Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That crabs in the barrel mentality blah blah blah. Nah man,
we showing something different, you know. First take, I've been
blessed and fortunate enough throwing shade on nobody. We've been
number one for twelve years. Were gonna be number one
for thirteen. It's just that simple in fourteen, and damn it,
if I do it for fifteen, gonna be fifteen. That's
the way that's gonna be. That's how my mentality is.
And I don't root for anybody to fail. I just
(00:23):
root to be the best, right And there's a difference,
And as far as I'm concerned, anybody that's with me,
we the best.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
All my life, grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle bag
the price, one slice, got the brother of Geist swipe
all my life. I've been grinding all my life, all
my life, and grinding all my life, sacrifice, hustle bag
the price, one slight not the brother of Geist, the
swaf all my life. I've been grinding all my life.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Hello, welcome to another edition of Club Shane Shae. I
am your hole Shannon Sharp, but also the pro private
club Shap Shape And for my first partmanship with the
volume I knew I had to land someone big.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
He's not big, he's huge. He's just enormous.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
He's a legendary sports journalist, a feature commentator, premier analyst,
famed host, veterman, reporter, podcast actor, writer, executive producer, businessman,
New York Times best selling author, one of the most
recognizable on their personalities not just sports personality personalities on television,
a cultural icon, and he's also HBC you a lum
(01:30):
steven A spill.
Speaker 5 (01:32):
Bro.
Speaker 4 (01:34):
We're here, We're here, but you keep not bracelet. I
would get over the time.
Speaker 5 (01:39):
Ain't know I could break anything on you. Coused right there?
Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, Bro, I mean I don't if I'm gonna be
able to keep this one because every time I hug
somebody comes up.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Ye, Bro, how you doing?
Speaker 5 (01:50):
It's good to see bro. How you doing? Be here?
I'm here.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
I need you to tell the people what you went
through because you promised me this, because we've been trying
to get this thing together for a little six week
night and I said, Stephen, and can you do Tuesday
at noon?
Speaker 4 (02:05):
And you said, I do it.
Speaker 3 (02:06):
But I want you to tell the people the lengths
in what you went through to get here at Newton.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, what happened is is that my pastor for the
Christian Cultural Center in New York City, past the air Arbernard,
had a fundraising event at a golf tournament in Long Island, right,
and so they were honoring me the night before I
came here and I had to play some golf, which
I don't play, so obviously I have to embarrass myself
for a few hours.
Speaker 5 (02:31):
For every one s.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Nothing I know, nothing I know, but for every one
good shot I hit, I hit about about five to
ten bad shots or whatever. But then after I did that,
I promised you I was gonna get here in time.
So I had to take the private jet get up
there in time, and I flew here last night, got
here about two in the morning, woke up at four
point thirty the prep for first take, and then did
(02:56):
first take, and here I am bro that's love.
Speaker 4 (02:58):
I really appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
I know you talk about your pastor, but everybody that
comes on you don't have my own line of cognact.
That's right, And I need to get you a bottle
and you will leave here with a bottle.
Speaker 5 (03:07):
Around with that, I mean, he know I could get
out of you. You're just nothing in excess.
Speaker 4 (03:11):
Nothing else.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
What I want to told you, Bro, because you paid
the way for a lot of guys. You made it
not just athlete, and I want to give you your flowers.
Speaker 5 (03:20):
Bro. Appreciate appreciate you man, Thank you so much. Man.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Coming from an HBCU obviously is a very very big deal.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
That's something that's near and dead of my heart.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
I've been an ambassador for HBCU week since around two
thy and nineteen or so, and in that span we've
generated over what about sixty five million in scholarships for
over you know, three thousand students, and so I'm really
really proud of that. And HBCU is always near and
dear to my heart. And the basketball coach Clarence big
House Games, who helped.
Speaker 5 (03:49):
The late great John McClinton and integrating.
Speaker 4 (03:52):
The sport of basketball.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They were both HBCU icons, and both of them were
big tom mentors of mine. And they knew I didn't
have the game that was would take me to the
next level, but they knew I had the mindset of
the tenacity to do what I could to help HBCUs.
And all he ever said to me was when I said,
what can I do for all that you've done for me,
He said, don't forget HBCUs you make sure that you help.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
Any chance you get. And that's what I've been doing.
Speaker 3 (04:17):
What I tell people Stephne is that when I went
to an HB, when I went to Savannah State, I
had no idea of the importance or the magnitude of
what was going on at the time. It wasn't until
much much later that I realized that I had done
something special. So when you're going, when you're matriculating at
Winston Salem, did you understand what was going on at
(04:40):
the time and how big of a deal it was
going to be later?
Speaker 5 (04:43):
No, I didn't.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Man, all I was trying to do is get my
degree and to make sure that I positioned myself to
have a career instead of a job. When I'm giving speeches,
I constantly say to kids, there's a difference between a
job and a career. A job is doing what you
have to do to maintain or elevate your quality life.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
A career is doing what you want to do. It
just so happens to do those things.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yes, and so for me, if you don't have an education,
the chances of you being able to pull that off,
even with the advent of social media and the opportunities
that present themselves. I think it's a misnomer to think
that you don't have to have any kind of education
whatsoever and you're going to succeed from a normal perspective.
There are abnormal examples, of course, there's always somebody that
(05:25):
breaks the code, but for the most part, you got
to go through that terrain, you gotta go through that grind,
and for me, it was always understanding that. So when
I was at Winston Salem, it was really about getting
that degree and getting practical experiences. I did an internship
at the Winster Salem Journal, I did an internship at
the Atlanta Journal Constitutions, then I came back into another
internship at the Greensborough News Record, then back to the
(05:47):
Winston Salem Journal before I even graduated. And so for me,
that was incredibly important establishing that resume and really really
showing that I was a worthy individual, because if I
didn't have those internships something to prove that I was
really really committed by acquiring that level of practical experience,
then it was going to be my resume against somebody
(06:07):
from a p W I and if you're somebody from
a predominantly white institution, chances are you're gonna get the
nod over somebody in an HBCU.
Speaker 5 (06:15):
So I understood the climb.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
I understood the obstacles that I had to that I
had to fight off, and that's what I went about
the business to do.
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Did you always want to go to an HBCU or
it just it just.
Speaker 5 (06:27):
Happened, bro it just happened.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I didn't even know what an HBCU was until they
came to offer me a scholarship.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
I had no clue.
Speaker 3 (06:34):
I heard about the United Negro College Funds, that's what
they ain't. Never mentioned Savannah State, That's what I'm like.
All I knew it was the big with the grounder
and the Southern universe.
Speaker 5 (06:46):
You know, Robinson. But that was about it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Because the fact is that when you took at HBCUs,
I mean, there's some up north, like Bowie Stage in
the Maryland area, what have you.
Speaker 5 (06:56):
But for the.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Most but for the most part, they down south, south,
correct the West. They ain't in the Midwest. They damn
sure ain't.
Speaker 4 (07:03):
On the East coast.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
So if you're living in those places, you simply don't
know right.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
And you know what, I caught a lot of criticism
because I was one of the top prospects in the
state of Georgia when I was coming out, and I
said an HBCU wasn't my first choice.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
Had I made, had I not been prop forty eight?
Speaker 3 (07:21):
I mean I had Georgia, I had Texas, I had Nebraska,
I had all the big schools recruiting me. And more
times than not, I'm like, but the best thing that
I did, stephen A, is when my former coach dress
is sold, Bill Davis came down.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
He said, son, if you good, they'll find you. He said.
If I was drafting, he said, I'll take you no
more on overall.
Speaker 5 (07:40):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
He convinced me. And when I had an opportunity to
transfer and go to a.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
P W, I well, I will tell you this, it's
like and a lot of and I've.
Speaker 5 (07:49):
Said this to a lot of my white brothers and sisters.
Speaker 1 (07:51):
I'm like, love ain't nothing like being surrounded by your
own and then.
