Latest / The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast / Talking Michael Jordan with Wright Thompson & Danny Parkins

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Talking Michael Jordan with Wright Thompson & Danny Parkins · The Favorites Sports Betting Podcast

0:09
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Favorites, the podcast from the Action Network.
0:13
Speaker 1: Iam Chad Nolman, Chief Content Officer of the Action Network,
0:16
Speaker 1: a very special podcast today. Later on in the show,
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Speaker 1: We're gonna bring in Danny Parkins, co host of McNeil
0:24
Speaker 1: and Parkins, The Afternoon Show in Chicago on six seventy
0:27
Speaker 1: to score. He was also a co host of You
0:30
Speaker 1: Better You Bet, of betting focused show on Radio dot Com,
0:35
Speaker 1: which I appeared on during the NFL postseason. More importantly,
0:38
Speaker 1: Danny is doing one of the best things anyone with
0:41
Speaker 1: a platform can do, raising money on his own for
0:45
Speaker 1: victims of COVID, people who are out of work, people
0:48
Speaker 1: struggling to feed themselves, their families recovering. Uh, it's ridiculously
0:52
Speaker 1: easy what he's doing. We should all be taking part.
0:55
Speaker 1: He also happens to be master Chicago sports fans. There
0:59
Speaker 1: but first. This week, ESPN is launching its massive documentary
1:02
Speaker 1: series about Michael My guest right now, right Thompson, ESPNS
1:08
Speaker 1: Award winning Senior Writer. Seven years ago, you wrote a
1:12
Speaker 1: story about Michael Jordan's turning fifty. It doesn't seem like
1:14
Speaker 1: it was that long. It doesn't. You were my boss,
1:18
Speaker 1: then you weren't the chief content officer of the Action Networks.
1:21
Speaker 1: It's a long time ago. I was your boss then,
1:23
Speaker 1: And here's how good I was at being your boss
1:25
Speaker 1: and identifying stories back then. Your story came in late
1:29
Speaker 1: in the closed cycle of a magazine, and we had
1:32
Speaker 1: no idea when it was coming in. We had no
1:34
Speaker 1: idea it was going to be a good So we
1:36
Speaker 1: had budgeted two pages for the story, and we figured,
1:40
Speaker 1: like if it came in like at the last second,
1:43
Speaker 1: we tried to cobble together, you know, something that could
1:47
Speaker 1: be sort of an excerpt of what was going to
1:48
Speaker 1: run on ESPN dot com. The story came in I
1:51
Speaker 1: think on like a Thursday of Friday, maybe maybe on
1:53
Speaker 1: a on a Wednesday. We closed the magazine on a Friday,
1:56
Speaker 1: and Rob King, who was my boss, sent me the
1:58
Speaker 1: story and said you how to run this whole thing.
2:01
Speaker 1: And I was like pissing and moaning, and I was irritated,
2:04
Speaker 1: and I'm like, I don't want to run this whole thing.
2:07
Speaker 1: We got to find ten pages. It's not easy to
2:09
Speaker 1: find ten pages in the magazine. And then I read
2:11
Speaker 1: the story and I was like, funk, we gotta run
2:13
Speaker 1: this whole thing. I love to do that to you.
2:15
Speaker 1: That was That's the best part for me still is
2:18
Speaker 1: sucking you over, like like, yeah, that's way better than
2:21
Speaker 1: the accolades, etcetera. Yeah, well, that story ended up getting
2:24
Speaker 1: nominated for a National Magazine Award. Yeah, and we were
2:28
Speaker 1: all we all thought I was gonna win. So a
2:29
Speaker 1: bunch of people came to a victory party and then
2:32
Speaker 1: I lost and had to go to the victor. You
2:34
Speaker 1: were there. That was hilarious. You lost, and I will
2:37
Speaker 1: tell you that it was like it was like a
2:39
Speaker 1: very sort of Algonquin type round table of superstar writers
2:44
Speaker 1: of that era which continues to be this era. But
2:47
Speaker 1: you were there. Chris Jones, who's won National Magazine Awards,
2:51
Speaker 1: was there. I think Seth Wackersham was there. But there
2:54
Speaker 1: was also like and I won't name him one do
2:57
Speaker 1: she writer who was super precious and self important who
3:01
Speaker 1: while we're all sort of going around toasting, we were
3:03
Speaker 1: at p J. Clarks And it was a late, ugly night.
3:06
Speaker 1: We were at p J Clarkson like fifty four and
3:09
Speaker 1: third in Manhattan, and uh, this guy raises his glass
3:14
Speaker 1: and toasts Gary Smith, right, who I loved and Gary
3:19
Speaker 1: Smith is amazing, but like, really, we're gonna toast Gary Smith,
3:22
Speaker 1: who works at a different magazine, who is a writer
3:26
Speaker 1: who's twenty years older than all of us and has
3:28
Speaker 1: nothing to do with the event, if you want, like
3:31
Speaker 1: real funny like. So the next night was the James
3:34
Speaker 1: Beard Awards and my friend John Currents was thought he
3:38
Speaker 1: was going to win the Cookbook Award, and so I
3:41
Speaker 1: went with him that night to the dinner and I
3:44
Speaker 1: was just like, you know, plus one, like I went
3:46
Speaker 1: and started drinking early, and uh, his award went first.
3:50
Speaker 1: He lost, and he thought he was gonna win. So
3:52
Speaker 1: we were both losers. So we both really got into it.
3:55
Speaker 1: And then I realized at some point that they were
3:57
Speaker 1: going to give an award to Elis Saslow, who's my
3:59
Speaker 1: could friend, you know, Ela and wrote for us for
4:02
Speaker 1: a long time, and uh, he was gonna win an award,
4:05
Speaker 1: and I knew that he wasn't there, so I texted
4:07
Speaker 1: him and I'm like, Heyla, I'm gonna go get your award,
4:10
Speaker 1: and he was laughing and was like, sure, go for it.
4:12
Speaker 1: So there were people from the Washington Post there. They
4:14
Speaker 1: called his name, you know, and they're getting ready to
4:17
Speaker 1: go get it. But I was closer to the stage.
4:18
Speaker 1: I went up Martha Stewart's there, you know, I get
4:21
Speaker 1: Eli's metal and give a speech in which I say,
4:24
Speaker 1: you know, it's just really an honor to even be
4:26
Speaker 1: nominated for the same award as the great John Currents
4:29
Speaker 1: and waved at him in my table and we're ripped shit, like, yeah,
4:32
Speaker 1: I know that happened. That was the next night. You've
4:34
Speaker 1: never told me that story. And then I wore the
4:37
Speaker 1: medal all over New York City. I go into we
4:39
Speaker 1: went into grammar Cy Park Tavernoik, how are you doing, chef?
