Greatest L.A. Athletes with Steve Hernandez

When it comes to years, 2020 has been a strange ride in so many ways. For fans of Los Angeles' sports, it has been a particularly wild one with a few more loop-de-loops and twisty turns than the other's. Los Angeles: The City of Angels, and this year, the City of Champions. There may not be a better time to join Megan, C.J. and their guest, comedian and fellow podcaster Steve Hernandez (Chatterbox, Views From the Vista) as they discuss the greatest LA athletes of all time.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Greatest, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello,
and welcome to another episode of the Greatest. I'm Megan
Gaily joined in my home. Um, surrounded by festive, beautiful

(00:20):
decorations that have been put up by my co host.
Um we don't. We don't just host the podcast together,
we also decorate our home and make love together. Um.
Please welcome my co host and husband, C. J. Colado.
How's it going. My number one credit is I make
love to Megan High to our parents in law who
heard that. Um, wells, I mean legally they're your parents.

(00:45):
But how how are you doing? Yeah? Very very festive
around here. Um, we were like, we're gonna be trapped here,
so we really went all outland reath, three multiple glittered
gold reindeer statues. Um. My mom informed me that there

(01:06):
are two bins, giant bins filled with snowmen. She didn't
want anymore traveling from Indianapolis to Los Angeles. As we speak,
I can't wait to welcome those cuddly cutie boys into
our house. Our snowmen. Yeah, there's snow men. I honestly
for it to be like a snow woman, she needs
to have some sort of stereotypical woman. No, I was

(01:29):
going to say, like an apron. All right, well, um whatever,
because I do want our Our guests are very close
friend uh fellows Los Angeles comedian uh runs a awesome
show in West Covina called The chatter Box and has
so many podcasts. We've got the Male Gaze, Who's Your God?

(01:53):
Views from the Vista, which maybe on hiatus now because
um no, it's not. It's not. All right, okay, it's
not gonna talk about it. It's not on hold. It's going.
Those are three podcasts right there. So the ladies and
gentlemen please welcome our guest, Steve Hernandez. All right, thank
you guys, so good to be here. Megan. Megan said,

(02:14):
you guys make love I think together, which is not
the same you said CJ that you had sex with her,
but her way was more. It was like, oh, we're fun.
This is a co co op kind of situation. I
like them. Yeah, thank you. It was really just I
messed up because make love together almost sounds like we

(02:36):
make love with different people next to each other. Well
that's that's you know, not yet, but we'll see in
twenty years. Second second lockdown and we can't even make
love in our backyard with straight so second lockdown, just
ce J and me. We'll see in twenty years how
it all ends up. Hopefully we'll all have enough money

(02:56):
to be part of some kind of l a Illuminati thing.
So I see, I'm down with that. I'm the current situation.
This is a me and Megan situation. But in twenty years,
if we're for loading and board, why not well yea, yeah, yeah,
you're saying, if you get rich enough, you will become

(03:17):
a swinger. I can't wait to watch this journey for you.
I'll sit back and just just smile and laugh. Steve,
thank you so much for being here. Hey, my pleasure.
I love you guys. I'm so happy that the decorations
are up. C J. Did you really hire somebody to

(03:38):
help you put those up? The lights? The roof, because
there's a whole like I gotta go buy a ladder
or you can rent a ladder. And I went to
home depot and got anxiety from how packed it was,
and I got my car and turned around. I just
found somebody who had a tall ladder could get on
our roof. So so yeah good, I'm proud of Yeah,
I mean, I'm really proud of you. Yeah, I was

(04:00):
sort of guy when I looked at that stuff. I've
never had a home for myself. I mean when when
I was older, my dad used to do it. So
I just feel like that's what you've got married a
year ago, You're putting up lights at this home now,
like it's all that's like real man stuff. And I'm
really proud of you. I'm really happy for you. Thank you.
I mean, yeah, I that those are the things that
I'm totally down for. Like when I watched sitcoms and

(04:22):
like the dads are like falling off a ladder and
stuff like that's what I signed up to get. My
sleeve caught on a nail and it ripped off my
whole shirt, Like I'm ready for that. To be a
bumbling husband. Yeah. I could also see c J like
changing a diaper and like opening it and then going
like yeah yeah, and I'm trying to like, yes, stop it, um,

(04:51):
but Steve, you are you are recently engaged. You are
joining the force. Yes, nobody saw it coming. That's part
of why I did it. Very punk for me. A
lot of people don't understand that, but it's very punk
rock for me. I think, you know, I've been blessed
enough to have the love of many wonderful women in
my life, and uh, I think I finally got to

(05:12):
the age where I was like, what happens if I
just let this wash over me instead of fight it?
Because that's what I've done my whole life is to
fight the love of all these beautiful, wonderful women. And
then I was like, what if you just let it
wash over? What's that like? And I finally was like, Okay,
I'll just let it. I mean, you know, anybody who
knows my fiance, she's so beautiful, so funny, so smart,

(05:36):
and she loves me, I think more than anybody what
you're saying a lot has ever loved me. And she
just looks at me sometimes, You'll like look up at
me with this love, like she's trying to crush me
with her fucking eyeballs with love. And I'm like, well,
we gotta You've got to fucking tie this down. You've
got if it'll nothing will make this person happier in
the world than me committing my life to them, you've

(05:58):
gotta give it to him. Yeah, I know, I know
what you mean. And um, Yeah, I just know what
you mean. You know, the crushing looks, the thing you
feel like I look at you in a way where
I could crush you with my love. Absolutely that is
like that. That is, um, what you're describing, Steve, the
crushing love and you're like, I have to react to

(06:21):
this is a total It's totally a thing that I'm
like still trying to figure out what you're how you're
supposed to respond sometimes. Uh, you know, it's so funny.
I would imagine that's how you are in private, but
you two do something that I really love. I think
you guys really play up like a sitcom couple in
public where I have I probably five videos of you

(06:42):
kissing Megan and her looking away and disgust. Uh. They're
like some of my funniest the It's like one of
the funniest things I think in the world. And I
don't you guys are doing I think you just do
it in public. Obviously, I believe Megan loves you as
much like you're just you're talking about. But yeah, I
do think. Um, I think it's a head you wait
for a man to finally say, Okay, I'm going to

(07:03):
take responsibility for this love, and so I've I've come
to that point in my life where I you know,
I was divorced before, and um, I handled that. I
was a bad husband and I was irresponsible with that
because I just thought dumb things. I was just an idiot.
I'm forty two years old. I've been around the block.
I'm still an idiot in many ways. But I also know,

(07:25):
like there's times when it's like, no, I don't do that.
You remember, you remember that ten years ago, don't do
that again. So yeah, I mean, you know, I stopped
drinking two years ago. And there's so many times when
I'm in a situation and uh, the you know, I'm
a comedian, so the fucking ship will go in my
brain and I'm like, so glad I don't have a

(07:46):
drink in me right now, Just like, don't say it.
Don't say you have no absolutely no reason to say.
And I think it's worse as a comedian too, because
a lot of times I want to say something funny,
you know, even to Julia to get a lad and
it's like, don't do it. You know, there's no reason
for this. Yeah. Yeah. We we go through a lot

(08:07):
in this house of us back and forth saying to
each other. You know, you don't need to roast to
me every day. Um, we are partners in love and
you don't have to go whenever I say something, what
do you I mean? Yeah, now go ahead, Okay, well no,
you go ahead because I want to hear what you

(08:28):
have to say. Okay, yeah, I mean it's just like
she my wife, Megan, and she is my best friend,
you know so, and that's how I hanged I you
know you're gonna have to There's so much time in
a day as well, and it's been multiplied by so
much during this pandemic that we've either ran out of
things to talk about or it's just like you are,

(08:50):
we are truly meeting who we really are. And there's
where we're interacting with each other in so many different roles,
not just husband and wife, now friends, now co we're
you know, in in a twenty four hour day together
in pandemics, I have not run out of things to
talk about, filled with topics we could get to know.