Speaker 4 (07:57):
The pageantry then home comes.
Speaker 5 (07:59):
God just don't understand. They just don't understand. I mean,
you know, the bands, the pep I mean, Lord.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
The band played the whole game. He ain't know where
they got the ball. You gotta be quiet. The band
plays the entire game, whether we got the ball or
they got the ball. And then you got the step
show that you got the saw Rother, you got the frats,
and you got the park. And everybody's coming back from
twenty years, thirty years, ten years, fifteen years to stop me.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Just bring back memories. He's bring They tell you something. Man, Listen,
you've heard me. Listen. People see me on TV.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
You hear me can play about a lot of things
like you ain't never heard me complained about.
Speaker 5 (08:36):
Going to HBC.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
No, no, no, no.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
It's the greatest experience I've ever had in my life.
Let me tell you something right now. I had a
mentor of mine. God wrested soul, mister Robert Devaughan. He
was a telecommunications director at Winston Salem State. Loved him daily.
He had to convince me to graduate on time. I
wanted to do internships to delay and postpone situation. Well
(09:01):
that's how that's how much I was living the life
at w's the Salem you're just saying. I mean, it
was like and then everybody's like, well you know what
you being disingenuous because you went and you did an
internship in Atlanta.
Speaker 5 (09:13):
I was like, have you ever heard of spell? Yes?
I have, yes, right down the blood, that's right down
the blood.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Okay, lially just started and look, Atlanta has always been Atlanta.
Speaker 5 (09:24):
That's right. It just exploded in.
Speaker 3 (09:26):
The last twenty but Atlanta was back Atlanta back in
the seventies.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
In the eighties, Atlanta was like that, how about that?
And then on top of it all, check this out.
So you gotta take a route. If you're going down,
you're going I eighty five, you're coming up, You're going
eighty five I eighty five north.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
Right, you're passing HBCUs.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes, So it's like, yeah, I mean Wister Salem, but
I'm stopping Johnson's c.
Speaker 5 (09:47):
Smith.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
You got john.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
And you got Bennett Collegeborough or girls.
Speaker 5 (09:54):
How is it? It's beautiful? Yeah, your tea is like love.
I mean that.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I used to take a long rock because you know,
you could cut through and get the whistles CITL State.
I used to take the long rock because you have
to pass through all of them things.
Speaker 5 (10:07):
To get to whistle to sell them. I was like,
why would I want to rush? Why would I want
to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
I tell a lot of people, I tell my white counterparts,
I think I think everybody should have to experience one
semester that hubc to get the field, to get the
ambiance of what it's actually like, and to have some
of those teachers because the professors Stephen that I believe
this sincerely, cared about your shark. I remember going to
a class and his name was Haines Walton and Stephen,
(10:32):
and he come to class with a piece of chalk,
this fig in his pocket.
Speaker 4 (10:35):
And he started writing on the board. I was like, okay,
take your notes and everything. And he said, on this
page such and such, and in this chapter such and such.
What damn how he know all of that?
Speaker 3 (10:45):
Every day for like three weeks. So I got the text.
I said, I'm gonna find out how he knows so
much what? I started reading text by Haines Walton.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Yep, he wrote them, not him.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
You know everything here.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
From that point on, every every I felt that every
class that I went to, every professor doctor they could
teach me something. And I was attentive. Now it didn't
hurt that, you know, they were in class tool. So
I said in front of the.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
Class, had.
Speaker 3 (11:18):
I had on you know, on Friday, I had hard
bottom shoes on, slack, had me a nice blazer, pretending
like I'm gonna be something one day.
Speaker 4 (11:25):
Y'all need to go get on on shape.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
That's right, ain't no question. And listen, they cared, They
held you accountable.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
They did.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
They felt like they were an extension of the family
that you departed from. And they made you feel like
if you disappointed, if you ended up being a disappointment,
you disappointed them. Yes, you disappointed yourself, you disappointed your family,
you disappointed your community. It was a level of accountability.
And not only that, they highlighted the obstacles, yes, that
(11:51):
were waiting for you. So it was like, listen, we've
been here, we did it. This was waiting for you.
What you're gonna do about it? And there's a sense
of pride that kicks it. But more importantly, when you
go to an HBCU, I think this is the most
important people, most important thing for folks to understand, particularly
as it pertains the black folks. Usually in every walk
of society, we are alone in certain respects. Yes, when
(12:15):
you go to an HBCU, you got company. Yes, people
who look like you who share your cultural identity, who
share your trials and tribulations, the obstacles, the pitfalls, everything.
You literally are looking at people, hanging with people and
talking to people every day, where your experiences are not
foreign to them. They all know it, and so they
gonna lift you up unless you.
Speaker 5 (12:35):
Don't want to be.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
Right, when you don't want to be, they know to
leave you to the science. You ain't about it, right,
we gonna stick with it with people who's about something,
and that self accountability elevates everybody.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
I think back stephen A, one of our I started off.
I was prop forty eight, so I had to start
off in developmental studies.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
Right.
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Developmental studies is remedial, right, So in.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Other words, all you're taking is classes that doesn't go
towards graduation, right, doctor George mac I'll never forget. I
had a reading class and after two days she called
me up. She always called me mister sharp. To this day,
when I go back and see her to matter of state,
she called me mister sharp.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
She said, mister sharp, I don't want to see you
in next quarter.
Speaker 5 (13:13):
Yes, they all say that.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
She said, you're too smart. She said, you have no
business being in this class. Now, mister sharp, I don't
want to see you next quarter. She told the story everybody,
because back that time I ended up graduating got my
degree in playing in the NFL. She said, y'all see
that young young man on television. He was in this
very class, but he worked his tail off to get out,
and I did. A lot of my teammates were embarrassed
(13:35):
because you know, it wasn't a regular.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
Class, steven A.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It was a trailer and you know it's right next
to Peacock Hall while we're I would go eat breakfast
and walk right up in a just a proud because
I wasn't ashamed because I put myself in that situation. See,
you shouldn't be ashamed of something that you put yourself in.
I put myself in that seat.
Speaker 1 (13:52):
A lot of times people don't see themselves are putting
themselves in that situation because they're not willing to absorb
and accept the accountability.
Speaker 5 (13:57):
See, the beauty of being.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Involved with athletics is that you're surrounded by people who
make you accountable for yourself.
Speaker 5 (14:06):
It's like a human mirror.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
You know, when you didn't work hard, you know when
you didn't put in the work, you know when you
didn't listen to your coach, You know, when you didn't
do all of these things, so that transitions to other forms.
It could be the classroom, it could be anything else.
I remember, even before I got to college, seventh grade
has sent my book Straight Shooter. My seventh grade teacher,
mister Caravan, looked my mother dead in the face and
(14:28):
she said, your son is not a dummy.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
She said. He doesn't listen with things he's not interested in.
He drifts.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
So what happens is you think he doesn't know what
he didn't understand, he never heard him. He will literally
drift and he doesn't hear anybody anywhere. He said, but
when you find out what he's passionate about, you'll have
a star on your hands.
Speaker 5 (14:51):
Right, And that's what you said.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
And that came in handy because years later, when I
was a beat writer, especially when I was covering the
seventy six and stuff like that, I have this uncanny ability.
I'm not say saying it's a gift, but I have
this uncannyability. I have been in an arena with twenty
thousand people and I didn't hear a word.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
I didn't hear anything, Like I'm on deadline.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
I got an article to write, I got twenty minutes
to drive to write eight hundred words, and.
Speaker 5 (15:15):
I literally have the ability to block out all the noise.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And it reminded me of what Professor Caravan said to
my mother about drifting. I drifted to a different place,
except this time I saw the positive in it, because
a lot of times, if you're hearing that noise, you
can't focus.
Speaker 5 (15:32):
You can't you can't get the job done.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
I could because I could lock in and I could
tune out the noise.
