June 1, 2024 • 47 mins
Dan Patrick reflects on the life and legacy of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton. Dan talks with MLB Historian John Thorn about Major League Baseball officially recognizing Negro League statistics as part of the MLB record books. Plus, Dan reacts to the Dallas Mavericks advancing to the NBA Finals.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hope you had a great weekend. Everybody gangs all here
ready to go. Reggie Miller stops by next hour and
Jay Billis reflects on his friendship with Bill Walton. I'll
have that for you coming up as well. We'll recap
everything that happened Timberwolves Mavericks Game four tonight, the Celtics
sweep the Pacers, Jalen Brown wins your Eastern Conference MVP,
(00:25):
the MAVs up three to zero in the Wolves, and
the big headline sports headline from yesterday, Bill Walton passing
away at the age of seventy one. We say good
morning to those watching on Peacock, thank you for downloading
the app and our radio affiliates around the country. We'll
have whole question play at the day stat of the day.
We weren't here yesterday obviously, so best and worst of
(00:46):
the weekend. You can dial up Tyler standing by eight
seven seven three DP show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I started my Memorial Day in a reflective mood, as
I try to do every Memorial Day. Remember relatives who
served in wars from World War Two to Afghanistan and
went to visit the graveside of my father in law
who was in the Air Force. So I started in
a reflective mood and then I ended my night day
(01:15):
with a reflective mood with Bill Walton, and you know,
different emotions there. It hit me hard when I first
heard that Bill had passed away, because I didn't know
he was battling cancer. But knowing Bill, he's not going
to let anybody know that he was battling cancer. And
if you've been a fan of this show, you know
for over twenty years we've had Bill on back at
(01:38):
the Mothership. Days Bill would call in, I'd say Hi, Bill,
how are you? And he would talk for eight to
twelve minutes stream of consciousness. I'd just let him go.
I rarely had time to ask him another question because
I didn't have another eight to twelve minutes and I
had to move on with programming. But Bill would call
in give a stream of consciousness, and I don't have
(01:59):
those art those are owned by ESPN, or I would
give you a sampling of just what it was like.
I had no idea what Billy was going to talk about,
but so many positive memories. I was sad, but then
I started to think about man. Bill would be so disappointed.
Why are you crying?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I'd be like, I.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Don't know, you know, And then I started thinking about
all the positives, and there's so many of them because
Bill went out of his way to make you feel good,
make you smile, and he did that. And I had
so many interactions with him, and I don't even know
where to begin with my relationship with him. My intermural
(02:42):
team in college was named the Walton Gang after Bill.
I love the way he played basketball. I love the purity,
the simplicity he understood the game. He understood that. He
was great in high school, greade in college, and of
course great in the NBA when he was healthy. But
he was when you thought of college basketball, Bill Walton
(03:03):
was the name, the face, and Kareem and Bill are
the two greatest centers of all time in college. Now
you can put in Bill Russell obviously a winner as
well at San Francisco, But Bill and Kareem are the
two greatest centers that I ever saw. But he was
so much more than that. He went to almost nine
hundred Grateful Dead concerts. He had almost forty different operations.
(03:26):
He would call them procedures. And you know, he thought
about committing suicide. He had had so many back surgeries,
he was in so much pain. And you know, Jim
Gray was going to find the best spinal surgery doctor
in the world, and he did and help prolong Bill's life.
(03:47):
And Bill was in extreme pain, and he even came
on the show and thought about suicide. But after that,
it felt like he had a new lease on life
and he was going to squeeze every ounce of every topic,
every person, every game, every moment. And you can't help
but have a smile on your face when you think
about Bill. The story that I tell often, we did
(04:11):
a show called NBA's Greatest Games at NBA Entertainment, and
so we look back on a game in the nineteen
eighty six NBA Finals and Bill came in as the guest.
We watched the game, we get opinions, and then you know,
we close it up and I'm getting ready to go
into New York City and he goes, can I get
a lift? And I go, Bill, I'm driving a Volkswagen Jetta,
(04:36):
And he didn't care. He got in the car and
he could arrested his chin on his knees. That's how
little space he had but he didn't care. He goes,
you got Twun's and I go, yeah, I said, I
got Dylan Greatest Hits Volume one. He goes, Dylan, Mozart
and Beethoven geniuses. So we're driving into New York. We
(05:03):
go through the Lincoln Tunnel and Bill goes, can you
put on blowing in the wind? I said yes, so
put on blowing in the wind. So we're going through
the Lincoln Tunnel. Bill is crammed in there and the
windows are down and he is singing the answer My
friend is blowing in the wind, blowing.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
In the wind. And then he turns to me.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
He goes, that's a metaphor, and I go and he
could not have been happier.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
And here he is squeezed in there.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
He always wanted to be listed at six eleven because
he was told that seven footers are freakd so Billy
he was not. He was probably seven to but he
sent me a bunch of gear when we moved into
the man Cave, sent me his autograph jersey and autograph basketball.
I was there for his first pro game when he
faced Kareem at the University of Dayton his rookie year.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Waited for him.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He came out of the locker room and I walked
across the parking lot with him. He had a red
plaid shirt and he had jeans, and he had a bandanna,
he had long hair. He had a bag, and I
remember saying, what's in the bag, and he goes nuts
and berries. He was vegan before vegan, and I just
(06:19):
remember walking and watching him and I don't know why,
And then you know, he was fortunate to have Jack
Ramsey as his head coach. That seventy seven Blazer team
blazer Mania. It's one of the finest performances of a
selfless team I've ever seen in my life. And Bill
did not care about scoring. He did not care. He
(06:41):
would rather have a block shot or a great pass
than you know, a dunk. He was selfless. That whole
team was, and some of the best basketball unless you're
a Philadelphia seventy six er fan that I've ever seen,
as far as team goes. But I can't help but
think of great things when I think of Bill, and
you know, in a lot of ways, he's similar to
(07:01):
John Madden that people forget that John Madden was a
Hall of Fame coach with the Raiders. They know him
from the Madden video game. Bill's one of the great
centers college basketball history. Had a lot of injuries, won
two titles in the NBA, but they know him as
a broadcaster. And then nineteen eighty six he's sixth man,
you know, for the Celtics, coming off the bench, winning
(07:23):
a title, playing with Larry Bird. Bill was Larry's idol
let that sink in. But Bill was as good a
passer as when he saw the game. You know, he
didn't have a great shot, but he was so active,
so springy, and great offensively and defensively, but understanding the
(07:43):
concepts of the game. There were very few who saw
it better than he did. He just couldn't play. He
was even the following year after they won the title.
I think they were fifty to ten after six sixty games.
And then he got injured and his career was really
marked by those injuries. Foot injuries, back injuries as well.
(08:05):
He was a character, and I remember talking to John
Wooden about him, and you know, John Coach would have
a smile, that smile that's like, boy, he put me
through the wringer, and it would say, oh, Billy Bill,
And you know, but they all had such reverence for
coach woulden't. So Bill passing away at the age of
(08:25):
seventy one, and if you came in contact with him,
you were a better person because he was going to
make sure you had to smile on your face. So,
Billy passing away at the age of seventy one, thanks
to those who did reach out, because it did hurt.
It stung me hard, and then I kept thinking, God,
he'd be so disappointed. You know, I was sad, and
(08:48):
that's true. So we celebrate Bill Walton. I'm going to
bring back an interview. I think this might have been
the last interview that Bill did with us. I'll play
that a little bit later on, just so you get
a sense of and he came on and stream of
consciousness because there'd be times I would want to ask
him things, but he had other things that he wanted
to talk about. You know, it could be understanding and
(09:09):
explaining the confluence of three rivers to was Gungha dinn
a great athlete, Like you're just going, wait, what where
are we going with this? But he didn't grow up
in his sports household because his mom was a librarian,
his dad is social workers. Brother Bruce played for the
Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman. But I don't think sports was
education was what was stressed. Bill had a stutter till
(09:34):
he was close to twenty eight years of age. And
I joke with him one time, I said, you had
a hard time talking, now you have a hard time
shutting up, and.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
He goes, isn't it wonderful?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
So I had that great voice, booming voice, and he
loved the game.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
He always talked.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I remember saying to him, God, you had that series
against Kareem and you went down the lane.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And dunked on him.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
He goes, oh, my idol, like it almost hurt him
that he was dunking on his idol, Kareem in a
playoff game. But for those of you in Portland, you're very,
very fortunate you got to watch some of the greatest
basketball ever played, in my opinion, in Blazer media when
you beat Doctor J.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
They lost the first two and then they won the
next four. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's I was trying to sum up how I could
put this into words and not get emotional, and hopefully
I've encapsulated. But imagine when we all want to have
an impact, we all want to leave people thinking that
person was this Billy did that. Bill left an impression
(10:42):
that puts a smile on your face, and that's a
damn good legacy. All Right, we'll get to pull question today.
Phone calls are always welcome. Reggie will join us a
little bit later on. He will be on the call
for Timberwolves in the MAVs Game four coming up tonight
and the Celtics over the pace. I know we're going
to look at degree of difficulty and we're gonna go, well,
(11:04):
the Celtics didn't really face anybody. They can only play
who's in front of them. That's it. Now there, you know.
They trailed again. They trailed in the last two games.
The Pacers blew a nine point lead in the fourth
quarter of both games three and four. Should it be
could it be to two? Yes, but it's not. They swept.
(11:25):
Now they move on and now you have a chance
for a sweep with the Timberwolves at the Mavericks and
then you're gonna have nine games if that were to
happen before the NBA Finals. Is it nine days that
that'll happen, I believe Fritzy.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, Thursday, June six is game one.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, so nine days before they'll start the NBA Finals.
If that is a sweep coming up tonight? All right, seatan,
let's pull question today.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Uh, which is worse Dan getting swept or losing Game
seven at the buzzer? I would say getting swept. I got,
I got to be in the game. It's like losing
at the buzzer in game seven is more heartbreaking, yes,
but it's worse to get swept, yes, right, yeah, yes,
(12:15):
one of them is more painful. The other one is
just like, well, we got crush.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I don't want to. I want to be in
the game. And if we lose, we lose, and yes
that's crushing. But then I take my takeaway is God,
we're that close as opposed to we're not close at all.