(09:11):
I know you you guys are part of a crew
to where it's there's a lot of married people when
they're both comedians and stuff, and I do think it's
one of the reasons the pandemic is one of the
reasons why I'm getting married too, because I feel like,
for not just in personal areas, but professionally and everything,
this is kind of like sped up how people are
thinking about things. For maybe like five years. I mean,

(09:32):
we've come to a stand still in a lot of
the business of our lives, so I was able to
think about things. But yeah, there's no person that I love,
and I know you guys are best friends. Julie and
I are best friends, and we laugh so much. We
have such a good time together. So it's just like, well, okay,
if if we ever split up, it will be as
devastating as a divorce, so we should get married. And uh,

(09:56):
I'm very excited. Yeah, I mean, like if we split up,
and since I've made the decision where I turned the
thing and say, well, I told you know what, because
I was going to pick out the ring, I'm not.
I just can't do that gifts for me a really,
it's give It's one of the few things in life
that gives me anxiety. So I told her, hey, you
know what's start looking for a few rings, give me
a few options, and then I'll pick something. And when

(10:16):
I told her that and we've talked about it obviously
at nauseam, she was like okay, And ever since then
my love for her has grown more than it was before.
I do feel like there's something about commitment, like in
an open way where it allows you to be like
I mean, she was always part of my team, but
now I feel like we're going to be publicly a team.

(10:38):
So it's like I will do what and I think
you guys are the same way. We will do whatever
it takes to win in this life. And I want
to shove it down everyone's throat so they could fucking
see we're gonna win. I can't even I can't even
think of someone who would be against your and Julia's team.
Do you guys think about that? I try and do

(10:59):
this sometimes. I'm like c J, who hates us um
I because we hate people that are obscure that you
would have no idea, hates you know, Like, there's definitely
people I hate that like would have no clue. I
hate them. I don't lose that to me. I don't
think that CIEGE. I don't think anyone could hate c J.
Because he's so affable and kind of doesn't. Okay, well,

(11:22):
that's just what I think. I think, Megan, I think
people could hate you because you're a very successful woman,
so got men could certainly hate you. And then women,
you guys hate each other for the fucking weirdest reason.
So there's that too, like women like I'm sure there's
some woman's female Chicago comedian. You fucking did something eight
years ago that you are ten years ago. The fact

(11:47):
that you said one Chicago female I mean, I mean, yeah,
the legal pad of topics I have for things CJ
and I to talk about is probably just as long
as Chicago comedians anything has the best friend who hates me,
you know, so it really is. We talk a lot
about Chicago on here. That's where we, you know, comedically

(12:09):
come from. Steve is born and raised Covina, West Covina.
L A for those OFO that don't know, for those
THO that don't watch Crazy Act Girlfriend, that is l
A and you. You. I mean, you're wearing a shirt
right now that I can see that says Latino Heat
on it. You are you You're You're one like step

(12:33):
below Danny Trejo at this point. For for l A mascots,
I think, well, I'm very unknown outside of it, you know, Twitter. Slowly,
my Twitter presence is slowly growing. I've got to take
more topless picks, I think, to get really grow the
leaps and bonds I need. But yeah, I was born
at Pasadena at Huntington's Hospital. Grew up in Lincoln Heights,

(12:58):
Highland Park Toys four years old. Then we moved to
West Covina. My dad bought a little three bedroom, two
two bathroom house out there with his g I Bill,
and uh. Then I started doing stand up ten years ago,
so I would have never left Covina. But I got married,
my wife got a job in Pasadena. We moved to Pasadena,

(13:19):
and then a bunch of things happened for me allow
me to get into stand up in Los Angeles. But yeah,
I am l a born and bread. I proposed to
Julia off of in Um like the sal Park kind of.
There's this area where my my dad grew up, near
the White Fence Hazzar Gang neighborhood, and my grandma used
to live there, and there's the most beautiful view I've

(13:41):
ever seen. It might be the one on blooded and
Blood out if anybody's familiar with that. But it's a
most beautiful view I've ever seen. My dad said, I
he used to go there and after high school and like,
look at the city. You could see the ocean, you
could see Dodgerston, you could see everything. I'll take you
guys there some point and I I took Julia there
and I remember my when my dad showed it to me,
maybe twenty years ago. I was like, oh, I would

(14:02):
love to propose to my wife here because it's such
a It's one of those few places I feel like,
you know, I'm kind of a jaded person like many
people in a lot of ways, but where I still
feel magic up there. And so I was like, I
would love to share this magic with the person I'm
going to marry. And so I took over there, right
off a Soda street, right by the Lincoln Heights COVID

(14:22):
testing Center behind that. Oh yeah, that's where I go now, Okay, yeah, yeah,
it's so fast. But um yeah. I moved out to
Los Angeles proper after my divorce, probably about seven or
eight years ago, and um yeah, it's really made me
fall in love with the city in a way that
just being from West Covina didn't. So I love this place.

(14:42):
I love Los Angeles comedy. It's fucked up in a
lot of ways, but I do believe in the next
ten years we're going to see a generation of comics
raised uh that are very, very good and it's better
than anybody else. Wow, because like we um, you know,
Chicago comics are myself c included some of the most

(15:02):
insufferable people, and you know, we're just like we're the
best where we have the most friends, we have the
most fun, we have, we drink the most, we stay
up like you know, we're this is a lot. And
then so when we would come to New York, people
were like excited to have us, and then there was
this like massive influx and people are like, we're good
on you actually, And but when l A Comics would
come to New York, people would just we would just

(15:24):
stand at the room, arms crossed, like, who's this hot
fucking hack? Like you just when someone is in l
A Comic, especially someone who like started here and then
ends up getting any amount of buzz, whether it be
like new faces or something, you're just like so ready

(15:44):
to hate them. But the reality is it would be really,
really really hard to start here. And I'm happy that
I did not have to. Yeah, it's definitely its own thing.
I remember I went to Chicago maybe two and a
half years in and you realize how hard it is
here because you get everyone just keeps coming here. So
I start. I start here and the open mics, you know,

(16:07):
our thirty people, you get three minutes and you start
here and you just do as many of those. When
I started, I did ten to fifteen mics a week,
and they just keep coming, stars just keep coming. But
if you can hold out and get good and like
figure out what's going on in like and within three years.
I feel if you can get like pretty good in
l A and three years, then you'll be okay and

(16:29):
you're like very competent. So when I went to Chicago
that first time, I realized, oh, I've been playing with
weights on. Like it's been fucked up to not have
real real people all those times, because you learn to
be funny. I know a lot of people say, uh,
open mic comedy, if you may get last though, you
won't get them anywhere else. But I feel like in
l A the open mic scene is very you're like

(16:50):
chopping heads, so there's like very competitive, very much, especially
you know something like the chatter Box where that open
mic on Thursdays is like a show where we get
regular to get a crowd of regular people. So we're
chopping heads, you know. And I'm bartending on Thursday nights too,
so I've got to like serve Acholo a beer and
I go up and start talking about sucking dick, and
I come back and get get the Trolo another beer.

(17:12):
I mean, I really am like that, I very much.
My I'm the thing I'm most proud of so far
is the crew coming up at the chatter Box where
now you know, when I started, there was one other
alternative Latino guy guy named what's John's last name? He
was Kyle Kanane's roommate for years. And then, um, now
we have a bunch and I've got a bunch of

(17:32):
those guys are talking about being by and shipped over
there now, and I'm like, okay, this is cool. We're
like incubating something over there that that like it's okay
to like be weird, and crolos are once you get
clos talking, there's some of the fucking weird. Before the shutdown,
we had newer like cholo comics that were like seeing
it's okay to talk about weird ship and they're like

(17:55):
they're like fucking Martians. So I'm very excited, like I said,
in the next five to tay years to like see
what comedy is going to come out of Los Angeles.
But for right now, absolutely nothing's happening. It's it's kind
of reminding me of like Hannibal and Blurred almost of
like finding this niche within a community that has been like,

(18:18):
oh no, we do stuff this way, but it's like,
oh no, there are I mean, there's a guy that
would be at chatter Box just like head to toe
Dodgers gear and then yeah, talking about his depression and
you're like this is wild. So yeah, I am very
stoked about that. I'm very proud of the chatter Box

(18:39):
and everything we've done over there, but you know, we'll see.
I'm I'm actually very grateful for this time in COVID too,
because it's allowed me to be thoughtful and to figure
out my career trajectory and everything I really want to do.
So I'm very excited to be here. I'm excited to
be your friends, and uh it feels like yeah doing stuff.

