Star Wars x ESPN: Ryan McGee on Fandom, Sports & The Galaxy Far, Far Away

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is Ryan McGee from ESPN and you're checking out
Around the Galax.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Welcome to Around the Galaxy, the Star Wars Fan talk show.
I am one of your hosts, Nick Milk, and I
am joined as always by my good friend and co host,
mister Pete Fletzer.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
We bring you conversations.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
With Star Wars actors, creators, authors, other actors, authors, personalities,
people who love Star Wars, and we have with us
this week our special guest is mister Ryan McGee. Ryan
is a senior writer for ESPN dot com. He is
one of the hosts and personalities on Marty and McGee,
which you can find on the ESPN Network ESPN Radio.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
He is an author.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
He has written multiple books, one of which you can
see over my shoulder Welcome to the Circus of ba Ball.
He covers NASCAR, college football, pretty much sports of all kinds,
and he's a Star Wars fan, which is why he
is here with us, and we are so excited to
have a chance to have this conversation with Ryan McGhee.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Ryan, Oh, well, so guys, how are we doing.

Speaker 3 (01:18):
That?

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Great? Doing great?

Speaker 4 (01:19):
We're talking to Star Wars, just talking Star Wars with
with Brian McGee. How bad could it be, right, I
mean really.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Yeah, well we'll see, let's get done and then you
can and you can give us some evaluation. But now
I'm excited. We've been, I've been We've been trying to
hook this up for a long time. So I'm I'm
glad we finally got together. And you know, catching you
guys at an exciting time because we're, uh, we got
some new stuff coming to new contents, and I've blocked

(01:45):
up my Revenge of the Sith tickets in the four
D K, which I've never done, like the forty X
where it is where you're shaking all that stuff, and
my wife, Yeah, I know, I well, I know a
guy has reserved my seat to the theater, so I'll
leave it at that. That's fair enough.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
This may be that this may Bee may or may
not be the same guy who pushes death sticks at
a bar, so you may have to be careful with
these tickets.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, yeah, you're exactly, You're exactly, but no, but it's
it's it's an exciting time, man, it's uh. I laugh
at the people that, you know, we're all kind of
in the same age group. I laugh at the people
that are like sometimes I said, there's too much content.
I'm like, man, you clearly are not my age, because
we thought we were doing in eighty three right, and
so so any I'll take any and everything I can get,

(02:35):
as much as I can get.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Well, I think it's interesting too, like the the excitement
for the prequels, because I don't know, you know, we won't.
I'm a reformed prequelist as us uh I can't remember
his name, who says it, but it's uh uh. It's
like when they first came out, I was of that
age where I was like, ah, they were okay.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, I didn't love them. I wanted to love them.
But now we're in a.

Speaker 4 (02:58):
Point where A they've become part of the bigger story
and B they've become part of our Star Wars heritage.
And to hear you start by saying, how sage you
are to see a prequel film in a couple of
which we all are, Nick and I are as well.
But that's wild, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah? But you know it's interesting because something I have
learned as a son and as a now father is
you know, every every in particularly with the films, every
trilogy is for a different group of people. You know,
ultimately it's for all of us. I get that. But
what I remember distinctly back in the seventies was my dad,

(03:36):
who's the coolest guy in the world. C three Po
drove him crazy, like he just why is he in
the movie? He's annoying. I dressed up like C three
Po for Halloween, right, And so then you get to
you know, the prequel generation, and you hear, you know,
particularly the actors who are in the sequel trilogy, they

(03:57):
talk about the prequels were their movie. And then there's
my daughter who's twenty years old now and was you know, uh,
middle school, high school when the sequel trilogy came out. Well,
people like to bang on the sequels. Those are my
daughter's films, like she she is so excited about what's
next foray, And so I just I think we have