So I would say losing at the buzzer in game seven.
By the way, stat of the Day is always brought
to you by Panini America, the official trading cards for
(12:39):
the Dan Patrick Show. This first hour brought to you
by the great folks at Express Employment Professionals. If you're
looking for a job, they'll help you. A local job,
they'll help you, and no fees for job seekers. Visit
expresspros dot com to find the location nearest you. That's
expresspros dot Com. Upy birthday to one of my idols,
(13:01):
Jerry West eighty six years of age today, notty birthday.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Talking about a fellow who's not gonna put up with that.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Nonsense, No he will know, Yeah, nonsense, no, no, no, nope, nope,
no time for no birthday.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, I don't have time. I'm the logo. He's busy
being awesome somewhere.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, he always looked like he came out of a catalog.
You're like, damn, you look great, hair combed, you know,
color coordinated outfits, just walking in like whoa right out
of a catalog of.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
James Bondish, but also like could be your coach.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
H Yeah, you look like he was out of the movies.
What else do you have there? Seaton?
Speaker 4 (13:42):
What a boss? What an absolute boss?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
You know, we stumbled on one that we're gonna save
for hour two. Okay too, but we could tease it. Okay,
all right. Uh, we're talking earlier about professional race car drivers.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Hmmmm. Watched Little Indy five hundred.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Yeah, yes, there's a little bit of a debate about
whether or not you could do that with a year's practice.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Year's practice not be in the race. Just drive the
car two hundred and twenty five miles now right, not
become someone like on the circuit or whatever. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
so we'll save that one. Yeah, we'll save that one.
Yeah yeah, all right, so Jay Billist will join us. Also,
(14:25):
you had Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. There was some
pretty high praise. That may be the greatest backcourt and
the most talented backcourt NBA history.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
All right, we'll discuss that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And for those of you who are piling on Anthony
Edwards because he's not Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan failed the
first four years.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Wrong, Yes he did.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Anthony Edwards. See, this is what the media does. We go, oh,
he's the next Michael Jordan. He reminds me of Jordan.
Oh he's no Jordan. Look he's gonna verge of being
swept the media is doing. Anthony Edwards didn't say, hey,
by the way, I'm the next Jordan. No, he even
said stop, I'm not Michael Jordan. He has characteristics, maybe
(15:09):
a style, maybe the aggressiveness, the uh I'm gonna kill
you type mentality. Uh it would help if Karl Anthony
Towns hit a shot because the average margin of victory
for Dallas so far has been a little over four
points per game.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Carl Anthony.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Stall of a day, Style of a day, Start of
a day, Start of to day.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
This is the style of the day.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Scat of Today brought you by Panini America, the official
trading cards of the program. We'll get phone calls on
this Tuesday, best and worst of the weekend. What you
saw that you liked, you didn't like? But up next
we'll talk to Jay. Billis his thoughts on working with
Bill Walton and he'll join us next.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk up in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
To NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you
right into the NBA grapevine.
Speaker 7 (16:15):
All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
new NBA podcast with me Chris.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Haynes and me Mark Stein join us.
Speaker 7 (16:25):
As we team up to expound on everything we're covering.
Hearing and Chason.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
On the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Final hour in this Wednesday? Is it patience Wednesday? Perspective Wednesday.
I'm trying to add some perspective here today.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
I was trying to find a word because I know
how much we love alliteration. Oh, a w word that
would go with Wednesday, like wisdom Wednesday. Oh, wisdom Wednesday.
Damn See, I've been spending two hours thinking about that.
Why and you just ask me lesson learned? Yeah, that
you know what that is? Then wisdom?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, thank you, thank you. Paulie hates alliteration for somebody
whose name is Paul.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Papps amongst the reasons.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Yes, I think that's why. Yeah, I think that's why.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
But did they call you pep a little bit? I
got a lot? Yeah, it didn't really bother me that much. Yeah,
of course is that sticking with you fifty years later?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah, I'm completely over.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I'm over. I'm over.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
First day of kindergarten app ruined the whole life.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
I was a little guy too, I couldn't really defend myself.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Kids can be so brutal.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh my gosh, that mean worst they are, and they
go they go right for the jugular. I mean they
they wanted to hurt a little bit and they make
fun of you. Eight seven seven three DP Show email
address Dpadanpatrick dot com, Twitter handle ADP Show. Make sure
you check out our YouTube channel. Also uh Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Thank you for all the great things that you do
for us and Peacock a streaming partner.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Download the app if you haven't done so. Stars Oilers
Game four tonight Timberwolves beat the MAVs. Is hope or
false hope? MAVs go up three games to one. Caitlin
Clark had thirty in a loss, and baseball has revamped
its statistical history. And the man who's responsible for this
he is the official historian of Major League Baseball, John Thorn,
(18:23):
who joins us. John, explain what you've been doing and
how long you've been doing it to get to this
point today.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
Of course, Dan first of all to indicate that many
hands have made like the work I am, by no
means the most important person in this entire scenario. It's
people like Larry Lester and Gary Ashwell and Kevin Johnson
who have been the diggers who have been reading black
(18:50):
newspapers on microfilm and microfiche for decades and now some
of that has been digitized. But it is the research
effort that we memorialized with the Committee to Review Negro
League statistics, whereby we set some policies for leaderboards, in
(19:11):
particular single season leader boards and career leader boards that
have upturned the baseball world.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Okay, do you have to have for something to be validated?
You have to have a box score.
Speaker 9 (19:27):
Absolutely, you have to have a score, because, as you know,
baseball is a double entry accounting system, whereby every out
made at the plate is reflected in and out made
in the field, either a pitcher catcher strikeout or a
grounder to short that's an assist for the shortstop and
(19:48):
a put out for the first basement. Absence that balance,
and if we started to intrude anecdotal evidence into the database,
the balance of MLB's history since eighteen seventy six would
be destroyed.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
What has changed as far as individual as far as
an individual like Josh Gibson or an individual category season,
give us the statistical fallout from this.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
The leaderboards will have changed, and Josh Gibson is the
single season leader in batting average and slugging and ops.
But he's already been memorialized in bronze at the Baseball
Hall of Fame, like many of his others. But there
are twenty three hundred players, some of whom were in
(20:38):
for a cup of coffee or an inconsequential season in
a league that didn't last very long. And it's these players,
these individuals whose families can now point to their name
in the record book and say he was a major leaguer.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
How many home runs did Josh Gibson officially hit? Officially?
Speaker 8 (21:00):
I believe the number is one seventy four in league play.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
His Hall of.
Speaker 8 (21:05):
Fame plaque reads that he hit nearly eight hundred in
some combination of league and independent ball. But independent ball
is barnstorming ball, and you never know what the quality
of the opposition was, whether it's semi pro, whether it's amateur.
Because the Negro leagues, with their shortened seasons, their shortened
(21:28):
league seasons, were compelled to play lots of games, more
so than MLB in order to keep the revenue stream flowing.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Will there be asterisks in the record books.
Speaker 8 (21:43):
There will be no asterisks, just as the prospect of
an asterisk alongside Roger Maris's sixty one Homers way back
when never was actualized. It is MLB policy that there
is one continuous record from eighteen seventy six to the
(22:05):
present day, and not a single statistic bears an asterisk
or a footnote.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And it's not just the Negro leagues. There are other
leagues that are incorporated in this whole process.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
Sure, there are defunct major leagues, and many of our
listeners will not have heard of the American Association as
a ten year major eighteen eighty two to eighteen ninety one,
or the Union Association of eighteen eighty four, or the
Players League of eighteen ninety or the Federal League of
nineteen fourteen and fifteen. But these leagues were deemed to
(22:41):
be major league caliber back in nineteen sixty nine, and
all of those players' records are in the database.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
He is the official historian of Major League Baseball, John Thorne.
That's a pretty good title there. Do you have a
business card? I do have a business nice.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I like that.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
I sometimes had it to my wife.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
What's the coolest thing in your library?
Speaker 3 (23:03):
There?
Speaker 8 (23:05):
The coolest thing might be the oil painting of Jim
Boughten my pal okay, well, the Knickerbocker Pennant, which was
the first flag flown over the Knickerbocker Baseball Club clubhouse
in eighteen fifty five.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
You remember when Ball four came out with Jim Boughten.
If that came out now, that would be like nobody
would even think twice. But back then in nineteen seventy,
it's like, oh my gosh, here's an athlete who is
spilling on his teammates and what it's like on the road.
Speaker 8 (23:40):
And it was an athlete's own voice. It was not
a ghost written job as so many of the player
autobiographies or the Christy Matthewson books, the King Kelly books,
the cap ants and books, they were all ghosted.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
It's great to talk to you, John, congratulations on the
process and everybody else in this Uh did babe did
did Babe Ruth actually call his shot in the World Series?
Speaker 8 (24:05):
No, there is some eight millimeter footage of the Babe
and point. He's pointing to the Cubs clubhouse where he
was being razzed. And if you view this footage from
the wrong perspective, you think he's pointing to center field,
but he wasn't. It was a joke for Ruth too.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Oh, he kind of ruined that story there, John, thanks
for joining us, and again, congratulations to everybody involved in this.
My pleasure, Dan, that's John Thorne, the official historian of
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
It's a big title there. Now, I'm wondering, let's say
we looked at other sports there, ABA NBA combine that? Right?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Can you look at Canadian Football League and factor that
in with the Pro Football Hall of Fame NFL numbers?
How about USFL with herschel Walker's numbers?
Speaker 10 (25:04):
There?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Does do those sports get around to doing that? The ABA?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I certainly understand because of the teams they absorbed and
the great players that were there. How many points does
doctor J have? Marvin?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Do we know if PAULI, do you have that? Yeah?
I got doctor J.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Julius Irving having almost twelve thousand points just in the ABA.
