58
  Speaker 2: just as you guys are doing, and I hear it
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: and every once in a while, I think, boy, that
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: player's mother or father's probably really angry at Patrick or
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: Chris here at the moment. How do you know tennis
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: is such an individual sport, right, it's I think it's
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: easier to critique a team sport and critique a moment
• 30:16
  Speaker 2: in a team sport, even a player's individual contribution. I
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: think when you're you know what really sort of makes
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: tennis so unique as this gladiator mindset, there's only there's
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: no coach to blame, there's no anybody to blame. It
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: is all on that individual player. I think this makes
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: it harder than ever to do your job because you
• 30:35
  Speaker 2: want to be mindful of the human being that's in
• 30:39
  Speaker 2: that arena.
• 30:40
  Speaker 4: How do you walk that line?
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: And how have players complained to you in the past
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: They don't show up for the next interview?
• 30:49
  Speaker 4: No, yeah, I know that feeling.
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: Yeah, no, I you know it is true. I mean,
• 30:55
  Speaker 6: to that point, you don't want it to be personal, right,
• 30:58
  Speaker 6: You're being the play And the other thing I'm very
• 31:02
  Speaker 6: mindful of in tennis. Boy, they're young, you know, these
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: are young athletes. Some of the women are teenagers, some
• 31:10
  Speaker 6: of the guys are teenagers. You know, now I'm interviewing
• 31:13
  Speaker 6: you know, young guys or women. They're my kids age,
• 31:18
  Speaker 6: you know, and I'm boy, you know, so you do
• 31:21
  Speaker 6: you you you feel for them as a person. They're
• 31:25
  Speaker 6: so alone on that enormous stage. You know, I look
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: at Cocoa Golf. I mean, gosh, people can't stop talking
• 31:33
  Speaker 6: about what she doesn't have. She doesn't have the most
• 31:36
  Speaker 6: reliable serve, doesn't have the correct forehand. She does have
• 31:40
  Speaker 6: two major titles. People, you know, why don't we always
• 31:45
  Speaker 6: talk about what she doesn't have? But you know, she
• 31:47
  Speaker 6: does fight her ass off out there on the court.
• 31:50
  Speaker 6: You know, she's a superior athlete, and I always think
• 31:54
  Speaker 6: it's important to talk about what somebody like reality check here,
• 31:57
  Speaker 6: you know, stop nitpicking. You know, she's a young woman,
• 32:01
  Speaker 6: but she she gets a lot of you know, a
• 32:04
  Speaker 6: lot of unwanted feedback I think on her game, and
• 32:07
  Speaker 6: that must be really tough. You do hear it from
• 32:09
  Speaker 6: the fans. I mean, if you are team Fed and
• 32:14
  Speaker 6: you were harsh on Fed and good to Nadal, like, boy,
• 32:18
  Speaker 6: do you you know it's.
• 32:20
  Speaker 2: Kind of like like the Red Blue Divide. Huh, oh
• 32:23
  Speaker 2: my goodness.
• 32:25
  Speaker 6: When I honestly this is a true story. The US
• 32:28
  Speaker 6: opened Kobe Bryant, the late Great Kobe joined us on
• 32:31
  Speaker 6: the set and he was just getting into tennis and
• 32:35
  Speaker 6: he was really into it. Just retired and I said
• 32:38
  Speaker 6: to him, are you team Fed or your team Nadal?
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: And he said, I'm team Djokovic, I'm team Novak And
• 32:45
  Speaker 6: you could hear the fans behind him, that's so Kobe.
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: Oh my god, that's so Kobe.
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: Sorry he was Novak reached out to him and said,
• 32:56
  Speaker 6: help me, you know, help me be great, Like tell
• 32:59
  Speaker 6: me some of your secrets. I'll tell you some of mine.
• 33:01
  Speaker 6: And they and they had a nice connection, but you
• 33:03
  Speaker 6: could hear audible gaps like, oh my goodness, you know,
• 33:07
  Speaker 6: he's not what and and you'll get it a lot
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: on social you know. I can never praise Serena enough.