(04:19):
to remember. And I think it's the beauty. I say
this on our podcast with Arta and Clinton all the time.
What's beautiful to me right now is there's something for everyone.
You know, if you want to go prestige drama, you know,
murder mystery, there's that, you know, if you just want
to stay old school and just keep everything within you know,
the universe of the of the original trilogy. There's something

(04:42):
for that if you want to watch a cartoon that
whether it's anime or whether it's for kids, it's all
out there. And so to me, that's what's awesome.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Just in case, in the off chance and Pete and
I and like you, we fit that special cross section
of Star Wars fans and nerds who are also sports guys.
So this is one of those great chances where we
get together and talk about, you know, a bunch of
that stuff together before we get deeper into Star Wars.
Give everybody that may or may not know who you
are a little bit of background on who Ryan McGee
is and kind of transition from there into you know,

(05:19):
never telling me the odds and how that came together
with you guys.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Yeah, well, I'm an ESPN lifer. I'm originally from the Carolina's.
I went to school to University of Tennessee. I married
a girl who when I met my wife, Erica, she
was singing at Dollywood and it was I'm Southern's against.
I moved to Connecticut for a couple of years to
really to work on college football, and when I got
up there, and this is in the mid nineties and

(05:45):
Joe Gordon is becoming a really, really big deal. You know,
I'm the only guy in the state of Connecticut with
a Southern accent. And they were like, well, you know
about NASCAR, right, I'm like, yeah, I don't think I
knew as much as as they thought I did, but
I knew more than they did, and so that got
me moved back to North Carolina for a couple of years.
I covered motorsports forever, and I did grew up a
NASCAR family. My dad was on Pitt Cruz when I
was a kid and all that. I'm from rocking Ham originally,

(06:08):
but worked worked at ESPN, UH. Started in the producer track.
I did a lot of features, uh, and then I
started writing for ESPN the magazine on the side, and
eventually that became my full time job and and I
ended up rejoining ESPN full time after I was gone
for a few years ago working Fox in NASCAR and

(06:29):
did it a lot of motorsports, but really started hitting
college football hard. And that's kind of where I've been
ever since. My titles senior writer. What that means is
I do a little bit of everything you were gracious
enough to mention Marty McGee. That's probably what I'm best
known for these days, is you know, me and the
redheaded guy who doesn't watch any movies by the way,
Like I'm I'm mister I'm mister movie guy and he's

(06:51):
mister country music guy. So we kind of balanced each
other out right. But Marty Smith and I he's my brother,
my work brother, and we have a great time. And
uh and over the years, I'm very obvious about my
my Star Wars fandom, my Marvel fandom, and you know,
I worked for the Walt Disney Company and and I

(07:12):
can't I mean, you were very I appreciate you bring
up the baseball book Welcome to Circus of Baseball. As
you know, there's there's there's a few Star Wars references
in there. I can't help it, right, Yeah, that's it.
And so people started to recognize that, and so we
I pitched an idea for a podcast a while ago,
I mean years ago, and eventually it started to get

(07:33):
traction as we started to get a lot more Star
Wars content, you know, thanks to Disney Plus and Clinton
Yates who is my other work brother, and Arto Houkal
who's become a dear friend. You know, they made it
known that they love Star Wars, and so eventually with
all this new content, you know, I kept pulling my
idea of a drawer. What about the Star Wars podcast?

(07:53):
What about the Star Wars podcast? You know, And what
we try to do is we talk about our fandom,
but then we also find and you know, sports tie ins.
You know, we try to find athletes. We hit Ryan Blaney,
you know, NASCAR champion. You know, he is super hardcore,
like covered in Darth Vader tattoos and you know, tried
to ask Daisy Ridley out once and was unsuccessful in

(08:14):
the Lakers game. But his entire motor coach like is
decorated in Star Wars. You know. We had Carl weathers
on not long before he passed away, and of course
as a big part of the Man of Lauri. And
he played college football. I mean, he was a good
he played in the NFL. And so it's been fun
kind of lacing these two worlds together because you guys,
know when we were growing up, you had the sports

(08:36):
nerds and their nerds, and then you had like the
nerd nerds and never playing the two show meet right,
and now now it's all interlaced everywhere, and so we
try to talk about that on Never Tell Me the
Odds and knock on Wood. We're very fortunate that some
of the bosses seem to like it, so we're gonna

(08:57):
keep doing it.