And if you look at a thing called Basketball Reference,
which is basically the Bible of basketball stats, they split
it into ABA and NBA stats. But then they have
ABA NBA combined, so you can look at all those stats.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
But does the Basketball Hall of Fame do they recognize
these stats so they are combined?
Speaker 6 (25:46):
I got to check that, but I believe they recognize
combined stats, like Lebron James is the all time leading scorer.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Okay, but how many points does Doctor j officially have?
ABA and NBA checking, because that's what I was curious about,
and I should know that. I thought they factored both
of those in or eventually got around to that.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yes, Mark, he's got thirty twenty six points, but he
doesn't get credit for thirty thousand. Doh.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Right when Lebron was going for the You know, we
talked about Karl Malone his record, Kareem's record, but I
didn't hear Lebron with Doctor Jay's record getting past thirty
thousand points.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
At least I don't remember that, do you.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
We're checking on that one. It's unclear how they look
at it the league itself.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And I know they had a three point shot with
the ABA, but you had so much talent you absorbed
some of those teams that you should look at those
numbers and combine those numbers, just like what we're having
with Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
See Basketball Reference. By the way, the original reference point
for career salary game.
Speaker 10 (26:51):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Spent an incredible amount of time on that back at
the Mothership looking at Kevin Garton had to be two
hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 11 (26:58):
Do you believe this?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
That didn't We just go through this with Caitlin Clark
and Lynette Woodard where there there were well she's passing,
Caitlyn's passing Pete Marivitch, but there's somebody that still has more.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And I said, Lynette Woodard played you know, at what
Kansas and she played for the Harlem Globetrotters. It wasn't
called the you know, women's basketball, wasn't the NC Double A.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
And I said, that's that's nonsense.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
That Caitlyn had to surpass Lynette Woodard and then they
finally recognized her and rightfully, so, uh, you know, she
was still going against collegiate talent. They just didn't recognize it.
The NC DOUBLEA didn't. But ABA, NBA are those numbers combined, PAULI.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
They appears that they're not. I'm on the NBA's website,
the official NBA website, and it does not include Doctor
Jay's points in the ABA.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
See that's wrong. Get to go at it. I I
I'm trying to.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
I like when you're upset.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yeah, but I look.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I got to watch some ABA games and the talent
level was awesome. The game was The ABA was like
the AFL. It was fun. The NFL was boring, you know,
it was like three yards in a cloud of dust.
The NBA, while it did have some good players, it
(28:19):
wasn't as exciting as the ABA. ABA was wide open,
shooting the three, the red, white, blue ball. It was great,
great teams, a lot of talent. They should count that.
It's kind of a shame that they don't. Now, I
understand the CFL because you know different rules and how
you play in the CFL with three downs, four downs,
(28:41):
you know the amount of passing yards that you're going
to have in the CFL. But Warren Moon's numbers in
the CFL or Doug Flutie's numbers in the CFL, can
you incorporate that, Jim Kelly's numbers in the USFL, Herschel's
numbers in the USFL. Can you put it all under
one umbrella? It was professional football and these players did
(29:07):
go on to have great careers in the NFL. You
know Anthony Carter when he played, I mean he had
a lot of guys that played in the USFL. Steve Young,
can you put it under the all under one umbrella?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
There.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
I don't know if I don't know if pro football
would do that, but it is. It's called the Pro
Football Hall of Fame. It's not called the NFL Hall
of Fame. It's like it's the Basketball Hall of Fame,
not the NBA Hall of Fame.
Speaker 11 (29:31):
Yes, Mark, Yeah, I wonder what Reggie White's stats looked
like combining his USFL stats along with his NFL stats,
because wasn't he Obviously he was dominant, in dominant everywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Paulie and I were talking about the Super Bowl when
he played for the Packers, when Desmond Howard won the MVP,
and he he was in the backfield the entire game,
if you want to pick now, I know Desmond had
a couple of if he had a kickoff return, he
had a punt return that set up I think or
Reggie White was unbelievable. He had this one move that
(30:05):
Bowl rush and he would just you know, it was
a hump a club and he would just throw these.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
You know, three hundred pound linemen out of the way.
He dominated, He truly dominated. That game should have been mvpick.
He set the tone.
Speaker 11 (30:23):
Yes, Mark, Reggie White has the most impressive like play
I've ever seen when he tosses Larry Allen. Everyone YouTube,
google it, go on your Twitter machine and look up
Reggie White tossing the strongest man in the NFL, Larry Allen.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yes, yes, a guy who players would get the Larry
Allen flu because they didn't want to face him. The
Dallas Cowboy tackle and Reggie White. He might have been underrated.
He might have been underrated, if that's possible. Yeah, pung
Reggie right.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
White was first team All Pro at twenty five and
at age thirty sive just and a bunch of times
in between. He had one hundred and ninety eight career
sex sex. If you throw in his twenty six and
a half, you're at two twenty four and a half.
He'd be like Reggie White.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
But he was so much more than just that. Because
it's like me and Joe Green. They they demanded double
team and really you had to know where they were
on the field. Those are two of the most dominant
players that I ever Now. I saw Lawrence Taylor obviously,
but Reggie and me and Joe Green, they were just different.
(31:36):
There was and you know, Reggie was such a peaceful guy,
but he didn't play that way mean Joe Green, peaceful guy.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
He didn't play that way.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Lawrence Taylor was kind of Lawrence Taylor on the field
and off the field. He kind of he had a
different speed limit than everybody else there. But God, Reggie White,
damn unbelievable.
Speaker 11 (31:58):
Yes, Marv, you're right, because I think we automatically say
Lawrence Taylor when you say the greatest defensive player ever. Yeah,
Reggie White should probably be in that. And I saw,
like the end maybe the Packers Reggi White and I
didn't know about how dominant he was in Philadelphia. And
then what free agency stir he calls when he became
a free agent.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
When he went to Green Bay said, God told him
to go to Green Bay. Good choice?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Is that where you go? Can I get a second opinion?
Speaker 8 (32:28):
God?
Speaker 3 (32:28):
I mean it's cold there.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
But he had played in Philadelphia, But when he went
to Green Bay that kind of changed free agency. At
least that's what I remember. It's like, Wow, you know
you're gonna go where you want to go. What's best
for you? And it was best for Reggie White.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
Yeah, PAULI, we're watching Reggie White clips and there's a
play where Chris Carter tries to block him. He gets
in some type of position where he has to block
Reggie White. It looks like you ever play sports with
your nephews and the big uncle throws some people around
the yard. Yeah, poor Chris Carter, who seem like a
pretty strong dude, is getting manhandled.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
And I was being just short of putting him over
his shoulder like that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, like that's where you go. If you're Reggie White,
you go.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Chris. You don't want to do this, Chris, you don't
want to let him. Yeah, you don't want to do this.
All right, let me take a break.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
So the the official stats they going to try to
combine all of those and Josh Gibson will be the
big winner here. And Josh he died. I think he
had a either brain tumor stroke when he was around
thirty five or thirty six. But he was considered on
(33:41):
par with any catcher I ever played the game, if
not better than any catcher in the history of the game.
And also, you know, when you think about breaking the
color barrier, Satchel Page was too old, Like you you
want that player who's leaving the negro leagues to succeed,
So then you have more players to follow, and so
you're picking somebody talent, age and also temperament because Jackie
(34:05):
Robinson had all of those. Josh Gibson had the talent,
didn't have the temperament, and Satchel Page was too old
at the time. And Jackie put up obviously with a lot,
had to have the correct temperament to just be able
to kind of compartmentalize what was going on, even when
his teammates didn't even like him. So I wish Buck
(34:25):
O'Neill were alive today. Buck O'Neill one of my favorite
people I ever interviewed, and he spoke on behalf of
so many of these players from the Negro leagues that
we didn't get to see, and he's the one that
got some of these players into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
He has to be smiling today, is he in the
whole thing?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I think he finally got in for contributions, OK, and
I worked hard with that. There's no credit for me.
I don't want that, I'm saying. I remember telling the
commissioner that this has to it. It's an injustice with
contributions to the game. His contrabt is being that scrap
book to tell everybody about these players that he played
(35:04):
with and against in the Negro leagues and that they
got into the Hall of Fame. And I you know,
I'm glad that that happened FOROK a while, but what
a wonderful man. Take a break back after.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
This, be sure to catch the live edition of The
Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAP.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
We have to wait a week, but it'll be worth it.
NBA Finals, get ready. The Dallas Mavericks rolled the Timberwolves
Luca with thirty six, Kyrie with thirty six. So you
have a weekend with no basketball, you'll have the NHL
Playoffs and you'll have some baseball as well. Panthers over
the Rangers. They're up three to two in this series.
(35:49):
But back to the Mavericks. When the season started, I'm
looking at the odds on favorites to win the title.
This is preseason. Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets were
tied at plus four p fifty. Then it was the
Phoenix Suns ooops, then the Bucks, Golden State, Lakers, Heat
(36:10):
seventy six Ers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavericks. Yeah, yeah, Mavericks were
tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Just ahead of these Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Stall of a day, stanaa day, Standada day, Stannada day.
This is the stant of the day.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Rontio Vaipanini America. The official trading cards of the Dan
Patrick Show. So you had the MAVs at plus twenty
five hundred, same for the Calves, then the Kings, then
the Pelicans, then the Knicks, and then the Minnesota Timberwolves
were at plus sixty six hundred. It was a good year.
You can lose and still have a good year. I
(37:01):
think this was a good year from Minnesota. I think
it was a good year for the New York Knicks.
Certain teams that maybe they overachieve a little bit. When
the Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals a couple
of years ago, gosh, does it seem like it was
only a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I don't think it really happened.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
I yes, you know what, when you told me that
the other day, You're like, God, I can't believe the
Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
I go, what year? You go? This just a couple
of years ago? I go, oh, my god, that's right.
The Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 11 (37:32):
Remember Ben Simmons passed up that wide open shot.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Oh yes, yes, all right, So you got Dallas going
to the NBA Finals. Got a lot of storylines here.
