Being a Playmaker

Join Mench, Craig Ludwig, and John Rhadigan live from Dirk Nowitzki's new restaurant at DFW airport, part of the Playmakers Group. Special guests Nancy Lieberman and Eddie Najera add star power to the conversation as they delve into a wide range of topics.

From Dirk's achievements to the growth of women's sports and the potential NBA expansion into Mexico, the discussion is rich with insights. The physical toll of being an athlete, the importance of coaching and ownership, and personal stories from the guests highlight the competitive spirit and resilience in sports.

Tune in for a dose of motivation, reflections on breaking barriers, and the impactful role of charity work. It's a dynamic mix of basketball, hospitality, and heartfelt conversations!

#beaplaymaker

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
Hey, welcome in. This isour podcast. It's it's the big Head
Pod and it SuDS with luds.Uh and yet really that's not appropriate,
so because you know, how doyou marry those? So here it is.
This is Playmaker. The guy witha big head is drinking. So
yeah, really, so your nuggetdoesn't look so here, here's what it

(00:31):
is. This is Playmakers not yetfamous. Round table. Yes, because
when we do these are gonna getfame. You're gonna say we're actually on
our no, but we'll be.This is a rectangular table in Terminal C
at DFW Airport. Yes, it'sokay, so we call it a square
table, call it a round table. It almost looks like a one of

(00:53):
the sand shuffle board tables that's there. We oh, we should play shuffle
board of a beer pong table.It's beer pong. We can set up
some cups and we could. Ohlook and here comes next, Jason,
bring it on in. Wow.This is we are at Dirk Nowitzki's restaurant
at DFW. Are looked at this. We have flat bread pizzas, We

(01:15):
have these beautiful pretzel bites and whatelse roller town, big German. This
is Dirk's beer and it is fantasticand you brewed by himself to him out
there stirring. You need to cometo this restaurant. It's at Gate C

(01:36):
thirty seven at DFW Airport and thisplace is fantastic and we are here to
talk about generations. Really, frankly, we're gonna pull the audience about generations
here. That's an upcoming podcast willbe we will be the yes, I
mean that next stuff and all thatyou need to see. The best one
we're gonna talk about is the selfproclaimed alpha one you like the elphice.

(02:00):
Yeah, the twelve year olds arecalling themselves alphas. Yes, we've been
relegated to the beta role as babies, right, we're baby boomers, boomers,
yeah, boomers yea. No,apparently I'm a gen Spencer one?
Am I a gen z? Genz or always a millennial? Millennial?
Are you kidding me? You're amillennia seventy eight before? Which is what

(02:23):
jen why? I think? Ohhere, you're a Hyeah, you're a
y chromosome. So take that.Uh. We'll have other guests stop buying
the course of the program with Kevinmentioned John Radigan and we're just here hanging
out. We're just grabbing people asthey walk by, trying to We're hoping
somebody famous coming. I see anybodyfamous. I mean there's a big picture

(02:45):
of Dirk right there. I wishthat could talk. But if we see
anybody famous, we'll grab them,We'll throw them on the podcast. But
it's the playmakers not yet famous roundtable, and that's what we're doing. We're
gonna just talk maybe some sports.I don't know, we might what are
sports? I mean this is we'rein an airport. I mean we want
to see people. This is beautiful. Brandon, look at all this the
renovations. It's actually brightened here.It doesn't look like you ownsilmon and stuff

(03:09):
everything. He loves the airport.I do, Hey, I like the
people Watch. You don't like peopleluds? Just say it correct? Okay,
So Rad's and not when I'm inI do like. I love the
people Watch. And I'm in thisairport quite a bit. But are you
eighteen team? We fly in andout of here all the time, so
I like to get in. Ilike to sit in a corner and watch.
My favorite airport honestly, is peoplewant or who people watch? Is

(03:31):
o' hair? Oh my gosh.If you get everything that the gen Zers
and boomers and Alphas all come fly. Hair is the biggest, right,
But I think DFW is the mostbusiest airport. Correct you say the most
busiest? I think he did.I don't think it's hair is the big
most and I said busy. Okay, so he didn't. It's a combo

(03:52):
grammatically, yeah, not his Sorry. We're enjoying ourselves today, right,
just having fun with exactly. Andthen she didn't like by the way,
it's yeah, we're recording this eightfifteen am. Yeah, yeah, he's
are breakfast tacos. We love it. Men. She doesn't like beer,
so he drinks whiskey. So thiscould get you don't have any idea where
this could go? Yes, ifyou're flying out today, if you're terminal

(04:14):
a take take the tram and areyou flying out today? Flying right back
to my house and we're done?Yeah, I hope we're not flying.
Yeah, yeah, we're driving.So where do we start? It's Dirk's
place. That's pretty cool. Imean again, that big picture of him
seventh footer. I want to tellyou something about Yeah, I do,
mister dir I do I want tohear that. I am not a big

(04:34):
I don't know a lot about that. I know you all, but you
know I watch games here and there. He has he not won or achieved
every award that a basketball player cancome up with? Is there anything he
hasn't achieved as a basketball player?From a trophy to banner to the statue,

(04:56):
MVP, MVPs all Start, everyAll Star MVP. Is is there
anything left? Yeah? I don't. I don't think there's anything that you
do the har living Yeah, hallof Fame, right, well he's there.
Yeah, Hall of Fame. Soyeah, that's the ultimate and first
ballot, by the way. Okay, so here here's a question. I
asked mole And if Dirk just happenedto walk by, yeah, we'll grab
him. Yeah, I would askhim. And here's a question. And

(05:18):
if I'm not here, you guysask him. I may have to get
escorted up. And I asked thesame question of Chris Chelios and ma Madonnald
when it comes to having your jerseysretired, the Hall of Fame, the
NBA Championship, all those things,is there one more important than another?
Yeah? Well, I you know, I got a different answer from both

(05:40):
of those and from Chelios. Itwas like he wanted to see his jersey
hanging in Chicago State really, whichhe just accomplished not to go. But
that was more for him, andthat was about his family. My kids
will be able to walk in someday. Wait a second, oh,
Todd, just some Hall of famersmight walk by. Where are you going?
A great Nancy lever men Hall ofFamer walks into this rat You never

(06:03):
know who might show up at Dirk'srestaurant. Long hug, we got food,
Sit down and hugging me because wegot a spot for you. We
got snacks. How are you awesometo see you again? No, noney,

(06:24):
you are talking. We're talking,sow and you're slide down. I'm
sorry, Yeah, let me moveif we This is how it happened to
a chance to try the flat breadperfect. Yea, I gotta have.
But right now I get somebody righthere. We're bringing Nancy in. Yes,
who won this seating chart? Nokidding, goodness, Wow, he

(06:49):
made sure talking about the first thingthat comes up. He said it.
We knew he would enjoyed it.We knew we have Dirk Spear, we
got all came out. These arewhat kind of flat bread pizzas. I
will try a jerk spirit and I'mnot a drinker good because I'm fixing it.