Speaker 3 (15:37):
You sound like an athlete. If you've heard athletes say it,
say it's like everything slows down, Everything is moving in
slow motion. I don't hear not one of those eighty
five thousand or those thirty thousand things you're screaming.
Speaker 4 (15:51):
I hear nothing. Everything is just hush yeah.
Speaker 3 (15:54):
And I can actually hear my heart beat, that's how
quiet it is, even though I'm in a state with
eighty thousand.
Speaker 1 (16:01):
And those are the great ones as an athlete, those
are the great ones because the ones who hear all
the noise are the ones who succumb to it, and
they panic, They sweating a little bit at palms, sweaty
backsides tight. They can't really handle the pressure. They fold
under the pressure. But when you can, when you can
be composed and poised under pressure, particularly on the field
of the letter says, whether it's the quarter play, the field,
(16:22):
the play, or whatever the case may be, you gotta
start your hands. That wasn't me. That was me when
it came to my job. I could tune out all
of that noise. What people have is pressure. It's like
you said, we do television every day. I'm in front
of the camera, bro, I worry about nothing. I'm not phased.
I don't care who's in front of me. I don't
care what noise people are saying on the outside. I
don't care about the camera folks. I don't care about
(16:43):
the producers in the control room. I don't care about
the bosses.
Speaker 5 (16:45):
Of this whatever.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
When the camera is in front of me, I believe
I own it right and I'm not phased by anything.
Speaker 5 (16:53):
It just doesn't phase me.
Speaker 1 (16:56):
But I've seen people who have been reporters, for example,
and you put them in front of the camera, brother,
they sweating bullets. They nervous as hell, They're stuttering, they
don't know what to say, They're trying to gather their thoors.
They're trying to be ultra careful. They don't know what
to think, what to say, or whatever the case.
Speaker 5 (17:10):
And I'm like this, they have no chance.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
But people think it's easy. Everybody can't talk on camera.
Everybody can't speak in front of us, in front of
an audience. We've seen some of the greatest players not
be able to do what you and I do on
the regular and people just like, well, how do you
do it? You just do it, you just do it.
I don't I don't see you. I don't hear. All
(17:34):
I hear is my own voice.
Speaker 5 (17:36):
You. I'm a little different than that.
Speaker 1 (17:39):
I think that you and I would be a little
bit different than that because that's your gift. And that's
cool me as anybody producer, anybody would tell you when
I'm on the air. That's why they named me the
executive producer.
Speaker 5 (17:52):
First take. I ain't asked for the job. I didn't
need another job the last thing I needed another job.
Speaker 4 (17:56):
Bro.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
It ain't like they throwing extra money my way for this,
you know. But they came to me and I'm like this,
They're like, why they say, you're producing the damn show anyway?
On the set. You're looking at the camera. I know
this camera is on, I know this camera is off.
I'm imagining what the audience is doing because I have
a connection with the audience. This is what they want
to hear. This is what they don't want to hear.
This is who they want to hear from at this
(18:18):
particular moment in time. This is who they want to
hear what this particular moment time. All right, Steve, it's
time to jump in a Steve is time to lay back,
because the objective is the show. It's not me, it's
not you, it's the show. And the objective is to
make sure that the people on camera are maximizing their
their potential in terms of their presentation to the audience,
to grab.
Speaker 5 (18:38):
Them and the real amen.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's how I'm thinking, right and or now that it
wasn't at the beginning. At the beginning, I was a
lot like that. But as time went on, you're just
seeing it. You're saying, well, wait a minute.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
Why did you the quarterback this person I've always That's
what I say.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
See for me, I got look, I know what everybody's
supposed to do back, but I focus on them on
my job now if I need to tell somebody a
route or they need to pay this, blitz you high
or you got a block.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Well you show the world that what you wanted on Twitter.
Then you like, yeah, that's what you're going to do.
That's that's that to me is my job.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
Let me ask you a question, like when you say
like these viral and people ask like when do you
know what you're gonna say a lot of times when
stuff goes viral, I.
Speaker 4 (19:23):
Had no idea because I don't know what he's gonna say.
Speaker 3 (19:26):
Right, you don't know what everybody's gonna say, but sometimes
he just it just happens. A moment happens. How much
is just reactionary or because like I said, you have
a lot of different You have mad Dog, you have
Ryan Clark, you have d O, you have swag Goop.
Speaker 4 (19:41):
You have so many different people.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
So it's hard to get a beat or rhythm to
what they're gonna say if.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
You don't know them, okay, and if you don't know the.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Audience okay, And so what happens is I know what
the audience wants from Ryan Clark, I know what it
wants from swag Gul, I know what it wants from Molly.
I know what it wants from Mad Dog. I know
what it was from Latsky. I know what it wants
from Shannon Sharp.
Speaker 5 (20:06):
For the purposes of that show.
Speaker 1 (20:08):
And so I'm looking at Shannon Sharp and I'm like,
and three times.
Speaker 5 (20:12):
To Bowl champion. That's one of the greatest tight ends
in NFL history. That's a Hall of Famer.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
And damn it, he laughed, and he's boisterous. He gonna
come right at you and all of this other stuff. Okay,
this is what they want, and this is what they're
going to get right now. You don't want to give
it to them too much all in one bowl, right,
Want spread it out, he says, want s freaking it out.
You want a little bit here, a little bit there.
All right, it's ten, ten fifteen o'clock. Boom, ten fifteen,
(20:41):
Here we come. Do Momentum is swelling all of a sudden.
There might be a little bit too much. Might want
dollar back a little bit because we're coming at eleven.
Speaker 5 (20:48):
Then might come at eleven fifteen. He We're coming at
eleven thirty. See that's how I'm thinking.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
So it's like, okay, yeah, I want you to shine,
and I want you to. I want you to beat
you because I'm gonna beat me, right, And so here
we come and the audience is watching.
Speaker 5 (21:01):
How do you know that because you paid attention.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
To the audience, You're not sitting up there manipulating them,
You're not disrespecting them. You're showing them you appreciate them
because you're paying attention to what they're telling you and
showing you they want a lot of times you have
talent and it's like, listen, this is my lane and
there's something to be said about that where you know
who you are and you know what you bring. That's
not to be disrespected, that's to be appreciated. Okay, here's
(21:25):
his strength. Well if I have a different strength, how
do I get to compliment that so he can shine.
Speaker 5 (21:32):
While we shine?
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That is the objective when you're trying to win, and
it's applicable on a football field, on a quarter play,
or on a television set. But how many people are
thinking like that? I'll tell you who.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
The winners think like that, the losers don't. It's very simple.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
You know what.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
I want to address some comments that you said, because
you said condolence is in advance. Yep, he's the modern
day black hole. He's not used to getting beat down.
Welcome to the beat down.
Speaker 1 (21:57):
Well let me tell you, let me elaborate. First of all,
obviously I was about physically.
Speaker 5 (22:01):
I got no shot. I got no shot. I mean,
let's get that out the way right now. Let's get
that out of the way right now. Saying let's get
that out of the way right now. I will not
talk about back. I got no shot whatsoever. But you know,
I've seen you. I've seen you debate quite all. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
and I'm.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
You could do your thing. But you know you ain't
never been up against me. You say this little a
little different going up against me. You see what happens
is you got people that are trying to win.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
The debate, to be right, false.
Speaker 1 (22:32):
It's about your perspective up against mine, and who can
convince the audience their perspective is better than the next.
Speaker 5 (22:44):
That's what it's about. You see a lot of times
somebody get like somebody that.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Is a mistake to argue with Shannon's shop about the
facts of football. You don't do that, not if you
didn't play Oh no no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Speaker 5 (22:57):
Please, you got no shot. But you can't go like
she knows something. I was really nice. I heard what
you said, but you see you said this two weeks ago.
That not consistent with what I just heard. You saw
this game right now. I'm not you, but damn it,
I got two eyes. I saw that. Are you telling
me what I saw was a lot?
