Greatest Post-Playing Careers with Jensen Karp

A professional athlete's career days are numbered the minute they sign their first contract, and some athlete's careers begin the day they retire. Many astute athletes are able to use the same goal-oriented drive, smarts and gregariousness that helped them become a top-level athlete to go on to have success after they are done playing the game. Megan and C.J. welcome Jensen Karp, host of "The No-Sports Report" Podcast on the iHeart Radio Network to discuss their picks for the greatest post-playing careers of all time.

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Greatest, a production of I Heart Radio.
Welcome to another episode of the Greatest. Said, I wanted
to say it with you the Greatest. Oh sorry, I
was just trying to that's what week Week eight, Week nine,

(00:23):
and Quarantine sounds like hosting a podcast with your husband.
We're back in the laundry room. We experimented with our
other podcast studios within the house. We tried my office.
I think all of my memorabilia threw you off. No, no,
I liked it in there a lot. We tried the
room that just has a liquor car and the peloton.

(00:45):
But we have a neighbor who decides to rev seven
motorcycles just like them. I hate him so much. He's
my number one Quarantine enemy. Um, but it would be
great if we found it he listened. No, he doesn't. Um.
But today we are so excited to welcome a dear
friend who is also so cool and talented and also

(01:10):
now a member of the I Heart Radio podcast family. Wow,
we can all go to the Christmas party together. Um.
We have written together on the SPS. He has a
book called Kanye West. I thought it was twenty it's
five hundred. Um creator of drop the mic and to

(01:34):
to some maybe even to me. Most impressively, a writer
on the first season of The Mass Singer, which revolutionized TV.
Give it up for Jensen carp Oh. Hello, Hi, unless
you guys know something about him owing me more money,
it is technically three Okay, I'm sorry, I was and

(01:58):
I thought it was five. Dress listen. I found an
unauthorized revised version Jenson off the Black Market. Um, but
how are you doing man? Thanks for joining us. I'm
doing pretty good. But I do like the idea that
I mean. The title is already very petty, but imagine
how petty with you over to right a novel? Um,
you're you're a new dad too? Yeah? Ten month old?

(02:20):
Uh he is at His name is Adlert, a beautiful
little boy. He looks looks like Marve Albert already. Yeah yeah,
full head of hair, not like Women's Entree or anything. Um,
but yeah, we really were living the quarantine life a
little before. He was born prematured, so we were in

(02:40):
thenqueue for a month and he had a lung disorder.
Very cool things. Uh, he worked it out. Everything is
good now. But we we have been living like this already,
so this is just sort of now everyone's down to
our level. Yeah, I mean that's we had Sarah Tillan
on the podcast a few weeks ago, and then I
have some friends that are new moms and they're like, yeah,
it's not a terrible time to be doing this, because

(03:02):
this is kind of what maternity leave. Paternity leave ends
up being. You're just in your house taking care of
the little sweetie and he's doing well health wise. Now, yeah,
he's doing really good. He's thriving. He uh definitely doesn't
have the fluid in the lungs is basically what he had,
and now it's it's kind of all gotten gotten out.
And it was just a really scary, you know, first

(03:22):
few months. But um, you know, I think people like
us have it pretty easy with ten month olds or
younger or you know, once once I hit three, four
or five, it's like you have to really entertain them.
And like, right now I can just hand him a
water bottle and you can like walk off for two hours. Yeah. Yeah,
we have friends that have a six month old and
a four year old. Yeah, every time I see her,

(03:45):
she looks at the brink of a mental breakdown. Yeah,
it's it's we have we have friends who have twins
that are like six or seven. They are two of
the most calm minded people I've ever known in my life,
and so chill, and they I've never gotten straight up.
I can't believe schools not coming back texts like they

(04:08):
actually are like fully breaking down in front of me.
So I feel for them way way more than me. Yeah.
I mean, my brother is he's divorced now and so
he shares custody with his X and he has a daughter.
He's in second grade, and he's like, we get like
eight emails a day about assignments and I'm like, what,
that's insane to me. Yeah, he's smart too, he's a lawyer,

(04:30):
but he's still just like and he's doing it. But
you don't want your kids to be stupid. But it
does seem like a lot and you're not having to
teach the child anything, so you're really lucked out. No, literally,
we don't. We've ever even taught him a thing. If
it's raining, we go, what's this? Yeah, that's great, Jensen.
So we're honored to have you on. I also, I

(04:52):
don't know if I told you because I need your
podcast a couple of weeks ago. But it's your Your
career has just always been so fascinating, and you know,
I've admired it from afar just because like we know
friends who are either you know, comedians or comedy writers.
But you're like sort of all over the place in
such a cool way like you've been. You know, you

(05:13):
obviously wrote that book about you being a rapper when
you're young. You're really for the sps. You creative dropped
the mic, and you also own and I've always wanted
to talk to you about this um or you founded gallery,
which is I don't know, I don't know if you know.
I'm just like such a big nostalgia fan and you know,
love vintage everything and and just old eighties and nineties movies.