(07:12):
What's over there? Step food,flat bread, flap pizza, flatbread
pizza. Jason, what is it? We have a pepperoni? What's the
other one? Jamaican jerk? Nancyon that one? Wait? You call
me a jerk? What the hell? So? Can I tell you what
happened? Tells? We'd love tohear it. I was on the phone
walking in here. I'm so embarrassed, am I Mic? I was walking
in with Del Harris. I wastalking to him and we're just chit chatting,

(07:35):
and I'm like getting ready to walkin and I unziped my purse to
get my I carry a gun,and I went, Dell, you just
said you're just sat. I getto go to my car. He goes,
which one? Long? I gobefore I get arristed? Would you
bounce for me? He goes,what's going on? I go, I

(07:59):
have a cut of my purse.I go. I got to go to
the car. It was he didn'tget through security. I mean you didn't,
you didn't get too security. Butjust now yeah, And I went
back and where my car was parkedand put the gun in there and walked
back and like, okay, thisis good. So t s A.
Didn't wonder why you turned and tucktailand ran, Really I did. I

(08:20):
was just waiting for her name.She's so sweet. Yeah, yeah,
that's U. Tests test test scoredtoo. Yeah. So we never said
athletes are smart. No, no, they've never especially ones that are in
the Hall of Fame. I meanapparently when you get in you get two
guns. Okay. It reminds meof the of the Barry Switzer thing where

(08:43):
he didn't remember and the bag camethrough security. He was coming to training
camp. He came through some bagcomes through security, and he gets pulled
over and there and we're all inAustino, where the hell Switzer is not
a practice what's going on? Andthe famous SoundBite from Switzer is I forgot
to take my pistol out of mybackpack. Oh my god. So Switzer

(09:07):
they got they caught him at leasthitting catch you, Nancy. Right after
huh Switzer got off, I wentback to the Yeah you were in the
meet, you were in you werein there. What's a Maverick game?
I told my guy take it outof my bag. I'm flying tomorrow,
gives it to the guy who's driving. The guy fits it back in the
bag. I got through securities toget handcuffed. Nancy was a felony.

(09:30):
This is why, this is whyhe was on the no fly list,
trying to get through here. Heyx Fudge twenty two thousand dollars, excuse
me, sir, you do nothave a flight that takes off anytime?
You got a flight to catch?Yeah, yeah, we want to talk
to next week Foster. He's abig head, that's what you know.
Kicks Brooks. We would play itat Toby Key's golf tournament and we had

(09:54):
not met, and he was lategetting in the car and they go,
yeah, it's it's a tree guy. And I looked and he told me
Kicks Brooks and I'm like, whathis name is? Kicks Okay. He
gets in the car and go,country guy, you're late. He was
supposed to play golf. He goes, did you just call me country guy?

(10:16):
I said, yeah, I meanyour Brooks are done and you're done
with me because you're late. Webecame great friends. That's great, yea.
And we played nine eighteen holes together. They came out to NBA Summer
League to see me play when theywere doing Reba's show, Get this Freak,
I get you some chocolate. We'resitting We're sitting here with a name

(10:39):
dropper. I have I have aquestion. Yes, so who is the
most famous athlete person in general inyour opinion that I know this, I
know where this is going, butyou know where it is. Muhammad Ali?
Really Muhammad Ali like buddies with underhis wing. I was twenty.

(11:01):
I was in college my senior year. Yeah, yeah, when you get
divorced, because you're next on mylist. But so we met in New
York. A lot's happening. Yeah, I'm you never let me go.
He took my question and threw itunder the box. Yeah, thirty seven
years of Muhammad Ali. And inthe last ten or twelve I would call

(11:26):
and his wife and Lannie would say, baby, he's been waiting for you
all day. And I'd come inthe house in Phoenix and I'm like,
hey, Mohammed, and how areyou are you doing okay? And I
go, you know, I've comeout of retirement more than you. And
he's like, I can say it, you know, because he really didn't
talk, but he'd be, he'dbe ready. Are you Are you angry

(11:50):
that I came out of retirement morethan you, more success, more fans,
more, and Lonnie's like really likedancing was rubbing it into Hamad.
I'll leave. Yeah, I wouldjust scoreboard. I would put his bib
on and I would feed him likefreezer pops and I'd wipe his mouth.
That's the same thing mentioned before yougot I thought me because he made a

(12:13):
rampa for God's sake. Yeah,read personal Grandpa over here. Every event
towards the end of his life,Lonnie would call me and go honey,
and I go yes. She'd say, Mohammed has to go to New York
to do this event? Would yousee it? And I went yes?

(12:35):
She goes, I didn't tell youthe date I go doesn't matter. It
doesn't matter. And I would flyto wherever they wanted me to. And
is there anything one specific thing youwould take out of spending all that time
with him? Yeah? There's twopeople in life. There's givers and there's

(12:56):
takers. And he taught me twentyto respect everybody and to fear nobody.
I'm not afraid to come on yourpodcast. I'm not afraid to coach men.
I'm not afraid to play against men. I'm not afraid to be great.
I'm not afraid to be Tej's mommy. He taught me I respect everybody.

(13:20):
But he just gave me that resilience. And he was like, like
I didn't have a father, andyou know, he was like my dad,
my friend, my hero, andhe never let me go. I
had him for thirty seven years.And the best part is at his funeral,

(13:41):
Billy Crystal spoke, you know,and all the President Clinton. So
I slide into my seat in louisYeah. Well the thing is, Billy
Crystal lived in her neighborhood, forGod's sake. Well he's in New York,
mansy. Why are you and Ieven here? No, because I'm
older than I remember. Remember thepretty girls always hang with the ugly girls

(14:03):
to make make them even prettier.So that's why we're here. Yeah,
that's good. Look, I'm fiftyfive molder than all of you, and
I've tried to take it off mylicense after I put the gun back.
But love story. I go tothe Young Young Center in Louisville. I
fly in, I do the wholeyou know, the what is it a

(14:24):
procession by his old house and everythingin Louisville. And then I slide into
my row and the guy goes,hi, i am King Abdullah from and
I go Hi, I go,I'm a king too. And he goes
and he goes, how can yoube a pig? And no, Billy

(14:46):
Crystal was there, and he's like, I can't believe you're doing this.
I'm a Sacramento king. I'm theirassistant Poe. And he just looks at
me and he goes, what heAnd I look at Billy and he goes,
don't go there. Yeah, okay, were you wi the kings when
Muhammad? Yeah? What are youreally? Yeah? Then I go,
I'm a king. You cannot bea king? No, I'm a king,
trust me, I'm a king.Yeah. You got to throw something

(15:11):
in her winningness, which which bringsme to a good top. You're talking
about right now, Nancy, asfar as you still talk about playing with
men, we're not afraid of anything. Right. What's the big story now?
Like women's college basketball right now?Yes, of course that's the big
story, right exactly. Yeah.You offering her five million dollars to play
is the big story in the threev three league three. You three offered

(15:31):
her five million dollars based salary toplay eight games. And you know she
from she coached Blood, doesn't getout much. No, no, no,
I know that she's a she coachesone of the big three teams.
I coach Power. It was alittle tricky because Caitlin and I are good
friends. She's she's gonna win mypoint Guard of the Year award at the

(15:52):
Final Four for the third time.But since her freshman year, Coach Blueder
has been so super nice hm toallow me to zoom with the team to
be a friend of the Iowa program. So she and I have become good
friends. A matter of fact,I was there Monday, her last game
in Iowa, and after the gameand they let me come in the locker

(16:12):
room. I still fangirl. Ifeel fangirl around you guys because I just
love sports and what great people havedone. And uh, we're in the
locker room and she gave me hergame worn jersey and she autographed it and
it smelled And the other day Iwatched the game two nights ago and I

(16:38):
wore it and I'm like, inmy house, I wore the Caitlin Clark
autographed jersey, and I'm like,yeah, but I wore no no,
I had people over there, butI also but I had aerosol, like
you know, for breeze there inher sports bra right. And people are

(17:02):
like, well, mam, yeahshe uh. Who offered him the five
million dollars? The Big Three?Ice Cube? The Big Three, the
Big Three, the league. Blooddoesn't get out much. You need to
explain it to him, Nancy.What is the Big Three? Explain to
go ahead, Nancy. The BigThree is it's three on three ice cube.