4:41
Speaker 1: You know, I'm wearing at James Beard medal like I wanted,
4:43
Speaker 1: Oh my god, that is classic. How did you get
4:46
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's too agree to do this story? I asked
4:51
Speaker 1: him for a long time. I mean, I know that
4:53
Speaker 1: sounds crazy, but like I started eighteen months before. I
4:56
Speaker 1: remember sort of when I thought it got serious. It
4:59
Speaker 1: was like a year before I before I sat down
5:01
Speaker 1: with him. I was in Scotland with Tim Horgan doing
5:05
Speaker 1: those videos for the when we used to broadcast the
5:07
Speaker 1: Open Championship. So I was in a car on the
5:10
Speaker 1: phone with Jordan's people and I did that call and
5:13
Speaker 1: I hung up and I was like, well, that's that's
5:15
Speaker 1: the end of that. That's never gonna happen. And then uh,
5:18
Speaker 1: oh it worked out. Things work out because I don't
5:21
Speaker 1: know if you remember this, but we were doing the
5:22
Speaker 1: one Day one game issue uh and it was l
5:26
Speaker 1: s U Alabama at l s U, and I had
5:28
Speaker 1: a really good relationship with all of those people. So
5:32
Speaker 1: I was sort of the point person for us with
5:34
Speaker 1: l s U and was writing that story unless for
5:37
Speaker 1: the issue less Miles and Jordan called and asked if
5:41
Speaker 1: I could be in Charlotte that like that Saturday, and
5:45
Speaker 1: I was like, I can't, Like I'm in Baton Rouge
5:47
Speaker 1: and you know a lot of people are can't, like
5:49
Speaker 1: I can't miss this, and so I said no, and
5:53
Speaker 1: then I thought that was really it. So when they
5:55
Speaker 1: came back around, I was surprised and excited and it
5:57
Speaker 1: turned out to make this it made the story or
6:00
Speaker 1: because it was just random luck that I was with
6:03
Speaker 1: him the day after he moved away from Chicago. So
6:05
Speaker 1: many of those things come from rushing back, right, Like, hey,
6:08
Speaker 1: I totally remember the LSU Alabama One Day one game
6:11
Speaker 1: because it's still the single greatest sporting event I've ever
6:14
Speaker 1: been to. In fact, I'm recording this in my office
6:17
Speaker 1: in West Hartford, and I can see the credential for
6:20
Speaker 1: the l s U Alabama one Day one game hanging
6:23
Speaker 1: on my wall. Number one, number two. The Jordan's Story, Like,
6:27
Speaker 1: I can't wait for this documentary, and I've heard it's amazing.
6:29
Speaker 1: I've heard like it's just rip roaring, awesome and full
6:33
Speaker 1: of candy. And if you are someone who grew up
6:35
Speaker 1: loving Jordans, and the thing about him was his competitiveness, right,
6:39
Speaker 1: Like more than anything, what I loved about him was
6:44
Speaker 1: his pure drive and like the way he balanced being
6:47
Speaker 1: competitive with also seeming to be while he was playing
6:51
Speaker 1: a lovable, handsome, adorable guy. And of course in the
6:55
Speaker 1: story he seems miserable, like a really miserable dude. And
7:01
Speaker 1: throughout his career after the after the NBA, he is
7:05
Speaker 1: more and more seemed like a dude who was really
7:07
Speaker 1: kind of bitter and full of rage. And that's what
7:10
Speaker 1: you captured in the story, and that's not what he
7:12
Speaker 1: was like when he was playing. It's interesting to the
7:14
Speaker 1: degree to which that he has moved through the stages
7:17
Speaker 1: of brief on all that. I mean, I went back
7:19
Speaker 1: to see him a couple of years later for that
7:21
Speaker 1: Tiger Wood story that you and I did, and you
7:24
Speaker 1: could tell that like some stuff was getting put to
7:27
Speaker 1: bed then, and you know, I imagine that. I feel
7:32
Speaker 1: like the fact that this documentary exists is a step
7:35
Speaker 1: on the way to self awareness and realization. Like I
7:38
Speaker 1: don't know, I mean, he's a guy like any of us,
7:41
Speaker 1: working out his stuff. The quote that really hit home
7:44
Speaker 1: for me, and it's the second thing he says in
7:46
Speaker 1: the story. I reread the story over the weekend. The
7:48
Speaker 1: second thing he says in the story, it's especially a
7:50
Speaker 1: resident now. He says, I always thought I'd die young.
7:55
Speaker 1: This is on the eve of his fiftieth birthday, and
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Speaker 1: I immediately thought of Kobe, and I feel like in
8:03
Speaker 1: this space since Kobe was killed in that helicopter crash, Kobe,
8:08
Speaker 1: the way he was perceived during his career was nothing
8:12
Speaker 1: like Jordan, Like he was perceived as sort of super
8:15
Speaker 1: competitive but also kind of mean about it, whereas Jordan,
8:19
Speaker 1: where was perceived as uper competitive. He was mean, but
8:23
Speaker 1: outside of the core, he seemed like someone you know,
8:26
Speaker 1: he would be like Mike, right, there was nobody who
8:28
Speaker 1: was trying to be like Kobe. And after his career,
8:33
Speaker 1: Kobe found a way to connect with people and become
8:35
Speaker 1: warm and be real, and people started to appreciate his
8:39
Speaker 1: approach to perfection in a way that Jordan was never
8:41
Speaker 1: able to do. And that to me, all of a
8:43
Speaker 1: sudden in Jordan's is giving the eulogy, and I think
8:46
Speaker 1: that's what made sort of his eulogy and the moment
8:49
Speaker 1: when he sort of helped Vanessa Briant off the stage
8:52
Speaker 1: so much more poignant because it showed a side of
8:54
Speaker 1: him that people had not been able to see for
8:56
Speaker 1: twenty years. And also, I mean, there is an entire
9:00
Speaker 1: or other sort of story to be done book ended
9:02
Speaker 1: by speeches, you know, the Hall of Fame speech and
9:05
Speaker 1: then his eulogy for Kobe, And if you just watch
9:08
Speaker 1: those back to back, you can watch someone deal with
9:12
Speaker 1: the cost of being themselves. Like that is a different
9:15
Speaker 1: person on stage at the Staples Center than it was
9:18
Speaker 1: at the Hall of Fame induction. I mean, like, it's
9:22
Speaker 1: a really interesting thing when we get off the phone,
9:24
Speaker 1: go watch those things back to back, because that's not
9:27
Speaker 1: the same guy. Really interesting to watch those things consecutive. Well,
9:31
Speaker 1: I thought it was interesting in the story you know,
9:33
Speaker 1: you wrote about the speech and a lot of sort
9:35
Speaker 1: of the bitterness and rage that people took away from
9:39
Speaker 1: that speech. The people closest to him, I didn't think
9:43
Speaker 1: that's who he was at all. Like they thought, Oh,
9:46
Speaker 1: that's just Michael, sort of in a caustic Michael way,
9:50
Speaker 1: talking about his career. Well, the problem is that he, Michael,
9:55
Speaker 1: is one of the people who likes to dish it
9:57
Speaker 1: but can take it. And so if every one of
10:00
Speaker 1: those people he banged on in that speech had sort
10:02
Speaker 1: of chirped back at him, he would have thought it
10:04
Speaker 1: was funny. It just the cameras were only pointed at him,
10:08
Speaker 1: and so, you know, it was interesting because it was
10:11
Speaker 1: an unbelievably authentic moment, but because of the nature of it,
10:16
Speaker 1: you were never allowed to see sort of what would
10:18
Speaker 1: be happening if there wasn't a ballroom and a microphone
10:21
Speaker 1: and a podium and a bunch of cameras. How did
10:23
Speaker 1: you figure that out? When you were reporting this story?