(05:35):
So yeah, I mean, just tell it. How what the
hell did you want to do growing up? And how
did all these things happen? I guess well, what I
wanted to do is definitely something I never could have done,
which is basically played baseball, which is what you know.
I kind of went through life thinking could happen for me,
and then I was like, wait, I'm super Jewish, that

(05:55):
never happens. H Gabe Kapler. It's like all I have um,
and so I was always a good rapper, and I guess,
you know, I felt like battling was always my strength.
And I was doing local battles and doing all sorts
of you know, going to the House of Blues and
participating in ciphers and stuff as a kid um and
I had like a small brush which talked about in

(06:17):
the book. I had a small brush with being signed
with iced teas rhyme syndicate when I was in middle school.
I know, very weird things happened to me rapping wise,
and I figured that I could maybe do that for
a living. But I was going to college for writing.
I went to USC for communications in journalism with a
focus on cinematic writing. And I kind of figured I'd

(06:37):
do comedy. I'd start going up and I started to,
you know, do the open mics and comedy store and
things like that a college. And then I entered this
radio contest in Los Angeles called roll Call, and it
was where you battle three or four people a day.
And I had already got a bit of a name
battling at that point. And I won the contest for
like forty six days or something that I know the

(06:59):
winner before me had only one ten power one of six. Yeah, okay,
so like it wasn't like it wasn't like a rock
station where they're like where it was like the real
hip station. Yeah, it was. It was intense. Yeah, I mean,
you know it was like we have some days you
have competition, other days you wouldn't. And um, I it

(07:20):
was before iPhones and iPods and before satellite radio, so
people were really listening to terrestrial radio and we just
like really, I mean, it captured sort of a weird
moment in hip hop nersery here in l A. And
as soon as I left, I went back to USC
to do finals, and Jimmy Iving basically jumped in the

(07:40):
middle of me in college and said, I'm going to
give you a record deal for a million dollars. Yeah,
And so Jimmy Jimmy signed me to inter Scope, and
I recorded an album with Kanye and Black Eyed Peas
and Red Man and Fabulous and all these different people.
Lived this like crazy life for two years. It didn't
work out for me, and then I kind of went
back into my normal life. It's so interesting too, because

(08:02):
you grew up in Calabasas I did well up in
wood up in Woodland Hills, which is yeah, the ugly
step son. Oh and really quick you brought up the gallery. Sorry,
I didn't even address it. I was just one of
the things that was really cool to me too. Well,
the gallery. I when I stopped wrapping, Um, I didn't
know what I wanted to do when I have this money,
and my money manager was like, you can't just like
buy blue rays or DVDs at the time, and wow,

(08:25):
that's what c J does. So that's interesting that a
money manager tells you not to do that. Well, I
still do it, but but he he at the time,
was like, you can't just do that. And so I
started looking into businesses I was interested in. And I
love art and always been a fan. Didn't know much
about it, but I knew that my friends like Kanye
at the time or d J a M who was

(08:45):
making a lot of money at the time, like those
guys were spending like, you know, five on sneakers and
then you'd go to their house and they have like
a ten dollar poster. And I felt like and I
felt like, you know, from like bed bath and Beyond,
and I was like, there's there's gotta be a middle
ground here where it's still affordable, but it's as to you.
And that's where Gallery Nice came up, and I opened
up with my friend TEDD Cromwell, and uh, you know,

(09:06):
it's sort of pop culture and nostalgia inspired art I have.
We have Jensen to blame for a lot of my
current I don't want to blame him because he's very
talented and cool, you know, but you. He maybe has
enabled you, but you are You are the addict and
he is the supplier. Um and so you grew up
in l A and went to USC which now that

(09:28):
degree must mean so much more to you given the
things that have happened over the last year. But it's like,
I just wonder if I'm sure you would have because
c J and I are not from here and we
wound up here. But like a boy like you growing
up in St. Louis, Like, how would that have looked
differently than a shot? I mean, you had you have

(09:48):
head shots from when you were a kid that are
so cute. And it's to me, growing up in a
place where like you, we didn't know anything about show business,
it's just so fascinating to me. Yeah, to a lot
of people, and for good reason. I mean, I did
not grow up with any connections. My father sold cars.
My mother had a local kind of like advertising paper

(10:09):
that she ran out of the house with like cue
bonds and stuff in it. And neither of them had
truly any connections. But then at my school, you know,
you'd go you'd go to school and there be kids
like I just realized Harry Nielsen's kid went to our
school and I didn't even know, Like I didn't even
I didn't even know he did. He was in my grade. Uh,
and we had like no idea. So it wasn't like

(10:29):
like my wife, for example, went to went to high
school with me, and she was one of the famous. Yeah,
she was super famous when she was at her high
school and um, and like no one ever made a
big deal out of it. It was like just sort
of like, yes, she she was there, you know, And
I think that it maybe it is sort of a
Los Angeles thing, but I don't think anyone was like

(10:51):
really freaking out, like Christina Riti came in visit. Here's
the thing. Remember do you remember Gabby Hoffman. Okay, so
Gabby Gabby went to our high school as well, and
she wasn't like super famous yet, but she was a
kid in the field of dreams and she was in
now and then yeah, and she was doing stuff and
she was in a Woody Allen movie while we were

(11:11):
in high school, and like she was always hip and
cool and whatever. And she had Christina Ricchie come visit
our school one day, like she just came and hung
out with her. And you would think that would like
blow the school up. Yeah, but like no one even knew.
Like if I bring it up to people, now, do
you remember when Christina Reachi visit our school? And we'll
be like, now, I don't remember that. Oh my gosh.
I mean we had a kid who used to take

(11:34):
his shirt off and then that meant he was about
to like fight someone and he was left to us
Like that was but that's and like there were rumors
that the FBI was investigating him and we were like, wow,
he is famous, Um, but I don't think he very
welcome be dead now. Um, But that was that was
the level of fame. It's yeah, it's just it's it's
so cool. But I get that it didn't seem strange

(11:55):
to you at the time. Yeah, it seems stranger when
I got to college because in college. People would ask
stuff like that, and like the Menendez brothers went to
my high school, you know, and so like you bring
in like the movie Alpha Dogs basically about my high
school and the high school next door, and so we
like you bring that stuff up and people are like really,
and you're like, I don't know if I've ever talked

(12:17):
about this with anyone, Like it doesn't come up a
lot when you're in it, but when we're out of it,
you're like, I guess it's very odd. The val Victorian
wasn't like Menendez boys just skimming over. Can I ask
you did you go to one of the high schools
where you walked outside to class? You mean like it
was not enclosed? Correct, So like I don't know if