• 33:13
  Speaker 6: Somebody always thinks I don't like her game, and it's
• 33:17
  Speaker 6: just it's not true. I'm actually amazed at all of
• 33:19
  Speaker 6: them out there. They're something I can't right. So yeah,
• 33:24
  Speaker 6: but I do I remember that it's just one person,
• 33:27
  Speaker 6: Like that's that's tough, you know.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: I think it's harder even like even like as in politics,
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: there's there is other people involved, right, and I don't
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: feels and and you know you've chosen to do this. Yeah, yeah,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: and these our seventeen year olds, it's harder. I just
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: I think it's harder to do. At the same time,
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: the audience does want to hear your expert opinion.
• 33:48
  Speaker 6: Exactly exactly, Well, I kind of that's more for the
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: analysts to, you know, judge, to break down their play
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: like I'm I'm there to give you the score and
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: give you their background, you know, where they're from, kind
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: of true personality of the athlete, and tell you their story.
• 34:05
  Speaker 6: But yeah, sometimes you just you do have to call
• 34:07
  Speaker 6: what you see, Like if there's a lack of effort,
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: or somebody looks like they're you know, halfway to the
• 34:12
  Speaker 6: parking lot already like bags in the Trump kind of thing,
• 34:15
  Speaker 6: you have to say what you're seeing. And you know,
• 34:18
  Speaker 6: it's interesting now because now coaching is allowed. You know
• 34:22
  Speaker 6: that they used to din't coach, and now you can
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: take coaching from your from your box. So there are
• 34:28
  Speaker 6: now teams to blame, and a lot of these coaches
• 34:31
  Speaker 6: find themselves fired quickly, you know, when a player wants
• 34:35
  Speaker 6: to get rid of somebody. But so there there is
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: sort of that way, that coaching. But I mean, to
• 34:41
  Speaker 6: your point, you're so alone out there. You know, when
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: when Djokovic just beat O j Aliasim the Canadian in
• 34:49
  Speaker 6: uh was it the fourth round, quarter finals just at
• 34:53
  Speaker 6: wimblin five sets, it was epic, epic. I mean, this
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: guy's twenty years younger than him and he came off
• 35:01
  Speaker 6: the court and impressed Messi Argentina had just rallied to win,
• 35:07
  Speaker 6: and they said, oh, you're doing it, and so's Messy
• 35:10
  Speaker 6: and Djokovic is like, yeah, I wish I could have
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: just played for his hour and a half, you know,
• 35:14
  Speaker 6: like he's you're alone for five hours.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah, difference, big difference.
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: Chris.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: You said earlier that you know, the All England Club
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: doesn't give you a list of dos and don'ts when
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: you're broadcasting. I'm wondering, are there any self imposed adjustments
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: you make to calling Wimbledon. You'd covered a number of
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: great events before you got your first opportunity to cover Wimbledon.
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: But it's different, right Did you make adjustments to take
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: that into account?
• 35:41
  Speaker 6: You know, I say the majors all have personalities, Like
• 35:44
  Speaker 6: there's a different personality for each big Tournament's Australia. It's
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: one of their big three sports, tennis, and it is
• 35:52
  Speaker 6: a party down there. The grounds are incredible. It would
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: be like putting the US Open in Central Park like
• 35:59
  Speaker 6: it's in that it's in a great yet everybody walks
• 36:02
  Speaker 6: there and you'll have I mean they have bands going on, concerts,
• 36:08
  Speaker 6: all sorts of stuff, and you'll find Australians who will say, oh,
• 36:11
  Speaker 6: I'm going to the tennis. They might never even watch
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: the match. That is just so the place you go.
• 36:17
  Speaker 6: And so it's like effectival and there's something just a
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: little looser and kind of chill about covering it there.
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: And then Paris was just so kind of posh, you know,
• 36:28
  Speaker 6: it is always it's cramped and Paris has its own thing,
• 36:35
  Speaker 6: and there's also just the coolest like a you know,
• 36:38
  Speaker 6: like with Paris in the US Open is you know
• 36:47
  Speaker 6: it's the place to be in New York, you know,
• 36:48
  Speaker 6: That's that's what New Yorkers were all about. It's very corporate,
• 36:52
  Speaker 6: it's very loud, you know, people talk all the way
• 36:54
  Speaker 6: through the match. But Wimbledon it's respectful, like there's a
• 36:59
  Speaker 6: respect and I just love the tradition and you kind
• 37:02
  Speaker 6: of everything like I kind of dress a little differently
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: at Wimbledon, you know, I mean you want to you know,
• 37:07
  Speaker 6: the women all wear like beautiful summer dresses, you know,
• 37:10
  Speaker 6: to wimbled in. Everybody's dressed very I mean beautifully. You
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: don't see people rolling in and like cut offs and stuff.