10:25
Speaker 1: Did you did he rip you? And did you ever
10:28
Speaker 1: ripped him back? Yeah? Well it's interesting. No, I mean
10:31
Speaker 1: we just sat around and watching watching sports, and he
10:33
Speaker 1: was like we were just talking about sports like people
10:35
Speaker 1: do I mean it was interesting like that. It quickly
10:38
Speaker 1: sort of wore off that he was Michael Jordan's. You know,
10:41
Speaker 1: I mean that happens, you've done it. Yeah, but it's
10:44
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan. It's different. Yeah, but yeah, but you know
10:48
Speaker 1: what I mean, it isn't It isn't. I mean it.
10:52
Speaker 1: I was there with a notebook, I was there doing
10:54
Speaker 1: a thing. It really you know, I mean I was
10:56
Speaker 1: really focused. It's sort of the fact it was Michael Jordan's.
11:00
Speaker 1: We're off very quickly, and the most resonant idea was
11:02
Speaker 1: I cannot get back on this airplane having shipped the
11:05
Speaker 1: bed on this It wouldn't matter to me because I
11:07
Speaker 1: only have two pages to fill anyways. Yeah, that's fine,
11:13
Speaker 1: wet wet. We could get a shirtless University of Miami receiver.
11:16
Speaker 1: It could have filled both up them that way. That
11:21
Speaker 1: was a classic Belsky move. But yeah, you're referring to
11:26
Speaker 1: Garybowsky was my predecessor. This is what it stuck out
11:29
Speaker 1: to me in that story. They are all things that
11:31
Speaker 1: made him amazing when he played right, because they filled
11:36
Speaker 1: that sort of competitive spirit. He would spit on cinnamon
11:40
Speaker 1: rolls that his chef baked before anyone on his on
11:44
Speaker 1: his team, like his retinue that supported him, could eat
11:49
Speaker 1: them if they came out while he was shooting a commercial.
11:51
Speaker 1: He would rip up and throw out clothes of his
11:55
Speaker 1: friends if he saw them wearing anything that wasn't Niking. Like,
12:00
Speaker 1: how are those two things? Okay? Where do those two
12:03
Speaker 1: things confirm? Well? I mean it's like, one, I think
12:08
Speaker 1: he thinks they're funny, and two I think that well,
12:13
Speaker 1: it's interesting. I mean I think they've probably come from
12:15
Speaker 1: different places even though they feel like examples of the
12:17
Speaker 1: same thing. I mean, the Nike thing is, don't you
12:20
Speaker 1: know who pays for all of our salaries? And I
12:22
Speaker 1: think the Cinnamon Roll thing is those guys just killed
12:25
Speaker 1: each other constantly. But no, I mean it's he like
12:30
Speaker 1: I wrote this in the story. It's true. He could
12:31
Speaker 1: be a breathtaking asshole, you know, and I think some
12:35
Speaker 1: of that is wearing off. I mean, you know, you
12:38
Speaker 1: have to learn how you move through the world and
12:40
Speaker 1: the effect you have on people, because sometimes there are
12:42
Speaker 1: things that other people since that you don't. He's very
12:46
Speaker 1: clearly a guy who is doing real work figuring out
12:51
Speaker 1: what it means to have been Michael Jordan's because that
12:54
Speaker 1: makes sense. Yeah, I think it totally makes sense, Like
12:57
Speaker 1: you have to figure out who you are when what
12:59
Speaker 1: you were it is over. Yeah, well, I mean it's
13:02
Speaker 1: who are you now? You know, I've been reading a
13:05
Speaker 1: lot of Mickey Mantel books during all of this. I
13:08
Speaker 1: just went down to Mickey mantle rabbit hole. And you know,
13:11
Speaker 1: Mickey Mantle thought he was gonna die young too, and
13:13
Speaker 1: it affected so many of his choices and ultimately it
13:17
Speaker 1: became a self fufilling prophecy. And what's interesting is that
13:20
Speaker 1: you know there could have been a self fulfilling prophecy
13:23
Speaker 1: about Michael that he has spent the last twenty years
13:26
Speaker 1: turning on his on its head. And that's interesting too.
13:29
Speaker 1: I mean, the Christ Jordan is huge for him in
13:32
Speaker 1: what way I mean, and that it softens him in
13:36
Speaker 1: a way that he needed to be softd I wrote
13:38
Speaker 1: about this in the story. But the reason people were
13:41
Speaker 1: so piste off at the Hall of Fame speech, I
13:42
Speaker 1: think is that they wanted a nostalgic Jordan. That's why
13:46
Speaker 1: you wait five years before you can be inducted into
13:48
Speaker 1: the Hall of Names, so that the person you used
13:50
Speaker 1: to be is over and now you're contemplating the future
13:53
Speaker 1: in the past, and and you have some understanding of
13:56
Speaker 1: what this experience meant. And standing on that podium at
13:59
Speaker 1: the Hall of Fame, his experience wasn't over yet. He
14:02
Speaker 1: wasn't done being Michael Jordan's. And I feel like the
14:06
Speaker 1: crying Jordans memes is a softening thing in a way,
14:09
Speaker 1: if that makes sense. Do you know what story and
14:11
Speaker 1: anecdote I was really excited to reread that I had
14:14
Speaker 1: sort of forgotten about. And then when I was getting
14:16
Speaker 1: into it, him looking for his rings. Tell people the
14:20
Speaker 1: process of that and unpack it because I think there's
14:23
Speaker 1: like three layers of things there. Well, I mean, he
14:26
Speaker 1: was moving out of his house in Chicago, so he's
14:28
Speaker 1: packing up his memories. He has a safe with his
14:32
Speaker 1: rings in it. First of all, he couldn't remember the
14:34
Speaker 1: combination to the safe, so, uh, he's sitting there with
14:38
Speaker 1: some people work for him, trying to guess, you know,
14:40
Speaker 1: combinations of his numbers. Is it? Is it? You know
14:45
Speaker 1: what I mean, like, like, what is my combination? He
14:48
Speaker 1: finally gets it open and there's a ring missing, So
14:52
Speaker 1: he tears the whole house apart and they finally find it,
14:55
Speaker 1: and you know, going through his stuff, he finds a
14:58
Speaker 1: letter that he had sent his parents when he was
15:00
Speaker 1: in college and which he asked him to send him stamps,
15:04
Speaker 1: and that really sort of hit him because it's been
15:06
Speaker 1: a long time since he needed a stamp, much less
15:09
Speaker 1: needed someone to pay for one. And I think it
15:11
Speaker 1: was just a reminder that you know that Mike Wilmington,
15:15
Speaker 1: that Mike Jordan from Wilming to North Carolina is dead
15:18
Speaker 1: and Michael Jordan killed. So you know what I remember
15:20
Speaker 1: about that story that he's still so freaking clutch because
15:24
Speaker 1: he he had ten chances to get in that termination, right,
15:28
Speaker 1: and he got it on the ninth or tenth one,
15:30
Speaker 1: and maybe the tenth one he got on the tenth one. Look,
15:34
Speaker 1: you can't, man, you can't teach that. I mean, he's
15:37
Speaker 1: not gonna he's not gonna let Steve Kurt enter that combination.