You got Kyrie going back to Boston, Christaps Porzingis maybe,
you know, going back to Dallas. I don't know if
the Maverick fans are going to be upset that, you know,
Porzingis comes to town. Boston fans are going to be
(37:55):
They're gonna let Kyrie know all about that.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
They're gonna be Boston fans.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Yes they are.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
That's yes, that's it there.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
So Luca and Kyrie each had thirty six. This was
never a game I'm watching, And all of a sudden,
Luca gets going and gets going, and it kind of
sounded like this fourteen for.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Lucas going on. Here gears on one to.
Speaker 8 (38:21):
Night boke delay Anderson controlled by the mouth.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Another heat check from from Luca, checks again.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Another three, got it, he's over fine, Flower, he has
over fire twenty points.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
All right, Kevin, Harlan and Regg with the call.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
There. Here's Anthony Edwards after the loss talking about Luca.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
What did you see happen so early there that just
brought a knockout punch and made it tough to come back.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Luca, is that simple?
Speaker 4 (38:50):
He had like three shots from the from the loco,
so pretty much.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Nothing we can do about it.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well, I thought there was something you could do about it.
And I know the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to get
a haul passed today because we're gonna go.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
They overachieved and there was no aggression. I wanted to
see physicality. I wanted you to come out and say
you're not going to win on our floor, and I
never saw it last night, and Luca all of a
sudden got on a heater and he was not getting
off until he said, yeah, I'm a little tired, Hey, Kai,
why don't you take over? And then Kyrie Irving had
(39:23):
thirty six as well. But I was surprised, I don't
want to say disappointed. I was surprised that I didn't
get physicality out of Minnesota that they were going to.
I mean, at some point you got to bump him,
knock him down something. You can't just let him go.
I don't know where do I want to score. You know,
I haven't shot over here in a couple of I'm
(39:44):
gonna go over here and hit a three. I wanted
to see something more. I wanted to see Anthony Edwards. See,
this is what drives me crazy about my business. We
have to have a declaration. It's got to be like today,
is Luca the best player in the NBA?
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I don't know. Is he the best player a week ago?
Speaker 10 (40:02):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Probably not?
Speaker 2 (40:04):
But he is now Okay, But then it wasn't long
ago where we were saying Joker, he's going to be
a top ten player of Okay, like it's immediate. Anthony Edwards,
he's the second coming of Michael Jordan. No, he's not
give it time. He's twenty two Luca. If Luca wins
the title this year, Luca will win the MVP next year.
(40:28):
You pretty much count on it, because now, all of
a sudden, he lived up to the expectations. He won
a title, Like Joker, I don't know, he doesn't deserve
the MVP and t he win a title. Then he
wins a title, and I go, you're gonna win the
MVP next year or now this year, and he did
because we need that validation. Now we're going to be
disappointed in Anthony Edwards. He did know Michael Jordan, Well,
(40:50):
he didn't say he was.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
We did.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
And Luca's not old, he's twenty five. It does feel
like he's old. And at three years this is a
big difference in the NBA. Anthony Edwards is going to
be a star. He already is a star, but he's
not ready. He wasn't ready, his team wasn't ready. It
was a great story this year. And then go back
(41:14):
to when you know the Dallas Mavericks got Kyrie Irving
Seaton went back and looked at the show that we
did that day because it was in real time. Our
reaction when Shams reported that Brooklyn was sending him to
the Dallas Mavericks. And they got a couple of players
and they got some draft picks there, but the reaction
was pretty much the same. Oh Man nets, they did
(41:37):
a great job. They fleece the MAVs. Look at what
they got. They got Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney Smith, a
first round pick, and multiple second round picks, and Dallas
got Kyrie and everybody had the same reaction pretty much.
And I think our poll question was they get better or.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Did the MAVs get better? Or problems.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yes, yeah, And my reaction was both because you can't
look at Kyrie and without looking at you know him
in full like the totality of you get Kyrie, what
are you getting? Where you're getting an injury prone guy
who's thirty one and we don't know if basketball is
important to him anymore. That was a fair assessment about Kyrie.
(42:24):
I never said anything about his basketball skills, because even
at thirty one, even banged up, injury prone, he still
was elite. But I said, you know, you're not sure
what you're getting. But it really came down to almost
his mindset, like did you want to hit the reset button?
(42:45):
We asked how would Luca respond to this? Would it
be a welcoming site that he would get somebody who
was a equal as far as scoring, playmaking ability? And
it turned out that way, and Kyrie has been great.
You know, in this isn't revisionist history. I know what
he is. I didn't know who he was, but he
(43:07):
came to Dallas and there's no drama there. We haven't
heard anything out of it. And that's good because we
do want to see him just play basketball. The other stuff,
the ancillary stuff, the off the court, if he revisits
that when he's done.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Great.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
I like to see a player who has that much talent,
that ability to be back on the big stage again.
And he's been through an awful lot. But at thirty
one thirty two, all of a sudden you look around
and you go, this is not going to last much longer.
How do I want to be remembered? Does he care
about how he wants to be remembered? But when he plays,
when he wants to play, he's remarkable. Here's Kyrie irving
(43:45):
after the win.
Speaker 10 (43:47):
It has been seven long years, but it's also felt
like the right amount of time, you know, in order
to reward myself be in the locker room with my
teammates and enjoying it a long time coming, so we
are going to enjoy this. We obviously noticed just a
pisstop in his journey, and we got to get ready
for you know, that court turning gold, as I like
to say, you know, to shoe's turn gold, the jersey's
(44:08):
turn gold. And you know, as a kid, that's what
you dream of getting too, is the finals and being
able to play against the best of the best with
the whole world watching.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yeah, Okay, get ready for Boston. Here's some of the reactions.
Why any team at all would tether any part of
their competitive livelihood, however short or long term to this
dude is beyond me. Was Dallas desperate maybe, but Mark
Cuban not afraid to take a chance. They brought in Kyrie.
(44:38):
Kyrie had to respect Luca, had to respect Jason Kidd,
had to be willing to be a great team player,
and he realized that you're not going to be the guy,
you know, he had to go out there and also,
you know, be a little bit submissive to Lucas. Lucas team.
How do I fit in? And Kyrie has done a
wonderful job, Yes.
Speaker 4 (45:01):
Seaton, Yeah, I think too that if you go back,
you know, obviously revision his history, but just some of
the things that Kyrie was saying about, you know, appreciating
Lebron more. He wished that he had done that more
in Cleveland, and there was a certain his comments were
a lot more mature and that he was reflective too.
It gives you a little bit of insight actually into
(45:21):
why he's okay being the robin to Luca's batman. Now
he's okay, Let no, you go be the guy, and
I'll be the other guy that helps us get there,
no problem. And he wasn't that way, and that was
part of the reason why he wanted out of Cleveland.
He wanted his own team. He went to Boston. Then
all of a sudden he wanted out of Boston. Now
he goes to Brooklyn that he wants to pair up
with hardin Durant. Then that doesn't work out for a
(45:44):
variety of reasons. You know, his stance with COVID. There
was a you know, controversial film that he was backing
that was labeled anti Semitic. I mean, there was a
lot of things here, and we didn't know if he
wanted to play. When he did play, there was no
argument he was a wonder player. He is a wonderful player.
It was all the other stuff that went into it.
(46:04):
So you're going to have people.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Today they're going to be like, yeah, I knew Dallas
was getting a great player, and Dallas got the better
end of the year. That wasn't the way it went
down when it first happened, because everybody reacted as you
would expect them to, and that is we're not quite
sure what you're getting is Dallas desperate did they give
up too much? Wow, Brooklyn fleeced the Dallas Mavericks. But
(46:27):
last night Luca was wonderful early. Now you're going to
hear today. Is Luca the best player in the world?
Is it just because you dusted off the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Is he now better than Joker because Joker's not in
the playoffs? But that's what happens. It's immediate, it's overnight,
Luca best player in the game. A lot of people
(46:50):
don't watch basketball games. They see highlights. That was a game.
If you watch the game, then you understood somebody is
going to basically take his and put it on your
throat and make sure that you run out of oxygen.
He did that to the entire building last night. In
real time. You saw it. He outscored Minnesota in the
(47:13):
first quarter twenty to nineteen and probably could have put
up sixty, but then he didn't need to. But watching
that in real time, that's when you understand. Sometimes you
got killers out there and they want the ball, they
want the moment, and he certainly did last night, and
Minnesota had no answers and they weren't physical. I was
(47:38):
shocked with the lack of energy urgency that I saw
with Minnesota
You are listening to the Dan Patrick Show on Fox
Sports Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hope you had a great weekend. Everybody gangs all here
ready to go. Reggie Miller stops by next hour and
Jay Billis reflects on his friendship with Bill Walton. I'll
have that for you coming up as well. We'll recap
everything that happened Timberwolves Mavericks Game four tonight, the Celtics
sweep the Pacers, Jalen Brown wins your Eastern Conference MVP,
(00:25):
the MAVs up three to zero in the Wolves, and
the big headline sports headline from yesterday, Bill Walton passing
away at the age of seventy one. We say good
morning to those watching on Peacock, thank you for downloading
the app and our radio affiliates around the country. We'll
have whole question play at the day stat of the day.
We weren't here yesterday obviously, so best and worst of
(00:46):
the weekend. You can dial up Tyler standing by eight
seven seven three DP show.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You know.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
I started my Memorial Day in a reflective mood, as
I try to do every Memorial Day. Remember relatives who
served in wars from World War Two to Afghanistan and
went to visit the graveside of my father in law
who was in the Air Force. So I started in
a reflective mood and then I ended my night day
(01:15):
with a reflective mood with Bill Walton, and you know,
different emotions there. It hit me hard when I first
heard that Bill had passed away, because I didn't know
he was battling cancer. But knowing Bill, he's not going
to let anybody know that he was battling cancer. And
if you've been a fan of this show, you know
for over twenty years we've had Bill on back at
(01:38):
the Mothership. Days Bill would call in, I'd say Hi, Bill,
how are you? And he would talk for eight to
twelve minutes stream of consciousness. I'd just let him go.