(17:23):
Beat everybody to it seven years ago. He beat the Olympics, he'd
beat the NBA, he beat college, he beat everybody to it. So
this is his story. He wasn'tthere the night the last game where Kobe
scored sixty. He was doing aconcert somewhere. He goes back to his
house and he's moping around for monthsand Miss Kim, his wife, goes,

(17:47):
oh Shay, that's his round name. Oh Shay, stop, you
can't do this, Go do somethingabout it. So he calls his he's
a great Laker and Oakland Raiders fan, and so are now Vegas Raiders.
And they start talking about let's starta three on three leagues, so when
guys a retire, they have astepping stone. So the coaches in the

(18:11):
Big three Doctor j George Gervin,Clyde Drexler, Rick Mahorne, Rick Barry,
Michael Cooper, Gary Payton, LisaLeslie, Nancy Lieberman are Hall of
Fame coaches. It's amazing. Andwe play in NBA arenas. It's ten
weeks. If you go through theplayoffs from June to September one, we're

(18:37):
getting fourteen fifteen thousand people all night. Our ratings are higher. We outrate
in the summer golf, the WNBA, NBA, Summer League, soccer,
in Major League Baseball. Because you'reon CBS, right, CBS, Yes,
Yeah, Because it's the pace ofthe game. There's a lot of
energy. It seems more in too. The way it's the way the court's

(19:00):
set up. It's you know theNBA, you're there, you're if you're
on one in the court, you'reyou know, one hundred feet away.
This it's a half court, right, so that everybody's right there. So
you have that which brings I wouldthink bring more people in because of I
got a chance to actually write whatwhat's everybody gonna do with their phone,
taking selfies and everything else. Somebodyruns by, you get more changing.
I think that's probably helps the contributeTolebs are there like Jason kidd Lebron James

(19:26):
H. L Cool, Ja SnoopDog, all these, you know,
Kanye West. A lot of celebritiescome and hang out. Well, you're
one of them too. You're gonnabe a celebri ball. It's like the
league. I mean it's a lotright, Well, the players are,
not the friends are, but theplayers all that community is kind of supporting

(19:48):
us. But if you go intothe AAC where we've played for five six
years, and there's fifteen thousand peoplethere, white people, black people,
brown people, Asian people, Muslimpeople, shoes, Christians has been there.
You came on my birthday, onher birthday, and and my daughter
and who knows, my kids werebig ice Cube fans, and so I

(20:11):
go there. My kids are like, oh my god, that's ice Cube,
and I go, well, wecan probably get them over. My
kids are getting pictures with ice Cube. You know, it's just amazing.
Eddie, you never know, justgot better looking. You want to sit
up there, No kidding, Eddie, look at you. You guys,

(20:33):
we're doing well. I think he'sgotten short. We got we got a
mic for you, Eddie, doyou want to be in the Big three?
Will give you the five million thatwe gave to each here. That's
I got the big german, Eddie, not her. Well this is a

(20:57):
good crew. Yeah. When youthink about man, the roller Towns will
keep it. How many how manyplayers are on the huast team? Five
five players, so it's not thinkabout nine Grandpa's old timers Yankee Stadium.
These guys are in sixty they're thirtynine, forty forty two. But think
about ten players to draw fifteen thousandpeople. We've been to the Big three,

(21:19):
right, So I think that theNBA has a problem that they're going
to have to buy that league out. Otherwise they started losing some some fans,
which is fine. I mean there'splenty to go around, sure,
but because of the x NBA playerscoming in and now there's like Yonga,
guys, instead of going overseas toplay there, they staying here. And

(21:41):
I don't blame them. I meanyou stay, you stay close to home,
and yeah, but then but lookat what now the NBA is trying
to compete with isn't isn't the Saudi'saren't they trying to create a league as
well? Now? So there's likeso much speculation, and I think that's
the next money for the NBA.Really, if I'm missed, I don't
know if I'm wrong. I guardthat James bon got offered something like nine
hundred million dollars to I mean,I didn't hear that I go play in

(22:04):
Saudi Arabia and he would have takenit. I don't know if I wrote
Harry, but I mean they've gotbaseball, right, They've got a soccer
league, they've got they got thegolf. Golfing is the one. Wouldn't
basketball be be the next thing?I mean it seems like I think they're
going to become owners eventually, yeah, because there's no way. The franchise
is the values they're at the top, so there's no way. And they're

(22:27):
ready incorporate the new CVA or thenew TV deal into the pricing. That's
one like sold for. Really,what do you think ownership is going to
allow that? Right? Does anownership have to vote on new buyers?
Do you know who they own?To say? Yeah? Do you think
they're like money? Yeah? Yes, that's true. Quickly, Eddie Nahara,
who's just joined us. We've gotEddie Nancy Lever and a Hall of

(22:48):
Famer, one of the greatest women'sbasketball players ever cried two scrubs. Kevin
Eddy is the first ever Mexican bornperson to play in the NBA, to
be drafted, to be drafted oneone one Mexican player that made it Passio
Yamus Okay, great friend of mine, but he you know, he soake

(23:11):
around for a couple of years.He didn't play much. But I was
the first one drafted in there andhad a great career with the Mavericks and
other team. But somebody to lookup to, right growing up? He
did look up to as far asbeing a Mexican born player too as fire.
Did you did you emulate him ordid you not even know of it?
I actually you talked about the otherMexican playing. Yes, I learned

(23:32):
what not to do if I wantto be that's me blood. Did drink
a beer, the big german beer? I can drink it. That guy
was drinking like twenty beers when hewas playing in Active and I was like,
dude, like, what are youdoing. Yeah, I played with
we've all played with guys that drankbloods. You're the you brought that guy
drinking twenty beer queen period. Yes, it's a lubricant. Yes, there's

(23:55):
nothing wrong with let's give the joints. Yes. Yeah, So what are
you doing in these days? Alittle bit of everything. I decided to
walk away from a great job withthe Mavericks. I was very grateful with
Mark and the whole staff because Iwas there for five years as a talent
evaluad and you know, honestly,like I was a little afraid to walk
away from, you know, butultimately I kind of build this courage and

(24:21):
you know, have kids, andI decided to take a one year off
and not do anything and try tofigure it out. And finally, because
of the NBA was great to me, so I ended up making and saving
money. So then I started doingmy own investments in the US and in
Mexico, and two of them aredoing really well, and one is actually
a basketball team in the Pro Leaguein Mexico. Have a great partner,

(24:48):
and I spent a lot of timedown there. I actually had Dwight Howard.
He's interested in playing out in Mexico. He can name more money overseas.
But I'm telling you played thirty eightand I wanted, why can I
coach to Mexico? You can comeand coach, Nancy. I realized how
many jobs you have asked me toco coach. You're a celebrity golf host.