• 37:18
  Speaker 6: And I'm mindful of that. And you know, you sit
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: up a little straight or maybe.
• 37:23
  Speaker 2: All right, let's let's get you out of here on this.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: All right, In thirty years you're going to be asked,
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: what were your favorite Wimbledon matches? What do you imagine
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: the two or three right now? You think the two
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: or three matches that you can't imagine, not tell continuing
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: to tell people about thirty years from now that you okay.
• 37:42
  Speaker 6: The favorite ones I've covered or I've been therefore, let's
• 37:46
  Speaker 6: see I wasn't there, but I still I'll never forget.
• 37:49
  Speaker 6: Nadal said, oh wait, everybody right, Djokovic beating Federer twenty nineteen,
• 37:57
  Speaker 6: see two match points thirteen twelve in the face. Yes
• 38:00
  Speaker 6: he won, and that was Fetter's like, that was that
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: was it? That was his last title to win, you know,
• 38:07
  Speaker 6: and and he did it. That was unbelievable, unbelievable. We
• 38:12
  Speaker 6: were in the studio watching on the monitors because you
• 38:15
  Speaker 6: never knew like when it was going to end, and
• 38:19
  Speaker 6: we were screaming, I mean screaming.
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: Like Patrick's not here. Does this officially mean that Borg
• 38:24
  Speaker 2: McEnroe is third probably now in the all time war?
• 38:27
  Speaker 6: No, no, no, I think meant just the ones I've seen,
• 38:30
  Speaker 6: the nineteen eighty Borg McEnroe and the Fed Nadal oh eight.
• 38:35
  Speaker 6: You know, Fed says the eighty Borg McEnroe is the
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: best match ever at Wimblin. Now, maybe super polite because
• 38:41
  Speaker 6: he would say for himly, right, but yeah, those two
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: incredible and then let's see, you know what twenty twenty four,
• 38:50
  Speaker 6: the longest women's semi final, Jasmine Paulini beat Donna Veckich
• 38:55
  Speaker 6: in the semifinals, longest women's semifinal ever ten eight. And
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: that was incredible that they were both great stories and yeah,
• 39:04
  Speaker 6: that was pretty that was pretty awesome. Yeah, okay, they're the.
• 39:09
  Speaker 4: Ones very good.
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, of course we want to thank you one more,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: Oh please, alcar one.
• 39:16
  Speaker 6: More because it's a torch and you you talked about
• 39:19
  Speaker 6: this with dynasties like the torch passing. When Alkaaz beat
• 39:23
  Speaker 6: Djokovic in twenty three. That was that was.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: A big moment, and you could tell it was an
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: athletic defeat. It wasn't like you were like Djokovic is
• 39:34
  Speaker 2: never going to be able to catch him if he.
• 39:36
  Speaker 6: Could tell they, you know, to go. They had an
• 39:39
  Speaker 6: almost a half hour long game in the third set,
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: like it just left him gassed. And and right then
• 39:45
  Speaker 6: when he came off the court, I had a quick
• 39:47
  Speaker 6: interview with Akaraz and I said, you know, are are
• 39:51
  Speaker 6: you ready to be one of the big boys? And
• 39:53
  Speaker 6: he's like I am, like he was so he knew it.
• 39:57
  Speaker 6: So that was that was a really special, cool moment.
• 40:01
  Speaker 4: So I got guys, Chris, thanks so much.
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: We want to thank you for sharing your memories and
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: your insight with us and helping to expand on our
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: coverage of Wimbledon on Dynastic.
• 40:11
  Speaker 4: Thanks so much, Chris.
• 40:12
  Speaker 6: Thank you, Chris.
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: Well dam and in some ways, uh, I think this
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: the most surprising thing in our interview was and what
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: I assumed was that there was protocol that they had
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: to follow. And I'm sort of glad to know that
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: there's no special protocol, that there's not like the Wimbledon
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: censors standing over them. It's the championships, don't say this.