(18:59):
I mean, the thing I am so glad you said that.
I mean, I feel like it was maybe a couple
of years ago, but I was always so intimidated by
you because like early, I mean I I always I
moved here like three times, and I probably met you
in the first time, and you very much were like
l A. You were, I mean, you wore a Dodger's
hat and stuff, but also like you were part of
that crew of like the l A comedians that were

(19:21):
starting to get a break. And I was like, I
think I was here by myself. There weren't a lot
of Chicago comedians, and I was like, I knew I
wanted to stay here in l A. And I also
wanted to be a part of the community. And I
was like, and I would go to Chatterbox like hangout
with wit and I think maybe I did a showcase
there early on, and I wasn't friends with you yet,
but I was like, shit, I don't care anyone laughs

(19:41):
in this room except for Steve behind the bar, like
and so like that was like you you were really
like a write of passage back then. And you know,
I've been here for what like eight years on and off,
and and yeah, that's very my only problem with you
as you just kept quitting, So I did not know
if you think. So I'm like, I love stand up.

(20:01):
I love stand up like you know, I used to
be a youth pastor, so a lot of that like
bleeds out in my stuff, and I like, I love
stand up like I used to love Christ. And so
I don't. I don't care about the business. I care
about really the spirit of the thing I think of
stand ups is like Jedi nights. I think about what
we really do is so separate from the business. Trust me, though,

(20:23):
I mean, I mean, in a way, I'm kicking myself
because I would love to have dental insurance right now,
and so I'm pivoting to that kind of stuff. But
there is a thing where I'm like, I don't care
about any of it. I care about what happens in
the room. And what happens in the room we comedians
can do one of the It's one of those rare
things in this fucking dumb modern world where we can
make magic happen and so um when so you, to

(20:45):
me are like someone who kept backsliding. I was like,
does this fool love Christ? You know? And then I'm
over there like cutting my skin for christ you know,
to win to stand up. You know, I was fully
committed to quitting but I can't. But then but all
of my friends were in stand up. And then I

(21:07):
went out and try to hang out with the regular
people and it just wasn't happening, you know. So there
I'm like the definition of trapped in this community. So
I was like, I just got to do it. Then
my heart has opened up though since then I have
gotten very good where I realized that it can't be
it's different things to different people at different times for
it to be as wonderful as it is. It's just

(21:28):
like Christianity, you know, you don't need a bunch of pastors.
Sometimes if people are just good people and they're funny
and they're present when they're at an open mic. If
you're digging around and open mic, fuck you. But if
you're present and you're trying to make the room laugh,
like I said in this moment, if you're doing your best,
then that's enough for me. I mean, who cares about
what I think? But also in my I've realized like, okay,

(21:50):
even you know, at Chatterbocks, we've got a couple of
old guys that are like sixty five that come and
half of what they say is like some stupid Sometimes
half that they say it's very funny, and it's like,
I mean, what am I gonna say? This guy's not
trying to get JF also fun this guy like this
is stand up is a gift. And so if someone
thinks of it as a hobby and they live to
do it, as long as they're trying to grow, as

(22:11):
long as they're trying to get better, that's all that
matters to me. A sixty five year old guide an
open mic love stand up more than all of us.
You know, it's like they're sorry, you may not know
that there is no future for you. Um. They you know,
my niece who's four has a better shot at this point.
So like you're his love for it is so pure. Um.

(22:32):
We had you on today because we wanted to do
an l A specific episode. We are the City of
Champions as a UM truck in our neighborhood is painted,
so you know that and love him, love him. I've
got on my Dodgers, my Los Angeles Dodgers shirt that
then has a basketball on it, his Dodgers hat. We

(22:58):
are fully adopted, fully adopted. The l a sports scene,
and no one even really gets that mad at me
because they've lived through lots of tortures games and I
can pick this and they have the same colors. You know,
it's just fun. Steve. Yeah, no one's gotten mad at us.
Why do you think that? Like, I'm like publicly known

(23:18):
as a Bowls fan like years ago, and like my
only legitimate reason is that I love Lebron and he
came to the Lakers and now I'm a doctor's fan. Like,
but no one's mad at me. Can you explain why? Maybe?
I just I mean, I think if your love is
pure and you don't seem to be like a tail
writing anyone's tails or anything, although arguably you're doing that

(23:39):
with Lebron. But but but Lebron is such a good man,
uh to go along with his talent. I don't think
anyone could hate on that at all. So plus, you're
I mean, this is it. You're done as comedians, as entertainers.
You guys have both done the things where you moved
from there to there and then LA is the final place.

(23:59):
So you're gonna live here for the rest of your life, probably,
So how can no one hate on you for that's well.
And CJ has fully adopted the Lakers fandom where he
ships on the clippers all the time, so he you know,
he's really walking the walk in that way. And then
also we live in Highland Parking Rock and anyone with

(24:20):
AILI like it essentially the Philippines and Igor Rock. And
I didn't know until I moved here that part of
being Filipino is loving the Lakers. Like Kobe is bigger
than Jesus. I found out. Yeah, yeah, And if you
go to the Igor Rock plazet, it's all it's all
Kobe jerseys. You know. I didn't like Kobe for years.

(24:41):
I actually stopped after the sexual assault, all the sexual
salt stuff come out. I just kind of checked out,
and I didn't like ultimately. I didn't like how he
was kind of a ball hog like I just it
really bothered me. I remember we had an open mic
at the glendo Ark Continental during this past game and
he scored what he scored seventy points or something crazy

(25:03):
like that, and I was just like, for like fifty
and he went like fifty for like I mean like
shot sixty shots or something where I was just like
to me, I'm just like who are very much loved teams.
As you'll see in my choices later on, I very
much loved teams and collectives, and I just kind of
thought he was like, like you piece of ship, Like
I just he bothered me. So it was very hard

(25:25):
for me to get in to the Lakers until Lebron
came and he is such a good man at such
a good team player. And then of course when Kobe died,
I had to like have a spiritual reckoning where I
was like, we all funk up. You know, we've all
gotten ourselves into terrible situations. Uh, you know, especially as
a man and understanding now you know, I thought it

(25:48):
used to be funny to try to make a girl
not use a condom. I thought that was funny. Now
I know now I know, like, oh, you know, I
would never speak one off or anything, but I would
just try to talk about like come on, please. But
now I realized that all of these things are fucked up.
So I've been at least, you know, maybe not as
bad as Kobe, but I've been terrible in my waist too,

(26:10):
And so I've accepted Kobe into my heart as a
son now of the city. And I do think that's
one of the great things he did and in his
death is unify the city in such an amazing way. Yeah,
but uh yeah, you know. Yeah. I grew up with
the Dodgers, huge Dodger fan. Didn't get into the Dodgers
big time until maybe about seven or eight eight years

(26:31):
ago when they got Spectrum got the exclusive Time Warner
got the exclusive cable cable rights to them. This is
such a funny thing. My older brother and my uncle
obsessed with the Dodgers. I've always been around Dodgers, would
go to one or two games a thing, but I
always thought it was so boring. And then I, um,
they bought that, and the chatter Box had Time Warner,
and nobody had Time Warner. Everyone had Direct TV. And

(26:53):
so we would start suddenly get like three or four
cholos would come in. When I would work at the
chatter Box on Thursdays and Fridays at six o'clock, they
would let's just be there, and so I'm just watching
this game with them, and then you're like, oh, I
like this guy with the red hair. Oh, and then
I like this it's funny. Oh I like this song,
and you're just like, I think this is what my
dad wasn't into sports. I was like, this is I
guess how little kids get into sports. Is how everyone

(27:14):
gets like, oh, this guy's funny. I like when he smiles,
Like I just like a little kid. I started to
get into the Dodgers seven or eight years ago. Also
was a way to connect with my brother, who I
love dearly and he loves Dodgers too much. And so
then we started going to games, and then Julius from
l A. So it's like, now I'm as die hard
as anybody. But it was a real choice. Uh, and

(27:35):
it was you know, I don't know if I'd be
a diehard fan of Time Warner wouldn't have bought the
exclusive rights to their cable. But that's how That's how
everybody feels about w g N and the Cubs, like
the it's baseball specifically is so almost like dependent on
these cable deals in a way that other sports don't

(27:59):
seem to be. And maybe because they're more mainstream and
like just reach more people. But yeah, you're basically gonna
be a baseball fan of the team that they're showing
on your local station, like regards, yes, and I just
love that. Um, should we take a break and then
we come back with our picks. Okay, we'll right back.