I rarely had time to ask him another question because
I didn't have another eight to twelve minutes and I
had to move on with programming. But Bill would call
in give a stream of consciousness, and I don't have
(01:59):
those art those are owned by ESPN, or I would
give you a sampling of just what it was like.
I had no idea what Billy was going to talk about,
but so many positive memories. I was sad, but then
I started to think about man. Bill would be so disappointed.
Why are you crying?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
I'd be like, I.
Speaker 2 (02:20):
Don't know, you know, And then I started thinking about
all the positives, and there's so many of them because
Bill went out of his way to make you feel good,
make you smile, and he did that. And I had
so many interactions with him, and I don't even know
where to begin with my relationship with him. My intermural
(02:42):
team in college was named the Walton Gang after Bill.
I love the way he played basketball. I love the purity,
the simplicity he understood the game. He understood that. He
was great in high school, greade in college, and of
course great in the NBA when he was healthy. But
he was when you thought of college basketball, Bill Walton
(03:03):
was the name, the face, and Kareem and Bill are
the two greatest centers of all time in college. Now
you can put in Bill Russell obviously a winner as
well at San Francisco, But Bill and Kareem are the
two greatest centers that I ever saw. But he was
so much more than that. He went to almost nine
hundred Grateful Dead concerts. He had almost forty different operations.
(03:26):
He would call them procedures. And you know, he thought
about committing suicide. He had had so many back surgeries,
he was in so much pain. And you know, Jim
Gray was going to find the best spinal surgery doctor
in the world, and he did and help prolong Bill's life.
(03:47):
And Bill was in extreme pain, and he even came
on the show and thought about suicide. But after that,
it felt like he had a new lease on life
and he was going to squeeze every ounce of every topic,
every person, every game, every moment. And you can't help
but have a smile on your face when you think
about Bill. The story that I tell often, we did
(04:11):
a show called NBA's Greatest Games at NBA Entertainment, and
so we look back on a game in the nineteen
eighty six NBA Finals and Bill came in as the guest.
We watched the game, we get opinions, and then you know,
we close it up and I'm getting ready to go
into New York City and he goes, can I get
a lift? And I go, Bill, I'm driving a Volkswagen Jetta,
(04:36):
And he didn't care. He got in the car and
he could arrested his chin on his knees. That's how
little space he had but he didn't care. He goes,
you got Twun's and I go, yeah, I said, I
got Dylan Greatest Hits Volume one. He goes, Dylan, Mozart
and Beethoven geniuses. So we're driving into New York. We
(05:03):
go through the Lincoln Tunnel and Bill goes, can you
put on blowing in the wind? I said yes, so
put on blowing in the wind. So we're going through
the Lincoln Tunnel. Bill is crammed in there and the
windows are down and he is singing the answer My
friend is blowing in the wind, blowing.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
In the wind. And then he turns to me.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
He goes, that's a metaphor, and I go and he
could not have been happier.
Speaker 3 (05:32):
And here he is squeezed in there.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
He always wanted to be listed at six eleven because
he was told that seven footers are freakd so Billy
he was not. He was probably seven to but he
sent me a bunch of gear when we moved into
the man Cave, sent me his autograph jersey and autograph basketball.
I was there for his first pro game when he
faced Kareem at the University of Dayton his rookie year.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
Waited for him.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
He came out of the locker room and I walked
across the parking lot with him. He had a red
plaid shirt and he had jeans, and he had a bandanna,
he had long hair. He had a bag, and I
remember saying, what's in the bag, and he goes nuts
and berries. He was vegan before vegan, and I just
(06:19):
remember walking and watching him and I don't know why,
And then you know, he was fortunate to have Jack
Ramsey as his head coach. That seventy seven Blazer team
blazer Mania. It's one of the finest performances of a
selfless team I've ever seen in my life. And Bill
did not care about scoring. He did not care. He
(06:41):
would rather have a block shot or a great pass
than you know, a dunk. He was selfless. That whole
team was, and some of the best basketball unless you're
a Philadelphia seventy six er fan that I've ever seen,
as far as team goes. But I can't help but
think of great things when I think of Bill, and
you know, in a lot of ways, he's similar to
(07:01):
John Madden that people forget that John Madden was a
Hall of Fame coach with the Raiders. They know him
from the Madden video game. Bill's one of the great
centers college basketball history. Had a lot of injuries, won
two titles in the NBA, but they know him as
a broadcaster. And then nineteen eighty six he's sixth man,
you know, for the Celtics, coming off the bench, winning
(07:23):
a title, playing with Larry Bird. Bill was Larry's idol
let that sink in. But Bill was as good a
passer as when he saw the game. You know, he
didn't have a great shot, but he was so active,
so springy, and great offensively and defensively, but understanding the
(07:43):
concepts of the game. There were very few who saw
it better than he did. He just couldn't play. He
was even the following year after they won the title.
I think they were fifty to ten after six sixty games.
And then he got injured and his career was really
marked by those injuries. Foot injuries, back injuries as well.
(08:05):
He was a character, and I remember talking to John
Wooden about him, and you know, John Coach would have
a smile, that smile that's like, boy, he put me
through the wringer, and it would say, oh, Billy Bill,
And you know, but they all had such reverence for
coach woulden't. So Bill passing away at the age of
(08:25):
seventy one, and if you came in contact with him,
you were a better person because he was going to
make sure you had to smile on your face. So,
Billy passing away at the age of seventy one, thanks
to those who did reach out, because it did hurt.
It stung me hard, and then I kept thinking, God,
he'd be so disappointed. You know, I was sad, and
(08:48):
that's true. So we celebrate Bill Walton. I'm going to
bring back an interview. I think this might have been
the last interview that Bill did with us. I'll play
that a little bit later on, just so you get
a sense of and he came on and stream of
consciousness because there'd be times I would want to ask
him things, but he had other things that he wanted
to talk about. You know, it could be understanding and
(09:09):
explaining the confluence of three rivers to was Gungha dinn
a great athlete, Like you're just going, wait, what where
are we going with this? But he didn't grow up
in his sports household because his mom was a librarian,
his dad is social workers. Brother Bruce played for the
Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman. But I don't think sports was
education was what was stressed. Bill had a stutter till
(09:34):
he was close to twenty eight years of age. And
I joke with him one time, I said, you had
a hard time talking, now you have a hard time
shutting up, and.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
He goes, isn't it wonderful?
Speaker 2 (09:45):
So I had that great voice, booming voice, and he
loved the game.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
He always talked.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I remember saying to him, God, you had that series
against Kareem and you went down the lane.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
And dunked on him.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
He goes, oh, my idol, like it almost hurt him
that he was dunking on his idol, Kareem in a
playoff game. But for those of you in Portland, you're very,
very fortunate you got to watch some of the greatest
basketball ever played, in my opinion, in Blazer media when
you beat Doctor J.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
They lost the first two and then they won the
next four. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
That's I was trying to sum up how I could
put this into words and not get emotional, and hopefully
I've encapsulated. But imagine when we all want to have
an impact, we all want to leave people thinking that
person was this Billy did that. Bill left an impression
(10:42):
that puts a smile on your face, and that's a
damn good legacy. All Right, we'll get to pull question today.
Phone calls are always welcome. Reggie will join us a
little bit later on. He will be on the call
for Timberwolves in the MAVs Game four coming up tonight
and the Celtics over the pace. I know we're going
to look at degree of difficulty and we're gonna go, well,
(11:04):
the Celtics didn't really face anybody. They can only play
who's in front of them. That's it. Now there, you know.
They trailed again. They trailed in the last two games.
The Pacers blew a nine point lead in the fourth
quarter of both games three and four. Should it be
could it be to two? Yes, but it's not. They swept.
(11:25):
Now they move on and now you have a chance
for a sweep with the Timberwolves at the Mavericks and
then you're gonna have nine games if that were to
happen before the NBA Finals. Is it nine days that
that'll happen, I believe Fritzy.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
Yeah, Thursday, June six is game one.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, so nine days before they'll start the NBA Finals.
If that is a sweep coming up tonight? All right, seatan,
let's pull question today.
Speaker 4 (11:52):
Uh, which is worse Dan getting swept or losing Game
seven at the buzzer? I would say getting swept. I got,
I got to be in the game. It's like losing
at the buzzer in game seven is more heartbreaking, yes,
but it's worse to get swept, yes, right, yeah, yes,
(12:15):
one of them is more painful. The other one is
just like, well, we got crush.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yeah, I don't want to. I want to be in
the game. And if we lose, we lose, and yes
that's crushing. But then I take my takeaway is God,
we're that close as opposed to we're not close at all.
So I would say losing at the buzzer in game seven.
By the way, stat of the Day is always brought
to you by Panini America, the official trading cards for
(12:39):
the Dan Patrick Show. This first hour brought to you
by the great folks at Express Employment Professionals. If you're
looking for a job, they'll help you. A local job,
they'll help you, and no fees for job seekers. Visit
expresspros dot com to find the location nearest you. That's
expresspros dot Com. Upy birthday to one of my idols,
(13:01):
Jerry West eighty six years of age today, notty birthday.
Speaker 4 (13:08):
Talking about a fellow who's not gonna put up with that.
Speaker 2 (13:10):
Nonsense, No he will know, Yeah, nonsense, no, no, no, nope, nope,
no time for no birthday.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
Yeah, I don't have time. I'm the logo. He's busy
being awesome somewhere.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, he always looked like he came out of a catalog.
You're like, damn, you look great, hair combed, you know,
color coordinated outfits, just walking in like whoa right out
of a catalog of.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
James Bondish, but also like could be your coach.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
H Yeah, you look like he was out of the movies.
What else do you have there? Seaton?
Speaker 4 (13:42):
What a boss? What an absolute boss?