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: And all that was that was that was nice to know.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: All England lawn tennis and croquet club not as stuffy
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: as you might think.
• 40:45
  Speaker 4: Who to believed that I.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: Was interested too, And you know, it was great here
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: and Chris share her her great matches, her list, you know,
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: not the overall comprehensive best ever, this is stuff that
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: she remembered. And when she talked about that, there was
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: a thirty minute game between I mean Djokovic and Alkaaz
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: that she mentioned that it reminded me of my first one.
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: Will then in that the ninety five women's final between
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Stefanie Graff and ro Sanchez Baccario, and in the eleventh
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: game of the third set, there's this twenty minute games,
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: this epic back and forth, and you realize that, all right,
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: whoever wins.
• 41:20
  Speaker 4: This game is going to win the match.
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: Like you can tell, there was so much hinging on
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: it and there'd be such a letdown for whoever lost.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: And of course that went on to be the case
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: grap one and she won the won the match and
• 41:33
  Speaker 1: won the Wimbledon title. And I remember at one point
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: Roch Sanchez like even grabbed the winner's plate because she
• 41:39
  Speaker 1: felt like she was entitled to it. It's such a
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: great match and it really felt like a step forward
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: for women's tennis and the other matches that stand.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: Up and it was Fanish tennis then, right, and yeah,
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: I just look, I want to confess something, and I
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: say this, it'll sound like a confession. I just I
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: can't believe how much more I enjoyed Wimbledon this year
• 41:59
  Speaker 2: after doing all but research. You we did our episode.
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: We you know, obviously we did it before the tournament started,
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: and then and then literally it happened, and it was
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: I've always enjoyed Wimbledon. I was so dialed in, and
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: I'll admit particularly for the Serena matches, uh Sbreena match
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: in particular, the one and like was like excruciating with
• 42:22
  Speaker 2: all of it, you know, you know, just just pulling
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: for in so many ways and also feeling sorry for
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: the person she was facing because it was one of
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: those where nobody wanted her to succeed and he had
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: at the same time.
• 42:34
  Speaker 4: You know this dream that you get from.
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: You Yeah, but I just felt, uh it is it's
• 42:44
  Speaker 2: just a reminder the more you know about something, the
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: more you get to enjoy it.
• 42:47
  Speaker 4: And you know audience as well.
• 42:50
  Speaker 2: That's the way I was just gonna say, like, this
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: is why we're doing this. We want you to enjoy
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: these things more. And you just enjoy them more the
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: more you know, and and and again. I don't mean
• 43:00
  Speaker 2: to sound a little sappy about it or even self promotional,
• 43:03
  Speaker 2: but I just it, really it just I I watched
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: it differently. I saw more details differently. I was looking
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: at the ball boys and ball girls at times. I
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: was looking at the different visuals that you could see
• 43:18
  Speaker 2: the clocks, and I I just it it, uh it
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: just I I hope others can get get get out
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: of it.
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: When I got out of it the Royal Box, it
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: seemed like they showed Ben Stiller a lot of the
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: Royal Box. Big year for Ben Stiller. His Nicks won
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: the NBA Championship. Oh and he's also seating in lots
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: of airtime at Wimbledon.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: Oh please, he got the prime I've seen the Odyssey JA.
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: He also got the prime trailer for the Foxers coming
• 43:45
  Speaker 2: in Thanksgiving with the trailer, which you know, so uh yeah,
• 43:50
  Speaker 2: he's having a pretty good year.
• 43:51
  Speaker 7: I would say, Ben Stiller all.
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: Right, We'll wrap up today's episode hearing from the audience
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: with the fan mail segment. The first question comes from
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: Troy in Vienna, Virginia says, I love your podcast, so
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: probably only covered professional sports. Are we ever going to
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: profile the college sports teams such as Notre Dame football
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: or Kentucky basketball?
• 44:11
  Speaker 4: Shuck boy, how.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: Self serving and set up is this? We are our
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: next episode and we probably should have put this at
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: the end of our mailback, right, but our next episode
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: is going to be Alabama football.
• 44:24
  Speaker 4: So close.
• 44:26
  Speaker 2: We're not there Notre Dame yet, we'll get there. Notre
• 44:28
  Speaker 2: Dame's coming.