(28:24):
We are back, Steve, you are gonna lead us off
no pun intended um with your third pick four. I
don't even think I've said the topic yet. Greatest l
A Athletes. A lot of a lot of wiggle room
in that in that headline too. Yeah, I can. Oh, no,
I'm ready, and uh, I don't. I don't know how

(28:47):
I've heard. I've listened to you guys podcast, so I
know how it goes. I don't feel like it's as
competitive as other shows like this, and so I want
to know my my third one. I'm going to pick
third just so I can say it, because I don't
want any of you guys to beat beat me to it.
But I do think Serena Williams is uh the is

(29:07):
like one of l A's like sons and daughters. She's
the best woman tennis player and arguably one of the
best tennis players that's ever lived out of Compton, California.
Her dad at you know, just made a decision. I don't.
I don't know if you guys do this before they
were born, those two Venus and Serena and I even
have a I have a hard time saying Serena without
saying Venus because, um, Serena, obviously, if you're playing against

(29:32):
if your older sisters, the best tennis player in the world,
she is going to make you that good. So I
do feel I do have trouble saying but but you
know Serena's one twenty three Grand Slam titles. Her dad
wrote a seventy eight page plan before they were born
and said, I AM going to shape these and women
and mold them into this white sport where they can

(29:53):
win and make be successful and make a ton of money.
And he actually did that. Arguably he's a monster. But um,
in so many ways I don't think because they moved
out of here pretty quick. But you know they're from Compton,
for Christ's sake, man, That to me is what, like,
you know, we Los Angeles should be fucking proud of

(30:13):
these women. Yeah. I played on a tennis court must
have been two years ago, and it had like a
giant banner that said it was like their childhood core
or maybe they had like played there. It was it
was over on the West side like it was Inglewood,
Compton adjacent for sure, and it brought tears to my eyes,

(30:35):
like even two. And it was in kind of this
park that didn't seem like it had been kept up
in the way that a park maybe in the Palisades
would have, you know, like the pools kind of fucked up.
There were kids like running everywhere, and I'm like, this
tennis court complex exists because of these two sisters, soletly

(30:57):
and it was just really really beautiful and you you
you see their mark on the city still. Um. They
their dad used to go around to all the private
clubs and baked to let them use have their used balls,
and they were brought up on the public court of
Los Angeles of places like Compton. Uh. The their first

(31:18):
coach who they kind of jacked over in a lot
of ways, manned by the name of Rick Macky, flew
out here from Florida. He had some of the best
tennis players at the time. And he said he watched
Venus and he was like, wow, this is kind of
a waste or whatever. He just didn't see anything that great.
And then when Venus said, can I go to the
bathroom or whatever, and the dad said yeah, and he
said he watched her handstand walk to the bathroom like

(31:42):
twenty feet away. This is real and he said that's
what Richard made them do. Yes, and then he's like, oh,
he told him, oh, you're gonna have you have the
Michael Jordan's of tennis on your hands. And then the Richard.
Their dad said, I have to Michael Jordan's on my hands.
Younger sister of course being Serena, who's won twenty three

(32:03):
Grand slams to venus seven Grand slams. Uh, she's amazing.
She was number one in two thousand two for the
first time and then again in two thousand seventeen. How
many fucking acts could say something like that, It's completely
insane and tennis, your your cap is like twenty two,
Like you can you truly do not play. This is

(32:24):
why fifteen year olds can win Wimbledon because the window
is so small. And they've Her, you know, and Federer
to his credit and an adult and that mass. They
have extend. They've extended the playing career for tennis players.
They've totally changed the game and real quickly, what what
is their standing relationship with their father? Uh? They talked.

(32:48):
They would say like, just don't come to the games anymore.
We don't want anything like that, which is these are
healthy boundaries to have. Um. Yeah, it's funny, you know,
to your point, Megan, I just finished the John mcinroe
book at it's called like it's I'm not joking or
something like that, aren't being serious? And he he talks
about being twenty five and being like, I'm I was
an old man at twenty five or when I was thirty.

(33:11):
In fact, literally at thirty five you become you join
like the old guy's circuit. I forget what it's called,
but for her to be that good yeah yeah, the
Senior Tour, that's what it's called. Yeah, um, I I
would I like old guy Tour better called um you
can't be serious? Yes, yeah, that's like what he yelled.

(33:32):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, that's, by the way, a great book.
I'm not a huge tennis fan, but that book made
me where I'm like, oh shit, I guess I'm getting
old because I'm gonna start getting into watching the tennis
and ship because he was he was talking about everything,
and he did bring up the Williams sisters of course,
and just we all know how they changed the game
in terms of physicality and strength and power and uh

(33:55):
and you know, I did mention it briefly, but this
is a white sport. Let's is a traditionally white sport.
They went in there and faced you know, I just
watched a dock with them, and I forgot. I think
it was somewhere in San Diego where you know, they
were booing uh or Serena and she people were calling

(34:16):
it was in Um it was an Indio, but it's
called like Indian Wells, you know, Indian Wells, Indian Wells. Yes, yea, yeah.
They they promised, they vowed to never play it again
and then they since went back and it was extremely
emotional when Serena returned. Um. Yeah, so yeah. I mean,

(34:39):
they're incredible the they've made so much money. Serena overe
million dollars venus over forty three million dollars. That's just
in prize money. Forget about endorsements. I love to see
two women from two black women from Compton making a
shipload of money. Uh. Serena is married to the co
founder of Reddit. Now who I mean this to me?

(34:59):
As is a real rags rich is American story and
I'm proud like that they are from Los Angeles. Gosh,
I must feel like we don't go on after that, Um,
you want me to go? Okay, so great number three pick, Steve.
My number three pick is kind of obscure, and I
wanted to put football players on the list. I thought

(35:22):
I was going to go with a Rams player and
I didn't. I ended up going a different direction. And
this person made my list because he is involved with
the O. J. Simpson trial and the Real Housewives of
Beverly Hills Simpsons. I know, No, that's just the one

(35:42):
to punch. I can't deny. And it's Marcus Allen, who
I who I like. So his ex wife was on Housewives, um,
which I'll get to. Marcus born in San Diego but
then played at USC and is one of like four
players ever to win the Heisman and the Super Bowl
m v P. He still um is tied for the

(36:05):
n C double A record for most for like over
two thousand yards with Ricky Williams and Ron Dane. I
mean these this is n C double a royalty. And
then he went on to be on the Raiders, which
I genuinely forgot we're in Los Angeles, and was offensive
Rookie of the Year and then went on to lead

(36:28):
them to the Super Bowl win the Super Bowl when
they were in l a UM. I think like the
first eight years of his NFL. Maybe it was less
than that, but he ended up having a falling out
with al Davis and they had a lot of issues.
Al Davis publicly called him a cancer of the team. Um.