Speaker 3 (13:44):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (13:44):
You know, we stumbled on one that we're gonna save
for hour two. Okay too, but we could tease it. Okay,
all right. Uh, we're talking earlier about professional race car drivers.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
Hmmmm. Watched Little Indy five hundred.
Speaker 4 (13:59):
Yeah, yes, there's a little bit of a debate about
whether or not you could do that with a year's practice.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
Year's practice not be in the race. Just drive the
car two hundred and twenty five miles now right, not
become someone like on the circuit or whatever. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, okay,
so we'll save that one. Yeah, we'll save that one.
Yeah yeah, all right, so Jay Billist will join us. Also,
(14:25):
you had Kyrie Irving and Luka Doncic. There was some
pretty high praise. That may be the greatest backcourt and
the most talented backcourt NBA history.
Speaker 3 (14:35):
All right, we'll discuss that.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And for those of you who are piling on Anthony
Edwards because he's not Michael Jordan, Michael Jordan failed the
first four years.
Speaker 4 (14:46):
Wrong, Yes he did.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Anthony Edwards. See, this is what the media does. We go, oh,
he's the next Michael Jordan. He reminds me of Jordan.
Oh he's no Jordan. Look he's gonna verge of being
swept the media is doing. Anthony Edwards didn't say, hey,
by the way, I'm the next Jordan. No, he even
said stop, I'm not Michael Jordan. He has characteristics, maybe
(15:09):
a style, maybe the aggressiveness, the uh I'm gonna kill
you type mentality. Uh it would help if Karl Anthony
Towns hit a shot because the average margin of victory
for Dallas so far has been a little over four
points per game.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
Carl Anthony.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Stall of a day, Style of a day, Start of
a day, Start of to day.
Speaker 3 (15:34):
This is the style of the day.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
Scat of Today brought you by Panini America, the official
trading cards of the program. We'll get phone calls on
this Tuesday, best and worst of the weekend. What you
saw that you liked, you didn't like? But up next
we'll talk to Jay. Billis his thoughts on working with
Bill Walton and he'll join us next.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
Dan Patrick Show.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
Fox Sports Radio has the best sports talk up in
the nation. Catch all of our shows at foxsports Radio
dot com and within the iHeartRadio app search FSR to
listen live.
Speaker 6 (16:09):
To NBA Insiders podcasting twice a week to plug you
right into the NBA grapevine.
Speaker 7 (16:15):
All happening in only one place. This League Uncut, the
new NBA podcast with me Chris.
Speaker 4 (16:22):
Haynes and me Mark Stein join us.
Speaker 7 (16:25):
As we team up to expound on everything we're covering.
Hearing and Chason.
Speaker 6 (16:29):
Listen to This League Uncut with Chris Haynes and Mark Stein.
Speaker 7 (16:33):
On the iHeartRadio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
Final hour in this Wednesday? Is it patience Wednesday? Perspective Wednesday.
I'm trying to add some perspective here today.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
I was trying to find a word because I know
how much we love alliteration. Oh, a w word that
would go with Wednesday, like wisdom Wednesday. Oh, wisdom Wednesday.
Damn See, I've been spending two hours thinking about that.
Why and you just ask me lesson learned? Yeah, that
you know what that is? Then wisdom?
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Yeah, thank you, thank you. Paulie hates alliteration for somebody
whose name is Paul.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
Papps amongst the reasons.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
Yes, I think that's why. Yeah, I think that's why.
Speaker 3 (17:16):
But did they call you pep a little bit? I
got a lot? Yeah, it didn't really bother me that much. Yeah,
of course is that sticking with you fifty years later?
Speaker 6 (17:24):
Yeah, I'm completely over.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
I'm over. I'm over.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
First day of kindergarten app ruined the whole life.
Speaker 6 (17:31):
I was a little guy too, I couldn't really defend myself.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Kids can be so brutal.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
Oh my gosh, that mean worst they are, and they
go they go right for the jugular. I mean they
they wanted to hurt a little bit and they make
fun of you. Eight seven seven three DP Show email
address Dpadanpatrick dot com, Twitter handle ADP Show. Make sure
you check out our YouTube channel. Also uh Fox Sports Radio, iHeartRadio.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Thank you for all the great things that you do
for us and Peacock a streaming partner.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
Download the app if you haven't done so. Stars Oilers
Game four tonight Timberwolves beat the MAVs. Is hope or
false hope? MAVs go up three games to one. Caitlin
Clark had thirty in a loss, and baseball has revamped
its statistical history. And the man who's responsible for this
he is the official historian of Major League Baseball, John Thorn,
(18:23):
who joins us. John, explain what you've been doing and
how long you've been doing it to get to this
point today.
Speaker 8 (18:30):
Of course, Dan first of all to indicate that many
hands have made like the work I am, by no
means the most important person in this entire scenario. It's
people like Larry Lester and Gary Ashwell and Kevin Johnson
who have been the diggers who have been reading black
(18:50):
newspapers on microfilm and microfiche for decades and now some
of that has been digitized. But it is the research
effort that we memorialized with the Committee to Review Negro
League statistics, whereby we set some policies for leaderboards, in
(19:11):
particular single season leader boards and career leader boards that
have upturned the baseball world.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Okay, do you have to have for something to be validated?
You have to have a box score.
Speaker 9 (19:27):
Absolutely, you have to have a score, because, as you know,
baseball is a double entry accounting system, whereby every out
made at the plate is reflected in and out made
in the field, either a pitcher catcher strikeout or a
grounder to short that's an assist for the shortstop and
(19:48):
a put out for the first basement. Absence that balance,
and if we started to intrude anecdotal evidence into the database,
the balance of MLB's history since eighteen seventy six would
be destroyed.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
What has changed as far as individual as far as
an individual like Josh Gibson or an individual category season,
give us the statistical fallout from this.
Speaker 8 (20:16):
The leaderboards will have changed, and Josh Gibson is the
single season leader in batting average and slugging and ops.
But he's already been memorialized in bronze at the Baseball
Hall of Fame, like many of his others. But there
are twenty three hundred players, some of whom were in
(20:38):
for a cup of coffee or an inconsequential season in
a league that didn't last very long. And it's these players,
these individuals whose families can now point to their name
in the record book and say he was a major leaguer.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
How many home runs did Josh Gibson officially hit? Officially?
Speaker 8 (21:00):
I believe the number is one seventy four in league play.
Speaker 3 (21:04):
His Hall of.
Speaker 8 (21:05):
Fame plaque reads that he hit nearly eight hundred in
some combination of league and independent ball. But independent ball
is barnstorming ball, and you never know what the quality
of the opposition was, whether it's semi pro, whether it's amateur.
Because the Negro leagues, with their shortened seasons, their shortened
(21:28):
league seasons, were compelled to play lots of games, more
so than MLB in order to keep the revenue stream flowing.
Speaker 3 (21:39):
Will there be asterisks in the record books.
Speaker 8 (21:43):
There will be no asterisks, just as the prospect of
an asterisk alongside Roger Maris's sixty one Homers way back
when never was actualized. It is MLB policy that there
is one continuous record from eighteen seventy six to the
(22:05):
present day, and not a single statistic bears an asterisk
or a footnote.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
And it's not just the Negro leagues. There are other
leagues that are incorporated in this whole process.
Speaker 8 (22:20):
Sure, there are defunct major leagues, and many of our
listeners will not have heard of the American Association as
a ten year major eighteen eighty two to eighteen ninety one,
or the Union Association of eighteen eighty four, or the
Players League of eighteen ninety or the Federal League of
nineteen fourteen and fifteen. But these leagues were deemed to
(22:41):
be major league caliber back in nineteen sixty nine, and
all of those players' records are in the database.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
He is the official historian of Major League Baseball, John Thorne.
That's a pretty good title there. Do you have a
business card? I do have a business nice.
Speaker 3 (22:58):
I like that.
Speaker 8 (22:59):
I sometimes had it to my wife.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
What's the coolest thing in your library?
Speaker 3 (23:03):
There?
Speaker 8 (23:05):
The coolest thing might be the oil painting of Jim
Boughten my pal okay, well, the Knickerbocker Pennant, which was
the first flag flown over the Knickerbocker Baseball Club clubhouse
in eighteen fifty five.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
You remember when Ball four came out with Jim Boughten.
If that came out now, that would be like nobody
would even think twice. But back then in nineteen seventy,
it's like, oh my gosh, here's an athlete who is
spilling on his teammates and what it's like on the road.
Speaker 8 (23:40):
And it was an athlete's own voice. It was not
a ghost written job as so many of the player
autobiographies or the Christy Matthewson books, the King Kelly books,
the cap ants and books, they were all ghosted.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
It's great to talk to you, John, congratulations on the
process and everybody else in this Uh did babe did
did Babe Ruth actually call his shot in the World Series?
Speaker 8 (24:05):
No, there is some eight millimeter footage of the Babe
and point. He's pointing to the Cubs clubhouse where he
was being razzed. And if you view this footage from
the wrong perspective, you think he's pointing to center field,
but he wasn't. It was a joke for Ruth too.
Speaker 2 (24:28):
Oh, he kind of ruined that story there, John, thanks
for joining us, and again, congratulations to everybody involved in this.
My pleasure, Dan, that's John Thorne, the official historian of
Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (24:43):
It's a big title there. Now, I'm wondering, let's say
we looked at other sports there, ABA NBA combine that? Right?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Can you look at Canadian Football League and factor that
in with the Pro Football Hall of Fame NFL numbers?
How about USFL with herschel Walker's numbers?
Speaker 10 (25:04):
There?
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Does do those sports get around to doing that? The ABA?
Speaker 2 (25:11):
I certainly understand because of the teams they absorbed and
the great players that were there. How many points does
doctor J have? Marvin?
Speaker 3 (25:20):
Do we know if PAULI, do you have that? Yeah?
I got doctor J.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Julius Irving having almost twelve thousand points just in the ABA.
And if you look at a thing called Basketball Reference,
which is basically the Bible of basketball stats, they split
it into ABA and NBA stats. But then they have
ABA NBA combined, so you can look at all those stats.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
But does the Basketball Hall of Fame do they recognize
these stats so they are combined?