15:43
Speaker 1: He's not He's not going to give that combination to
15:46
Speaker 1: like someone else for chance, like Scottie Pifford, get the
15:49
Speaker 1: funk away from my safe. What are you doing? But
15:52
Speaker 1: that's also like he also had a quote in there
15:54
Speaker 1: that I thought was amazing, and this is where he
15:57
Speaker 1: never would have thought about this. I think when he
15:59
Speaker 1: was thirty years old and going through sort of his
16:02
Speaker 1: title run, which is that uh winning like at that
16:07
Speaker 1: level that's a special power, and trying to get it
16:10
Speaker 1: back after playing and that like if he could then
16:14
Speaker 1: he could breathe again. Like that's how much of a
16:16
Speaker 1: part that competitiveness and that need to be better than
16:19
Speaker 1: anybody else was within him. Well, and it's still there.
16:23
Speaker 1: I mean he's really good at at saduco he you know,
16:26
Speaker 1: he's really good at that iPad game Bejeweled. I mean
16:31
Speaker 1: you don't turn it off. You just fund less and
16:34
Speaker 1: less culturally important venues with which to display it, right,
16:39
Speaker 1: I mean he's still the same guy on some level.
16:41
Speaker 1: And that's interesting. You and I are both gonna be
16:43
Speaker 1: terrible retired people. We think we're gonna be awesome at it,
16:46
Speaker 1: but we're actually going to be terrible at it. I
16:48
Speaker 1: mean it's interesting to think about. Well, quarantine is a
16:50
Speaker 1: little bit of a challenge, right because it's different for you.
16:53
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you work at home and so but
16:57
Speaker 1: you can't go out, you can't report your stories like
17:00
Speaker 1: I used to going somewhere every day. And this is
17:04
Speaker 1: like a very weird thing because there are days where
17:07
Speaker 1: I go to my opposite say eight thirty nine o'clock
17:11
Speaker 1: in the morning, and I'm not coming down until say
17:14
Speaker 1: five or six, and my Stacy, who you know well,
17:17
Speaker 1: will be like, what are you doing up there? I'm like,
17:20
Speaker 1: I don't know. I was on calls. I tried to create.
17:23
Speaker 1: I haven't post it next to my computer that just
17:25
Speaker 1: says create, but like, I don't know what I'm doing
17:28
Speaker 1: every day. That's funny. I have a post it next
17:31
Speaker 1: to my computer that says say no to conferences, like
17:38
Speaker 1: it's hard. Basically my thing is if you're not paying,
17:41
Speaker 1: I'm not going because Sony is gonna kill me if
17:43
Speaker 1: I take another trip that is absolutely required to report
17:47
Speaker 1: a store. And yet somehow you continue to find trips
17:49
Speaker 1: that are not required. All I know, I know, like
17:53
Speaker 1: I really trying to be better at it. That's going great,
17:56
Speaker 1: you know, I thought, I thought one of the most
17:58
Speaker 1: interesting things get in. Jordan's as a gambler was a
18:01
Speaker 1: touchstone topic for people throughout his career, right and there
18:04
Speaker 1: was that rumor forever that he actually left the NBA
18:08
Speaker 1: because he was knee deep and gambling dead or whatever
18:10
Speaker 1: it was, and Stone kicked him out because of his
18:12
Speaker 1: gambling habits, and he'd be in Atlantic City before big
18:15
Speaker 1: games and things like that, right, and Phil Jackson gave
18:19
Speaker 1: him a gambling book. Like when Jackson was a coach,
18:22
Speaker 1: he famously gave everybody books. Phil Jackson gave him a
18:25
Speaker 1: gambling book. Did you talk to Jordan about what that
18:28
Speaker 1: book was and any of that sort of habit that
18:31
Speaker 1: he had. It's interesting. I mean, I don't think so,
18:35
Speaker 1: because I think it would have been in the story.
18:36
Speaker 1: I don't. I'm trying to remember. It's funny because I
18:39
Speaker 1: have the notes out because I'm going through them. Uh
18:42
Speaker 1: as we try to figure out I've been assigned a
18:45
Speaker 1: Jordan's story to come out during the run of this
18:48
Speaker 1: dot and so I'm trying to figure out what to do.
18:51
Speaker 1: And so I've just been reading brew stuff. So I'll
18:54
Speaker 1: let you know when I finish. I sort of think
18:56
Speaker 1: that I think the gambling is exactly like the Siduca
19:01
Speaker 1: or the but Jeweled or you know. I just think
19:04
Speaker 1: he needed something to do to occupy his mind, like
19:07
Speaker 1: you have that much money. I mean, it's sort of
19:09
Speaker 1: like Charles Barkley. You know, he's losing a bunch of money,
19:11
Speaker 1: but he has a bunch of money. You know, it's interesting.
19:15
Speaker 1: I have a friend who's in a rock and roll band,
19:17
Speaker 1: and he was describing how hard it is when they
19:19
Speaker 1: get off a tour that about nine thirty every night
19:22
Speaker 1: is adrenaline spikes and then of course it crashes because
19:26
Speaker 1: there's no outlet for it. And he's like, his body
19:29
Speaker 1: is physiologically trained for the adelation. I mean, I was
19:33
Speaker 1: at a concert at one time and the crowd was
19:35
Speaker 1: going crazy, and I texted him and I'm like, hey, man,
19:37
Speaker 1: I'm at the show. People are going nuts. What's it like.
19:39
Speaker 1: I'll never forget Greg broke back. He's like, man, it's
19:41
Speaker 1: like kissing God. He's like, it's you can't imagine what
19:45
Speaker 1: it's like. And so, uh, I think it's hard for
19:48
Speaker 1: people to understand how you replace the even like the
19:52
Speaker 1: physiological response your body gets when you were Michael Jordan's right,
19:56
Speaker 1: I mean, I can't. I would love to see test results.