(36:48):
Marcus Allen made a claim that al Davis was trying
to ruin his career and keep him out of the
Hall of Fame. He was not successful in doing that.
He went elsewhere and his stats are truly incredible. I mean,
he is like a powerhouse and a hunk. So then
he married this woman named Catherine Edwards I think that's
her name, and it is rumored and it's it was

(37:10):
brought up at the trial that Marcus and Nicole Brown
Simpson were having an affair and o J you know
knew that, and that like added to blah blah. Apparently
Marcus and Catherine were subpoena to testify and fought the
subpoena and ended up not testifying at the trial. But

(37:32):
they're mentioned in Faye Resnick's book. I think he's mentioned
in some of the you know, like the David Schwimmer
trial series that happened and it was brought up on
the Real Housewives A Lot, a lot. They got married
Him and Kavin got married at O J's house too. Yeah,
I'm listening at pro now pro Ja, So are you

(37:57):
looking at now? Yeah? She's beautiful. Uh yeah. Marcus Allen
one of the best running backs of all time. One
of he kind of was he was tangential to one
of my picks that I'm not gonna do because you
picked Marcus Allen. But at one point Bo Jackson and
Marcus Allen were playing on the same team, an amazing Raiders,

(38:18):
I think, and this was happening. I think when I
was like Tann eleven years old, wasn't a big football fan,
but this is I remember little kids coming in to
fucking in Raiders jerseys, either Marcus Allen, either Bo Jackson.
This was huge in Los Angeles at the time. I've
always loved Marcus Allen and have been tempted to buy

(38:39):
a Marcus Allen jersey, but I just can't rep the
Raiders like that. Well what about what if you got
a usc um jersey? He was number thirty three and
they've retired that number because of him. Um, that's not
a bad idea. I have a problem wearing a university
jersey and I haven't gone to college. I've just seen
too many doing it, and I'm like, this is sad.

(39:03):
You see they'll have like the plate like the plate placards,
and I'm like, bro, you did not go to that
school to It's like it's like, I don't mind representing
a protein because I'm from the city, but representing a
school feels like I'm lying to someone. So I don't
know if I could do that. Oh. So, the record
he holds still in the n C Double A is

(39:24):
most games with two hundred rushing yards, so he has
that tie with Ron Dane and Ricky Williams. That's I mean, yeah,
he's he was incredible and then and to be incredible
in college as a running back and then incredible in
the pros to the point where you win Super Bowl
m v P. That is very very hard to do.
Almost impossible. Oh okay, oh yeah, no kidding, yeah no.

(39:53):
I mean. And also you can speak on this is
that the Raiders, like in pop culture, just became so
huge and he was part of that of like n
w A, like the script Raiders had. I mean, obviously
Marcus Allen, like Bo Jackson. I mean, I don't know
where were they. They were in l A at the
time during like the n w as origin, I think,

(40:13):
but it just became such an l A staple Raiders gear.
I mean, yeah, l A people really rep the Raiders
no matter what I mean. It's so it's so cool
if they were here like that. Now I would be
a die hard Raiders fan. But when I was little
and we went to church, you know, the idea of
like pirates and Raiders and being rowdy, it was like

(40:34):
these people do not love Christ correctly. So I remember,
I think that was really in my heart where I
was like, this does not feel christ like to me.
But now I think it would be very cool like
to have a team like the Raiders, especially now that
we have what do we have two proteins here and
they both fucking suck. So that's and I used to
be a Rams fan. I would I I've been to

(40:54):
games recently too, so I guess I would say that.
But they just still don't feel like Los Angeles is yet.
Uh so hopefully that and he's been to the Super Bowl. No,
And I feel really bad for the Chargers, so crazy
because at least the Rams have some amount of history
here the Chargers. They've just moved the team. What is
happening my brother? Sorry, guys on this podcast began, if

(41:21):
your brother calls you, like right now, what do you
think he's calling you about? Is he calling you about football?
He just know, well, yeah, he definitely wants to talk
about the Colts. But then, um for me to face
time with my nieces. Okay, that's very sweet. Yeah, I
FaceTime probably every other day with my nieces. I love
my nephews, but they don't eat. I mean, that's the
difference between boys and girls traditionally, is that my nephews

(41:43):
don't give a funk about me. There nine and twelve. Now,
the twelve year old talks to me some, but the
nine year old is like nagging me half the time.
He's like really hot. The nine year olds like a model.
And he looks like Keano because he's like half Japanese
a quarter white, like all this cool ship and uh,
the dude, I finally bought him up. He has his

(42:04):
birthday last week. I bought him some like weird box
of Pokemon, you know, for like eighty bucks. And he
was flipping out about that, and he actually face time
me for that and thanked me, and I was like,
well ship, thank god. Yeah, but it's present based, you know,
my nephew, I'll be like Bobby. He will will not
be speaking to anyone. And I'm like, you need to

(42:25):
come over and face time if you want me to
buy you a tap. Okay, that's what we're doing now.
I need a little bit of attention and it'll get
you an iPad. Parental settings off for a wild dog.
I don't even care. Okay, you want to give us
your number three? Yeah, I mean it's hard for me
not to do all basketball. I was assuming you were,
and so I went, so I'm gonna start off. I'm

(42:47):
gonna say cream abdul jabbar, and this will start a
little bit of a trend of so not only six
uh six m v p s five NBA titles with
the Lakers, but also and I got into the little
bit last night, he like also entered Hollywood, like he
he really embraced being you know, this big player in

(43:07):
the NBA, but also living in l A and really
feeding into that, you know, showtime moniker like he was
training with Bruce Lee, was in Game of Death obviously,
but then also an Airplane, in a bunch of other movies,
and recently he he was a staff writer on Verona Kamar.
So like this is you know, years after, but he
is still And I met his daughter once and she

(43:30):
was like a screenwriter. So he to me is like
a quintessential just like L A athlete, L a icon
and so yeah, one of the greatest L so very
cool and like yeah, just progressive and and just responsible
for a ton of movements. And yeah, I saw him.
I saw him in like am in like an authentic

(43:53):
Game of Thrones costume for they were having for that reason,
it was self so tall, and then he's in this
just like a wild wing outfit, and I'm like, this
is the greatest moment of my life. Well, he's also
you didn't mention it, but part of some of the
greatest U. C. L A basketball teams that have ever lived.
He was one of the greatest collegiate UH basketball players

(44:16):
of all time. Not to mention, he had a really
great couple of seasons on twenty one Jump Street. I
don't know if you guys caught any of those episodes,
but John I didn't know he was a regular. Yeah,
Johnny Depp would go talk to him or Richard Grieko.
Would they go, I don't, I forgot why, but I
believe he played a coach. I don't believe he was
a cop, but they would go, like talk to much
of it sometimes. So I like him too. He's a

(44:38):
very independent thinker. He'll do a lot of contrarian pieces.
I don't agree with him all the time, but I
do think it's very healthy to have independent thinkers, and
a lot of times, you know, we are out here now,
there's a lot of stuff we wouldn't say publicly that
we talk about amongst ourselves. And I think it's really
cool that he has the balls to like write an
op ed piece for a time that kind of goes

(44:59):
against like stereotypical views a lot of times. So Kareem
Abdul Jabbar is an amazing athlete, one of the best
of all times, and he appears to be a really
great human being as well, great pick. Obviously a talented
writer too. I mean, I want to know who's his
agent he w A Did he have to fire them
because of the do you know what's going on there? Um?