• 44:28
  Speaker 7: Sooner rather than later. Don't get us wrong, but.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: Alabama football is what we're going to tackle in the
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: month of August, and it is It is truly remarkable
• 44:41
  Speaker 2: that really there are only two college football powers, where
• 44:45
  Speaker 2: you could say there are different eras, and in some
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: ways there might Alabama might be the only one, right,
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: even Notre Dame had one great run and then they've.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Just been you know, I means rockety Parsigion, no doubt,
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: but they titled not by Bryant Nick Saban.
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think any of us thought anybody
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: could surpass Bear Bryant and Nick Saban did it at
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: a time ja when everybody would have told you you
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: can't build dynasties like Bear Bryant did back in the
• 45:17
  Speaker 2: fifties and sixties.
• 45:18
  Speaker 7: And the answer is, Oh, yes, you can't.
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: And a little teaser for you, Chuck there there is
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: a a Chuck Todd specific or specific interest to Chuck
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: Todd link between Saban and bear Bryant that I've discovered
• 45:34
  Speaker 1: in the research.
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: So we'll hold that off.
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: I can't I can't wait till where you're going. Where
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: you're going with that. That's gonna be a lot of
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: fun that that that I look forward to.
• 45:43
  Speaker 3: That.
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: All right, let's go with Vince only out at New York.
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: And in some ways I think Patrick and Chris kind
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: of gave at least some answer to this following question.
• 45:54
  Speaker 2: But it's a good one. Vince writes, I'm fascinated by
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: how relatively small countries produce large numbers of tennis champions
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: relative to countries with large populations like the US and Russia.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: For example, the US is nearly seven times the population
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: of Spain, yet Spain produces many of the best players
• 46:09
  Speaker 2: in the world, especially on the men's side with Nadal
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: and Alcoraz. What do you too think of the explanation
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: for that? I have to tell you, Jay, I thought,
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: you know Patrick's explanation. Who knows this. He's not just
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: guessing here, right, He's run the US side of things.
• 46:25
  Speaker 2: You know, basically other countries have middle and working class
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: kids participating in ours really don't as much.
• 46:31
  Speaker 4: I mean that wrong true with me.
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and tennis, the scene is the path to fame
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: and fortune in a way that it isn't in the
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: United States, for example, four people who are looking to
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: elevate their status right or to escape from their circumstances.
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: You know, I think it's similar, like like there is
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: that one area north of Paris that's responsible for a
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: very disproportionate amount of the world's great soccer players, uh
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: Tierryan Reed. There's a clip of him actually talking about it.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: You know, just what growing up in that area men,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: and how tough you had to be. You know, like
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: we don't think of soccer as you know, a tough
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: guy sport, but like you had to be a tough
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: guy there to to play and and so I think
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: there's the same thing for you know, Eastern Europe certainly
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: for for women's tennis players.
• 47:19
  Speaker 4: Right that you know how many great tend you talked
• 47:22
  Speaker 4: about Martina, what you learned the name right?
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: Right, you were talking about Martina. Why did she choose tennis?
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: Right? It was a way out right right?
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: And and again, uh, in America, there's more of an
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: emphasis on team sports. In the old Soviet Union, as
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: we talked about, there's more an emphasis on team sports.
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: So certain countries, uh, that you don't have or or
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: you have the opportunities in individual sports and individual opportunities.
• 47:48
  Speaker 1: And that's some of the explanation. It's probably you know,
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: you can write whole books on it, but.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: It s looks I mean, but it's I think about
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: I grew up just sort of you know, I grew
• 48:01
  Speaker 2: up in an apartment building before we got to a
• 48:03
  Speaker 2: regular house as a kid, and you know, there were
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: some tennis courts, but they weren't super available to the
• 48:12
  Speaker 2: you know, but there were always tennis courts available at
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: country clubs.
• 48:15
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: It is one of these things that feels as tennis
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: feels in our country is a status symbol. I don't
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: feel like it's as much of a status symbol in other.
• 48:24
  Speaker 4: Countries, right, More accessible for sure. Yeah.
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: Next question Jane from Morristown, New Jersey. She says, I
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: understand why people love Wimbledon given the history and traditions,
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: but in terms of excitement and watchability, I think the
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: US Open is by far the better tournament with the
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: raucous crowds, night matches and hardcore power tennis. How do
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: you see the two tournaments, Chuck.