Speaker 4 (08:58):
It's interesting because you say that about being a sports
nerd and a Star Wars nerd, and they were separate.
I feel like the three of us here on the screen,
and many people who listen to us and listen to
your podcast as well, I think there is I think
there's a deeper connection. And I also think there's a
musician connection as well. Like I think we feel like
your your your nerddom can't cross. But I mean, gosh,

(09:19):
I was like an ice hockey expert and a baseball
nerd when I was seven or eight years old, and
then I could also tell you about everything Star Wars
at the time. And but it's funny because you had
different groups of friends, right, I had my baseball friends
and I had my Star Wars friends, And now now
we're all the same people.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
I guess. So there was there was a great ESPN
promo that I ran for years. You know that tagline,
you know it's some you know, it's sports. You know,
it's it's not weird at sports. And there was the
funniest thing. And there were these guys, these guys in
the cafeteria and we're all in high school. You know,
the cafterier was teered up into you know that that
system of this. People said at this title. These people

(09:57):
said at that table, and all the football players are
sitting around this table and they're doing their fantasy football
draft and they're talking about this and something about that,
and then they cut to all these guys, you know,
classic nerds, and they're just laughing. They're going nerds. And
that's that's how I feel. You know, you'd be just
as nerdy about anything. But now I used to be
had to have two different groups of friends, and now

(10:18):
those groups of friends have you know, kind of meshed
together over the years. And you know that's what That's
what you guys hope are listening to this and certainly
what we hope we're listening to to our deal.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
Yeah, absolutely, So let's talk a little bit about that.
How did you discover Star Wars? It sounds like your
dad was involved. And I always love the fact that
most of these whenever we ask somebody this question, there's
a family element of some sort. I'm not not forcing
you to go there if there isn't one, but it
sounds like there probably was.

Speaker 1 (10:47):
Yeah, So my dad, my dad's the man. My dad
is a baby boomer. You know, Dad's still around. I
co wrote a book with dad a few years ago
called Sidelines and blood Lines that we wrote with my
dad and my brother. My dad was a college administrator
who was his day job, but he was a college
football referee. He was an official for years. I worked

(11:07):
national championships and Rose Bowls and the whole thing. That's
where my love of college football came from. But Dad
was a movie guy growing up. But you're talking about
I mean, dad's in his eighties now. It was all Westerns,
right Flash Gordon was way before him, and Star Wars
was way after him. But he loved movies and so
he to this day. He'll be the first one to

(11:30):
tell you he cannot sit down and have some nuanced
conversation about the career of the character Archie Anakin Skywalker.
But he loved it because my brother and I loved it.
And I'm og man. I you know, when the first
film came out, I was seven. When an Empire came out,
I was ten, And when Jedi came out, I was thirteen.
I mean, I am Wielhouse. And so going down to

(11:53):
the cinema one and two in Shelby, North Carolina, and
my dad took us to go see Star Wars and
it had been out for a couple of weeks. But
it was so overwhelming that and I was so anxious
that he's like, all right, let's go. And you know,
at the time, there were there were warnings out there
about you know, is the canteena a little till intense
for kids, you know, and and you know, you know

(12:14):
poor you know, aunt and uncle are burned up, skeletons,
you know, there's some you know, now it's all you know,
there's fifty things worse than that right now, you know
on my daughter social media feed, right but just back
in the day, that's what they're nursed. But but I
was og man Shelby, North Carolina sent them on one
and two. I saw Star Wars. It was the first
film I saw three times in the theater. First time