(45:22):
Should we give him a staffing boost? Yeah? What's staffing boost? Kareem.
We need to get him on, young Sheldon. Okay, it's
been too long. Um, should we just go into our
second Okay, So Steve, you're up again with your number two.
All right, my my number two. It's controversial because I'm
kind of picking a team, but I just couldn't figure

(45:44):
out which one of these three guys to pick. But
it's got to be the Zephyr Skate team out of
Long Beach. I'm talking about Tony Alba, Jay Adams, and
Stacy Peralta, who reinvigorated, who basically created what we know
skate boarding to be now it was virtually dead. They
were surfers and they became you know, the there's parts

(46:07):
of Santa Monica south of Wilshire used to be poor.
The area between Venice and Santa Monica was run down,
and they took a lot of techniques from surfing, created
street skating as we know it, created pool skating as
we know it, and then we're the first steps to
vertical skating as well. So that I'm talking about these boys, Yeah,

(46:29):
the downtown and z Z town boys. Uh, Jay, I
mean they're all, like I said, all three of them
have done such like amazing cool things. Jay Adams was
kind of the punk version of them. I forget, I
forgot the name of the guy who he's the he's
the hairdresser and once upon a time in Hollywood, what's
that guy's name? Oh, um, yeah, it's that guy. He

(46:52):
plays Jay Adams in the movie. And he ends up
being real like quasi Cholo. Yeah, that whole ghetto scene
is like they took a lot of Cholo and Latino
kind of influenced and created the art and all of
that stuff. They were just poor and uh, that's one
one reason why I love them so much is that
they were just poor and skateboarding, and um, they ended

(47:15):
up getting rich and super influential. Did Like I said,
Jay Adams was like a punk rocker. He never made
that much. But Stacy Peralta created Powell Poor Alta, the
Bones Brigade, some of the hugest things discovered, Tony Hawks,
Steve Caballero, all those guys, and then Tony Alva made
his own company. Alva got super rich, one of the
greatest skaters of all times. So those guys created modern

(47:35):
skateboarding as we know it right down the street not
that far away. And I don't think they really get
the credit. There was the movie and of course the documentary,
but theo if you look at them, there's like my
kind of white guys you could tell, like white guys
that grow up and brown neighborhoods. You know, like white
guys they are still Dodger fans or like I'll die
for you full like that kind of thing that guys like,

(47:58):
you know they're in like Fast and Fury is franchise.
That's why Paul Walker was so made so much too,
like so many Mexicans, because we all there's always like
a few white guys like that where it's like that's
like he wears vans and ship and it's like I
love you for like you're Yeah. So I think the
Zephyr Boys, all three of them, if I had to choose,

(48:20):
I guess I would pick Tony Alva because he was
more cool than Stacy. Don't have to you can. You
can have all of them now is l A Is
l a skateboarding capital of the world in California? Yeah,
it's See, I've never lived in a place where it's
like skateboard culture, skateboard photo shoots, and I'm so intimidated,

(48:40):
like we have a famous skateboard right by our house,
and when I walked by, I'm like, I hope you
think I'm not a mom, Like I just want them
to think I'm like cool, Like I'm almost like inclined
to just like have a blunt hanging out of my
mouth to be like I'm down, but I don't. I
just sort of like move away from them, and they
see my Lily, you know, my Lulu Lemon and are like,
suck this bag. But it's for sure l A feels

(49:03):
so much like into skateboarding. Yeah, I mean it's it's
derived from surfing. So they basically would wake up and
you can only surf from you know, surfing's dad here
in in l A in southern California by like ten am,
So they needed something to do with the rest of
the day, along with the invention of because they used
to use like I think the wheels used to be clay,

(49:25):
so it was a meeting of technology as well. At
the same time when they were coming up, the poly
eurth thing wheel was created, so they were able to
used to have to eat ship hard, which they do now,
but at least the poly eurething whale allowed them to
like cover more ground and be a little more off
roady with the ship really truly create the street style

(49:45):
that we know of today. Yeah, we gotta watch We
gotta watch that documentary again. I saw it like fifteen
years ago. Um, and yeah, I mean it's crazy. I
mean yeah, whit Night moved to Highland Park before it
started to get gentrified because of the skate park. Garvon's
over here, like skate culture is so big, and the
thing is Steve, Like, that's just such a great pick

(50:06):
because you know, when we're doing research, we go through
like the top fifty lists that are are on the internet.
It's not even mentioned, and it's like that should be
in the top ten. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, That's why I
knew you were going to pick all the fucking Lakers.
So I was like, all right, what can I bring
to the table and so yeah, and uh yeah, I

(50:26):
was never I was always too fat. I had multiple
boards when I was in fourth and fifth grade. Always
too fat to even ali. Uh. But I love a
fat skateboarder, Oh my god, I love it. Like I
almost want a Christmas ornament that's a fat skateboarder. I
think they're so surfing Santa. That's pick thank you. What's

(50:47):
your pig? No? No, no, no no. Um, Well, we
were just having too much fun here, Megan, what's your
number two? Pick? Okay? So I also was assuming CD
was picking all Lakers, um and and my number to
pick a Cheryl Miller um much in much in the

(51:10):
way that we we need Serena and Venus on this list.
Cheryl Miller is the greatest how do I say It's
the greatest female basketball player who was never given the
stage and accolades that she is deserving of. Born and
raised here to Riverside poly Tech High School, then went

(51:34):
to USC where she was a two time n C
double a champion, three time Nate Smith Player of the Year.
So she was the m v P of women's basketball
three three out of her four years. Her number number
thirty one has been retired by the USC Trojans. She
has won a gold medal. Every everything that was available
to her as a female basketball player, she accomplished. She

(51:58):
she excelled and was the best at every single thing,
and sadly, there just was a ceiling. Back then. There
wasn't a place for her to even necessarily like be
in Europe. There were these like obscure leagues and she
would do them and dominate them, but it just didn't
have the mainstream appeal that even something like the w
n B A has now. And I also think that

(52:21):
she is so instrumental in creating her brother as an
incredible basketball player. So she you know, who's also from
l A and and played at u C. L A
and so I feel is very southern California as well.
But Cheryl like played here, is here, she just defines it.

(52:42):
Like seeing her in those USC jerseys like dunking. She's
just she's just incredible and and I just I want
her to be and just like the Sports Hall of
Fame like that, she just deserves to be amongst the
greats wherever they honor the greats, and they just didn't.
The w NBA didn't exist, like all they had was

(53:03):
like the Olympics back then, right, and she want to go,
you know, like you okay, you're gonna play in college,
you win everything. You're gonna play at the Olympics, you
win everything. She was drafted by a men's league when
she left college, but it just didn't, you know, and
then she ended up having injuries that ended her career,

(53:26):
but went on to coach is one of the greatest
female analysts of all time. You know, like there's just
never been anything in her life with regards to sports
that she hasn't been the best at. Well. And we talked,
You talked about the Serena and Venus sort of dynamic
coming up. We very much have Eralda. Think for Reggie Miller,
like the you know, the documentaries and the footage of

(53:49):
their background battles and Reggie getting heckled from grade school on.
For them chanting her, it's like, you know that they're
they heckled him by saying Cheryl Miller, it's like yelling
to Lebron James Michael's like, that's not a heckle. That
is a compliment, you know, but to him it feeled

(54:10):
him to be as good as he is. But yeah,
that's like if if you're you're sparring partner, was Tyson
or or holy Fielder or whatever. And yeah, it's just
the NBA didn't have it together in time. And I'm
almost like, did the NBA or w n b A
not reached its peak early or like have that momentum
because we didn't have someone like Cheryl early on. Yeah,
that's so funny, because yeah, it must have been so

(54:31):
bad for him when when just being called a woman
was a put down. To have someone just saying your
sister's name, how angry it made him just shooting out
there longer. Please don't ever call me a woman. You
know it's like, you mean, the greatest female basketball player
the whole time. They also look so much alike, you know,
like they have uncanny resemblance and they're like sibling love,

(54:55):
I love, I mean, they just really right. The Miller
family mean so much. I didn't realize she's from Los Angeles. Dude,
that's awesome, great, Yeah, thank you. Okay, remember two again,
very almost like we we can talk about. Let's not
spend too much time on it. But I guess the
position because I think people, especially now we'll will be

(55:19):
you know, it's not controversial positioning. But I'm gonna say
Kobe Bryant, and yeah, he is he is l A.
Like right now, you can't drive more than two miles
without seeing a mirror of him. Won five titles here,
had opportunities to leave stuck around and you know, he
to me is just he is l A. He was
at unifier, like you said, And yeah, I mean I

(55:42):
also had that same thing with you, Steve Where and
I said it on our very first episode of this podcast,
where I was like, I hate Kobe Bryant, And the
thing is it was an act. It was like an
active hate like and it was something that I think
he manufactured a little bit, was that villain role. It
was like, yes, I am gonna be the ballhog because
I'm the only one who can do it for us.
And he absolutely did do it for l A and

(56:04):
very much put l A on his back. And one
it was some weird he won it with a shackless team.
I think like he kind of fulfilled he like put
that promise out there, like I'm going to win this
for myself in for l A without shock and put
together kind of like an odd team to do that
in one two with that team, and and just always
you know, kind of was like a representative l A.