19:59
Speaker 1: When I worked at the time pick You to New Orleans.
20:00
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things that the sports editors did
20:03
Speaker 1: was during a Sugar Bowl they hooked up heart monitors
20:07
Speaker 1: to the mothers of the punt returners and it was crazy,
20:11
Speaker 1: like it was exactly what you think it would be,
20:13
Speaker 1: but just looking at the data was fascinating because they
20:15
Speaker 1: spiked and so like, I don't know, I feel like
20:18
Speaker 1: all of those things are related. If that makes sense. Well,
20:20
Speaker 1: I feel like that's what I'm going to feel like
20:22
Speaker 1: when I'm watching the documentary, because it's also gonna be good. Yeah,
20:27
Speaker 1: I'm gonna watch every second of the thing. I'm Jack.
20:30
Speaker 1: I am going to watch every second of this thing.
20:32
Speaker 1: I'm gonna make Owen also who you know, my younger son,
20:35
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wake him watching every second of this thing.
20:38
Speaker 1: Like all he does is play two K and all
20:40
Speaker 1: he does is pretending to be the Bulls and sometimes
20:42
Speaker 1: classic bulls, like he'll put together like Bill Cartwright, who
20:46
Speaker 1: you had a great anecdote about called like Jordan ripping
20:49
Speaker 1: Bill Cartwright and calling him medical Bill when he joined
20:51
Speaker 1: the Bulls, like hell be Cartwright, Pippin Jordan's Bob Love
20:55
Speaker 1: and Jerry Sloan, like like this is going to be
20:59
Speaker 1: an event. I cannot wait for this thing. I'm gonna
21:01
Speaker 1: watch every second of it, and like I like the
21:04
Speaker 1: fact that it is. I want to get lost in it.
21:09
Speaker 1: Like that's the thing I'm excited about is to remember
21:11
Speaker 1: what that was. Like. I went back and listen to
21:14
Speaker 1: that music, you know, the intro music, and I forgot
21:18
Speaker 1: I was. I was on the phone with Tye Riley
21:19
Speaker 1: a couple of days ago when he was talking about
21:21
Speaker 1: He's like, God, that damn music, and he was saying
21:24
Speaker 1: that like the minute you heard it, you knew there
21:27
Speaker 1: was about to be a war. Because I was just curious,
21:36
Speaker 1: like what was it like to hear those first notes
21:39
Speaker 1: and be like, oh shit, this is for real. Like
21:42
Speaker 1: I can imagine an NBA rookie showing up at the
21:47
Speaker 1: United Center standing there for the national anthem and they
21:50
Speaker 1: play that music in that video on the big JumboTron
21:53
Speaker 1: and it suddenly hits you like, oh okay, like you
21:59
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like that's Michael Jordan's and he's
22:01
Speaker 1: gonna cut my heart out. I think that one of
22:03
Speaker 1: the things that's been forgotten about Michael is just that
22:06
Speaker 1: like how good they really were. So it's gonna be
22:09
Speaker 1: really cool for people who didn't experience that to get
22:12
Speaker 1: to see it, and for people like us who maybe
22:15
Speaker 1: don't remember, to go back and be like, oh, wow,
22:18
Speaker 1: well that's your story. Go right about the Alan Parson's
22:21
Speaker 1: project and the opening riff of that song I've already,
22:25
Speaker 1: I've already, I've already emailed Alan Parson's Don't worry, I'm
22:28
Speaker 1: I'm casting a lode that. It's like when Seth Wittersham
22:32
Speaker 1: wrote about we had the Champions and he went out
22:34
Speaker 1: to England interviewed the guy from Queen who wrote the Sun.
22:37
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, there was something funny that happened with that,
22:39
Speaker 1: and now I don't remember. Well he was just for
22:42
Speaker 1: one Oh that's right, and then he made his own guitars.
22:45
Speaker 1: That was a really good story. We're talking about Seth Wickersham,
22:48
Speaker 1: who uh uh is one of both Chad and his
22:51
Speaker 1: dear friends, who writes for ESPN magazine and uh he
22:54
Speaker 1: writes for ESPN. God, isn't that weird? Yeah that was
22:57
Speaker 1: a little weird. Well, listen right, this this story was
23:00
Speaker 1: written so long ago that at the end in your
23:03
Speaker 1: little bio it listed your Twitter accounts, which I very
23:07
Speaker 1: clearly remember you don't have anymore. Well that's because, uh,
23:11
Speaker 1: I remember a phone call from you were like, did
23:13
Speaker 1: you threaten to beat someone up on Twitter? And I
23:15
Speaker 1: said yes, and you said why It didn't devolve from there,
23:20
Speaker 1: So I am no longer on Twitter. No, but that
23:23
Speaker 1: is fato. It was. I mean, I remember that very clearly. Yeah,
23:28
Speaker 1: I remember that too. It just wasn't you know what,
23:30
Speaker 1: It's not your medium. There's other ways for you to
23:32
Speaker 1: express yourself. No, and I have a I have a temper,
23:35
Speaker 1: and I also just like to poke the bear and
23:38
Speaker 1: those are bad combinations on Twitter. All right, right, you
23:42
Speaker 1: gotta go record another podcast. I gotta go to other work.
23:44
Speaker 1: I'm not sure what it is, but I gotta figure
23:46
Speaker 1: it out. Thank you so much for joining us. Everyone
23:48
Speaker 1: should go read the story. It's so easy. You type
23:50
Speaker 1: in write Thompson Michael Jordan's and this story comes up immediately, easily,
23:54
Speaker 1: the seminal story about Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan at fifty.
23:57
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable. Thanks Jad, this was This is a pleasure.
24:00
Speaker 1: Let's do this more often. I'll miss you. I miss
24:02
Speaker 1: you to your buddy, I'll talk to you later. All right,
24:04
Speaker 1: let's bring in Danny Parkins, co host of the McNeil
24:08
Speaker 1: and Parkins Show, heard in the afternoons on six seventy
24:11
Speaker 1: to Score in Chicago. For the record, Danny and I
24:14
Speaker 1: originally tried to do this interview on video so there
24:17
Speaker 1: is a lot of back and forth about daddy is
24:19
Speaker 1: growing a ridiculously bad quarantine beer. But here we go. Man,
24:25
Speaker 1: you have cleaned up for me? Yeah, I have. I
24:27
Speaker 1: have cleaned up for you. I I decided to shower
24:30
Speaker 1: for jad Milman, but I promise, uh, I will not
24:33
Speaker 1: shave for anyone. My friends are like, why is your
24:36
Speaker 1: wife allowing this to happen. I think she's just like
24:40
Speaker 1: a little variety. Frankly, I think she's just like kind
24:43
Speaker 1: of enjoying looking at a new man, even if it
24:45
Speaker 1: had a lesser man. I've always wanted to see if
24:48
Speaker 1: I actually am the least qualified person in America to
24:52
Speaker 1: grow facial hair. It's horrifying, is the only word for it.