(12:41):
you know this, but like California, these coast and in
Midwest kids, like when when I watched movies like from
the eighties and nineties, like just one of the guys
and I see them walking outside during a school day,
I'm like, how is this allowed? This is like science fiction?
It is so cool. It's to me, it's like the
number one. Like California, we only I think we only

(13:04):
had one building that could have been used in a
winter storm. On top of that, everything else was outdoors.
And then it's so funny because like I have heard
this before that not that specifically, but when I went
to college and people would be like, oh, man, did
you live near that amusement park at the beginning of
step by Step, which is like so funny to me
because like I never saw a step by Step, but

(13:25):
obviously as soon as people brought it up, I went
and looked it up, and like it's just the matter
or not the matter one. It's just that magic Mountain ride,
but they've superimposed it near the water, so like that
doesn't exist. But it's like people have this weird TV
movie thoughts about what it was like living here, and
I was quite square, quite nerdy, um, and so I

(13:46):
never like lived crazy life percent until maybe rap stuff started.
All right, Well, before we get too off topic, I
do get like going down this, like hearing about all
of Jensen's career accomplishments does kind of tie into this topic, yeah,
because I mean, and you ended up working with a
lot of these people will probably mention, but today's topic

(14:08):
or the greatest topic is the greatest post playing careers,
and it's sort of we're going to keep it a a
little bit open. But it's essentially people who in athletes
who have sort of kept their business is going after
they're sort of like prime playing, created a new business
that made them famous in other ways. J and I

(14:28):
were talking about this last night. I ended up picking
people that did not like obviously there's commentators and there's
coaches that were players and then went on to do
great things as those professions. I think of those as
almost too close. Like I ended up picking people that
are in a completely different field of work and rose

(14:52):
to prominence just as much as they were in their
playing career. Okay, so that's what that was what I did,
And I don't know. Yeah, Jensen, do you want to
lead us off with your number three? Yeah? Mon, number
three is I guess he's I think this is perfect
because obviously, like you said, answering shack stuff like that
seems pretty easy, and I don't. I don't think any

(15:15):
of us are are. We're all a little obscure. So
so I think my pick for number three is going
to be Kevin Johnson. And that's purely because Kevin Johnson,
like when he ran for office the first time, I
think people were like that Kevin Johnson, you know what
I mean, Like, I don't think people thought he was
gonna end up being the mayor of Sacraments UM. And
I know that there's been like listen, I know his

(15:37):
Wikipedia is filled with garbage as to what happened while
he was governor UM. But you know, it was still
kind of an amazing thing where you actually thought, oh
my god, the sports guys you know, can actually run
for office. Like that was kind of you know, obviously
there were people like Bradley and stuff before him, but
I thought that was pretty awesome. And he was a

(15:58):
big guy as far as like when I did a
little bit of research for this, he was super into
this program called Volunteer Sacramento, and he was very green
and he actually did a decent amount of good stuff
while he was in office and was reelected once, but
then maybe ran into some issues with sexual assault and harassment. Okay,
maybe those things did. To me, that only makes him
a legitimate politician, Like it's like, oh, yeah, you're a

(16:22):
real politician. Okay. He was the first black mayor of
Sacramento two and so that's a very impressive feet as well. Yeah, well,
a lot of issues involving you know, the pieing incident. Uh,
you know, there was, there was a lot of things
that happened. But beyond that, Kevin Johnson going from NBA
basketball player and a good one, yeah, great, yeah, great

(16:45):
one and then going into politics I thought was always
a pretty interesting pivot. And I wonder if you know,
we're watching the Last Dance like everyone else, and he
is one of those guys that he that were in
Jordan's tracks of like he prevented, you know, Kevin Johnson
and Charles Barkley, and these guys are winning a championship
that they weren't fulfilled from their playing career, and then

(17:06):
they go that's interesting. Yeah, and you know that's just
a theory of mind. They're like, well, I you know,
there's no Michael Jordan my way of becoming the mayor
of Sacramento, and so I'm really going to go for it. Thus,
you know, and this happens. I could see that Barkley too,
because Barkley is just so he he almost like ramped
up after his playing career. Like everyone knows him. He's

(17:28):
my favorite comedian. He's everywhere, and he's and he's so
funny and he's so good on TV and then when
you see him in the last dance, it's like, oh yeah,
that was so demoralizing that c G. I think you
do have a good point that it was like, Okay,
I couldn't win a ring, but I can win Mr. Congeniality,
and he and him and Shack have very much gone
on to do that, even though Shaq has rings too.

(17:49):
I promised not to pick anyone else's sexual assault. It's
totally fine. Well, I mean I was having this conversation
when last night too, it's like this this top kind
of bummed me out in a way because there's very
few if and I struggled to find any woman who
has been able to obviously Becky Hammond, and there's women

(18:10):
that have been gone gone on to be incredible coaches.
Christie Everett is like one of my favorite tennis commentators,
but they're still in the sport. And I think some
of that is just as a society, men are allowed
to conquer and do lots of different things, and I
think we are like, oh, Okay, a woman succeeded at this,
great that's you get that. And then and then they

(18:32):
either go on to raise families or or they that
there they become activists. But there's very few women that
that have been able to pivot into the careers that
we're going to be talking about, which are mostly politics, acting,
and entrepreneurship. And we just don't allow the space for
a woman to be successful in multiple fast sets publicly,

(18:54):
I think unfortunately. Yeah, I mean hopefully that's changing over
time with I mean, honestly, I just for my podcast,
I just talked to Aaron Andrew's husband about, you know
what it's like being a King's coach because he's like
a developmental coach right now and he's just like sitting
on his couch and Aaron Andrews is running like six
seven businesses during the quarantine. So like that kind of
stuff really stokes me out as far as like where

(19:16):
we're going with it. But like you said, yes, I
had to pick someone who has quite a tainted past
when I looked at politics. Well, but like even calling
him Aaron Andrew's husband, it's like that's a win, you
know that progress. Okay, so my first one, this is
gonna feel less obscure, but like, I don't know, I
just love it so much. Is George Foreman. Yeah, obviously