(25:08):
I mean, do you have timefor all this, Nancy? I
do. I do. Let metell you about Eddie. Eddie is one
of the most amazing human beings.How many years ago, seven years ago,
he asked Del Harris and myself tocome to Chihuahua where he grew up.
He's legendary there the respect that hehas. We went to Chihuahua because

(25:30):
who he is. It was.We were there two or three days.
We were treated like royalty, andwe did clinics, we had translators.
I'm grateful, that is what Iwas going to say, So thank you.
No, it's been an incredible journey. And going back to your original

(25:51):
question of what I'm doing, Ido that still in my hometown because to
me, I think that it's arole model, especially for Mexican kids in
my country and so in the US. But then we have we have we
have to be there and we haveto make sure that we share the knowledge.
I mean, I was fortunate enoughto play for great coaches, great

(26:12):
minds, so I got I gotto know basketball at the highest level.
Then I got to be around iconslike like Nancy and then she also,
like was my mentor when I wascoaching. So all these little things that
I came and built up. Imean, I'm trying to kind of share
that throughout our country because basketball isthe number two sport in our country.

(26:37):
Soccro always still a number one,and it's up and coming. And that's
the reason I got into the businessof basketball with the Basketball League down in
Mexico, and that's taking a lotof my time. But I'm having such
an incredible time to the point thatI didn't want to give me involvement in
politics. And that's where I putthe brakes. I was like, no,
no, no, no politics forme. Yeah, that's where it
starts y and then usually where itends in policy, I think I think

(26:59):
about it. Yeah, yeah,So to that end, you know,
as a Texan, I worry aboutMexico, right, is it? Because
you know I think Texans kind ofview sort of everybody that's coming across the
border and stuff as if they areMexican, which you know, if you
look at it at all, weknow they're not. Is Mexico am I
okay to worry about it? Oris it? Is it getting better?

(27:22):
Are there is there improvement there?Do I need to worry about that that
place as a country heavy well?The beauty of Mexico is our neighbors,
the US, So I believe thatthe US has a correct influence in our
country. No matter what party isrunning the country or what they do,
we do down there. We stilldepend on the US economy, so we

(27:45):
still have sort of the same structureas the US. There is corruption,
of course, as any where inthe in the world. But at the
end of the day, I thinkthat it's gotten so much better as the
new generations up and coming politicians.They're younger, smarter, They got educated

(28:07):
in the US in grade DI,ivy league schools and all that, so
they're going back and giving back tothe country and I think that eventually will
be a better country. For sure. You talk about basketball being the growth.
It's always been a soccer country,right, Mexico has with so when
you were growing up as a kid, was it always soccer and then basketball
just happened, you know with youknow, so the growth over the last

(28:30):
thirty years has it been more basketballthan it has been soccer because you think
about globally, hockey is really nevergoing to grow other than here in Canada.
It's not going to grow over yourbasketball for sure. Baseball soccer Europe,
yeah, but not the way thatbasketball. There's low costs, right,
low cost So he's here and wehave more basketball courts in Mexico than

(28:51):
than soccer than any other sport.And now because of full salt end of
soccer, they used being utilized forthat particular. But at the same time,
we do have great infrastructure when itcomes to like gems, like Mexico
City has two NBA top of arenas, Monterey has one. We have an

(29:11):
arena that holds about fifteen thousand people. We also I own a piece of
that team as well in my hometownand we actually drove about twelve thousand per
game. So it's up and comingand I think that there's a great opportunity
for business there as long as youknow, you get the right partners.

(29:32):
And I do have a couple ofguys in there that are incredible. They
don't depend on the government. Theydon't have any contracts with the government.
They actually strictly business and they doit throughout the world, so world wide
brands, Mexican guys that they supportedmy career and also supporting my new endeavors

(29:52):
with basketball in Mexico. And we'redoing it for biggest leak of the community.
That's really what we're doing it for. Like we're investing money so can
start utilizing basketball was a tool tomake sure that we implement those values and
fundamentals that that we need, youknow, daily life. Yeah, I
mean thinking about what you know inthe NFL takes a game to Mexico City,

(30:12):
right, which is big right now? I think the well the help
the NFL is going to Brazil thisyear. The Eagles opened in Brazil of
all places, and seeing that,I mean the growth, it's got to
be over two hundred percent from whenyou were a kid, right, it
was really soccer and then maybe basketballwas just something to do. I mean
the last I won't believe the lastten years basketball exploded, Okay, but

(30:36):
I think it's the NBA. Theymay have done an incredible job going global
and going back to my point withthe NBA, the French value at the
top. So now they have toget creative. So how do you continue
growing? Right? And Saudi area radio that's you were describing it.
Those probably the new people coming inpaying like top dollars. But to me,

(30:57):
it's like you're topping to you haveCanada. So now you taped me
to Mexico with one hundred and thirtymillion people live in there, So let's
say you capture fifty million. Nowyou're Amazon is still not going in Mexico's
trying to penetrate the market, whichyou know Amazon and Apple, all these
big corporations, they also tapped outin the US and they have all their

(31:18):
clients. Yeah, we have whattwo hundred and thirty million here in the
US. They probably covered like twohundred million. So now they have to
expand, and so does the NBAand nothing that. That's where I've been
and I've been talking to the websiteis. I had a conversation with the
commissioner not so long ago, likehow come we don't have a franchise in
Mexico. I think it's just amatter of time. It has to happen.

(31:40):
Exactly along the lines of Menti's firstquestion Soccer than basketball, Like,
we're in Dirk's restaurant, your formerteammate. We're in Dirk's restaurant. Dirk
was a tennis player, right,and all of a sudden, he's seven
feet tall, and he's like,maybe I should try this basketball thing.
Have you seen him on a BaFLfield? Funny, we've been playing heroes

(32:01):
forever. I wonder, yeah,he said, he said it. That's
just former teammate hen talking. Igut, you've seen him, like,
kick a ball. I'm like,dude, like, what are you doing?
Really right? No? Play whatI was saying, he can play
tennis. He can play, yeah, really good. I think he'd be
very pickaball and I have to movevery far. He's got to move at

(32:24):
all. Yeah. So, butEddie, did you start as a soccer
player and then all of a suddenyou got really tall? So I started
as a soccer player. Everybody startedas a soccer player in Mexico. And
then my father was a pro baseballplayer. So then I got to try
to follow the food stamps. Uh. Then at fourteen, I went from
being six feet to six eights.Uh, this is the beauty of Mexican,

(32:46):
Right, So I went and tryout in high school, my first
mamani. In high school, Iwent to try out for the baseball team.
The coach looked at me from myfeet all the way up, this
little show guy, Mexican guy,and then he had the nerve to say,
like, I don't need you inbaseball, why don't you go try
out for basketball? So he gaveme the best advice. He killed my
dream. Of course, yeah,baseball, because you don't say that baseball

(33:07):
feel. It's not it's okay,better and dirt. Oh no, no,
I've done back then. I meanI remember I was throwing eighty four
miles per hour like when I wasthirteen thirteen. Yeah, they Randy Johnson
time. Well he has letting itgo and the catcher's mitt. And I
wish Mexico was like the US.I mean the US. You have private