Speaker 6 (25:46):
I got to check that, but I believe they recognize
combined stats, like Lebron James is the all time leading scorer.
Speaker 2 (25:52):
Okay, but how many points does Doctor j officially have?
ABA and NBA checking, because that's what I was curious about,
and I should know that. I thought they factored both
of those in or eventually got around to that.
Speaker 3 (26:06):
Yes, Mark, he's got thirty twenty six points, but he
doesn't get credit for thirty thousand. Doh.
Speaker 2 (26:15):
Right when Lebron was going for the You know, we
talked about Karl Malone his record, Kareem's record, but I
didn't hear Lebron with Doctor Jay's record getting past thirty
thousand points.
Speaker 3 (26:28):
At least I don't remember that, do you.
Speaker 6 (26:30):
We're checking on that one. It's unclear how they look
at it the league itself.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
And I know they had a three point shot with
the ABA, but you had so much talent you absorbed
some of those teams that you should look at those
numbers and combine those numbers, just like what we're having
with Major League Baseball.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (26:47):
See Basketball Reference. By the way, the original reference point
for career salary game.
Speaker 10 (26:51):
Oh.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
Spent an incredible amount of time on that back at
the Mothership looking at Kevin Garton had to be two
hundred and fifty million dollars.
Speaker 11 (26:58):
Do you believe this?
Speaker 4 (27:00):
That didn't We just go through this with Caitlin Clark
and Lynette Woodard where there there were well she's passing,
Caitlyn's passing Pete Marivitch, but there's somebody that still has more.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
And I said, Lynette Woodard played you know, at what
Kansas and she played for the Harlem Globetrotters. It wasn't
called the you know, women's basketball, wasn't the NC Double A.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
And I said, that's that's nonsense.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
That Caitlyn had to surpass Lynette Woodard and then they
finally recognized her and rightfully, so, uh, you know, she
was still going against collegiate talent. They just didn't recognize it.
The NC DOUBLEA didn't. But ABA, NBA are those numbers combined, PAULI.
Speaker 6 (27:41):
They appears that they're not. I'm on the NBA's website,
the official NBA website, and it does not include Doctor
Jay's points in the ABA.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
See that's wrong. Get to go at it. I I
I'm trying to.
Speaker 6 (27:53):
I like when you're upset.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
Yeah, but I look.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
I got to watch some ABA games and the talent
level was awesome. The game was The ABA was like
the AFL. It was fun. The NFL was boring, you know,
it was like three yards in a cloud of dust.
The NBA, while it did have some good players, it
(28:19):
wasn't as exciting as the ABA. ABA was wide open,
shooting the three, the red, white, blue ball. It was great,
great teams, a lot of talent. They should count that.
It's kind of a shame that they don't. Now, I
understand the CFL because you know different rules and how
you play in the CFL with three downs, four downs,
(28:41):
you know the amount of passing yards that you're going
to have in the CFL. But Warren Moon's numbers in
the CFL or Doug Flutie's numbers in the CFL, can
you incorporate that, Jim Kelly's numbers in the USFL, Herschel's
numbers in the USFL. Can you put it all under
one umbrella? It was professional football and these players did
(29:07):
go on to have great careers in the NFL. You
know Anthony Carter when he played, I mean he had
a lot of guys that played in the USFL. Steve Young,
can you put it under the all under one umbrella?
Speaker 3 (29:19):
There.
Speaker 2 (29:21):
I don't know if I don't know if pro football
would do that, but it is. It's called the Pro
Football Hall of Fame. It's not called the NFL Hall
of Fame. It's like it's the Basketball Hall of Fame,
not the NBA Hall of Fame.
Speaker 11 (29:31):
Yes, Mark, Yeah, I wonder what Reggie White's stats looked
like combining his USFL stats along with his NFL stats,
because wasn't he Obviously he was dominant, in dominant everywhere.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
Paulie and I were talking about the Super Bowl when
he played for the Packers, when Desmond Howard won the MVP,
and he he was in the backfield the entire game,
if you want to pick now, I know Desmond had
a couple of if he had a kickoff return, he
had a punt return that set up I think or
Reggie White was unbelievable. He had this one move that
(30:05):
Bowl rush and he would just you know, it was
a hump a club and he would just throw these.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
You know, three hundred pound linemen out of the way.
He dominated, He truly dominated. That game should have been mvpick.
He set the tone.
Speaker 11 (30:23):
Yes, Mark, Reggie White has the most impressive like play
I've ever seen when he tosses Larry Allen. Everyone YouTube,
google it, go on your Twitter machine and look up
Reggie White tossing the strongest man in the NFL, Larry Allen.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Yes, yes, a guy who players would get the Larry
Allen flu because they didn't want to face him. The
Dallas Cowboy tackle and Reggie White. He might have been underrated.
He might have been underrated, if that's possible. Yeah, pung
Reggie right.
Speaker 6 (30:56):
White was first team All Pro at twenty five and
at age thirty sive just and a bunch of times
in between. He had one hundred and ninety eight career
sex sex. If you throw in his twenty six and
a half, you're at two twenty four and a half.
He'd be like Reggie White.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
But he was so much more than just that. Because
it's like me and Joe Green. They they demanded double
team and really you had to know where they were
on the field. Those are two of the most dominant
players that I ever Now. I saw Lawrence Taylor obviously,
but Reggie and me and Joe Green, they were just different.
(31:36):
There was and you know, Reggie was such a peaceful guy,
but he didn't play that way mean Joe Green, peaceful guy.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
He didn't play that way.
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Lawrence Taylor was kind of Lawrence Taylor on the field
and off the field. He kind of he had a
different speed limit than everybody else there. But God, Reggie White,
damn unbelievable.
Speaker 11 (31:58):
Yes, Marv, you're right, because I think we automatically say
Lawrence Taylor when you say the greatest defensive player ever. Yeah,
Reggie White should probably be in that. And I saw,
like the end maybe the Packers Reggi White and I
didn't know about how dominant he was in Philadelphia. And
then what free agency stir he calls when he became
a free agent.
Speaker 2 (32:18):
When he went to Green Bay said, God told him
to go to Green Bay. Good choice?
Speaker 3 (32:25):
Is that where you go? Can I get a second opinion?
Speaker 8 (32:28):
God?
Speaker 3 (32:28):
I mean it's cold there.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
But he had played in Philadelphia, But when he went
to Green Bay that kind of changed free agency. At
least that's what I remember. It's like, Wow, you know
you're gonna go where you want to go. What's best
for you? And it was best for Reggie White.
Speaker 6 (32:44):
Yeah, PAULI, we're watching Reggie White clips and there's a
play where Chris Carter tries to block him. He gets
in some type of position where he has to block
Reggie White. It looks like you ever play sports with
your nephews and the big uncle throws some people around
the yard. Yeah, poor Chris Carter, who seem like a
pretty strong dude, is getting manhandled.
Speaker 4 (33:04):
And I was being just short of putting him over
his shoulder like that kind of thing.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
Yeah, like that's where you go. If you're Reggie White,
you go.
Speaker 3 (33:14):
Chris. You don't want to do this, Chris, you don't
want to let him. Yeah, you don't want to do this.
All right, let me take a break.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
So the the official stats they going to try to
combine all of those and Josh Gibson will be the
big winner here. And Josh he died. I think he
had a either brain tumor stroke when he was around
thirty five or thirty six. But he was considered on
(33:41):
par with any catcher I ever played the game, if
not better than any catcher in the history of the game.
And also, you know, when you think about breaking the
color barrier, Satchel Page was too old, Like you you
want that player who's leaving the negro leagues to succeed,
So then you have more players to follow, and so
you're picking somebody talent, age and also temperament because Jackie
(34:05):
Robinson had all of those. Josh Gibson had the talent,
didn't have the temperament, and Satchel Page was too old
at the time. And Jackie put up obviously with a lot,
had to have the correct temperament to just be able
to kind of compartmentalize what was going on, even when
his teammates didn't even like him. So I wish Buck
(34:25):
O'Neill were alive today. Buck O'Neill one of my favorite
people I ever interviewed, and he spoke on behalf of
so many of these players from the Negro leagues that
we didn't get to see, and he's the one that
got some of these players into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
He has to be smiling today, is he in the
whole thing?
Speaker 2 (34:43):
I think he finally got in for contributions, OK, and
I worked hard with that. There's no credit for me.
I don't want that, I'm saying. I remember telling the
commissioner that this has to it. It's an injustice with
contributions to the game. His contrabt is being that scrap
book to tell everybody about these players that he played
(35:04):
with and against in the Negro leagues and that they
got into the Hall of Fame. And I you know,
I'm glad that that happened FOROK a while, but what
a wonderful man. Take a break back after.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
This, be sure to catch the live edition of The
Dan Patrick Show weekdays at nine am Eastern six am
Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and the iHeartRadio WAP.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
We have to wait a week, but it'll be worth it.
NBA Finals, get ready. The Dallas Mavericks rolled the Timberwolves
Luca with thirty six, Kyrie with thirty six. So you
have a weekend with no basketball, you'll have the NHL
Playoffs and you'll have some baseball as well. Panthers over
the Rangers. They're up three to two in this series.
(35:49):
But back to the Mavericks. When the season started, I'm
looking at the odds on favorites to win the title.
This is preseason. Boston Celtics and the Denver Nuggets were
tied at plus four p fifty. Then it was the
Phoenix Suns ooops, then the Bucks, Golden State, Lakers, Heat
(36:10):
seventy six Ers, Clippers, Grizzlies, Mavericks. Yeah, yeah, Mavericks were
tied with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Just ahead of these Sacramento Kings.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Stall of a day, stanaa day, Standada day, Stannada day.
This is the stant of the day.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Rontio Vaipanini America. The official trading cards of the Dan
Patrick Show. So you had the MAVs at plus twenty
five hundred, same for the Calves, then the Kings, then
the Pelicans, then the Knicks, and then the Minnesota Timberwolves
were at plus sixty six hundred. It was a good year.