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Really?
Speaker 5 (23:17):
You're sure about that? What did you say this a
year ago? You see?
Speaker 1 (23:21):
These are the kind of things like you know you
obviously you know you love yourself some Lebron James. Yeah, yeah,
I just got the foe with them, JA to remind
hung up on that. Yeah, the blastphe me coming out
of your mouth, right, it's okay, you can believe.
Speaker 5 (23:40):
That, you can believe that.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
But we'll do I'm sure you know what the first
Lebron topic right, don't need to be nobody.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Here's what's gonna hurt you. Here's what's gonna hurt you,
because you see when you're talking like that, people but that. No,
I'm gonna sit back and let you do it, and
then i'm gonna say you finish, are you figuring?
Speaker 5 (24:03):
Sure?
Speaker 4 (24:03):
No?
Speaker 1 (24:04):
And you're gonna be like nah, And I'm gonna say
you gotta wait now because I waited here I come,
and you're gonna have to deal with the tsunami that
I'm gonna bring. I'm gonna rain down upon you when
it comes especially to that, and that's what's it, and
that's what you're gonna have to. Listen, Lebron, listen, I
(24:24):
got this man. The game was started in nineteen forty seven.
I got Lebron James. The thousands of players that have
played in the NBA, I got him number two all time.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yeah, you got people walking around like that's disrespect.
Speaker 5 (24:44):
It is. I got a number. See see that's emotion.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
That's a much right there.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
Listen, let me tell you that right.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Now, I personally believe a legitimate argument could be made
that I'm sitting in front of the greatest tight end
in the history of football. Some people bring in Gronk,
Tony Gonzalez, other players them in Travis kelf course, but
you're in the conversation yourself, and you know because you're breathren.
Speaker 5 (25:05):
I mean, they give you my.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
Love and respect, right, I can say that. But my
point to you is is that if somebody said you
weren't number one, you don't feeling so, so why you
got to be insult to the building.
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Because that's the motion, but the goal.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
See, you told me your storm was coming.
Speaker 3 (25:25):
See your storm happened for nine years, then took two
years off, and it happened for three years and took
another three years off, and then it kind of just
was like drizzling my thought storm being going for twenty
one years raining.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
You could say that that my retort to that would
be six NBA Finals losses, six final losses on six
finals losses.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
I just want you to tell me one thing, and
we going to make this. Sure, tell me the team
that he faced that was the twenty seventeen or the
twenty eighteen Golden State Warriors.
Speaker 5 (25:57):
What you mean, I don't want to say your question
Michael Jordan.
Speaker 4 (25:59):
Tell me the team with Michael Jordans.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I want you to tell me the team that Michael
Jordan faced that was the equivalent of the seventeen eighteen No.
Speaker 5 (26:06):
One can I respond to that? Sure? Can I say why? No? One?
Do you know why? Because none? No, that's exactly what Okay,
ce ce cee.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
That's the ultimate equalizer or usurper picked whichever one you
want to you want to pick. You don't understand that
Jordan is six and ohe NBA fronals. You understand that
Jordan was m VP O six NBA Frontal. Do you
understand that Jordan never even allowed a final series to
go seven games?
Speaker 5 (26:29):
Senate never win seven game?
Speaker 3 (26:31):
Also, I also know he just started going to the
finals because I burned back excusually.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Ten time NBA scoring Champion, nine time All Defensive Player,
all the defensive first Team.
Speaker 5 (26:42):
You do know that, right? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (26:43):
So, so in other words, it was Lebron on both
sides of ball.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Was he that dominant? Oh? He was?
Speaker 4 (26:48):
You know he should have won it?
Speaker 5 (26:49):
You know he should want you are you kidding me?
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Seven?
Speaker 4 (26:52):
I will give me this.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
You know, Goodwell, Lebron James should have one defensive Player
of the year. How do how does margins All, who's
the second team All defensive player, be defensive Player of
the Year.
Speaker 5 (27:04):
I agree with that. I agree with that. But the
flip side to it.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Is that as we watched Lebron James, even with his
greatness at one point in time as a defensive player,
we never.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Looked at him and said, oh my god, that's that dude.
Defensively you had you had no. Lebron is universally respected
and revered. MJ was feared. You know the difference.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
You know the difference because there are people who have
feared you.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
You know the difference better than me. You know the
difference between reverence and fear.
Speaker 4 (27:37):
Look, you know this. You like John Wick.
Speaker 5 (27:40):
I like James John can I have jameson, but you
could be John Wacke. I preferred James Bond.
Speaker 4 (27:47):
John shot up the whole place, kill everybody.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Okay, James Bond killed a few people, but got the ladies.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
They do the same, Rightmry was walking talking out the
ocean and he said, magnificent Deale. Remember that smaller and
that was where you know that that's that's stuff and
stuff like Pierce Bronston.
Speaker 5 (28:04):
But you know Daniel Craig of course, Sean.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Connery demand Okay, I mean I'm trying to say the
versatility of James Bond is with JS and you could
say that, but could.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
Guard one through five. You seen him do it.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
I'm not denying that park on one end and the
last five minutes la I got Timmy. I also saw
him get checked when Jason Terry was guarding him in
the post and his finals against Dallas.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
You go deny that, No, Okay, then, so that's your question.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Has there ever been a time when Michael Jordan showed
up in an NBA finals.
Speaker 5 (28:38):
And you literally looked at him and said, yo, he show.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
Up playing nobody. Let me ask your question. I'm gonna
do you like this here? Tell me the guy that
he faced that deal were the equivalent of Kevin Durant
and Jordan.
Speaker 5 (28:53):
Well, I was.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
I wouldn't say, I wouldn't say the equivalent of of
Kevin Durant.
Speaker 5 (28:57):
But let's go down the list. He beat Magic for
his first time back.
Speaker 4 (29:00):
What's seventy three?
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Okay, I find I'm going I'm going down the list
the list. I didn't hear you say that when Magic
was here, but we're talking about you.
Speaker 5 (29:09):
Didn't say that Magic was he.
Speaker 4 (29:12):
The man that on the ninth nine finals?
Speaker 5 (29:14):
And I feel you on that.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
And by the way he took wasn't Kareem and worthy
in that?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
But you saw what he did but joined in the
first game put a triple double on the head and
put on it. That's cool, Okay, say he backed them
made look like Kareem Tom Will Jones fit.
Speaker 5 (29:29):
That's fair.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
Michael Joe, I'm sorry, Magic Johnson. The first title, Clyde
Drexler and the Crew. The second title, Charles Barkley, Kevin Johnson,
don't ignore that, damn Mally and them. The third Okay, okay,
Peyton the Glove with Sean Camp and also you've got
call Malone John Stockton, and you have an NBA game
(29:51):
that was considerably tougher at that particular moment in time
than today's NBA game.
Speaker 5 (29:56):
Is in terms of physicality and what's allowed. Yes, so
you can appreciate this.
Speaker 4 (29:59):
You can. I appreciate that before you could.
Speaker 5 (30:01):
Put your when you could put your four onmre people,
when you can hand check.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
Them, when you can do a lot of things you
can't do now right now you get caught.
Speaker 5 (30:07):
For passing gas. You will, But it's a different game now, Okay.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
What you and the Old School Guard have equated physicality
with talent and skill, the.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
Gathering game more skill.
Speaker 5 (30:22):
I totally agree with that. I totally agree with that.
Speaker 1 (30:24):
But you would know this better than me because you
were an All world player. Even though the game of
the NFL.
Speaker 5 (30:30):
Has evolved significantly, You.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Know good and damn well that if you were playing
in this time, Oh yeah, you would have adapted. Yes,
you played in that time. You adapted the game in
the sixties and seventies, you would have adapted to no time.
So what I'm trying to say to you is this,
Michael Jordan was what he needed to be.
Speaker 5 (30:48):
If he was playing today, he would.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
Be what he needed to be in order to be
successful today.