24:56
Speaker 1: I sent a screenshot of it to my buddies and
24:59
Speaker 1: they said that I have stray hairs on my face
25:02
Speaker 1: that are practicing social distancing, and that was one of
25:06
Speaker 1: the kinder comments. Well, listen, I feel like you have
25:09
Speaker 1: the job I wish I knew I always wanted, which
25:12
Speaker 1: was you get to live in our hometown of Chicago.
25:15
Speaker 1: You host the afternoon Drive on six seventy score. You
25:18
Speaker 1: were a co host of You Better You Bet on
25:20
Speaker 1: Radio Dot com which I did during the NFL post season.
25:22
Speaker 1: With you, all you have to do is talk about
25:24
Speaker 1: Chicago sports, which normally is the ultimate gift. I feel
25:29
Speaker 1: like I should be living your life fifteen years ago.
25:32
Speaker 1: It's awesome, man, It's my dream job. It's all I've
25:35
Speaker 1: ever really wanted to do. But like, I'm sure if
25:38
Speaker 1: I found some homework from kindergarten and it's like, what
25:40
Speaker 1: do you want to be when you grow up, the
25:42
Speaker 1: answer would have been, you know, shooting guard for the bulls.
25:46
Speaker 1: So like sticks one jewish, skinny white guy with scholighosis,
25:51
Speaker 1: Like that wasn't going to happen. So, uh, this is
25:54
Speaker 1: the the only somewhat realistic dream job I ever ad.
26:00
Speaker 1: And I'm literally living a dream, as corny as that is.
26:05
Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean, if I could like change anything,
26:07
Speaker 1: maybe I born like twenty years earlier, so I could
26:10
Speaker 1: have like the true heyday of radio pay. Uh. It's
26:16
Speaker 1: still pretty damn good. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining.
26:19
Speaker 1: But I worked with Dan McNeil, who was like an
26:22
Speaker 1: original member of the Score, and so when he tells
26:24
Speaker 1: me the stories of the glory years and bonuses that
26:28
Speaker 1: he paid for the entire show to go to Hawaii
26:30
Speaker 1: and things like that. I'm like, that sounds really nice,
26:33
Speaker 1: but now it's it's it's a dream job and I
26:36
Speaker 1: wouldn't change anything about it. If you were older like me,
26:39
Speaker 1: you would have wanted to be the six one shooting
26:41
Speaker 1: guard for the DePaul Blue Demons, which is what I
26:43
Speaker 1: wanted to be. And one year I went to basketball
26:46
Speaker 1: camp and it was like local. It was a camp
26:50
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin for basketball where it was run by the
26:53
Speaker 1: high school coaches at Highland Park High School where I
26:56
Speaker 1: went to high school. And we had an all star
26:58
Speaker 1: game against the DePaul Blue Demon k app with Joey
27:00
Speaker 1: Meyer and Ray Meyer. And at the game, I sunk
27:04
Speaker 1: two free throws late in the game with the entire
27:06
Speaker 1: crowd screening at me, and I ran back for defense
27:09
Speaker 1: and I looked at my right and Ray Meyer and
27:11
Speaker 1: Joey Meyer were just sitting there with their arms crossed, nodding,
27:14
Speaker 1: and I thought to myself, I'm going to be the
27:16
Speaker 1: three point shooter At De Paul. I was convinced those
27:19
Speaker 1: memories are they are would shape us. I am told
27:23
Speaker 1: that there was a time when college sports mattered in
27:26
Speaker 1: Chicago and De Paul, You're heading that effort. I love
27:29
Speaker 1: college sports, so I wish that was more of a thing.
27:33
Speaker 1: I joke on the show that I take off the
27:35
Speaker 1: Friday of every the opening Friday of every n C
27:37
Speaker 1: Double A tournament, because Chicago doesn't deserve to have me
27:40
Speaker 1: doing afternoons. Like if I was doing If I was
27:43
Speaker 1: doing mornings, it wouldn't be a problem because I could
27:46
Speaker 1: just do the show and then go to the bar
27:48
Speaker 1: and start drinking Moscow mules at eleven AM when the
27:50
Speaker 1: games start. But like I'm doing afternoons and giving score
27:53
Speaker 1: updates to a city that, like, based on the ratings,
27:56
Speaker 1: just doesn't really care about college sports. So that's like
28:00
Speaker 1: the only thing about the Chicago sports landscape that I
28:03
Speaker 1: don't love is that DePaul, Northwestern Illinois, like none of
28:06
Speaker 1: them have been able to be consistently good enough for
28:09
Speaker 1: long enough or recently enough to have any sort of
28:13
Speaker 1: like rabid following here. Well, look, that's what made Loyola's
28:16
Speaker 1: run so special, right, is like it brought the city
28:20
Speaker 1: together and reminded people like of those glory days in
28:24
Speaker 1: the seventies when De Paul and Loyola were really strong
28:28
Speaker 1: college basketball programs and people were super excited to see it.
28:31
Speaker 1: Local city team that's a commuter school that has kids
28:35
Speaker 1: from Chicago that go they're actually making a run. It
28:38
Speaker 1: was fantastic. That was great radio for you, It was
28:42
Speaker 1: it was amazing and everything about it, I mean Porter
28:44
Speaker 1: Mosier and Sister Jean and the upsets and like every
28:47
Speaker 1: everything about it was was great and looked then like
28:49
Speaker 1: a week after it was completely over and then the
28:52
Speaker 1: next year they know showed and it went away. Like
28:55
Speaker 1: so you're right. It shows that a story can still
28:58
Speaker 1: captivate the city, but it's temporary. If Loyala went on
29:02
Speaker 1: a ten year run like that would be incredible, Like
29:04
Speaker 1: if they did what Greg Marshall and Wichita State was
29:08
Speaker 1: able to do, right if they if like we got
29:11
Speaker 1: a Gonsaga level program, which feels like should be possible
29:15
Speaker 1: given the amount of talent that comes out of the city. So, um,
29:18
Speaker 1: that's what's frustrating. I would absolutely love if my radio
29:22
Speaker 1: audience cared about college basketball, but it just doesn't seem
29:27
Speaker 1: like that's gonna be the case. So what would you
29:28
Speaker 1: say is your current state of mind? Because I've been
29:31
Speaker 1: loving your commentary generally and on Twitter. In the COVID
29:38
Speaker 1: nineteen crisis. Oh man, how much time do you have?
29:43
Speaker 1: What is my current state of mind? Well, I'll go
29:47
Speaker 1: personal and then global. Personally, I am just very thankful
29:54
Speaker 1: that I am healthy. Uh, my immediate circle is healthy,
30:00
Speaker 1: and that we are economically stable with income and health insurance.