(19:38):
a boxer. But if when you hear George Foreman, now
you really just think of the grills. And so I
was doing a little bit of I truly thought he
invented the grill. He did not um in the nineties
he invented the grill. Just was like, I would like
to cook on this grill. That's what I thought. That's
not what happened. Basically, a company went to him and

(19:59):
was like, would you our spokesperson, and then it was
for a limited amount of time. I think it was
like an event or one or two, and it was
such a massive success that then they like re named
the product after him, and he became the face of
this and then did the infomercials. And I mean, George
Foreman grills are in the cultural lexicon just when you

(20:23):
think about like when I think about men I dated
in college, or like it's it's that you walk in
and you see someone as a George Foreman and you're like,
oh boy, or it's just to me, he is more
successful as George Foreman grill than he is as George
Foreman the boxer, right right. And also he was the
second person they asked I remember this stat and maybe

(20:46):
I almost i'd say, I'm so that's pretty eye up.
I think Hogan was the first person they asked that
would I don't know if it would have taken off
in a weird way kind looking it up quick, yeah,
would turned down the Foreman girl. Yeah, just whole Cogan. No,
George Foreman is like he he has such a really

(21:10):
wholesome face, like he is the kindest looking boxer. He
truly looks like a little sweetie pie. And he's a
truly perfect pitch man because of that, because he's likable,
he was famous. I think him being black, then you're
you're incorporating so many more people like he's he's the

(21:31):
type of like black men that even racist or like
I like him, you know, like he everybody likes him, right, Yeah,
I mean I I was watching him and I recommended
this to to you, Megan when we were Kings and
if you see that, and because I had known about
the Former girl, and then I went back a few
years later and watched when we were Kings the Muhammad
Ali documentar about Romeo the Jungle, and he's just such

(21:54):
a stoic like they paint him essentially like drago and
rocky and bare like says forwards the whole documentary. Um,
and that's where Ali had to do the rope a
dope on them to this what they're saying a machine
and now you know, cut to what twenty years later
and it was lean mean fighting machine, you know, diet grill.

(22:14):
And it's just like so insane the timeline or that,
you know what time can do to people. Yeah, yeah,
I mean, listen, Mike Tyson isn't that far off if
you told if you told a twelve year old right now,
that Mike Tyson was literally the baddest human being who
may have ever walked this space to the Earth, they'd
be like, you're kidding, Yeah, that the guy from Hangover.
So I think that's kind of what we do with

(22:36):
a lot of boxers over time. Yeah all right. Uh
so my pick it's if it's not great to your standards, Megan,
because it's so connected. But I got a little inspired
this morning because also this news came out that Tony
Hawk Pro Skater the video game one and two are
being remastered for the Xbox One, and so that's why
my third pick is Tony Hawk. Yeah. I mean, but

(22:58):
the skateboarding thing, but the thing is like these video
games really were huge and are still huge, and I
do have to say I get. I mean, I'm a
hypocrite too. I love changing rules. Tony Hawk is the
face of was the face of the X games. He
brought skateboarding into the mainstream, and so for him you

(23:20):
kind of have to make an exception to be crazy
to then pivot fully out of that. It's like he
is us skateboarding to me, yeah, and to me it's
like he's not even the coolest skater. And for him
to create this video game and there's just like this.
There's a YouTube video where he describes how much money
he made off these video games, which he didn't know
how much he was gonna make going into it, or

(23:42):
even like into the process. Like there's a story about
how during the fourth video game, when it came out,
someone at Activision or Never Software, whichever company it is,
was like, Hey, can I take you out to lunch?
And he's like sure, didn't know he was gonna get
paid at this lunch. And the guy's like, oh, yeah,
here's your check for Tony pro Skater four and it
was for four million dollars and he was just like, oh,

(24:04):
just like can you imagine just getting an unexpected four
million dollar check. And then I don't think Tony Larusa
had the same lunch for Tony. Yeah, now I'm like
where they go to lunch? Was it you know, was
it lemonade or was it frank And I don't know.
Um No, I think that that's a that's a good pick.

(24:24):
And so since then there's been what eight I think
there's this remastered version coming up, is gonna be the
eighteen Tony Hawk pro Skater video game. Well, and then
he had all the fashion Birdhouse. I remember his cribs
is like when that sticks out to me too. I
just remember all his little blonde children looking like they
were about to break and their kids and his kid, Riley,

(24:47):
I believe, is like like you would expect some of
these like celebrity mega celebrity kids to be like assholes.
And I mean I've watched a few videos about Riley
really good skater uh and and really cool and done?
How old is he? I think he's like, Okay, So
sometimes I get concerned when you're watching videos of these
young kids. Yeah, I was gonna say this is I
can't I can't even imagine c J at hum being like,

(25:08):
got to look up my young kids skateboard videos. He's
just like, oh, Brawnie's and I'm like, you should not
know where Brawny is. Okay, let's just let's leave Brawny
alone a little bit. Okay, let's take the outbreak and
we'll be back with our next pix. Okay, we are back,

(25:28):
all right, Jensen, Yes, second pick. Well, this is a
perfect segue into promoting my new podcast called The No
Sports Report, part of the I Heart Family along with
three fort Media. And what I do is I talked
to athletes during the quarantine, uh, and I find out
things about them, what they've been doing while sports is down.
Like a lot of these guys, this is the longest
they've ever went not playing the sport. It's crazy. So

(25:52):
I've been able to speak to Gavin Lux and Sugar
Ray Leonard and Bismack Biombo and a lot of great
athletes over the last few weeks. But one that really
sticks out with me is former NBA player Al Harrington, who, yes,
who now runs a weed empire. He basically has a