(33:28):
wealth investing in our communities, right, and it's a good business. Like
you have so many uh so manygyms, multi sports gyms where you can
go train and and it's a goodbusiness. Mexico doesn't have no structure,
so you have to defend in theUS. Once you get to a level
like myself at seventeen, Okay,now I can play basketball at a high

(33:50):
level. I dominated Mexico, soI have to go to the best market,
which it was the US. AndI was lucky enough to make that
decision. Uh. But going backto question, like soccer baseball, and
that guy killed my dream in baseball. So I went to bash school when
I started, and I always workedmy ass off to get to where I
am And it wasn't given to me. And I'm paying for it right now

(34:10):
and I'm sure Nancy can agree withit. To hear replacement two years ago,
I need to have these replaces inmy bag. Wow, Because I
was not as talented as a biggerman, so I had to like scoci
fast my body for the most part. But I love it. You were
diving, you were setting screens.You were the guy who was energizing the
team and everybody you know in baseball, football, you know hockey, somebody

(34:36):
has to do the dirty work.Yeah, so luds did dettonhot right,
rocking shots. Think about it asentertaining, But as athletes at twenty years
old, think about did you worryabout how your body's gonna fell me?
You're forty five plastic or Roberts,Except I was stitched and do all these
things, which is why yeah,which is why I have. We can't
wake up in the morning without somethinghurting. I mean, I'm the youngest

(34:57):
of this group, but I stillfeel eighty five. My he does because
of like you said, we don'tthink about this generation you talk. What'd
you call him earlier? Les Alpha? The new generation? Yeah, alphas?
It works, not there anymore.They watch and they're better automatically.
They automatically get better as opposed tohow we were raised the doing part.
What do you guys think about thesenew athletes like gamers that don't even put

(35:20):
that athlete in there? No,I should have done that. Yeah,
when your body'd be better. Obviouslyyou don't have to deal with have your
original hip, wouldn't you? Youdon't have to deal with carpal tunnel?
Right that guy you know listening toEddie talk, how many times did you
hear the word investment? Because you'vedone a lot of that, right,
is he the next mister oneerful?Wonderful made from the Shark Tank Mexican version

(35:40):
of the Shark Tank, not evenclose lance. You could join the panel.
I'm in, I'm in. Seethere you go, I'm in.
But you know, but it's justgrowing and growing and growing. Well,
that's like volleyball too. Right nowwe're having volleyball in twenty twenty five Professional
Women's Volleyball Federation, which just startedDallas is going to have a team next

(36:00):
year. My first year in thew when I was coaching in GM and
Detroit, the I would say thefranchises were maybe worth five million dollars.
They're being evaluated now at ninety millionwith wnba wnba wnba ninety million because of
what's happened since COVID. It's amazingthe opportunities that remind me of your path

(36:28):
you and Eddie's coaching paths crossing.He was first of all, Eddie does
not discriminate against anybody. We're minorities. And when he got the coaching job
with the Legends and I was theretheir first coach and assistant GM, we
knew each other, but he reachedout and we would watch film and we
would talk. And did he followyou as coach? Was he the next

(36:52):
coach? After year? Is itDell first? For a little bit,
it was Dell's second, wasn't ityou were first? Then me did a
good job. They actually held theirname Legends, not so me so much
me as don't have Nancy Liverman thebest there. It was actually pretty cool

(37:13):
and I really that's when I learneda bit of the business. So I
got involved with the Allegends as asas the ownership group, and I started
seeing like some potential there. Infact, when I have this conversation with
Adam, I mean I might begoing to New York next week to meet
with them because I wanted that GLeague team, and they use somebody else,

(37:37):
local guy that I know, andthen he was calling me to try
to sell me the team, andI was like, wait a second,
yeah, And so now now they'rethey're kind of flirting with me again.
But because I know and I learnedfrom the Text of Ladies about coaching,
about running the team, and alsoabout ownership, now feel comfortable going into

(38:00):
business, and I feel comfortable bringingsome of my friends as investors to put
some money into it, because atthe end of the day, I think
that the G League is continuing togrow, just like Nancy said, the
w NBA, now it's a ninetymillion that's that's incredible, incredible, And
by the way, we do haveowned two female and that's that's a requirement

(38:22):
for US men's you have to havea female team that I haven't even got
to it. We have to operatetwenty twenty five, so I do have
time men's basketball. We have tooperate like in the next three or four
months. But eventually I'm gonna haveto come back to you because I need
players, any coaches, I needa whole structure. If you want to
take it, Nancy, your coach, we can. He'll be the commissioner.

(38:45):
You talk about the growth, youtalk about the professional women's professional volleyball,
Correct, Nancy, that's coming.But I've had discussion with athletic directors
in the North Texas area about mosta lot of girls when they get to
high school, they go away frombasketball and they go to volleyball the only
reason they go away. I justhad this conversation. Some women don't like
the physicality soccer. They want toplay sect. No, it's not the

(39:07):
running, it's it's you know,in hockey you get hit on every play.
You're going to get hit that hewas talking, Yeah, but that's
the alphas. You know, evenin basketball, you know it's going to
be physical, but it's not goingto be every single play, but women
I haven't. I've had my basketballcamps here for forty four years. We've

(39:27):
had three hundred thousand kids come throughcamp. They don't want to get hit,
and so when they don't want toget hit, they go to volleyball
to hit, but not the physicalityon them. That's just I mean,
just think about how we were raised. That just goes because we're just talking
about the generational thing of how wewere raised to fight through stuff. It's
almost as if they don't want tofight through it. They want to take

(39:50):
the easy path to I don't knowhow big volleyball is in Mexico, if
it's even if it's even thought of. As far as you know, soccer,
I know baseball's big. Benji Gillis a good buddy of mine,
right coaching team mexicoach. You knowthe semi final. Yeah, so you
know, Benji. But baseball andthen and then basketball. But is there
anything else that you know? Likewe said, the numbers just seem to
any especially at the high school level. So so at the college level,

(40:12):
seems like the numbers would be downto no. Numbers are all up because
there's more girls playing sports now.You can you know, kind of divide
and conquer. But you know withNils with the money they're getting. With
the money, like in the NBAis getting better. The college coaches female
making a million as Don Staley KimMogi just finished signing thirty five million dollar

(40:35):
contracts. I'm the highest paid coachin the in the Big Three. And
you know, I mean, it'snice when somebody who is ownership believes in
you. I've been a GM withthe with the Legends, with the Detroit
Shock in the W So not onlycan you coach, but you can be
a GM like Eddie. Eddie broughtsome sponsors from Mexico, some ownership money.