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: Look, I want you to tackle this first. I've got
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: a perception, but you've been to both, You've covered both,
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: so how would you assess that comparison?
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: From Jane Man, the US Open is just kind of
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: draining and overwhelming, you know, both covering it from immediate
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: perspective as I did in the nineties and early two thousands,
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: and I just went back a couple of years ago
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: just as a fan. Expensive, but just you know, from
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: the moment you get there, it's it's it's a long
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: line getting in and then you know you're being sold
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: stuff and pitch stuff. Just the experience as a as
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: a spectator, it's just challenging, right.
• 49:26
  Speaker 4: Where whereas Wilcome, Wimbledon is more.
• 49:31
  Speaker 1: Serene might be the word I would use as opposed
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: to to the US Open.
• 49:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, the US Open is more exciting.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: There's a drama those those lately you know, you think
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: of like some of those late night Jimmy Connors matches
• 49:43
  Speaker 1: where he's going crazy and it's like one in the
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: morning Eastern time.
• 49:46
  Speaker 4: Yeah, you know that that's New York.
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: It's just not as reverential, right you revered. It's funny
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: she used the word rockets. I think we use the
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: word rockets when talking about like that. That's a different thing.
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: If you like your tennis rocket, yeah, and the US
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: Open is for you. But tennis just isn't a rack
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: aus sport. It's kind of like the US Open is
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: like the sixteenth hole in Scottsdale and golf.
• 50:09
  Speaker 4: Yes, I thought, kind of.
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like the antithesis of the rest of the
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: of the tour and the circuit that that's that's kind
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: of the US Open in tennis.
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: I loved Chris's answer about the four majors, right, and
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: how they all have their own personalities. And I had
• 50:27
  Speaker 2: knew this about the Australian Open, but to hear describe
• 50:30
  Speaker 2: it was like it may be even a bigger reminder.
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: We have no idea what the.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: Australian Open means to Australians. We may not care, but
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: you know who cares. Australians care, right, you know. And
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: the fact that it's such a huge event. I will
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: just say as a consumer and viewer that there is
• 50:51
  Speaker 2: something electric about those nighttime matches at the US Open.
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: I get the sense Wimbledon has been that the beauty
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: of closing having a roof now is I got the
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: sense that Wimbledon would like to have some night wouldn't
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: mind having night matches, wouldn't mind having like that. They've
• 51:10
  Speaker 2: gotten more, they see what it gets to Patrick's observation,
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: unique observation that Wimbledon waits to see how other tournaments
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: and when they see something stick, okay, maybe we should
• 51:22
  Speaker 2: adopt this too. And I get the sense Wimbledon sees
• 51:27
  Speaker 2: what the US Opened. The one magical thing the US
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: Open has that the rest don't is that nighttime excitement feel.
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: And it seems to me Wimbledon wants a piece of
• 51:35
  Speaker 2: that action too.
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: No, I might be in the minority in this. I
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: prefer daytime sporting events. I like, maybe it's the California
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: that's somebody that's on deadline. Please, I know, yes, the
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: journalist appreciates. Yeah, it's funny just things like you know, we.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: Like, you know, I like political conventions on the West
• 51:56
  Speaker 2: coast because I knew it was on East Coast time.
• 51:59
  Speaker 1: So yeah, you can actually have like a functional you know,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: you can maybe go out and do something after the
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: speeches are done. But I just like, yeah, not only
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: for the deadline. I don't know, I just like the
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: backdrop of daytime. It's funny. One of my memories that
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: that famous game seven Lakers Portland in two thousand, Lakers
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: had a big fourth quarter comeback that was a daytime start.
• 52:21
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 52:21
  Speaker 1: That was the NBC Sunday afternoon game. And one thing
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: I'll always remember is on the on the side where
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: the Lakers are going in the second half, there was
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: like a curtain that was open and there was a
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: little bit of daylight coming through, and I like that.
• 52:35
  Speaker 4: I like, if you have.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: Ever covered a game in fog Allen Field House in Kansas,
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: they have windows up at the top and for a
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: day game, you get some sunlight coming in, and I
• 52:46
  Speaker 1: don't know, I just like sunlight.