(26:14):
marijuana medicinal marijuana entire business that involves edibles and uh,
you know, CBD and medicinal and he's he's part of
a large group ownership. He's the head of it. But
like even like um, other basketball players are involved in it,
Sally yeah, and it's he he al. Harrington really does

(26:38):
seem to be making millions of dollars off selling weed.
And he came on the podcast and talked about, you
know what it's doing for his small business, you know,
the pandemic, and and then we talked about you know,
marijuana in the NBA, and he was he was saying
he thinks eighty to eighty five percent of players are
currently using or recreationally used over the last two or
three years. Um. And it's a big deal too because

(27:01):
like guys like you know, he brought up Kobe, we
brought up him. I mean, now, Harrington a great example
of a guy who probably could have been a little
better or played a little longer if their injuries were
maintained a lot better in like a CBD way. Um.
And so I I was always impressed in the idea
that this guy retires, doesn't you know, do the normal route,
and instead opens up an entire week business based off

(27:23):
his grandmother who used marijuana when she was sick with
cancer and so he saw that and then he became
a bit of an advocate for it, and now it's
his living. I think that's great. I I was just
looking him up because I wanted to see what year
he was drafted by the Pacers and him and I
have the same birthday him so, and he was on

(27:44):
the Pacers twice. And he's like the kind of guy
that I always really liked, but he wasn't. He kind
of under achieved and so it's at least with the Pacers,
and so it's nice to see him taking on an
industry that I really so near my heart. Yeah, by
the way, looking at his numbers now, which I did

(28:05):
in research for the podcast, he had a really good career. Yeah,
like you don't think he did. And then we looked
it up and I was like, in current day NBA,
he would have been making like a ton of money. Well,
you know, and that's why I always talk to people
about sort of the business that I'm in. But like
they just never covered up. He wasn't like a highlights guy,

(28:25):
and so they weren't seeing him on Sports Center and
they weren't like he was like the third like the
not third like fifth option on these teams, so they
weren't getting covered. But like he came off the bench
pacers mostly. I mean he played for I think sixteen
or seventeen seasons too, So he did have He did
have a long career, and he's got a great argument
to be like, yeah, let me rub and put whatever

(28:48):
I want in my body. Yeah, tons of injuries. The
last two years he only played like forty five games
or something like that. But his his career stats, he
was at thirteen and a half points per game and
over five a half rebounds per game over a career
where he played with tons of injuries. Um, and so
I was like, man, guys, got quite a strong contract. Yeah. Absolutely,

(29:11):
I'm really happy for him and happy to hear that.
And I'm guessing he lives in California. No, he he
does not. I don't remember exactly where he lives. He
does not live in California. No, but he obviously is
here a lot, he said, because we smoke a lot
of week his business. Uh, just so you know, I'm
looking up his stats by season Atlanta, he obviously eighteen

(29:32):
points a game, nineteen point two with the next he
had quite a run there fourteen But but he did
have his worst run with the Indiana Pacer, but earlier.
I still love he was eighteen. I think he came
out right out of high school. High school. Yea, he
he always had a sweatband on. I liked him. He
got a dude. Yeah, he's good. I'm happy to hear

(29:55):
about him. Okay, So my next person, I honestly did
not even know about this guy. And I feel horrified
by that because I'm sure my parents are gonna listen
to it and be like, yeah, we loved him. His
name is Byron White. Is this ringing a belt to
either of you? Okay? So he played college football, basketball,

(30:16):
and baseball. He was the runner up in the Heisman
Trophy and then was drafted. Led the NFL in rushing
yards in his rookie season, which was okay, So it
was a long time ago, but then he was an
incredible NFL player. Left at one point to attend Yale
Law School and became a Supreme Court justice. Yes, he

(30:40):
was nominated to the Supreme Court by JFK. Served on
the Supreme Court for thirty two years as a Liberal
judge and was a part of n C double a
versus Board of Regions of the University of California, was
on the court during Roe v. Wade. He is the
twelfth longest Supreme Court justice to ever serve and then

(31:03):
he was um succeeded by Ruth Bader Ginsburg. So he's incredible.
I mean, this man. He was born in Colorado, went
to University of Colorado, where he was a three sport athlete.
Football was obviously his standout. But he served in World
War Two. He was a part of the Navy. Like man,
I mean he It was really tough too, because in

(31:25):
the politics it feels like a lot of athletes become
Republicans or at least like you know, like Kevin Johnson
and Bill Bradley Field like kind of the only ones
that didn't. And so this guy was a liberal judge
and a JFK appointee and seems like such a wonderful man.

(31:46):
His nickname was Whizzer, but he but he didn't like
that name, so that's why I did not call him.
But he is. Some people may know him as Whizzer
White instead, who did um. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates,
which is not a team anymore. It was nineteen thirty eight,

(32:07):
and so I guess that was a team, and then
he played for the Detroit Lions in the nineteen one season,
and then he went and fought in World War Two
in the PACIFICO crazy. I was like, oh, I feel
like I because this isn't someone that like I knew about.
But when I read all this stuff, I was just like,

(32:29):
this is so impressive and so interesting to me. And
I love World War Two. I love old white men
that have funny nicknames, and I love Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
So it's really everything. This has everything I want. Well
and for me too, It's like CT is such a
very real thing, and I bet you it maybe even
worse back then technology with helmets and to then become,

(32:52):
you know, and put be in that position seems insane
to me, but ultimately very impressive. Yeah. Well it's also
so funny too when you think about college sports back then,
the fact that he could play three sports is that
there's that does not exist now never. Um So I

(33:13):
loved him, whizzer. I want to want to look more.
He got a bronze star to two of them. But yeah,
a little cutie and he is now pasture but but
but yeah, rest in peace, but we love you. To talk.
By the way, quite a roller coaster on my feelings
about Wizard. I was totally totally into looking at what