Speaker 5 (30:55):
That's all I'm trying to say.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
When you see greatness on that level, you have to
concede that that's the case.
Speaker 3 (31:01):
But see all they asked Michael do with the cook
Lebron had to cook, he had to clean, he had
to wait tables to take order.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
Well, you could say that, But what I'm saying that
if the brother's doing it on both sides of the Florida,
then obviously he's doing more than one thing.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
He's doing that too. But how many guys you know
that on Top five and Top five?
Speaker 5 (31:19):
How about this?
Speaker 1 (31:20):
How about once you Quille O'Neil with Penny Hardaway, Nick Anderson,
three D, Dennis Scott and those boys, yeah, Waring Orlando, Right.
Speaker 5 (31:28):
How about the fact that.
Speaker 1 (31:30):
They could even get the ball pass half court because
Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan had him on locket. Yeah,
with full corp press, we end. Never see Lebron do that.
We never see Lebron do that. Bron that you stop it.
He never did it, youmember, he never did it. You
remember with d Rose with the m v P, y'all
voted d Roll the.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
M v P. What do excuse me? Excuse me, d Rose?
What kind of team did y you come? Tell me?
Knowing those boys was appoint number?
Speaker 4 (31:56):
They did enough to get the number one seed? That
so what you're a.
Speaker 1 (32:02):
I voted him in VP and still picked Miami to
win that series. I knew they want to go be
Miami in the Best of seventh. The playoffs are different,
all right, But that don't mean Lebron deserve the MVP.
Speaker 5 (32:12):
I know.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
By the way, I don't even knock Lebron James for
not getting the MVP, because when you're that great, you're
not gonna put all your efforts in over eighty two games.
Speaker 5 (32:19):
You're playing for April Man and j So this is
entirely plausible. I'm very fair of Lebron ja your.
Speaker 1 (32:24):
Dollars sometimes most times most times, actually I say all
it's just that I call it like I see it.
Speaker 5 (32:29):
I'm not emotional like you. No, no, I.
Speaker 4 (32:33):
I you know what I got a call to day
for one Michael Jordan. He rolled up on me in
a black ass UV roll the win.
Speaker 5 (32:41):
Of that's true, that's true. Yeah, I was scary. I
thought he was. I thought I thought it was a
drive It was in them drive by, scared of living
hell out of me.
Speaker 4 (32:48):
You still say that.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Mean that's that That's an absolutely true story. But at
the end of the day, all I'm trying to say
is that Lebron is phenomenal.
Speaker 5 (32:55):
He's great. We should throw no shade on him.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
One of the greatest ever Top b top three, you say, one.
Speaker 5 (33:01):
Of pH he will never be greater than Jordan to me.
Speaker 1 (33:04):
But more importantly, let's go to Koreem Nineteen time All Star,
six time league MVP champion on the high school left.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
Champion, champion in the NBA.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
Okay, good lord at Merka Fall, time leading scorer before
Lebron's had passed him, all of that stuff happened. I'm
just saying, come on now, the resume is better, But
I still don't believe he was the player that Lebron
James is. All right, But what I hold, and I'll
say this to you, I'll tell you something that I've
very really said. If you took Lebron james career from
(33:39):
twenty twelve to now, and that was his history from
his first title to what he is now, and you
wanted to make an argument against Jordan, I'm listening. The
problem is we don't get to ignore those first seven
or eight years where there were a couple of occasions
where one he was accused of quitting and number and
(34:00):
I don't believe that.
Speaker 4 (34:01):
By the no, I don't believe that you are drunkard.
Speaker 5 (34:03):
No no, no, no, no, I'm talking about this. God, I
got you, but I feel you. But it's true, but
it's still excusing drunken. But the point is.
Speaker 1 (34:12):
Against Boston. I don't believe that it was a lot
of stuff going on in Braun. That's none of our business.
That people they were totally unfair to him, including his
damn teammates.
Speaker 5 (34:21):
But that's a different story for another day. I never
held that against him.
Speaker 1 (34:24):
But when you got four games against the Dallas Mavericks
in which people looked at you and said, choke. If
you know what you cannot get past, I can't.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
I can't argue that I can't.
Speaker 1 (34:37):
And that to me, that to me sealed the deal
about the MJ Lebron comp So what what.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
What if he were to win a title this year
thirty nine years of.
Speaker 5 (34:47):
Age, So so that on the race Jordan that.
Speaker 4 (34:52):
There you go.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
See, that's the argument that people have when I was
talking about Tom Brady not playing well.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
I'm not trying to take away with Jordan's accomplished.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
Agree, he got those rings, he got six finals MVP,
he has six championship, he has five regular season MVP.
Right if Lebron gets another title, stephen A, I'm not
gonna raise what Jordan did, but he already he already
here for.
Speaker 4 (35:15):
Me, Okay, all he doing is just But but.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
What I'm saying to you is I already talked about
the Dallas thing, and I talked about moments which you
can appreciate. What I'm trying to say to you is
that when you are that dude, that doesn't happen to
you often that happened to Magic when they called them tragic,
Because yeah, four you get all of that under sad
I'm saying, but for the most part, that doesn't happen.
(35:38):
And this is the kind of thing that you also
have to pay attention to as well. Not only do
you not get to say that about Jordan. But when
you look at Lebron, think about this. You want me
to tell you what I hold against him, just as
much as I held against the Dallas performance. What the
following year with the All Star Game. You got the
ball in your hands. It's an exhibition. It's an exhibition.
Speaker 5 (36:00):
It doesn't count. It's all in fun. Kobe claps his hand,
God Rest his soul. He's like, YO, listen, come on
with it. You got d Wade on the court, you
got Mellow in the corner, and he threw the past,
and all three of them, along with Kobe, descended on
Lebron and said, yo.
Speaker 1 (36:18):
What's up what you're doing? Because they knew he was
psyched out, he was messed up. And what I'm saying
to you is that Kobe wasn't like that, MJ wasn't
like that.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
It's d Wade wasn't like that.
Speaker 1 (36:30):
In his first NBA Finals appearance, they down owe to
to Dallas. E Wade goes berserk, averages thirty seven in
the last four games.
Speaker 5 (36:36):
I'm just saying this stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (36:39):
It's not that you look at Lebron and you diminish him.
Speaker 5 (36:42):
It's just that you can't.
Speaker 1 (36:44):
Elevate him above somebody like MJ.
Speaker 5 (36:48):
When I got that evidence to support my argument, that's all,
and that's why I got him number two author on
God strike me down. I mean, my lord, I mean
what it is.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
So, I mean, the number two all time in the
history of the game.
Speaker 5 (37:01):
And it's an insult. Only you and Rich Paul and
people like.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
That feel that way, most of us saying individuals know better.
Speaker 4 (37:09):
No, let me ask you this.
Speaker 3 (37:12):
Yeah, you and I have conversation, and people like, well,
how closely you're Stephen there? I said, I met him
in twenty fourteen when I came on the show. I said,
we've talked over the here, we exchanged numbers, and we've
talked over the years. But I said, over the last
year and a half or so, I was going through
some things and he was the one guy that was
in this business that I felt I could talk to.
It would stay between us, but he would give me
(37:32):
sound advice. And so now you have your thing with
First Take. You you are the voice, you are the
face of First Take, You're the first face of ESPN.
Speaker 4 (37:42):
What made you reach out say?
Speaker 5 (37:45):
Bro? I want you because I got love for you, Bro,
And that's that's just me being a man and speaking
his two brothers. You know, you know our former boss
at first take, Jamie Hardwiz, who was over brought you
over that first one and all of that, and he
knows my history, he knows what I stand for. I
(38:06):
remember when I first You can ask him.
Speaker 1 (38:08):
I remember when I first arrived on first take and
I rolled up in there and I saw a bunch
of white folks, and I said, Yo, we're the brothers
and the sisters that you don't think I'm gonna be
sitting here working with a bunch of white folks.