(41:01):
I think maybe from China, right, you brought your buddies or that
was Johnny was China. But youwere on the logo on the floor.
So you know, we're not justone trick ponies. I'm more like we're
entrepreneurial. Uh athletes. Yeah,you know we're athletes, and but we

(41:21):
were doing it in our career.We didn't know probably that we were connecting
a lot of dots. But youknow, so nance let's because you were
talking about women and taking that punishment, right, and we talked you and
I talked last night about Caitlin takingthe five million, which we don't know
if she's going to do. Idon't even know if she's had the offer
presented to her yet. Person shehas not. Okay, I didn't think

(41:44):
she had anyway. But you toldme you're one of the maybe the only
person in the world who knows whatit's like. I mean, look at
the size difference between you and Eddieand if you were in when you were
playing, you played again men anda guy Eddie's size set a screen on
you. Yeah, what is thatlike? Look in nineteen eighty I had

(42:06):
no pro league. I didn't havea pro league in my prime in eighty.
I think Eddie knows this. ButDoctor Bus and Jerry West called me.
I was playing in a men's leaguein New York and they did Jane
Poly did a thing on me.Doctor Buss saw it. They called me
the next day and they said,we want you to play for the Lakers
in summer League. Your coach isgoing to be a young coach. It's

(42:28):
his first time. His name isPat Riley. He did not want me
on his team. I even havethe video of this with Pat and I
didn't in his mind's eye look likethe point guard that he would recognize.
So I fly to La. I'mout there. I'm getting my ass beat
every practice. He tells his storyyears later that you know, he says

(42:53):
to the coaches, he goes,what the hell are we going to do
with her? They beat the crapout of her, They knock her down,
She doesn't cry, and she triedto start two fistfights in practice.
Eighty year, twenty two years old. I was twenty two years old,
and four days later I was juststarting point guard because I wasn't afraid,
and you know, you go on, you can't be afraid. Well,

(43:17):
well we've got we just want tolet you know what's going on. We've
got a bunch of airport executives whoare checking us out right now, which
is awesome. It's great welcome.We love to see you. Thank you
all for being here, and weare helping to make people realize what an
awesome concept a dirt novisky type restaurantis. There are lots of them throughout

(43:38):
the country and that's through our Playmaker'sbrand and Eddie, I want you to
weigh in for us on you know, some of your best recollections of Dirk
being your teammate. I mean,this guy was. He's iconic. He's
unbelievable. He's so fun and friendlyand down to earth. What do you
remember? So I remember getting draftedby the Mavericks and I was there was

(44:02):
four rookies Corney, Alexander Ayton,Thomas, Donald Harvey, and I was
a second rounder. They flew onMark Ewan's plane to Dallas. I flew
southwest and I was like, soI got there. I was like,
okay, whatever, but I guesswhat. The number one guy that greeted

(44:23):
me was dark, no kidding.Derek showed me the city around, and
I had no guarantee contract. Iwas a second rounder, so I didn't
even know. I didn't know ifI was well. I knew I was
gonna make the team. There wasno questions there, there was no doubts
in He didn't know that. Hedidn't know that nobody else in the organization

(44:44):
knew whether I was gonna make theteam or not because I had a known
guarantee contract. But he showed mearound, took me around. Obviously,
I kind of got to learn hispersonality. Being from Germany's they're different.
Was like, I'm different being fromMexico, so he's his jokes were a
little more. It was more atmobive dry sense of humor. But at

(45:06):
the end of the day, likewe hit it off and we had something
in common. We were foreigners ina big city. I was coming from
Norman, Oklahoma. He was comingfrom Germany, a small town. Yeah,
and we actually hit it off.And he started like showing me taking
me around dinners and this and that. I was like, Wow, this
guy's been so nice to me.But anyway, it's low story short.

(45:30):
Now we fast forward to basketball.He would not let Sean Brawley garden,
he would not let anybody as atme garden. And again no guarantee contract,
and he would tell me like,do not take it to him.
And I was like, dude,I'm gonna get you hurt. You don't
under state like I can go asfar as you want. But that was

(45:51):
that's when I knew that he wasgonna be special because everybody criticized me his
first two years, the typical Europeanplayer finales game saw and they were right.
I mean, he was young.He was eighteen when he got to
Dallas. When when I got drafted, he was twenty and I was already
twenty two. He's two years actuallyyounger than me. But doing the playoffs

(46:15):
when the game was on the line, the first three or four years,
he couldn't drivel, he couldn't shoot. He would throw it away or he
would do something. But the onething that I can tell you is his
resilience. He would get back intoit. He would delete that play and
get back into it. And hewas actually fearless. And he has a

(46:36):
quote that I really really enjoyed thathe said it. We said like when
he came to pressure, he actuallyhe loves being in that situation. He
actually said something else. I'm notsure I make love to pressure. That's
when he put it out. Iwas like, whoa, that's actually pretty
cool, dude. So then Igot traded and then I came back around

(46:58):
and he was like the off hisguy on the team, and I was
like, what the hell. Sothen he was like Getty doing practice.
Uh, you know the special situationsone played. Obviously the ball is going
to dark. And he would tellme like, all right, come on,
let's see what you got. Andthe first time the second time I
came around, this guy put hisshoulder on my chin. I think I
had a concussion. Didn't even knowit, but I was like, what

(47:22):
the hell, dude, Like,why do you have to be so aggressive?
Now? I was asking him toslow down. Yeah, yeah,
because he was so incredible. Hewas ready to be the MVP and always
to win the championship with the followingyear they wanted. Yeah, so you
were you were there when they wentto the finals in eighty six. I
mean in the ninety she how doyou think, I don't even know he's

(47:46):
not a baby boomer. Yeah,twenty thousand and six. Yeah, so
I'm kindab well the guys. Iwas one of those guys that now they
use of my contract situation. Thankgod. I was blessed and I was
making enough money, but I gottraded for Eric Dan Pierre to Golden State.

(48:07):
So I went from the best organizationto the worst at that time.
Now Golden State has grown. He'sthe only place that I asked for a
trade because they we're not playing meand they were paying me all this money.
And we had a younger coach inMike Montgomery, and I could tell
he was a little tentative about DaleDavis. Cliff Robinson was in the team

(48:29):
and so I was like the thirdguy. But anyways, I asked for
a trade. So when I cameback in twenty ten, Derg was incredible.
I mean he played defense. Imean the last the finals against Miami,
I think he broke his finger andhe continued playing on shooting him so

(48:52):
he continued playing. Now, whenwe went to the Western Finals, he
actually sprang his knee and I sawhim practice and I get it, don
nails. Nelly was wouldn't let protectedhim, wouldn't play, and I'm like,
look at him, like, dude, like we needed I was.
I was. I was playing inone leer. I just have surgery that
I was supposed to take a yearoff. Came back in seven weeks and

(49:13):
I'm like, you need to play. And that was my moment's shot with
the championship. And when he shutthey shot him down. He wanted to
play, Nelly said, and thatright was that game seven against It was
actually the third game against the Spurs, and just never came back. And
there was some finals and all that, and then Della said, we have
the nets. We had like thethe easy way. So I told him

(49:37):
that I'm winning the whole thing.Yeah, great, but think about what
he just said about Nelly. NellySaw had a vision of the future.
And there's a lot of coaches,right you know this who they will grind
you to, you know, inall of our sports if they think you
can help them win. Because acoach, Chuck Dailey said this to me

(49:58):
when I was coaching in the rightHe goes, Nancy, I was the
first time coach. He goes,go get the yearbook or you know,
the little book that the media gets. He goes, go to Ron Harper
and I go to Ron Harper andit says Ron has been you know,
all Pro, all this All Stargame, and he goes, this man
has lost seventy percent of all thegames he's ever played in, and it

(50:20):
sounds like he's going to be aHall of Famer, but he's lost.
He goes, now, go tomy book and it says, Chuck Daily
is three hundred and fifty nine.You're only judged by your wins and losses
as a coach. Yep, wegot to get Daddie out of here.
That's so too bad. And he'sgot to go kiss babies. That's what
you do. He's got enough todo. I mean, Eddie's Eddie's here