(12:37):
that we went back to you know, when Empire came out,
we were living in Raleigh, North Carolina and the Cardinal Theater,
and I think I saw it five times, and then
I'm a Return of the Jedi guy man, because again
we thought that was the end. Yeah, and I remember,
I remember like it was like it happened yesterday. My brother,
who's three years younger than me, my mom taking us

(12:59):
to go see the matinee A Return of the Jedi
opening weekend on on a Saturday afternoon. And I would
never cuss, never use cuss words, but as soon as
the credits rolled, I looked at my brother and I went, damn.
I remember, I remember it clear as available. Just it
rocked me and and I went back on Sunday to
see it again. I went back to next weekend. I remember,

(13:21):
I remember it was in that theater for months, and
when it finally disappeared, we were disappointed because we thought,
you know, we didn't have a VCR, We're never gonna
see this thing again. And so yeah, I'm ogi man,
I'm I'm I've got right here on my desk, I've
got my original action figures in the original collector case.
And yeah, Clinton and Narda were just a little bit

(13:42):
younger than me. They show the stuff they've got and
I'm like, that's really cool, but can I show you
D two from seventy seven And they're.

Speaker 4 (13:50):
Like, dang, yep, I'm just I got my BA right here.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, we can all play this game thereby they antique shows.
I love that and I'm pulling out of my dad's
and I'm pulling out of my dad's closet. No, No,
it's those guys I got, I got, I've got I
got three And they're all different, they're all in different
uh phases of fading. Yeah, one which was almost yeah,

(14:20):
but it's but it's yeah, it's I'm I'm but I'm
og that's and I'm proud of that fact too.

Speaker 4 (14:33):
I think one of the things I always remember about
Jedi because I'm the same exact age, uh seven, ten
and thirteen when I saw them, And the thing that
I remember about Jedi was it was the first time
I understood the phrase edge of my seat because I
remember waiting for Vader to do the right thing and
literally just like on the and and it just was it.

(14:57):
That movie definitely had a huge, huge impact and did
such a great job of closing everything up, which was
nice because, like you said.

Speaker 1 (15:04):
We thought that was it. We thought we were done.
And you know, people make fun of us for watching
that holiday special and for watching Donnie and Marie, and
it's all we had, y'all. That's all we had, and
we never thought we'd have another. And so it was.
But yeah, no, I remember as a writer, Return of
the Jedi had a tremendous impact on me, and I
didn't even know it yet. But you know, we have

(15:25):
what we call the rule of threes and and every
and if you read my stuff, everything I write kind
of is chunked in the rules. And Return of the
Jedi is where I learned that subconsciously, because you've got three,
you know, incredible battles going on at once, and the
way that movie was edited, and the way that movie
that those were in relace, you know, you know, with

(15:45):
a new hope, you had the one thing, you know,
with Empire Strikes Back, you really had the one thing.
When you got The Return of the Jedi. It just
was so much all at once, but it was perfectly,
you know, my my opinion perfectly started together. So yeah,
it had a huge impact on me that I didn't
even really realize until I got to college and they
started from a rule three and I'm like, what's That's

(16:06):
what I've always done anyway, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
We talked a little bit. You mentioned never tell me
the odds. You said, there's some more of that hopefully coming.
That's exciting. You've talked to some fun folks. You've talked
to Blaney, You've talked to Carl Weathers. Y'all did a
great interview with Billy Dy Williams. You actually did an
interview with us with Paul Sun Young Lee for Potothon
and he's a great sports guy too. He's Toronto guy, baseball,
you know, hockey, all that kind of stuff. In fact,

(16:29):
I think shade was thrown at me about my Atlanta
Braves and the.

Speaker 1 (16:31):
Blue Jays particular interview. But I keep trying to let
that guy I like that. I like that.

Speaker 3 (16:36):
That's artist's fault.