Speaker 5 (38:19):
Do you.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
I don't mind white folks. I ain't got nothing against y'all.
God bless you. You understand saying we all brothers and sisters
the eyes of God. When all of a sudden, dumb
but you ain't gonna just have me surrounded by a
bunch of lily white folks. You better sprinkle, sprinkle some And.
Speaker 5 (38:34):
So you know, he brought one.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
And then the next thing, you know, I picked two
or three others and made sure to diversify that staff.
And then one of the things that I did when
I came in there, I knew SKIP was going to
want to debate me and whatever, but I was talking
about subject matters that we needed to broach because it
was still his show. But he respected me enough to
get my opinion, and I was like, look, we need
all of these other people because I want voices, and
(38:58):
I'm just I'm built. What I mean by that is
there's no shade on you, on anybody else. But I
don't believe anybody's knocking me off my perch. I will
knock me off my perch.
Speaker 5 (39:08):
You know, corporate stuff, bureaucratic stuff, that's stuff you can't
you know.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
But I'm talking about in terms of my own air performance,
my job performance. I don't worry about it. You know
what I worry about the day that I want to leave.
And I haven't done anything to create opportunities for us
to continue. And so for me, it's like I look
at you, I think that you're smart, You're obviously incredibly accomplished.
Speaker 5 (39:30):
You ain't gonna never.
Speaker 1 (39:31):
Hear me say no disrespect to anybody, not to bring
up nothing.
Speaker 5 (39:34):
Ain't gonna never hear.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Me say three super Bowl championships, a Hall of Fame
status don't mean nothing.
Speaker 5 (39:38):
I don't roll like that. That's not who I am.
I'm the kind of person.
Speaker 1 (39:42):
That I argue with you about football, but I want
the audience to know, Yo, you the football expert, right.
Speaker 5 (39:49):
Not me.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
I'm the reporter that walks in and I'm like that
what I saw, and tell me I'm wrong.
Speaker 5 (39:54):
This is what I'm seeing. Tell me I'm wrong. This
is where I'm comforting, just like me and you talking
about that. I know you.
Speaker 1 (39:59):
I don't give damn how much basketball you know, you
don't know no more of basketball than me. I've been coming.
I learned from living legends and all this stuff, but
I still want to hear what you have to say.
You can listen to me talk to football. Why the
hell can I listen to you talk about basketball? And
so all of that and then your heart being conscientious brother,
caring about the issues that you're caring about, speaking about
the issues that you speak about. Now, brothers iron sharp
(40:22):
as iron and yeah, I got mad Dog Russo that's white.
I got Dan Olofski. That's a white dude. You see
what I'm saying. You know, Jeff Saturday at one time
he was on the show. That's a white man. But
the bottom line is, I want it all. I want
to make sure there's brothers, the sisters, black and white, ethnic,
you know, Hispanics, Asian.
Speaker 5 (40:40):
I don't give damn who it is.
Speaker 1 (40:42):
I want to make sure we're representing America and we
make sure that everybody that looks at our show says
I can identify with what they're saying. But in the end,
when it comes to me personally, you know whether it's
Ryan Clark, it's Marcus Spears, all right, it's Damian Woody,
it's Lewis Riddick, The list goes on, and nor my brother,
Michael Irvin. That's now Aver, That's that's one key, Shawn Johnson.
(41:04):
These are my boys.
Speaker 5 (41:05):
I go back decades with these, These are my brothers.
You know what I'm saying. They will tell you. You
ask anybody that knows me.
Speaker 1 (41:12):
I'm about getting you paid, I'm about helping you become successful.
I'm about letting you shine. I'm not threatened by anybody's appearance.
It's my obligation.
Speaker 3 (41:23):
But you've heard it, you do it. You've heard the comments. Yes, man,
Steven a man, he's strong. Will he bragged blah blah
blah like Shannon strong will.
Speaker 4 (41:34):
Blah blah blah. How is that gonna work.
Speaker 5 (41:37):
They don't know.
Speaker 4 (41:38):
They don't tell people.
Speaker 3 (41:39):
I'm saying, two people that strong will can absolutely get
along as long as there's respect. Absolutely, the moment one
disrespects the other, the other losers respect for the one
that disrespected him.
Speaker 4 (41:53):
Right, So now it's just a matter of time exactly.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
And that's not gonna happen because I don't roll like that.
It's like, Yo, I'm gonna argue with you about your points,
but you know what, we gonna agree. We gonna disagree,
but at the end of the day, we brothers, and
we gonna sit up there and try to do what
we can to make our product shine. That's our responsibility
because if we do, if we do otherwise, all we're
doing is inhibiting the other success. Right, We're getting in
(42:17):
the way of what we're trying to do. That makes
no sense whatsoever. And not only that, that's setting a
bad example of our community. If I really need to
get deep about it, because what happens is is that
always so they can't chill, they can't sit up there
and do a show together.
Speaker 5 (42:30):
They can't get along.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
You see that crabs in the barrel mentality blah blah blah,
nah man, we showing something different, you know, first take,
I've been blessed and fortunate enough throwing shade on nobody.
We've been number one for twelve years. We gonna be
number one for thirteen. It's just that simple at fourteen,
and damn it, if I do it for fifteen, gonna
be fifteen. That's the way that's gonna be. That's how
my mentality is. And I don't root for anybody to fail.
(42:54):
I just root to be the best.
Speaker 5 (42:56):
Right, And there's a difference.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
And as far as I'm concerned, anybody that's with me,
we the best. This is what we're gonna do. So
now it's we. It ain't Stephen the it's weak. And
when you come to first take, because you ain't start yet,
you're gonna see it's a family. You gonna see. We
get along. It ain't fake. We rolled with one another,
We vibe for one another, We watch one another's back.
(43:17):
It has always been that way under my stewardship of
the show. And I can say my stewardship of.
Speaker 5 (43:22):
The show because the show was handed to me. They
ain't come to me and I just took the title
and off. No, they came to me. And said it's yours.
You're responsible for it.
Speaker 1 (43:33):
If I didn't want share this shop at first take,
show won't.
Speaker 4 (43:35):
Be a first take rolled, no question.
Speaker 5 (43:38):
But I had to come out that day because with
all that you were behind.
Speaker 3 (43:42):
See what you're saying now is that you told me
month in advance, because you were telling me things that
were going on at Park Hell, I didn't know it.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
I'm like, ho on, I drive this building every day.
How the hell you know what?
Speaker 3 (43:54):
I don't know you and you telling me, Bro, it's
going down like this, it's happening like this, and I'm
just scratching my head. I'm like, I'm at this building
every day and everybody cheezing?
Speaker 4 (44:05):
Reason?
Speaker 5 (44:06):
Was I right?
Speaker 4 (44:07):
You was absolutely spot on?
Speaker 5 (44:09):
And tell you I was right, you know.
Speaker 1 (44:11):
And by the way, it wasn't because a fox, It's
because I know the business. I've been here for thirty years.
I can see them all away, you know. I can
see the hand writing on the wall. I knew when
it was over for you, Bro, I'm gonna be real
with you. I knew when it was over, and I
was like, I'm here.
Speaker 5 (44:31):
You see what I'm saying, Because because I knew what
was gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
What happens is when you got noise and we gonna
call it like I'm gonna call it like I see it.
Speaker 5 (44:39):
You don't want to do this, let me do it,
all right, because I've been in the business long enough.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
When you're black and you have the kind of evident
apparent meaning public situations.
Speaker 5 (44:54):
Like that, we don't win. Everybody circling. The sharks are circling.
Speaker 1 (45:01):
Now it's not one person and it's not you know,
the collusion going on. Instinctually, people tend to believe this
belief thisbelieved.
Speaker 5 (45:11):
That and the sharks are circling. And that's why I
came out.
Speaker 1 (45:15):
You know the number one reason I came out, even
before first tape was even on my mind.