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: I like the fact said Jerry Jones, doesn't Jerry Jones
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: have to find curtains now for that problem, right, isn't
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: that was it?
• 52:54
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Well that was that was poor design.
• 52:56
  Speaker 1: You know, It's one thing to try to return a
• 52:58
  Speaker 1: punt see in the sun. But I don't know, I
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: like the fact that Wimbledon still settles in Well.
• 53:05
  Speaker 2: Let me ask you this. The athlete list.
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: Is it at night?
• 53:08
  Speaker 2: Maybe that's a good way to close this out, this
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: segment out. What do the athletes prefer? Because I would
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: imagine that the athletes want to play sooner they don't
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: have to wait.
• 53:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, are they athletes are nocturnal?
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: You know, I think they're wired to kind of be
• 53:29
  Speaker 1: at their best at ten o'clock at night, right, so,
• 53:33
  Speaker 1: you know, as as sports became and and the reason
• 53:37
  Speaker 1: I don't like nighttime so much is that it's a
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: television function, right, Like the reason games start at night,
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: the reason so many Cubs games even start at night,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: which feels blasphemous, is because you know, the television revenue
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: is greater obviously, So so I like I prefer the
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: natural sunlight. I like the natural grass outdoors of Wimbledon.
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: As we wrap that up, but I think the athletes
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: would rather play at night. You talk the way, you know,
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: they talked about a lot that when the US opened
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: the charge. They get played on those night crowds.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: It's funny what you said about Wrigley, and I think
• 54:09
  Speaker 2: about Notre Dame. We just had a question about Notre
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: Dame and how recent it actually is that Notre Dame
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: a lot brought in lights in order to play night games,
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: and how rare that was. Michigan, right, football didn't play
• 54:20
  Speaker 2: night games forever, and even now I think they're still
• 54:23
  Speaker 2: like they rent lights in order to have the occasional
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: primetime game there at that stadium. And I remember trying
• 54:30
  Speaker 2: to explain that to my nineteen year old son, how
• 54:33
  Speaker 2: you you need and it's like nobody cares about that anymore.
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: You know, we lost a whole generation doesn't realize how
• 54:38
  Speaker 2: special this this actually is.
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: We didn't even get. I think we had a later
• 54:41
  Speaker 1: starting Rose Bowl even this year. There was nothing better
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: than that start time that daytimes start at the Rose
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: Bowl and then the fourth quarter of the sunsets so
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: it finishes. Gabriel Layah, it was perfect narrating that.
• 54:58
  Speaker 7: Yeah, anyway, that's for sure.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: One more question from day from one more question, Yes, yes,
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: I'll do that's right.
• 55:07
  Speaker 2: Dave from Sherman Oaks California. Hey, I read a lot
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: of sports books and was wondering what your favorite non
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: fiction books are for each four. I got two ready
• 55:18
  Speaker 2: answers right away, one for baseball and one for basketball.
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know about you. What what what? What is?
• 55:26
  Speaker 4: What do you have? Quickly? When it jumps to my mind?
• 55:30
  Speaker 4: Is the Breaks of the Game? Right?
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: Okay, Harber Stam season with the Borland Trailblazers and the
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: Night's late seventies.
• 55:36
  Speaker 2: Oh my god, apparently we're going to use the same author,
• 55:39
  Speaker 2: just different sports. I'm a Halbert Stam October sixty four,
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: which I think is the easily my favorite baseball book,
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: which is all about the Yankees Cardinals seven game series.
• 55:49
  Speaker 2: It's it's but it's not. It's about the seven game
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: series for the Yankees and Cardinals, and it's also about
• 55:57
  Speaker 2: the Civil Rights era, and it's also about integration, and
• 56:00
  Speaker 2: it's also about Mickey Mantel's Last World Series. Right, Like,
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: there's so much in that book. I remember just feeling
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: like you can feel.
• 56:09
  Speaker 7: The weight of history just reading that book.
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: So it's funny. I guess do we have to pick
• 56:15
  Speaker 2: books stop written by David Halberstat.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: We could, I'll pick a tennis one Hard Courts by
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: John Finstein. It's a year following, you know, really focusing
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: on the majors in the world of tennis. I guess
• 56:29
  Speaker 1: it was I guess it was done in the nineties,
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: I think, but Hard Courts John Finstein.