You can lose and still have a good year. I
(37:01):
think this was a good year from Minnesota. I think
it was a good year for the New York Knicks.
Certain teams that maybe they overachieve a little bit. When
the Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals a couple
of years ago, gosh, does it seem like it was
only a couple of years ago.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
I don't think it really happened.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
I yes, you know what, when you told me that
the other day, You're like, God, I can't believe the
Hawks went to the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 3 (37:23):
I go, what year? You go? This just a couple
of years ago? I go, oh, my god, that's right.
The Hawks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
Speaker 11 (37:32):
Remember Ben Simmons passed up that wide open shot.
Speaker 2 (37:35):
Oh yes, yes, all right, So you got Dallas going
to the NBA Finals. Got a lot of storylines here.
You got Kyrie going back to Boston, Christaps Porzingis maybe,
you know, going back to Dallas. I don't know if
the Maverick fans are going to be upset that, you know,
Porzingis comes to town. Boston fans are going to be
(37:55):
They're gonna let Kyrie know all about that.
Speaker 4 (37:58):
They're gonna be Boston fans.
Speaker 3 (37:59):
Yes they are.
Speaker 4 (38:00):
That's yes, that's it there.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
So Luca and Kyrie each had thirty six. This was
never a game I'm watching, And all of a sudden,
Luca gets going and gets going, and it kind of
sounded like this fourteen for.
Speaker 3 (38:14):
Lucas going on. Here gears on one to.
Speaker 8 (38:21):
Night boke delay Anderson controlled by the mouth.
Speaker 3 (38:25):
Another heat check from from Luca, checks again.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
Another three, got it, he's over fine, Flower, he has
over fire twenty points.
Speaker 3 (38:36):
All right, Kevin, Harlan and Regg with the call.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
There. Here's Anthony Edwards after the loss talking about Luca.
Speaker 4 (38:43):
What did you see happen so early there that just
brought a knockout punch and made it tough to come back.
Speaker 3 (38:48):
Luca, is that simple?
Speaker 4 (38:50):
He had like three shots from the from the loco,
so pretty much.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
Nothing we can do about it.
Speaker 2 (38:56):
Well, I thought there was something you could do about it.
And I know the Minnesota Timberwolves are going to get
a haul passed today because we're gonna go.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (39:03):
They overachieved and there was no aggression. I wanted to
see physicality. I wanted you to come out and say
you're not going to win on our floor, and I
never saw it last night, and Luca all of a
sudden got on a heater and he was not getting
off until he said, yeah, I'm a little tired, Hey, Kai,
why don't you take over? And then Kyrie Irving had
(39:23):
thirty six as well. But I was surprised, I don't
want to say disappointed. I was surprised that I didn't
get physicality out of Minnesota that they were going to.
I mean, at some point you got to bump him,
knock him down something. You can't just let him go.
I don't know where do I want to score. You know,
I haven't shot over here in a couple of I'm
(39:44):
gonna go over here and hit a three. I wanted
to see something more. I wanted to see Anthony Edwards. See,
this is what drives me crazy about my business. We
have to have a declaration. It's got to be like today,
is Luca the best player in the NBA?
Speaker 3 (39:59):
I don't know. Is he the best player a week ago?
Speaker 10 (40:02):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (40:03):
Probably not?
Speaker 2 (40:04):
But he is now Okay, But then it wasn't long
ago where we were saying Joker, he's going to be
a top ten player of Okay, like it's immediate. Anthony Edwards,
he's the second coming of Michael Jordan. No, he's not
give it time. He's twenty two Luca. If Luca wins
the title this year, Luca will win the MVP next year.
(40:28):
You pretty much count on it, because now, all of
a sudden, he lived up to the expectations. He won
a title, Like Joker, I don't know, he doesn't deserve
the MVP and t he win a title. Then he
wins a title, and I go, you're gonna win the
MVP next year or now this year, and he did
because we need that validation. Now we're going to be
disappointed in Anthony Edwards. He did know Michael Jordan, Well,
(40:50):
he didn't say he was.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
We did.
Speaker 2 (40:54):
And Luca's not old, he's twenty five. It does feel
like he's old. And at three years this is a
big difference in the NBA. Anthony Edwards is going to
be a star. He already is a star, but he's
not ready. He wasn't ready, his team wasn't ready. It
was a great story this year. And then go back
(41:14):
to when you know the Dallas Mavericks got Kyrie Irving
Seaton went back and looked at the show that we
did that day because it was in real time. Our
reaction when Shams reported that Brooklyn was sending him to
the Dallas Mavericks. And they got a couple of players
and they got some draft picks there, but the reaction
was pretty much the same. Oh Man nets, they did
(41:37):
a great job. They fleece the MAVs. Look at what
they got. They got Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney Smith, a
first round pick, and multiple second round picks, and Dallas
got Kyrie and everybody had the same reaction pretty much.
And I think our poll question was they get better or.
Speaker 4 (41:58):
Did the MAVs get better? Or problems.
Speaker 2 (42:01):
Yes, yeah, And my reaction was both because you can't
look at Kyrie and without looking at you know him
in full like the totality of you get Kyrie, what
are you getting? Where you're getting an injury prone guy
who's thirty one and we don't know if basketball is
important to him anymore. That was a fair assessment about Kyrie.
(42:24):
I never said anything about his basketball skills, because even
at thirty one, even banged up, injury prone, he still
was elite. But I said, you know, you're not sure
what you're getting. But it really came down to almost
his mindset, like did you want to hit the reset button?
(42:45):
We asked how would Luca respond to this? Would it
be a welcoming site that he would get somebody who
was a equal as far as scoring, playmaking ability? And
it turned out that way, and Kyrie has been great.
You know, in this isn't revisionist history. I know what
he is. I didn't know who he was, but he
(43:07):
came to Dallas and there's no drama there. We haven't
heard anything out of it. And that's good because we
do want to see him just play basketball. The other stuff,
the ancillary stuff, the off the court, if he revisits
that when he's done.
Speaker 3 (43:21):
Great.
Speaker 2 (43:22):
I like to see a player who has that much talent,
that ability to be back on the big stage again.
And he's been through an awful lot. But at thirty
one thirty two, all of a sudden you look around
and you go, this is not going to last much longer.
How do I want to be remembered? Does he care
about how he wants to be remembered? But when he plays,
when he wants to play, he's remarkable. Here's Kyrie irving
(43:45):
after the win.
Speaker 10 (43:47):
It has been seven long years, but it's also felt
like the right amount of time, you know, in order
to reward myself be in the locker room with my
teammates and enjoying it a long time coming, so we
are going to enjoy this. We obviously noticed just a
pisstop in his journey, and we got to get ready
for you know, that court turning gold, as I like
to say, you know, to shoe's turn gold, the jersey's
(44:08):
turn gold. And you know, as a kid, that's what
you dream of getting too, is the finals and being
able to play against the best of the best with
the whole world watching.
Speaker 2 (44:16):
Yeah, Okay, get ready for Boston. Here's some of the reactions.
Why any team at all would tether any part of
their competitive livelihood, however short or long term to this
dude is beyond me. Was Dallas desperate maybe, but Mark
Cuban not afraid to take a chance. They brought in Kyrie.
(44:38):
Kyrie had to respect Luca, had to respect Jason Kidd,
had to be willing to be a great team player,
and he realized that you're not going to be the guy,
you know, he had to go out there and also,
you know, be a little bit submissive to Lucas. Lucas team.
How do I fit in? And Kyrie has done a
wonderful job, Yes.
Speaker 4 (45:01):
Seaton, Yeah, I think too that if you go back,
you know, obviously revision his history, but just some of
the things that Kyrie was saying about, you know, appreciating
Lebron more. He wished that he had done that more
in Cleveland, and there was a certain his comments were
a lot more mature and that he was reflective too.
It gives you a little bit of insight actually into
(45:21):
why he's okay being the robin to Luca's batman. Now
he's okay, Let no, you go be the guy, and
I'll be the other guy that helps us get there,
no problem. And he wasn't that way, and that was
part of the reason why he wanted out of Cleveland.
He wanted his own team. He went to Boston. Then
all of a sudden he wanted out of Boston. Now
he goes to Brooklyn that he wants to pair up
with hardin Durant. Then that doesn't work out for a
(45:44):
variety of reasons. You know, his stance with COVID. There
was a you know, controversial film that he was backing
that was labeled anti Semitic. I mean, there was a
lot of things here, and we didn't know if he
wanted to play. When he did play, there was no
argument he was a wonder player. He is a wonderful player.
It was all the other stuff that went into it.
(46:04):
So you're going to have people.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
Today they're going to be like, yeah, I knew Dallas
was getting a great player, and Dallas got the better
end of the year. That wasn't the way it went
down when it first happened, because everybody reacted as you
would expect them to, and that is we're not quite
sure what you're getting is Dallas desperate did they give
up too much? Wow, Brooklyn fleeced the Dallas Mavericks. But
(46:27):
last night Luca was wonderful early. Now you're going to
hear today. Is Luca the best player in the world?
Is it just because you dusted off the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Is he now better than Joker because Joker's not in
the playoffs? But that's what happens. It's immediate, it's overnight,
Luca best player in the game. A lot of people
(46:50):
don't watch basketball games. They see highlights. That was a game.
If you watch the game, then you understood somebody is
going to basically take his and put it on your
throat and make sure that you run out of oxygen.
He did that to the entire building last night. In
real time. You saw it. He outscored Minnesota in the
(47:13):
first quarter twenty to nineteen and probably could have put
up sixty, but then he didn't need to. But watching
that in real time, that's when you understand. Sometimes you
got killers out there and they want the ball, they
want the moment, and he certainly did last night, and
Minnesota had no answers and they weren't physical. I was
(47:38):
shocked with the lack of energy urgency that I saw
with Minnesota
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Dan Patrick
Patrick "Seton" O'Connor
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