Speaker 5 (45:19):
You know the number one reason.
Speaker 1 (45:20):
I came out, Shannon Sharp, and I said, I want
Shanna Shop on first tape because I wanted the world
to know that you will want That was the most
important thing to me.
Speaker 5 (45:31):
I wanted the world.
Speaker 1 (45:32):
I didn't want you to be in a situation where
the sports world looked at you.
Speaker 5 (45:36):
And said, what do you do? He must have done
something persona un ground blah blah blah blah blah. So
I said I said, if he ends up, he ends
up here. The hanchos know I want him.
Speaker 1 (45:45):
But more importantly than that, this is a brother that
I think has done a lot of good work on
television that has helped our community. And as a result,
it's incumbing upon me because of the perch that I
sit on to let them know he wanted right, don't
cut him off, because that's what they did to me
in two thousand and nine. They cut me off and
(46:06):
left me for dead. Bro, And I'm not talking about ESPN.
I'm talking about the industry. They cut me off and
left me for dead. They thought I was done. They
were writing my epitaph and I knew it, and I said,
I was blessed and fortunate enough to have enough connections
and to do what I do to overcome it. I
don't know if this brother does, so let me let
(46:26):
the world know he has me and we'll go from there.
Speaker 5 (46:31):
That happened.
Speaker 3 (46:32):
That absolutely happened like that because you and I was
talking and you was like, Bro, I got this, but
soon as I get out of this meeting, I'll hit
you back. And we were talking twenty minutes, thirty minutes,
an hour, and you took every last one of my calls,
and I'm thinking to myself and I remember getting on
the phone calling my sister and I said, like, maybe
it's probably gonna happen. I say, because it's not coming
from inside, It's coming from somebody that I knows the business.
(46:55):
And he wouldn't bullegize me, but he told me that
it's a ninety five percent chance that is going to happen,
and he wants me on his show.
Speaker 4 (47:05):
And I'm like, I don't want. I think I'm good
at what I do.
Speaker 3 (47:10):
And for him, it did my heart good because I
know what you represent in this industry to say I
want him on my show. Whatever it is, I don't
believe nothing. Look you go back and from when I
was with the Broncos for twelve ten years, went to
Baltimore for two, back to the Broncos for two CBS
(47:30):
for a decade, I would fall for six years now.
One person ever said anything bad about Show that he'
difficult to work with. He did this that my greatest
compliment from players is guys that were on my team
said shouting, show off the greatest team I'd ever had.
He's my favorite teammate. The way he approached it the
way he was. And so for you to come to
me and to say what you said when you didn't
(47:52):
have to do any of it, and nobody would have
held that against you, because, like you said, that's what
would have happened, and I heard it. Man, he must
have did no, showed up every day on time and
did a hell of a job. I remember when Jamie Horwitz,
who we were talking about, came to recruit me in
twenty sixteen in April at the w Hotel. He said,
(48:13):
you're gonna be a star. Yeah, I said, I said, James,
I know what he said.
Speaker 4 (48:17):
Trust me. He says, I know talent.
Speaker 5 (48:19):
It goes deeper than that, because you see Jamie. Whether
he wants to tell you this or not, I knew
back then Skip was auditioned in you because whenever I
took off, you would be there. Yes, And what Jamie.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Wouldn't tell anybody is that there were extra days that
I would take.
Speaker 5 (48:37):
Off just so Skip could break you on.
Speaker 1 (48:40):
Because again, if you're not creating opportunities for other people,
what good are you. My pastor says that I'm not
the most religious person in the world. I mean, as
promiscuous as I've been in my lifetime, at least for
the person I mean, I mean, I am in no position.
You know, I'm a lot better now over the last
over the last decade, and so, but lord, I have
(49:00):
my issues, no question about it. And and and you know,
my pastor would say all the time, there's no success
without a successor. And so when I look at you know,
for me, all the brothers that are on the show.
One of my proudest moments was when Michael Irvin came
last year. And the reason why it was proud because
(49:21):
I loved the playmaker. He and I are very very
tight with brothers, and I know what his name brings
and the.
Speaker 5 (49:29):
Stature that it holds.
Speaker 1 (49:31):
And so you're thinking that he comes and others are
gonna feel alienated.
Speaker 5 (49:37):
But if you watched him when he was on the
show with us, it was a brotherhood. You see what
I'm saying. It was a brotherhood. You know how great
he is exactly. But it's like.
Speaker 1 (49:48):
All of these all I mean, or Lobsky and are
C and everybody's regular they wanted to be on the
air with him, right, And so my point is is that.
Speaker 5 (49:57):
That's how it's supposed to be. It's like, wait, a minute.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
The NFL constantly talks about what a brotherhood exists.
Speaker 5 (50:04):
Well, guess what first take is a platform for brotherhood.
Speaker 1 (50:09):
So when Shannon comes on, yeah, you're gonna be on
the air with me, But guess what them brothers gonna
slide up in there. Yes, y'all need to be with
each other. You need to be next to each other.
You need to be, you know, verbally knocking somebody like
me upside the head. When I'm coming at y'all like, ye,
I'm not a new journalist.
Speaker 5 (50:26):
I saw this, look at it, and y'all like, look
at this guy right here.
Speaker 4 (50:30):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 5 (50:30):
I mean, and we're laughing and having a blast.
Speaker 1 (50:33):
It's entertainment, bro, But it's information, right, Okay, it's perspective.
Speaker 5 (50:38):
It's serious stuff that needs.
Speaker 4 (50:39):
To be addressed.
Speaker 5 (50:40):
It's the whole gamut. And think about it.
Speaker 1 (50:43):
We got the national airwaves for the worldwide leader available
to us to disseminate and display our message. I believe,
our culture, our perspectives, and put them all on display
for everybody to see. To come back or to breaks.
But the point is, at the end of the day,
(51:03):
you ain't gonna feel alone. You gonna be there and
we gonna be together. Why Because I'm gonna have your back,
That's why, and they gonna have your back.
Speaker 5 (51:11):
And that's the way it's gonna be.
Speaker 3 (51:13):
You know, people ask me it's gonna be will people
ask me? Stephen A is like, bro, how do you say?
Speaker 4 (51:19):
What you say? And then Chrischelle, you go to the game.
Speaker 3 (51:23):
You might be bumping into some of these guys, So
how do you handle that situation? I say, if I
see them out now, they acknowledge me, I acknowledge them back.
Speaker 4 (51:31):
If they don't, I keep.
Speaker 5 (51:32):
It moving, keep it moving.
Speaker 3 (51:33):
I don't make it personal because I don't know these
guys well enough to make it personal. I'm talking about
a given situation. You didn't play good.
Speaker 5 (51:41):
And last night.
Speaker 3 (51:42):
It doesn't diminish anything that you accomplished before last night.
It doesn't diminish anything that you might accomplish moving forward.
I'm talking about a specific set of events that happened
last night.
Speaker 4 (51:53):
How do you handle that? Stepen Day?
Speaker 3 (51:54):
Because I know see most of times they look at me,
they do a double take. They're like, nah, I'm gonna
let that go.
Speaker 5 (51:59):
They don't want that person.
Speaker 4 (52:05):
But with you, I'm thinking it like, man, why you
say that?
Speaker 5 (52:08):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (52:09):
Well, first of all, I respect any of them who
comes up to me man to man in confront. Yes,
because if you want to have a conversation. Here's where
I'm big on. If I said something publicly and I'm wrong,
I'm gonna correct it publicly, thank you. I'm not gonna
do something publicly and then apologize privately right now.
Speaker 5 (52:28):
If I'm wrong, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do
it publicly.
Speaker 1 (52:30):
I'm a man up because that's the kind of man
that I am. That's how my mama raised me to be.
The other thing that I'm gonna do. But if I'm right,
I'm not budgeing. You ain't gonna scare me, You ain't
gonna intimidate me, you ain't gonna phaze me. Let's get
it on. Like I tell people all the time, figuringly
or otherwise, it's not about getting your ass kicked.