• 56:36
  Speaker 2: I will throw a basketball one that I just absolutely love,
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: loose Balls. It's the Oral History of the ABA Terry Pluto.
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: Terry Pluto's got a couple of You could just read
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: all of Terry Pluto's library and you wouldn't be disappointed.
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: But the history of the oral history of the ABA,
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: and it's got voices in it, like Bob Costas, right,
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: and it's got like just some incredible players, Billy Cunningham
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: and Larry Brown.
• 57:06
  Speaker 4: There's some incredible names.
• 57:07
  Speaker 2: Of that era who were who who became big deals
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: in the NBA, but were a big part of telling
• 57:14
  Speaker 2: those stories of the ABA.
• 57:15
  Speaker 4: It is laugh out loud.
• 57:17
  Speaker 2: Funny at times, it is tragic. It is everything that
• 57:20
  Speaker 2: you want out of a sports book, and it's and
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: you also hapen to learn a lot about the business
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: of professional basketball.
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: And I'll give a shout out to my guy, Chris
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: Herring's book on the nineties Nicks Blood in the Garden,
• 57:31
  Speaker 1: which hopefully got a nice little boost with all those
• 57:34
  Speaker 1: nineties Knicks making appearances during this Knicks championship run in
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty six. But you know, I covered some of
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: those Knicks Bulls playoff series and the Knicks Finals in
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: ninety four, and Chris had stuff in the book that
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: I didn't know, and I covered those series and here was,
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: you know, decades later, I'm discovering things that I didn't
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: know about that. So, if your Knicks fandom has been
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: rejuvenated by this championship run or you're interested in Nick
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: has been peaked Blood in the Garden by Chris.
• 58:03
  Speaker 2: Harry and I, look, we owe you a football book.
• 58:06
  Speaker 2: And I'm just going to do a shout out to
• 58:07
  Speaker 2: a book that I read for our Steelers episode. I
• 58:10
  Speaker 2: think Dan Rooney's book is as much of a history
• 58:14
  Speaker 2: of the NFL as it is at the Pittsburgh Steelers,
• 58:17
  Speaker 2: and I didn't fully appreciate that until I read the
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: book soon.
• 58:21
  Speaker 4: So yes, read.
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: I Mean, one of the things I really liked about
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: this podcast is it is you could say force, but
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: you could also say it's given me the opportunity to
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: read these books that we do for the episodes, and
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: it's been so enlightening. And you know, Chuck, like I said,
• 58:36
  Speaker 1: I went and got a library card and I was like,
• 58:38
  Speaker 1: you know what, I'm not going to download these books
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: on any digital format. I'm going to go to the
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: library and check out these books and read them. So
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: this book has kind of helped refoster my love of
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: reading as well, reading in the paper format for which
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: they were intended.
• 58:52
  Speaker 4: Right, absolutely, shout out the Cuttenberg. There you go.
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, as Ai gobbles up his entire legacy.
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: All right, Before we say goodbye, we want to thank
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: Steve Hole, our partner and executive producer, Andrew Sampson, the
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: head of programming our production, Showboat Media, Kevin Kennedy, our producer,
• 59:11
  Speaker 1: and Meredithioli, our researcher. And by the way, congratulations are
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: in order for Meredith and her husband Mike on the
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: birth of their daughter.
• 59:19
  Speaker 4: Let's see.
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: Very nice, so exciting there. Please send us your questions
• 59:23
  Speaker 2: on future episodes through our social media channels at Dynastic
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: Pod or through our YouTube channel, and follow us on
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: social media at Dynastic Pod all over the place wherever
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: you get your socials, Instagram, acts, etc. Like and review us,
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: like and subscribe on our YouTube channel and wherever you
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: listen to the podcast. We'd love that five star review
• 59:42
  Speaker 2: bringing on in for us there, and thank you for
• 59:45
  Speaker 2: listening to and watching Dynastic.
• 59:47
  Speaker 4: We will see you next.
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: Time when we make our first for way as promised
• 59:50
  Speaker 2: into college sports by profiling perhaps the most dynastic college
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: football program in history. Sorry, Notre Dame, it is the
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: Alabama Grimson Tide.
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 4: Roll Tide,