(50:40):
for a reason. It wasn't justsay we can't set one of these up
some down in Chihuahua in Mexico.Right, that's right, so hey,
maybe Eddie will be Eddies could beLallos. That's my big name. Yeah,
that's right in DFW. There yougo, definitely Chia. Let's make
sure we go talking. Derek's theguy to talk to. Let's get you
a rest. You for having meas I could hang with you, guys,

(51:05):
you could. Ye, you're inNew York. You're going to stab
somebody. I was recording to stabsomebody. I was in a dress and
patent leather shoes and this guy wasmaking fun of me when I was ten
and my shoes slipped as I triedto scabble. Second, so you were
in a mini skirt and high heels. He just changed that. I'm not

(51:30):
a hooker looker. Yeah, butyou were in the dress up the here,
No, I was in it.I was ten. I wasn't trying
to sell it broad at that time. I was ten. Don't say anything,
Nancy. So I had a plasticI was in New York. We

(51:51):
were and I had a plastic knife. But the guy was irritating me,
and I got mad at him withmy flaming red hair and I went to
stab them with my knife, andmy shoe slipped on them and my teeth
hit and I broke my teeth.I didn't build up, and my mother
was so upset with me. Mymy dad brought me back home the marble

(52:15):
at my teeth. No, yourteeth hit the marble. Now, if
you were a helpa and today's dayand did that on a subduing the floor
company, you'd be getting the lecorchair right now. Then getting letting out,
yeahs letting the word left with itdone. Now I'm telling you that
I had to stab somebody, Iwould I we're going to say the guy

(52:37):
punched you. Wait, Dave?What was Dave? Your coach? Dave
Tibbott. Okay, When I gotthe job with the Legends, Dave calls
me. He goes come come tothe Star Center in Frisco. He gets
me on skates and I was alittle shaky on the skates, but I
really want to learn how to gobackwards. I don't know how. So

(52:58):
he gave me the gloves and everything, and two minutes in I fell my
gloves up and I'm pushing him andtrying to fight him. Oh I know.
But he's like, do you wantto fight or do you want to
skate? I'm like, I wantto really rather fight from New York.
What do you expect? First,you weren't wearing the same short dress at
the time with you, I wouldknow ice girl. I didn't. I'm

(53:22):
not an ice girl. But I'dlove to drive the zamboni. I'm sure
we can give you one. Youcan drive around town like you're probably you
ever have you ever driven one?Yes? You have once? One time
you drunk once. No, Iwas younger, It's like fourteen years old,
so I was Nancy. She wasapparently ten, dressing for the town.
Yeah, that's training, like prettywoman. What do you guys got

(53:45):
to? Where's your car? Mycar has been totaled as him yesterday,
and he sold his bike. ButI'm getting but that's by design. He
saw a bike. We went tothe shoe the data we're done shooting somebody
one went to the Harley shop.Yeah, sold it and I said,
well here's what I want. Wecan do that, you know, And

(54:06):
then my car got totally as ofyesterday from the hailstorm. Yeah, but
I'm gonna bring it back. I'msorry, but you're gonna buy a new
bike. You're gonna bring a woutwhatever I took. I apologize. Oh
yeah, you but you're buying anew bike. Yeah. I think Macy
could run a Harley. You knowwhat your ball? The ball said Neil.
He says he's gonna let me comeout take batting practice and have a

(54:29):
UNI group my name on it.Because the last time when Buck was there
and Dion and I went, didwe walk in and Dion has a uniform
that says Sanders, he has ahat, a belt, and and they're
like, I'm like, we hada T shirt for you, give you
a Ranger's T shirt. And I'mlike, isn't that right? Like really,

(54:51):
yeah, well hey that's bucked foryou, by the way, Yeah
yeah, but he let me usethis parking spot underneath, So you have
to give you a uniform, giveme a uniform, let me get an
account. Speaking of uniforms, bastlingNancy today, what he came in here
with a Dirk Novitski jersey so thathe could sign it for him? Did

(55:13):
he and that on his wall?But he ran off on so you didn't
get there to sign it. Yethe ran off. I'll get him later,
we'll get him, we'll see himagain. I'm gonna get a Nancy
Leebman. I'm gonna have her signit, and you're gonna wear it around
town. Let's I would be proudto wear that. You wouldn't you take
in your closet? Like? Dowe have a male and female legend on
that jersey? I wanted to geta game one one so it stinks,

(55:34):
right, Oh my gosh, thisthing smelled so stinking. Bet he's gonna
person Nancy. No, no,she got to pick up it. But
look at this Caitlin's jersey. Shegave me after the game Monday, and
I was so super happy, soI wore it during the game Monday.
Yeah, it's stunk. It smells. She's sweat, Nancy. But she

(55:55):
signed it to me and took itoff from her back. How many times
have you done that? A lot? But that was cool of her,
right? Cool? No, verycool? Yeah. Now, so let
me ask you this, and wegot to get off. We gotta beat
up. I gotta go. Letme ask you what are we doing the
show here? Yeah, we're stilldoing So let me ask you this yes,
can they beat flipping LSU? Thisyear it's a one against the three?

(56:19):
Can they Can they beat LSU?I want them to beat I love
her. I want them to beatLSU. They're not as athletic as LSU
is, and LSU's a better reboundingteam and Kim Wlkey's a good coach.
I mean, I think the physicalityof LSU is going. What's gonna separate
the right because they're going to isolateher, They're going to make the rest
of the team. What do youdo in sports as coaches and t what

(56:39):
do you do? You isolate theirbest player and get beat by the rest,
right, And that's what they're gonnado. Well. Last year she
had forty one against them. Ohshe did. Yeah. In the in
the championship game, she had fortyone and they lost by sixteen points.
Okay, can we stop talking aboutsports for a second? Can we can
we hear I want to hear howthey can of corn and your charity cam

(57:00):
Oh wow? What corn? Yourcan of corn? Really? Yes?
I want to can you give usYou're gonna cry? Okay? So yes,
I was poured out a can ofcorn for me to go to the
Olympics. Yes, I can't believeyou remember that. It's true. He's
had a lot of concussions. Idon't know how he remembers anything name,

(57:22):
but he remembers that. I'm sorry. He calls it alcoholism. He called
me Karen before. So I'm fourteenyears old. I get to go to
a tryout. I come home andI go, Ma, Mama, I'm
going to the US tryouts. Andshe goes like, hell you are.
I don't have money to put foodon the table. I can't fly you
to Albuquerque. This can of cornthey opened it, they cleaned it,

(57:45):
and they put an envelope that saidwe're endeavoring to raise three hundred dollars to
send Nancy to the US tryouts.This is nineteen seventy four. Strangers put
money in a can, and Ihad enough to go to the tryouts.
Where were they n New Mexico.And it was amazing, Like I was
like a sophomore in high school andthis is Pat Summit and Lucy Harris and

(58:08):
these are Hall of Famers and Myers. I was overwhelmed with I had never
seen so many great women play.And then the next year I make the
Pan Am team as a junior,we win the gold. Then my senior
year we win the silver, andI'm still in high school. I wish
I knew where the people. I'msure they're no longer with us because that

(58:31):
we're so generous to put money ina can that went door to door in
far rockaway. So if that canhappen to me, we can do stuff
for other people. People did iton blind faith and kindness. I'm not
here with you, guys. Ifstrangers didn't help me, I had nothing.
I had no food, no heat, no electricity, no father.