Speaker 5 (52:48):
It's about what.
Speaker 1 (52:48):
You're willing to take an ass kicking for. You gotta
be principled, and you gotta be somebody that's willing to
stand on something. And I'm the kind of person THAT'SI
understand on something. I'm not trying to get personal. I'm
talking about your game, right, Listen. I've seen players do
some stuff behind the scenes. Man, I'm walking out of
a hotel room whatever, I see whatever.
Speaker 5 (53:08):
And I'm like this.
Speaker 1 (53:09):
It ain't a legal or nothing like that, but I'm
just going like this. I don't know what you talk about.
Speaker 5 (53:13):
I keep it moving.
Speaker 1 (53:14):
You know, my business my business some means. But when
you shoot two for twenty h that's my my business.
Speaker 5 (53:20):
Where you losing gage, that's my business. When you sticking
up the joint, that's my business.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
Wen, you're not showing up in practice, that's my business.
When you're sitting there bitching and want and wan in
the morning about your money but you ain't earning it,
that's my business because that's your career that you've decided
to put on public displays.
Speaker 4 (53:38):
Right.
Speaker 5 (53:39):
That's the difference with your personal business. Man. I always
got you covered with that, as long as you know.
Speaker 1 (53:43):
Don't ask me to assist in breaking any laws or
anything like that, because I ain't going to jail for
your ass it ain't gonna happen. But outside of that,
I mean, ain't none of my business. I keep it moving.
Speaker 4 (53:52):
Football.
Speaker 3 (53:54):
You love your team, I'm thinking you like all things
New York Stealers.
Speaker 1 (53:58):
You the Steelers got gonna die hard Steelers fit because
the first ding, the first game I ever saw was
the Immaculate reception, Wow. When I was six years old,
my dad the macular reception Franko Harris against the Raiders,
and I fell in love with the Black and Gold.
Ever since, I still haven't given Neil o'donald for that interception.
Through the Lag Brown and Super Bowl. I still am
recovering from that. I still have given Ike Taylor for
(54:18):
given up a damn touchdown passes the Maarious Thomas that
t Bow threw.
Speaker 5 (54:21):
Don't get me.
Speaker 3 (54:23):
That might have been the worst moment of your own
that career. That might have been the worst ones eve.
Speaker 5 (54:27):
Man, listen man.
Speaker 1 (54:28):
I had Oh my god, I was. I was with
a girl I was dating at the time, you know,
her fond self and everything, and I had my mind
on other things and t Bow connected that pass. I
collapsed face first on her living room rug and laid
(54:50):
there for two hours.
Speaker 5 (54:52):
Didn't do nothing at night. Totally ruined my night.
Speaker 4 (54:55):
Yeah, totally ruled to do nothing.
Speaker 5 (54:57):
I didn't want anything.
Speaker 1 (54:58):
It was I was so damned depressed of all people
and I love him.
Speaker 5 (55:03):
Dealing, He's my friend. But that non throwing Tim.
Speaker 1 (55:06):
Tebow throws eighty yard touch that pad, I could not
believe to save my life that that happened, and I
couldn't recover that night, bro I was depressed. But those
two moments are my worst as a Steelers feed.
Speaker 3 (55:20):
So obviously, if you're a Steelers fan, you have to
hate the Cowboys because when the seventies, they always met
in the Super Bowl, and the Steelers always beat him the.
Speaker 5 (55:30):
Right, the right, Roger Starbuck and Drew.
Speaker 1 (55:36):
Tony Dorje ass out of here, come in and Stealers
took him out. Yes, Bradshaw, Swan star Warts, even Franco
Harris Well, I really.
Speaker 5 (55:43):
Didn't like that much as a running back, you understand.
I like Rocky Blant more than I like Franko Harrison.
He was a full back.
Speaker 1 (55:48):
But the Steelers and the steel Curtain me and Joe
Green L C. Green with Jack Lambert, Jack Han Melt blunting.
I like, Lord, this is what's all about?
Speaker 5 (55:56):
Yeah, steel Yes, I couldn't root for no New York teas.
They didn't win any terrible They're terrible. They're terrible, terrible.
Speaker 3 (56:05):
So now you basketball, that's your thing. What's what's steven
A's favorite sport?
Speaker 5 (56:12):
It's basketball.
Speaker 1 (56:13):
But I've grown to really really love footballs because because
football has been established as an event.
Speaker 5 (56:18):
So that's Sundays.
Speaker 1 (56:20):
You know what I'm saying when you come to New
York one the time and bring you by the crib
and bringing you the crib, you know, saying, I got, I.
Speaker 5 (56:24):
Got the main cave, just set up. It's set up.
Now you know we're gonn watch the game together. They're right,
They're right. We can do that. We do that with
Ryan Clark, Barker spills all talk about coming one time.
I just invite you all over to make sure I
got some catered food. Yeah, hell no, hell no. I
cooked some lasagna, cook some stek Hell yes we do.
Speaker 4 (56:43):
Alfred.
Speaker 1 (56:46):
You might not eat the lasagna, you know what I'm saying,
knowing you you're watching the cars and stuff like that,
but with some of us, gonna eat it. But I
will tell you this, I ain't cooking for a bunch
of men. That ain't happening.
Speaker 5 (56:55):
But I'll tell you if I tell you this right here,
I tell you this right here.
Speaker 1 (56:58):
Right now, you know you're gonna got football has established
himself as an event. But really, the two things I
love most is basketball and nothing beats a big time
boxing event.
Speaker 5 (57:12):
Oh yeah, Like when.
Speaker 1 (57:14):
I was at Ero Spence, I saw you right, It
broke my I picked Corfort to win.
Speaker 5 (57:20):
I ain't know you were win like that. It broke
my heart to see Ero Spence get whipped like that.
Speaker 1 (57:25):
It really really did. I didn't see that coming. I
might be at Canilo versus Charlo o'challo and it. But see,
my problem is that Charlo's moving up to weight classes.
Speaker 5 (57:37):
I'm scared for him now.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
He got mad skills and he got hot, and he
walks around looking like the bigger guy, But he ain't
been in the ring with somebody that's punching him from
one hundred and sixty eight pounds in a real fight, right,
And so that's my concern. His brother got some issues
that he got to resolve, that's what they say. But
he's the natural super middleweight, so he was the one who's,
(57:59):
in my opinion, should have been fighting Charlo.
Speaker 5 (58:02):
I'm sorry for the Canilo rather than this guy.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
But those big tom boxing events in Vegas, I mean,
nothing beats it.
Speaker 3 (58:10):
I mean this dispense fight was really big, but it's
been a while since you had those. I remember going
to the Mike Tyson and the Mayweather. It was an event.
Speaker 1 (58:19):
Now Mayweather Pacia, Mayweather Canilo Hoyer. Yes, that was a
big event too, But I will tell you nothing was
really bigger than Mayweather Pacquia. We had waited so long, yeah,
and want it was five years too late late, But
we didn't know until after the fight that it was
five years.
Speaker 5 (58:36):
Too late, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (58:37):
So leading up to the event, oh my god, it
didn't get any bigger.
Speaker 3 (58:41):
But you know the thing is everybody that Mayweather fought,
he made him look like it was five years too late, right,
And that's how the great that's the greatness of him. Yes,
everybody that he fought, they like.
Speaker 4 (58:52):
What he beat. Sugar, he beat Sugar, Sugar Jane mostly
he'd beat Sugar.
Speaker 5 (58:57):
Shane Mos second round. Yeah, almost hurt up as dropped him.
Speaker 3 (59:01):
But you look at you look at the champions that
this man beat and made them look mundane beating them.
This concludes the first half of my conversation. Part two
is also posted and you can access it to whichever
podcast platform you just listen to. Part one on. Just
simply go back to club Shay profile and I'll see
you there