(56:25):
So yeah, I think he's one of the greatest l
A athletes of all time. Uh And And you know,
as much as I said those things earlier, I was
in my early twenties in that first round with Shack
and then of course with him and Gasol. But I
mean those first those three championships with Shack and Kobe
were some of the most amazing experiences sports experience I

(56:47):
had in my life, being in big parties and going crazy.
But I remember that that was like a hack a
Shack time where the last minute or two would literally
be forty five minutes in the last minute or two
of the game, and it was like, give me a
fucking break. But all of those wins, the comebacks against
the Sacramento Kings, that series, all of those things, uh,
loom so huge and my personal memory. And you know,

(57:10):
I know people talked about when he died that he
had mentioned, you know, I want to die young, the
only way to be great. But you know, it truly
is like now he instantly will always be thought of
as a Los Angeles legend, like in a way that
I don't know if he would have just gotten older
and passed away would have happened. Now. He he got

(57:31):
gunned down at the prime of his youth. It's terribly
sad and tragic, not to mention his daughter, who's going
to be the best basketball players that they live. It's
so tragic, But it also I think allowed us to
see him as a human being and with grace and
love in a way that we may not have seen
him before or if he if he would have even

(57:52):
been open up to that, although it does appear that
his kids were softening him and like helping him to
become a better, more loving person. So I mean, you
can't fucking go wrong with Kobe Bryant. I mean, what
a fucking pig. It's making me think, is there a
professional sports franchise that cares more about their legends and

(58:16):
legacy and taking care and and bringing like their stars
back into the organization forever more than the Lakers? Maybe
the Yankee Like I just I don't know, but they
just I mean, even this Lebron contract that just happened,
and they talk about Kobe's contract and like they really

(58:37):
just love to be Like if you were a Laker,
then like you're gonna get one of these funny jackets
and you're gonna have a photo with Cookie and Magic
and their sweet at some point, like you are you
are part of the family forever. If in a way
that feels so much stronger than any other organization I
can think of, Well, you know it's a little hack
to say, but you know, for whatever reason, uh, theres

(59:00):
really do buy into the storytelling and the myth aspect
of Hollywood. I mean that they they believe in it
so strongly. And to your point, Megan, that one Magic
says I'm a part of this conglomerate buying the Dodgers,
which who you know, how who knows how involved he is.
Really Everyone's like, wow, what a great idea, Like we

(59:21):
love we love it. What a unifying presence to have
Magic Johnson over there too. So yeah, they're they're they're
an incredible organization. They keep coming back with you know,
all these amazing stories. Really Shack and Kobe, Kobe without Shack,
and Paul Gasol and now Lebron James and Anthony Davis,
them giving them these huge contracts. They're they're an amazing organization.

(59:44):
I'm really glad that I can love them again. Yeah. Um,
let's take a quick break and then we'll be back
with the number one and we are back. Okay, So, Steve,
how we do this is um, since you are guests,
you're gonna be our big grand fin only. So Megan
and I will pick our number ones and we'll close
it out with you. So Megan, Okay, So Kobe was

(01:00:05):
my number one. Um, but I had a person in
number one that I took out, so I would like
to honor them. Now. Um, I do have some honorable mentions,
and I don't think I'm taking any from anybody's because
these are people that they're not on the list because
their careers have not been long enough and they're still
currently playing. Um. Aaron Donald I think will go down

(01:00:26):
as one of the greatest l A athletes. I it
seems like him and Sean McVeigh really have a have
a vibe and a thing that you gotta imagine you
like playing in l A too. Like, I just don't
know where else he would want to go. So I
hope for his sake and the city's sake that he
stays here. And then also Clayton Kershaw, I think we

(01:00:47):
will look back and be like, hell yeah, that that's
a that is a white boy picture player, you know,
like that is if there was a movie, he'd be
in it as the white boy Blonde picture. Um. But
I was so happy for him to, like, you know,
get to win a World Series. And I know like

(01:01:08):
how much they talked about the monkey on the back
for Peyton, and I think Clayton was just as much.
So it's got to be like such a relief and
an excitement for him. Um, so my number one is
going to be a man I actually no so little about,
but I hear his name probably once a week, and
that's Sandy Kofax. Um truly like Mr Dodger, Mr Baseball,

(01:01:34):
A seven time All Star, four time World Series Champion,
three times cy Young Award. He pitched four no hitters.
I what that like? Even reading his stats and like, yeah,
he almost sound he's like a legend, Like Sandy Kofax is.
The name is so much bigger than anything I've ever
known because you just here and you're like, oh, that's
some old timey guy who just lit it up and

(01:01:56):
he really fucking did and just was on the on
the Dodgers in Brooklyn on the Dodgers. Here just is
the Dodgers, and I just I like think of him
and Vince Scully as as Dodgers. Yeah. Yeah, Sandy Kovax
and a man of character too, very kind, still strong

(01:02:17):
with the organization. And you know he famously would not
pitch on the Sabbath as a Jewish person, And this
is a big deal when like being a Jewish person,
was you know, it's still not the easiest thing sometimes,
but where it was like they you know, America hated
Jewish people, so um yeah, Sandy Kofax obviously one of
the best dodges of all time. I'm so glad I

(01:02:38):
didn't pick him. I was very tempted to, and I'm
glad I did it. Okay, great, he was in my
number one slot, and then I was like, I guess
I just don't know him enough to like have him
as my number one, and I moved him into honorable mentions.
But then once Kobe was off, It's like, yeah, this
is the this is like who if old men were

(01:02:58):
making this list as their number one, and you know,
I got to give it to the old man sometimes.
And is Samler's character and Big Daddy named after inspired
his name is Sunny Kofax. I don't know. She is
always looking for a Sandler connection. That's a great name

(01:03:18):
of a podcast, the Sandler Connection. Alright, see if you
want another podcast, I'm writing it down, all right, my
number one pick. I also have one other honorable mention
that I'm not I'm saying. I'm not saying it because
it may be someone else's pick, but I'll tell you
guys after if it's not okay, all right, mine is
My number one pick is Magic Johnson. I just like

(01:03:39):
we talked about him a bunch on this. The thing
to me is that he is not only you know,
we've talked about a player, the Hollywood connection and entrepreneur businessman.
Uh don't forget cookie, Yeah, I mean, and don't forget
like two years ago people like he. People thought he
was the most like dysfunctional Lakers GM, but they since

(01:04:00):
they've won, they are now we're back to like Magic. Yeah,
we love Magic. This is all because of him, and
I think he is. I think, like all these players,
it's that legacy we're talking about of l A. Whether
the team is currently bad, players are like, no, I
want to go to l A because if we can
win there, like it's easy to get players to come
there for help. But also players saw Magic's career post

(01:04:24):
the Lakers and go, we have almost a life after
basketball if we can make it work in l A.
And I think that's because of Magic. And I just
think Magic Johnson. You just think l A. You think
don't you even think the Dodgers now? Like who knows
how much he really does? He says he's a majority owner.
But like, yeah, Magic Johnson to me is like l
a outside of sports. He's just like he could be

(01:04:48):
the mayor. After the last few weeks, he should be
the mayor. Yeah. He cares about the community and how
he handled getting hi v uh. You know, anybody else
would have been taken down by the thing, but he
took it as an opportunity to make it a learning lesson,
and he he almost singlehandedly he stigmatized AIDS and HIV