(58:53):
That's where I'm at right now.Christmas Tree though at the house, but
we got four they're still around alot of Yeah, but that's part of
your charity. That that's the onlyreason I do it, because like I
didn't wake up at fifty or makelike us make good money and then say

(59:14):
I have a conscience about helping people. I know what it's like to feel
less. I know what it's liketo not have It sucks to have that
in your life. We can takea perfectly wonderful child who maybe doesn't look
like us, and we can bedream givers, not hopestealers. I have

(59:36):
so many Nancy Camp moments. Nancycan't do that. Nancy, you can't
do that. Nancy. You can'tbe around you know luds, you can't
be around you know menche or Atigan, you know girls, don't. Who
were you to tell me what Ican be? You should be encouraging me.
And even if it doesn't happen.I mean, look at Billy Jean

(59:57):
King. Look what she did forme. What were you ten years old
when you started playing at Rucker Park? Twelve Rocker you know, yeah,
Rutger Park a park in New York. It is the place where every great
player from New York goes and theyplay pick up, right, most of
them, we've we've heard of,right, all these kids that come through
Rucker Park make it to the NBA. Nancy's there's a twelve year old and

(01:00:19):
somebody, thank goodness, they takeme. Obviously it's a bunch of African
American kids who are who are reallygood at basketball, and somebody took her
under their wing and said let's go. Doesn't it sound like, Nancy that
that little children's work at the enginethat could little that isn't that new?
It is Dion talks about. Diontalks about that everybody has his story.

(01:00:43):
I'm you know, I don't lookat myself as a minority. I know
I'm a woman and technically in thisworld. But my job is I'm a
risk taker. I'm a rule breaker. When I say rule breaker, you
know I'm not, you know,running a stealing. But you can't tell
me. I can't coach man.You can't tell me I can't win a
championship. You can't tell me Ican't. Dirk and I and think about

(01:01:07):
this in all the years we've beenhere together. In twenty twenty three,
Dirk Novitzky and me were inducted intothe Nasmith Basketball Hall of Fame together my
Olympic team went in. I've alreadybeen in, and we go in,
and we looked at each other andwent, can you believe we're the class

(01:01:30):
of twenty twenty three? You cannever take that away. Baseball was my
best sport. Bobby Mercer was myhero, my hero in baseball. Hockey
was my favorite best sport. Growingup. We used to play roller hockey.
I was Eddie Jockerman, Remember Eddieno face mask. I mean we

(01:01:52):
had, like I said, thegagline and Walter Kochuk and all these guys,
my mother's like, what is wrongwith you? My mother took me
to a psychologist when I was elevenyears old because I used to sleep with
the transistor listening and more of Albertall the hockey games, and you know,

(01:02:13):
Jockman is between the pipes and onlyGod saved more than Bernie Parant.
Right, I'm you except older.Well, you're a sports we think about
talking about what we as athletes aregenerating. Right, Luds didn't even know
he was going to college and theytold me he was. I mean,
right, you tell us you can'tdo it. They tell us, you
know you're too small, you knowyou're not going to do this. But

(01:02:35):
that just it speaks volumes to whatwe were taught told as kids that you're
not it's you can't play. Thoseare boys. You can't do it,
Luds, you can't do it.This is just you know, I can't
do it because of this. Butlook at what it's done, because I
think that's what's missing from this generationnow, of people telling them they can't
do it. Okay, then I'lljust go you know what else does everybody
tells them they can now? Yeah, oh yeah, especially their parents.

(01:02:58):
Well that's why everybody, here's yourtrophy, anticipate you canborate, which in
tull shit, the whole participation thingis BS. There's gonna be a winner
and a loser. Like I onceasked Kobe and uh Lebron, I said,
are you okay? Like how muchmoney you make? And they're like,
what you know? Like ninety million? I said, are you okay
diving up your contract with the teamone fourteenth or one fifteenth and they're like

(01:03:22):
no, no, Like Kobe said, there's a reason why I don't trust
you and I won't give you theball in crucial situations because when I'm going
out to work out at four inthe morning, you're coming in at four
in the morning, I don't trustyou. You're the last one to practice
and the person coming in please comingin? Yeah, I'm please out drinking

(01:03:44):
until that point when you were comingin. But to make it to where
you are in your career, andyou know, Menschi, where you are
in your career in rads, Imean, how many how many awards do
you have? How many you gottawho We've all been told that you can't
do it right, You're not goingto be able to deal it. So
we're here and we all have abackground a different story. But we're all

(01:04:06):
grateful and we're mean as shit,and we competed like the devil, and
it's okay to want to win.It's so, why did I play at
fifty? Why did I play atthirty nine? I wanted to see if
I could do it. I wantedmy kid to know what his mommy did.

(01:04:26):
Yeah, I didn't have my prime. Yeah. By the time you
played at fifty, you weren't hismommy anymore. You were like ma right,
and he's like, yeah, hey, let's get in the game.
Yeaheah. Born with a competitive geam. I think we all were, though,
right, we had people that welooked up to. I'm more sol
than other. We're still competitive,right, yeah. And here's the problem,

(01:04:47):
I think, just to ship,how do you motivate this generation?
All I had to do is akid would say, I'm going to be
better than you, you and you? What do I need to do?
Now? It's just I'm gonna bea ready Okay, I watched it.
I'm better than you think I'm goingyeah, right, you know what I
am? Yeah? Yeah, yeah. You know why we build dream courts.
We're trying to get these kids outof the house. You know,
we play roller hockey, we playedvolleyball, we played tennis, and now

(01:05:09):
we play golf on dream courts.We put nets and the little strip and
let we get kids who have beentold, oh, you're black, you
don't get to play. You playbasketball and football. No you don't.
You do not get to tell mewhat I can be sport office. It's
not fair. Try everything. Yeah, absolutely, that's why we do what

(01:05:30):
we do. We gotta. Yeah, we got a look at day things
like I got another gig here,overtime pay yeah, yeah, yeah,
he knows better. Yeah, LoriePaul and you're going to yeah dinner.
We so appreciate you. I hopeyou watch every minute of this. It's
awesome with Nancy, she's a Hallof Famer. We got Eddie on,
we all got one's a golf tournament. Good number seventeen. Castle Hill is

(01:05:57):
September sixteenth, Charities Charity's great.Just what she's doing gallery the fourteenth.
I think I should try to getDirk to bring some of this. Uh
okay, yeah, oh yeah,I'm go get the big german out there.
Okay, no to So who's yourbig star this year? Do you
have a big, huge star.Okay, let me tell you our friend.

(01:06:21):
We wanted to honor Dirk. Hisevent is the same day he and
I talked. He felt horrible.Text me Nancy, I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry. I'm like,stop, I'm gonna see if we'll work
our date in twenty twenty five.We're gonna honor him. I'm praying and
hoping that either Jason Kidd or Shacksays yes, I'm talking to this.

(01:06:46):
Yes, So I mean, justfor your prayers out there that they will
do it. Shack, who don't. We'll always have the same group of
guys that are always there. Yourbuddy Jay Harris, he's the best.
Day's always what a guy. Welove that man. She went to college
well together. I'm older, butyou got to know Dave stopped recording five

(01:07:09):
minutes. We gotta let Dave go. Thank you ve been awesome. We'll
see you next time.