(33:37):
he's doing now and then that ending. Really yeah, it'd
be too if I was like, oh, I guess it's
not that impressive he died. I'm trying to pick the immortal. Yeah,
he's just so cool. He was like so he was
four civil rights, he was pro women's choice, like, Wizzard,
you're the dude, man, You're dude top back, all right,

(33:59):
you know, I can't talk that, you know, I had
an obvious one for two, but I kind of want
to swap out. I had Shack originally, and I don't
really need to read his credits. He and he just
is greatest human. I feel like, is what do you
think that you put him on this list because of
Shack Life? But that's what finally convinced it was Shack Life,
which is mainly about Shack's E d M career, Like

(34:23):
like every storyline is Shaq gonna be a good E
d M d J Jenson. Do you watch Shack Life? Well,
I was the executive producer of a failed pilot with
Shaquille O'Neil and Ken John last year, So I would
say I know Shack a little too well, so much
so that I know that he loves hookah bars. Oh,

(34:43):
I believe that. I believe he talks about hookah bars.
He talks about hooka bars maybe fifty of the day. Truly, honestly,
if you ever find yourself by the way, Jack is
a incredible human being. He is loving and caring and
so great and he was so fun with me. I
have a great story. He did drop the mic and

(35:05):
all day he was kind of acting like a big
baby and being being a little bit grumpy. And my
wife showed up to set, and my wife had met
him before and that like, you're famous in the nineties,
you know everyone, Yeah, some sort of surfboard was handed
to you by sat at some point. And and Shaquil

(35:26):
sees my wife for a second, and I don't know
if he puts it together, but my wife goes, how
Shack being And I go, you know what, he's kind
of being a big baby. And she goes, Okay, I'll
be here back. And so she walks over there and
she's talking to him and she says, are you practicing?
He goes you and she goes and she goes, uh,
you know you're gonna go out there and you gotta
kill it, like you can't get embarrassed, I know. And
then she says, you know, I did this show and

(35:47):
I won, and he said you dude, and she goes
she goes, yeah, I won my my rap battle after
trophy and everything, and he's like, you want TV and
she's like, yeah, I used to be two paying on boy,
and he's to go I knew it. He started like
jumping around, and then he asked to take a picture
with me and her, and he started to we started
to lean down and it goes one two and he

(36:09):
leans down to my ear and he goes to pango.
Still got it, buddy. I mean it is wild too,
because like I have been out with you guys in public,
like you know, we would have those post sp dinners
and when she walks through, everyone is like, oh my god,
like it's a wave of recognition and then like pure

(36:32):
excitement and joy. Yeah, she has goodwill she which is great.
I've always weirded out when someone like everything, like when
I post something and everything is positive, I'm like, oh
my god, how does that feel? And so like on
top of that, like she looks so much the same,
like from childhood, that it's like it's very difficult to
really hide. I mean, that's why the pandemic actually has

(36:53):
been kind of cool at times for her because she
gets to wear a mask a target, which is like
kind of a fun thing to do since it's the
place we go, and every time we go, she has
to take photos and I'm like, man, everyone's starting uh,
and so I'm the one yelling and everyone's like, okay,
my family said, trying to survive here, and so yeah,

(37:15):
it's it's very funny. But Chack was very sweet and kind,
and the next time I saw him, he remembers everything,
so like the next time I saw him, he was
like like he he seems to like remember every detail
about stuff. So he's just a big, loving human being.
But yes, I know all about his E d M career.
I know that we talked about his kids and his
kid's heart condition. We really, I mean, we spent probably

(37:38):
five days in Atlanta together and he was great. Man,
I wish that show went then. That I mean, honestly,
it made me, It made me want to keep him
on there. I mean, very sweet, He's incredible, and the
the citizens Arrest and the Restaurant Tour, And I mean,

(38:01):
because you think about the NBA and T and T
and that's my favorite show. I think it's the best
comedy on TV. So they are TV stars to me now.
But that's that's like one of seventy five. Then, like
you know what people go like with a celebrity when
they're big hang up is that they do everything. My
question is like, how does Shack do all this? Yeah,

(38:24):
it's it's a lot. And also like he you know,
let's not forget he has a cameo and Freddy got fingered,
which is addressing here, but but beyond that, he did
at one point while we were filming, look at me
and he goes, he, uh, you think I should take
the job they're offering me to be the face of
Papa John's. And I was like and I was like,
I gotta be honest with you, No, I don't think

(38:47):
and he was like what I was like, well, come on, man,
Like it wasn't a good you know, it wasn't like
he's like I, but like I like Papa John's. And
then and then he was the face of Papa so
it was like he took it. So it's like, I
don't think I don't think he just takes any thing,
even though I think that's easy to say because like,
you know, the bond in general and all those things
he does, But like I think he actually kind of

(39:07):
loves doing stuff, like he's not doing it for the money.
And one other story about him and not to hang
on him too much. Great guy he is. We did
a shoot at a retirement home where him and Ken
John were supposed to help these old people like have
a good day and take care of them and whatever
this is. Yeah, it was ridiculous, and Shack during taping

(39:32):
asked them where the game room was and they said
they didn't have a game room and He's like, oh,
that's so, you guys should have a game room, and
then they and then I guess he became friends with
one of the guys there. And I don't want to
spoil the story by telling you, but I guess he
found out what his favorite game is. And then when
the last day of taping he had to pool tables delivered,
Oh my gosh, that's so sweet. So it's like he's

(39:56):
rules on Shack life. He bought two kids who didn't
even know la Tops and who did they think he was?
Michael Jordian fans of the Apple Store, and Shack happened
to be in there, and Shack just like hey, throwing
two computers or whatever. And these people working there were
crying because they were like these boys coming here every
day just to like look around. He's better than Santa

(40:17):
Claus and he yes, you know, like he's great. Oh.
I saw him at the Grove and I was like
holding a cheesecake factory to go bag and I was
a little stoned and I just was like I love
you and he was like thank you. And it's like
every I was in Nordstrom and I'm like, did you
guys see Shack going up to everyone? And they're like, yeah,
like he is the Beatles all in one person kind

(40:40):
of he is. He is. And we asked him he
just bought a house in Cattle Basses and he did
drop the mic and Daniel and I were asking about
like furnishing. He's like, I'm going to Good Furniture after this,
which is hilarious, Like just the middle of the day,
you go shopping and we go where do you go? Like,
and he's like modern living or he's like he's a
man of the people, like the giant step the stuff
that's not rich. Yeah, Shack, that is still from Cribs. Yeah, Shack.