30:05
Speaker 1: And I had my first child, my first son, in January,
30:10
Speaker 1: and he came eight weeks early, and so he was
30:13
Speaker 1: in the nick you for twenty seven days, and so
30:17
Speaker 1: it's been amazing to be home with him for everything,
30:20
Speaker 1: and he's doing well, but you know, he's a little baby.
30:22
Speaker 1: He's you know, compromised for a while, and so like
30:25
Speaker 1: we have to be very vigilant about making sure that
30:27
Speaker 1: he doesn't get any virus, much less this one that
30:31
Speaker 1: we know so little about. Still, so in like my
30:35
Speaker 1: my immediate circle, very thankful that me and my family
30:38
Speaker 1: are healthy and economically stable on a global macro level.
30:43
Speaker 1: I think it's um shown very clearly and very dangerously
30:50
Speaker 1: the problem with us as a society not agreeing to
30:55
Speaker 1: one set of facts and then disagreeing about what to
30:59
Speaker 1: do with those facts. Like that's what our political system
31:04
Speaker 1: and the economy and everything has been based on for forever, right,
31:09
Speaker 1: Like we have a problem with drugs. Let's figure out
31:11
Speaker 1: what to do with it. The War on Drugs happens,
31:14
Speaker 1: failed policy. But everybody agreed that there was a problem
31:17
Speaker 1: with drugs. Now what's happened is that no one agrees
31:22
Speaker 1: on a set of facts anymore. So you can just
31:24
Speaker 1: choose your own fact, and then there's an audience of
31:27
Speaker 1: people that will go to that level of confirmation bias
31:31
Speaker 1: to make themselves feel better about themselves. And it's just
31:35
Speaker 1: it's really, really, really dangerous because bright Bart isn't the
31:40
Speaker 1: same as the Washington Post, right, A Facebook needs mean
31:45
Speaker 1: isn't the same as a epidomologist, right, Like so, and
31:49
Speaker 1: that's that's the problem as I see it. And this
31:53
Speaker 1: is just like it's not like this is the first
31:55
Speaker 1: issue that has highlighted that problem. We've seen this for
32:00
Speaker 1: years and years now in varying degrees, but like this
32:03
Speaker 1: is the one that has life and death consequences, and
32:06
Speaker 1: so it's it's pretty scary. And I don't know if
32:09
Speaker 1: this if you wanted to get this deep, but like
32:11
Speaker 1: I don't know how we put this genie back in
32:14
Speaker 1: the bottle, Like how do we solve the problem of
32:19
Speaker 1: whole countries getting there? Like the Facebook is synonymous with
32:23
Speaker 1: the Internet in plenty of countries. So if there's disinformation
32:26
Speaker 1: there and that's the only information you have, then civil
32:30
Speaker 1: war happens, which is like a thing that's happened in
32:33
Speaker 1: some third world countries. Like I, I just don't know
32:35
Speaker 1: how we go back to agreeing on a set of
32:38
Speaker 1: facts and then disagreeing policy wise on what to do
32:41
Speaker 1: with those facts. It seems to me right now like
32:45
Speaker 1: an unsolvable problem. Well it is right now unsolvable. But
32:50
Speaker 1: these things to me have always been cyclical, right like
32:54
Speaker 1: there are there are examples of stuff like this throughout
32:59
Speaker 1: the history of time. Woodrow Wilson in nineteen sixteen, when
33:02
Speaker 1: he was running for president, there had been attacks by
33:07
Speaker 1: the German military within the United States for more than
33:11
Speaker 1: a year before he would admit that there was a
33:15
Speaker 1: secret service of German military that was working on these
33:19
Speaker 1: kind of attacks. Because he was running for re election
33:23
Speaker 1: and wanted to be the guy who kept us out
33:25
Speaker 1: of war. So even while the New York Times is
33:28
Speaker 1: trumpeting all of these attacks and these explosions that are
33:31
Speaker 1: killing people, Woodrow Wilson is saying, Nope, there's nothing to
33:34
Speaker 1: see here, nothing happening nothing happening, and it wasn't until
33:37
Speaker 1: he was forced because of other political means in nineteen
33:40
Speaker 1: seventeen to go to war. So it's like we see
33:43
Speaker 1: these things over the course of history, and we think
33:46
Speaker 1: every single one of these is something that can't be overcome.
33:50
Speaker 1: And yet it's overcome because someone else becomes in charge,
33:54
Speaker 1: because the conversation changes, because there is such a tilt
33:58
Speaker 1: in terms of the conversation in from one side to
34:01
Speaker 1: the other, than it naturally has to pull back. That's
34:04
Speaker 1: my optimistic view. Yeah, I mean, or you can make
34:08
Speaker 1: the argument that a hundred and three years later it's
34:11
Speaker 1: just history repeating itself with a bunch of examples in
34:13
Speaker 1: the middle. Um. Yeah, but I listen, I I appreciate
34:18
Speaker 1: the historical context and and what you're what you're saying. Um,
34:22
Speaker 1: there's certainly more means of information now, right, Like we
34:26
Speaker 1: we know about like thought bubbles and how people only
34:31
Speaker 1: get things that confirm their worldview based on like Google
34:36
Speaker 1: tracking and who they follow on the Internet and all
34:39
Speaker 1: those sort of things. So it seems like a tougher
34:42
Speaker 1: problem to uh to solve in with technology and just
34:46
Speaker 1: like with the willfulness representation of stuff. But Hopefully you're right,
34:51
Speaker 1: like hope, hopefully there is a problem. There's a solution
34:53
Speaker 1: to the problem that I am not seeing because there
34:56
Speaker 1: are many, many, many people smarter than me who hopefully
34:58
Speaker 1: will be involved it. You are doing something tremendously positive
35:02
Speaker 1: and optimistic during this. Explain to people what you're doing
35:05
Speaker 1: to raise money. Oh yeah, thanks. Um stole the idea
35:09
Speaker 1: from Shay Serrano, who I've never met, never talked to,
35:11
Speaker 1: never has responded to any of my tweets. But I'm
35:13
Speaker 1: just a fan and the dude is pretty inspiring, and
35:17
Speaker 1: I've been thinking about it for a while and figured
35:20
Speaker 1: this is a pretty good opportunity to do it. I
35:22
Speaker 1: looked at my Venmo account and I had like three
35:24
Speaker 1: hundred and forty dollars or three four dollars whatever it
35:27
Speaker 1: was that I hadn't done anything with her transfer to
35:30
Speaker 1: my bank account, and I was like, that's an amount
35:32
Speaker 1: of money that I can afford to donate right now.
35:34
Speaker 1: And so I said, Hey, if you have some money
35:38
Speaker 1: to spare, people are going to need it. I'll find
35:40
Speaker 1: the people who need it, spend it to my Venmo
35:43
Speaker 1: Danny dash parkins, I'll donate this amount if you need it.