Speaker 2 (16:39):
But as y'all are doing this show, working in you know,
working at ESPN, we know there's a million, you know,
athletes and people out there who are some of the
surprising athletes you've run into are Star Wars fans. Maybe
who's on the wish list. I know Joe Burrow is
a huge Star Wars fan. There's a bunch of folks
out there, who have you run into besides the ones
we've already mentioned that, you know, kind of crop up

(16:59):
when y'all talk about Star Wars and sports.

Speaker 1 (17:01):
Yeah, I'm wearing Burrow out man. You know. I covered
Burrow so thoroughly at LSU. One of my all time
favorite athletes I've ever covered. It's just it was. And
we used to have him with Martiny McGee a lot.
Marty knew him from when he was at Ohio State,
and we used to have on Martin McGee a lot
before he became before he unleashed the most ridiculous season
that indie quarterbacks ever had. And yeah, I saw I

(17:23):
saw Burrow at the College World Series. I go to
I go to Omahi re June for the College World Series.
You talk about books, I always said, I wrote a
New York Times bestseller with Dellarhart Jnr. And I wrote
a New York Times worst seller about the College World
Series fifteen years ago. But I go to Omahi every
June and the uh And I saw Burrow there when
LSU was making a title run two years ago, and
I yelled at him, Dude, we're starting Star Wars podcast.

(17:45):
You have to come on He's like, okay, and so
I got so we're gonna get him on eventually. But
you know Jack Harvey, who is an IndyCar driver and
as part of IndyCars Fox's new IndyCar team. He's a pitterporter,
he's British. I want to get Jack on. One of the
funniest things I've ever seen at the racetrack. But I
also got it was that Adam Driver was the Grand

(18:06):
Marshal at the Indy five hundred two years ago, and
that was to prote his his Ferrari film And And
without Jack knowing it. And Jack now, Jack has a helmet,
a custom helmet painted every year for the Indy five
hundred that has to do with one of the films
like and And Jack and I bonded over the fact
that the over won Kenobe finale or the Kenobi that

(18:29):
that that series finale dropped like the night before the
Indy five hundred, and so Jack and I are on
the grid crying talking about it, you know. And but
they brought without Jack knowing it. He's coming in the
garage and just going to work and Adam Driver was
waiting on him, and he turned the corner and Kyla
Ren standing there and Adam Driver was so cool and

(18:52):
so funny about it. They kind of did the same
thing to me. But the uh but but but Jack
was Jack's reaction. But but I too surprised. This. Well,
we had Teddy Bruski on, and Teddy course pro football
Hall of Famer with the Patriots and an all time
with the Arizona Wild cast back in the day has
worked for ESPN for years, and we did a creature

(19:12):
draft where we kind of picked our favorite you know, creatures,
and we invited Teddy on because we heard as a
Star Wars fan, and he said, well, I'll come on,
but you got to have my son on. And his
son was a coastball player. I belise at Hostra and
but yeah, but they those guys were hardcore. Like I'm

(19:34):
always blown away, right because we get a lot of
like movie stars or whatever. Ethical he plays, Sorry, we
play football, but we get a lot of movie stars
and you know, recording artists, and l say, I'm a
big sports fan, and then you ask them, well, who's
your favorite player, and it's always the same handful of
people whatever, And the same with Star Wars. I'm a

(19:55):
huge Star Wars fan. And then you realize very quickly
they like it, but they don't really know. It blew
us all away, like they blew us out of the water.
They had done so much research and so that that's
my favorite part is when you know they're a fan,
but then when you talk to him, you realize, oh, no, no,
they're a.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Fan, Like they're really a fan caps right, right, Yeah,
that's wild.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
I love that.

Speaker 4 (20:17):
And it's it's funny too because you have and that's
one of the great things about the show. And one
of the things we've done with this show is just
we we kind of call it like that, that opportunity
when Star Wars fans meet, right, and and it's funny.
You see a guy wearing a Star Wars shirt at
the mall or whatever, and you pick up a conversation
because you're waiting in line.

Speaker 1 (20:31):
And it goes one of two ways.