(41:05):
That's great. Okay, let's take one. Let's break and we'll
be right back, and we're back with our final picks. Jensen.
What we do here is we usually have you go
last as our our our big climax. Um. So, Megan,

(41:26):
you want to kick us off here? Yeah? Gosh, this
doesn't even feel right in my soul. But I mean,
who else has had mini series about that? You know
this isn't o J But I don't know. I'm like, okay,

(41:47):
So my honorable mention, I guess is Jim Brown. Um,
just like a very incredible like seven time rushing leader
or eight time leading rusher in his nine seasons, three
time m v P and then went on to be
in fifty films. One of them was he had the
first interracial sex scene that a major studio movie had

(42:08):
ever done, which I think this means like non porn
and it was with Raquel Welch. So that's very cool. Um.
And then my other honorable mention is obviously Bill Bradley,
who was like kind of the only other politician that
I could feel like was semi aligned. So now I'm
picking someone who ended up being a politician. But his

(42:28):
life and just everything is so insane. And it's Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So by the way, he's left, he's left leaning, yeah,
and like it's California, so it's like, and I don't
even take I don't even dislike his like politics. I
don't even really care about his politics that much. He
just doesn't. He doesn't like inspire anything in me. But

(42:50):
his life is so incredible. And to be this Mr
Universe and seven time Mr Olympia, that is a feat
in it of itself. Like if he had stayed is
he from Austria somewhere, If he had stayed in that
country and then just been that you are famous, you
go everywhere, and you're famous for the rest of your life.
But then to come to the United States and become

(43:12):
a giant movie star. I know what happened in between
that though, right he was being offered movies as bodybuilder
that he would turn down, and he used the money
from competitions to buy apartment complexes. Yes, oh yes, I
did know that, and like was wealthy off of that alone,
and then would accept you know, like these movies that
made at Yeah, he made great investments and then became

(43:34):
a movie star, which okay, now you've had two very
very impressive careers. And then on top of that, in
addition to kindergarten, cop and twins ran four and became
governor of California, which is basically like being president of
a country. I mean, it's the fifth largest economy in
the world, and he was in charge of it. He

(43:55):
married a Kennedy like everything he did, I mean, and
then he had a baby with their housekeeper, but he
didn't marry you. But you know what, you know what,
can I give you a little credit there? He also
just like took ownership of it. He did, and he
like he takes care of the kid. The kid loves him,
Like I know that. That's like obviously a terrible story
and pretty much ruined his family. But like, also he

(44:16):
did the right thing. Yes, he's not bad. I don't
think he's a bad guy. I think he's a very
interesting guy who's led a fascinating life, who has been successful,
has reached the top, the pinnacle of success in three
of the hardest industries you can and so he's obviously
very driven. His quarantine videos have been pretty funny. His

(44:39):
ancient island looks massive. Donald Trump. Donald Trump just like
a pretty funny, cool guy that I'm happy I got
to live at the same time he did. Yes, And
I do want to make a rule that I have
for myself, which is, if you have if you've ever
had any sort of ownership in a planet, Hollywood, I
pretty much understand have done terrible things with women, Like

(45:03):
I think you're gonna say, like you're awesome. No, no, no,
Like I kind of understand that time of Stallone and
Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis and guys who like if we
really broke down their lives and be like, oh, this
is terrible like that. Like I just don't, like, I
don't want to hear any of those stories because it'll
just ruin all my favorite actions. Yeah. But even as
I'm like skimming stuff right now, he took care of

(45:25):
a nephew who his brother like he he does do
the right thing. And I think overall was probably like
a fine governor of California. You can absolutely DM man
tell me if I'm wrong. But he had two massive
careers after his playing career. Yeah, alright, well, my pick

(45:47):
is I feel like he is on his way to
becoming a Schwarzenegger is. But I pick Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Yeah,
and his sort of thing is that. I mean, he
played I don't know if he played any actual regular
season NFL games, but he was, you know, a college player.
I think he played for Miami. He was on the
University of Miami championship team. He has a rare and

(46:08):
he came from everything, yeah, I think, and then he
was injured. It wasn't like he was bad, he was
he got injured. But and then to find wrestling or
his dad was a wrestler. Correct, He came from wrestling
and he also in it too. Yeah, and he is
maybe our one of our biggest movie stars um right now.

(46:30):
And I don't know if there's any sign of that
letting up, but he and everyone keeps talking about him
becoming the president at some point in the future, which
I hope it doesn't go that way, But would I
be mad. I'd be curious to see what it looks
like after Trumps. Yeah, it seems like he has good

(46:50):
intentions at the very least, and everything he does, whether
that's authentic or not, I think he does really kind things. Um,
he's like a motivational Yes, I think he's very thoughtful.
I think he gives props in a really genuine way.
I think his cheap males are hilarious. Like he just
seems like an actual good father, good guy and a

(47:12):
good actor, Like not good, I mean his movie. He's
a good action star. Yeah, he's a good action star.
And I'm not a wrestling fan, but he was one
of those wrestlers that the mainstream new can you spell
what the Rock is? Cookae? He was. He was one
of the most famous wrestlers when the thing that simpresses