(01:05:13):
and what you know, people we used to write it
off is just simply a gay disease when that meant
a bad thing back then. But he was the He
put it on the face of someone we all knew
and loved. He touched people's hearts, and he practically overnight
changed the way that the world viewed this deadly disease.
And now and now that we found solutions and vaccines

(01:05:33):
and stuff where you can't completely hear it but you
can easily live with it. I mean, I don't know
how you can't like attribute a lot of that to
Magic Johnson. Plus he had a really bad talk show.
You gotta admire someone swinging for the fences. Yeah, you know,
it's like what bad, Like, what's the worst he can
do where people finally turn on Magic hasn't happened yet. No,

(01:05:54):
he's the greatest. He's the greatest laker of all time. Yeah.
I also think his love and support of e J
is really something that you see mirrored. Not that Dwyane
Wade took a page from his book, but like Magic,
it wasn't just HIV positive. He also had like a

(01:06:15):
very public out child um who is like very fluid
within their gender. And I was like, yeah, this is
my kid, what do you wanna do or say like
you know, I'll fuck you up? You know, Like he's
just like yeah, this, this is and and that's obviously
probably somewhat l a but like never hit e J,

(01:06:39):
celebrated e J, put e J front and center. Man,
I would be stoked to meet Magic Johnson. That I
was just I don't I don't think about like being
excited to meet people that much, but just talking about
him like this, that would be like, Yeah, I would
be really cool to meet Magic Johnson. Oh yeah, I
would be thrilled to meet Cookie. Cookie was like the
first Cookie made jeans, like before they were like apple Bottom.

(01:07:03):
Maybe it was after, but it was like these are
these are jeans for girls with big butts? And I
was like, you know what, cookie, thank you, thank you.
I had to get him hem I had a pair
of cookie jeans, but like you know, I've got a
big butt, but then little short legs, so I had
to go get my cookies. Hemmed, I had to get
my cookie jeans. Hand I love him. They came up

(01:07:26):
so high. Well, she's an artist, Steve, take us home.
An honorable mentions Wayne Gretzky. I know he's from Um
Canada and the oilers a lot, but to me, he
made the Kings, he put the Kings, he made hockey
in Los Angeles, so way Gretzy's big oral hers Scheiser
has always really touched my heart. He was so Christian

(01:07:49):
and such a good man too when I was Christian,
so that meant a lot to me. And then finally
for honorable mention, I love I've loved lamar Odom for
so long since he was originally a clip and then
it came back for the Lakers, so he was never
you know, he was never that top guy. But uh
lamar owed um to me, Like I mean, I remember

(01:08:10):
him in the Clippers. When he was first came out
of high school, I just loved him so much, so
I love lamar Odom. Uh, and then I fell in
love with him even more. He picked Chloe, which Chloe
was always my favorite, and uh, I just really love that.
So lamar Odom and then finally my number one choice
of all time for best Los Angeles athlete. This is, uh,
you know, kind of personal. You'll know why. Obviously, Fernando

(01:08:33):
Vellezuela for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fernando mania hit. I
was too little, but growing up, I mean I think
I was three when that happened. So the rest of
that time, I mean, he still was huge all the
way through I think they're eighty eight championship. So Fernando
Vealezuela was huge in the Mexican community. Everyone knows that

(01:08:56):
Chavez Ravine was cleared for Dodgers Stadium. They uh kicked
a bunch of Mexicans out of their house, promised them
that they were gonna be new projects full of houses,
and then just made it Dodger stadiums. So the Mexican
community in Los Angeles hated the Dodgers for years and
years until fucking Fernando made it. Okay, they went and

(01:09:16):
they got him, found him in Mexico, brought him back. Uh.
He won his first eight games, He won the cy
Young Award and Rookie of the Year in the same year.
That's like never happened. And uh he led them that
first year to a World Series championship. That was his
big year. He was always good. He I think he
played ten complete games. They don't even do this anymore,

(01:09:39):
but he played ten complete games. He had his first
shutout in so almost ten years after he came to
the league. Just really, you know, Mexicans have been getting
the shaft for so long. I think when you think
about America, America to me has always been whites, the
white and black story. It's whites versus blacks. But you know, Mexicans,
we've always been in the back king And uh, I

(01:10:01):
do think that we're coming up. It's getting to the
time now where it's third generation and fourth generation and
we're not worried about our relatives getting shipped back home yet.
So we're going to start coming out from out of
the rocks. And I do think that you're going to
see a lot more Mexican superstars, not only in the
area of sports, but in entertainment as well. But the
first real big superstar for me and for us and

(01:10:24):
for the Los Angeles Dodgers is Fernando Valenzuela. Beautiful, I mean,
even the guy. And I'm so sad that his name
is escaping me right now. Who was the closer for
this team. It's like he means so much to the
Mexican community. And and this is now forty years later,
like it's still is he Filipino or in Mexican He

(01:10:47):
had an eye surgery, so he does, haven't. So I
get why you were maybe confused. Yeah, but for Nandomania,
there was nothing like it. I remember being little and
just I mean, and I loved him too. He used
nine t when he first got here, twenty by the
end of the that first season. But he was a
little He was a little chubby guy. If you've seen him,
he looks terrible. He looks just absolutely terrible, terrible skin.

(01:11:11):
He looked like like he he had a beard, gut,
a little fat Mexican guy who just came up and
live up. The pictures amount obviously influential to me in
my lifestyle. So he'll always go down as as my
absolute favorite Dodger, and I don't think that you know,
this allies full of Mexicans, and I don't think that
the Dodgers would be such a Mexican team if they

(01:11:33):
would have never had for Nano Vellezuela. So I'm glad
he did. He made it okay to love the Dodgers
again after they did a terrible, terrible Mexican community. I wish,
did you. I wish I wish they muld find some
way to say they're sorry, to make a statue or something,
because it's not like everybody. It's like America too with slavery.
It's like we all know what happened. Just say sorry

(01:11:53):
and means so much in the world if you just
just you know, have the press. The stadium is just
so the stadium is so beautiful, like and it's it's
on this hilltop like when I took my parents overre
like this is like this is where you put a stadium.
And I'm like, yes, but little tricky tricky Tricky passed there.

(01:12:16):
Um my honorable mention that I it's just worth noting
because I think of him as the rams is Eric
Dickerson right that I don't even see other Rams jerseys
out here, Like no one has a Jared Goff jersey,
so you would see maybe some girly he's gone. You
just see people in vintage Eric Dickerson Rams jerseys and

(01:12:37):
then you're like, okay, you've you've been with the team
for a long time. Great call. Yeah, um, Steve, you
have truly one of the funniest twitters. Like if people
were like you can have five twitters that you're still
love to look at, you would be on my five. Um,
so please tell our listeners where they can find you.
Thank you so much, making that means a lot. You
can find me a big Herd on Twitter, Hernia on Instagram.

(01:13:01):
You check out just I Plug on my podcast there,
so check those out. Then, thank you guys so much
for having me on. I had a blast. Absolutely well.
We hope we can see you and Julia in person
soon when things are are better. Um, thank you so much,
Kei for doing it. Thank you, and you can find
me at c J Toldonna on Everything, Megan at Megan
Gaily on Twitter, at bet No Better Megan Gaily Betting Instagram,

(01:13:29):
Betton Megan. That is fun. I'm so bad at betting
on sports, so um and gosh, guys, happy holidays. It's
getting it's not even getting scary, it's staying scary. It's
gotten scary, staying scary, and escalating towards scarier. So be safe,
keep yourself safe, your family, say wear a mask. Harl

(01:13:51):
Anthony Towns has had seven family members die of COVID.
Now this is an NBA the Timberweld first Star are
and he's lost seven family members. Where the fucking mask? Please? Um,
and thank you so much for listening, rate review, and
we will have more Greatest for you next week. The

(01:14:14):
Greatest is a production of I Heart Radio. For more
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