35:47
Speaker 1: Shoot me a d M and I'll try to get
35:50
Speaker 1: you some money. Tell me your story and I'll post
35:52
Speaker 1: your Venmo. So hopefully once I make a donation of
35:55
Speaker 1: whatever it is, fifty bucks, three hundred bucks, anywhere in between,
35:59
Speaker 1: other people will pile on and see your story that
36:02
Speaker 1: you sent me and we can kind of like crowdsource
36:04
Speaker 1: this thing. And my Venmo weekly sending limit is three
36:08
Speaker 1: thousand bucks and for four consecutive Mondays we've hit the
36:13
Speaker 1: weekly limit in one day, so did twelve thousand bucks
36:16
Speaker 1: so far since this pandemic has started. And next Monday,
36:20
Speaker 1: I hope to do a three thousand more and just
36:23
Speaker 1: as I said, I would do it until opening day
36:25
Speaker 1: of Baseball. So if that is sustainable that people keep
36:28
Speaker 1: sending me money, I'll keep sending it out. It's one
36:30
Speaker 1: of the rare instances we're seeing of purposeful frustration on Twitter.
36:35
Speaker 1: We're clearly like, everything you just talked about is something
36:39
Speaker 1: you're feeling and trying to express, and you're using it
36:42
Speaker 1: in a positive way in a space where there is
36:44
Speaker 1: not often a plethora of positivity. Yeah, you know, I
36:49
Speaker 1: I'm a millennial. I you know, I had Facebook my
36:51
Speaker 1: freshman year of college. Right, And um, I am still
36:56
Speaker 1: a believer in the internets and like the net pause
37:00
Speaker 1: of of social media, or at least I want to
37:02
Speaker 1: believe that, And so I'm trying to maybe like that's
37:06
Speaker 1: like the hill I'm willing to die on as it
37:08
Speaker 1: becomes tougher and tougher to make that argument because of
37:11
Speaker 1: what I was talking about three or four minutes ago.
37:13
Speaker 1: So I do still have some sort of like an
37:16
Speaker 1: idealistic view of what this can all be. On some level,
37:20
Speaker 1: I guess the least I could do is do nothing,
37:22
Speaker 1: but it's pretty close to the least I could do.
37:24
Speaker 1: I I lay there with my newborn son, laying on
37:27
Speaker 1: my jest, and I respond to people on Twitter and
37:31
Speaker 1: send them a small amount of money that other people
37:34
Speaker 1: have sent me. I'm not it's not it's not some
37:36
Speaker 1: sort of incredible accomplishment, but it makes me feel slightly
37:40
Speaker 1: less miserable about what's happening in the world, and it
37:43
Speaker 1: seems to be helping a lot of people. All right,
37:45
Speaker 1: speaking of idealistic my last question for you, The Bulls
37:49
Speaker 1: are getting new executive leadership, the Bears have a new quarterback.
37:54
Speaker 1: The Cubs haven't really done anything. If you're a betting man,
37:57
Speaker 1: which I know you are, which Chicago to team is
38:00
Speaker 1: the next Chicago team to win a title. I think
38:03
Speaker 1: the majority of my audience would say the White Sox
38:07
Speaker 1: because they're just their window is just opening, like they
38:12
Speaker 1: are hoping that this season is like akin to the
38:15
Speaker 1: Cubs season where they arrived earlier than most and they
38:19
Speaker 1: won nineties seven games and started their run of three
38:23
Speaker 1: straight nlcs. Is most baseball rebuilds, Most rebuilds in sports
38:27
Speaker 1: period don't end in a championship, and the White Sox
38:30
Speaker 1: revenues like their their margin for error is just smaller
38:33
Speaker 1: than the Cubs, who can like spend around some problems.
38:37
Speaker 1: I still think this part money is against the White
38:39
Speaker 1: Sox winning a championship. Though I love a lot of
38:41
Speaker 1: the things that they're doing and they're gonna be really
38:43
Speaker 1: fun and exciting for a long time. I think it's
38:45
Speaker 1: the bear um frankly, because I really still believe in
38:49
Speaker 1: Matt Neggie and I think that the foundation is in
38:52
Speaker 1: place for this defense to be good for a few years,
38:56
Speaker 1: and I know that that offense is just works and
39:00
Speaker 1: can win a Super Bowl. We saw it this past
39:02
Speaker 1: year with the Chiefs. We saw it a couple of
39:04
Speaker 1: years ago with the Eagles, So all unique is mediocre
39:08
Speaker 1: quarterback play with this defense to be a legitimate Super
39:12
Speaker 1: Bowl contender, And I think that they'll be an a
39:15
Speaker 1: defense for at leite another two or three years, assuming
39:19
Speaker 1: some health to Khalil Mack. But Roquan Smith looks like
39:22
Speaker 1: a star, Eddie Jackson looks like a star, Like even
39:25
Speaker 1: after a Keen Hicks drops off, Like, I still think
39:28
Speaker 1: the makings are there, the kind of there for a
39:30
Speaker 1: really good efense, and I believe in the offensive system
39:33
Speaker 1: and the coach, so I know it's a big just
39:35
Speaker 1: but like, if they can just get above average quarterback play,
39:40
Speaker 1: I think the Bears will be one of the toughest
39:41
Speaker 1: outs in the league. So that puts their both dances
39:44
Speaker 1: the next like two or three years, and I think
39:46
Speaker 1: better than any Chicago teams win a championship. So I
39:50
Speaker 1: will be cautiously optimistic and say the Bears that would
39:53
Speaker 1: be better for Chicago than anything other than Loyola or
39:57
Speaker 1: I trust me, I would take a Bear super Bowl
40:00
Speaker 1: over ten straight Loyal the final fours um. While that
40:03
Speaker 1: would be a lot of fun for the gambler and
40:05
Speaker 1: me and the college brand and me. I will be
40:07
Speaker 1: a college brand and gamble regardless that there is nothing
40:10
Speaker 1: that makes Chicago happier and unifies the city more like
40:14
Speaker 1: maybe like a Deep Dish pizza or a Chicago style
40:17
Speaker 1: hot dog debate, but honestly like, there's nothing better for
40:20
Speaker 1: this city than a great Bears team. So now I
40:23
Speaker 1: will I will be rooting for the Bears to be
40:25
Speaker 1: that next Super Bowl chair, for that next title holder
40:27
Speaker 1: in the city. As a former hot dog vendor in
40:30
Speaker 1: Holland Park, I can tell you I have many many
40:33
Speaker 1: opinions about Deep Dish versus hot dogs. Will stay him
40:35
Speaker 1: for next time? Yeah, it's listen, it's all good. Your
40:39
Speaker 1: hair game, it's just your rocket, the salt and pepper rocket,
40:44
Speaker 1: the scruff. You should be on television somewhere like they
40:47
Speaker 1: put me on television. And I don't know what these
40:49
Speaker 1: executives are thinking, but thank you. I appreciate you calling
40:52
Speaker 1: than This has been the favorites from the Action Network.
40:58
Speaker 1: Download from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts.
41:03
Speaker 1: Until next time, I love you, h