(47:33):
me is that he still goes back and whether whether
or not that's to promote whatever he's doing, it's like
he seems to really remember his roots. Yeah, and he
knows that core that core fan base has been there
for him since date one. So I feel like he's
just good at seeing he's always just so smart. He
always does the right thing. He's he's been very clean.
It's a little will Smith at times, like he's very

(47:55):
very good, yes, being savvy. Yeah, yeah, so the Rock,
The Rock is very good pick and and you know what,
I think it's a testament to I think there's a
lot of wrestlers and and athletes, probably wrestlers more so
than athletes that are like, I'm gonna be a movie
star now, and we see that it doesn't always work.
It can't just be like, oh, you were famous and
a big, strong guy, we'll put you in films and

(48:17):
that will translate. It doesn't. So he he did have
to put in work and and did become his success
in that in his in his own way. For every
Dwayne Johnson, there is a Brian Bosworth. All right, Jensen,
My number one pick is another guy who on Google
could pretty much defeat everything I'm saying. So I don't
know if I just picked bone heads on purpose, but

(48:39):
this one to me, when you think about entrepreneurs that
have come out of sports, this is the number one guy.
I know. He's become a bit of a meme in
a way of being like a bumbling idiot over the years,
at least the last three or four years. But Irvin
Magic Johnson, Yeah, uh, you know, one of the greatest
basketball players of all time. He you know, kind of

(48:59):
read find the Championship. In my opinion, I think you know,
the idea of three pet and all you know, just showtime.
You know, I'm not even a Lakers guy. I'm a
Clippers guy, which is very depressing. But he redefined the
game and almost like honestly the only other Jordans s
kind of way like he was a superstar. And then obviously,

(49:20):
you know, with HIV and all these things that have
come up, you were like, what's going to happen with
this guy? And I think everyone back in the nineties
at least just assumed it was like a death sentence.
And he's been able to turn it around into like
this huge enterprise that owns radio stations, movie theaters, magazines,
real estate, cable TV, sports teams. He owns a used own.
I think it just just took his name off it,

(49:41):
but that t G I fridays near the airport. Um.
He in a movie theater, redefined kind of black cinema
for a long time, at least here in l a
UM And I know that like he's kind of you know,
he ran the Lakers into a weird place, and he
obviously wasn't able to sign the guys they needed last
year with Kauai and stuff, and and and his Twitter
is just like it's it's like almost like a guy
who's never played basketball, tweeting who doesn't even know the game.

(50:05):
But you know, this guy did so much and he's
worth a billion dollars, you know, supposedly. And his wife
is also a massively successful fashion designer. And her name
is Cookie. And her name is Cookie. And if you're
able to if you're able to succeed with the name Cookie,
that's unbelievable. And his his children are famous. He's been
a very supportive father to um in like you know,

(50:29):
in some cases that some people wouldn't be supportive. And
I think, like the HIV of it all, he really
changed how this country looked at that. Yeah. And also
you talk about his son, it's like the reaction that
he had was now is so normal, right, Like you're like, oh,

(50:50):
you know, with the Dwayne Wade stuff, like everyone is
sort of now accepting, But like I remember there being
a bit of like a backlash of being like magic sons.
His son is gay, Like it was like a thing,
like people were like kind of bugged out about it,
and he obviously never flinched. But like he again, he
has a bit of a Mr. Magoo vibe now. But
but in truth, I think he also defined the entrepreneurial

(51:13):
sports star. Yes, he was like, my career is going
to end and and prematurely it did, and and what
is going to be my second act? And how do
I make it greater? Which in a lot of ways
you see Kobe emulate, and which like Lebron is already
setting up. And he changed how you could go from
superstar to continue to be superstar. Yeah, and there is

(51:36):
like some weird alternate reality where his talk show is
still going on in my mind, and like all of us,
at one point was the head writer on that staff,
that would have been amazing. Yeah, Megan definitely did a
tight fie off. Megan did did stand up and then
she got hired as a writer, Like I have the
whole the whole timeline worked out in my brain. Sean
O'Connor did three months. I really love his family. I

(51:59):
really like Cookie and him were so they're just so
lovely and they're just so graceful too. And his son
is also so famous. His son is on a reality show,
so like it's very out there, and he just seems
so happy as a father and a husband. And I
think that's really beautiful too. I mean, that is successful

(52:20):
in its own right. That's my pick the Entrepreneurial King. Awesome. Well,
thank you so much Jensen for joining us and everyone.
Please if you're listening, listen to the No Sports Report
also on I Heart Radio. Jensen, is there anything else
that you wanted to plug? Uh? No, I mean every Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, my wife and I really just for
fun and to get our minds off this negativity and

(52:41):
try to bring other people into some fun stuff. We've
since the beginning of Quarantine, literally since like March fifteen,
we do a game show out of our house on
Instagram Live where we give away items we find uh
in different rooms of our house. We've given away a
croc pod, we've given away, We've given away a sixty
six dollar Red Bob and gift cards that we used
once was I saw that. I was like, I would

(53:05):
have paid three for that on v Bay. It was
a great card again, a Boy Me World card again
from casting Crew. This this Friday, we're giving away signed
fun goes by Ben Savage and her the Sanin and
Corey One. So we we've been having a lot of
fun with it and uh and it's really it's just
Instagram Live every Monday, Wednesday Friday at seven pm, uh
seven pm Pacific, we do this other thing called head

(53:25):
Shot Roulette where you pick A or B and A
is my terribly sad failed childhood head shot and then
be as Daniells. And we had five people in a
row pick mine. It was so sad. I felt so
bad every time. Yeah, all right, and continue to rate
and review the podcast. Thank you so much for listening.

(53:47):
Thanks Jensen. I'm so happy that your son is safe,
and I hope you and Danielle s safe and healthy too.
You guys as well. Thank you guys so much for
having me. We'll see you next week. Thanks, thanks guys.
All right, that was so great. Mm hmmm. The Greatest
is a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts
from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app,

(54:09):
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.