Speaker 4 (20:32):
It's either that guy who's like, I hate the sequels
and you're like, okay, this is that guy, or it
is the guy who is like, well, my favorite Cantina
creature is and he names.

Speaker 1 (20:42):
Him and gives you all the stuff and yep, this
is this is one of us. My brother, My brother
is so fun brother is the smartest guy, and he
always laughs about that with sports, Like he'll be on
a airplum and he's a big Baltimore Oriols fan, and
some guy will have like on an ools hat or whatever.
Ore your Oils fan. Oh yeah, yeah, I'm I'm from Maryland.
I'm a huge Oorls fan. And then my brother says,

(21:03):
and then I embarrassed the guy because I spend the
next twenty minutes like doing some deep dive on the
you know, some short stop in Norfolk. Who's gonna and
and and then you realize all that the guys like, man,
I just I've got to some games. Yeah, what are
you talking about? So so I respect all levels, but
sometimes sometimes I will totally run over some poor guy
who at the airport to go, man, I love Star Wars,

(21:23):
and and then I just get I get irritated. It's true,
you do have to scale back. Yeah, that's why I
like talking to you guys, you know, scaling back to
scale it back, you know, a podcast with the group
I really like, you know, you know, it's it's uh,
you know, I don't have to scale it back normally.

Speaker 4 (21:43):
Normally you do, well, we're gonna, we're gonna dig in
a little bit on some of that deep sort of
nerdiness here. We're gonna throw a couple of uh a
little later, we're gonna have our ten questions second before you.
But before that, we went to throw some some sports
related Star Wars things and just kind of get your
your first thoughts and give us the little bit of detail. Like,
for example, let me ask you this question, which spaceship

(22:04):
from Star Wars do you think is most like a
stock car?

Speaker 1 (22:10):
Well, you know, one of the greatest episodes of The Mandalorian,
which wasn't actually the Mandalorian, was during book of Bogopet. Yeah,
and one day I want to talk to Jon Favreau
and Dave Filoni about it, because you know what they
did was they took what was already one of the
most amazing, one of my favorite ships, which is like

(22:31):
just a Naboo star Fighter, and they dropped a Hemi
in it. That's what they did. They dropped a Hemi
in it. That thing had like a Holly Car carburetor
in it, and so so that that was a They
basically took Richard Petty's you know, Dodge Engine from nineteen
you know, sixty seven and dropped it into his plymouth
end it dropped it into a Naboo star Fighter. So

(22:53):
that's that's the that's the answer, you know, because it
just was you know, I know it doesn't lot like
a stock car, but you know what, they took a
stock ship and they made it not street legal and
they did it by dropping literally a hot rod motor
into it. So no, you talk about a nerd when
when they took one of my favorite ships and then

(23:15):
they dropped you know, basically a NASCAR you know, Cup
Series engine in it, my wife was like, my wife
literally went, oh my god, I said what She's like,
it's like you wrote this. I go, it is like
I wrote it.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
So yeah, they just got to throw a couple of
cases of mounshine in the back and yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:31):
Even had like a nitrous bottle in it. Right, So
so when they're well, our friend, you know, when he
gets pulled over, basically look for registration and he hits
that button and it's basically, you know, it's hit.

Speaker 4 (23:44):
And much like NASCAR, they took a vehicle that anybody
could go get and then made it nothing like what everybody.

Speaker 1 (23:51):
Can go get fast as far as you know, it
stock but it is not.

Speaker 2 (23:59):
Well, the next one is going to hit another one
of your sweet spots. Not only baseball but minor league baseball.
Minor league baseball is rich with great mascots, funny mascots.
You know, Lancing Lugnuts, you know, that was the big
one for years. I live in Montgomery and we have
the Montgomery Biscuits, which is ridiculous. It's literally a biscuit
with a pad of butter for a tongue sticking out
of a great ballpark.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
That's a great It's a fantastic ballpark. We're very lucky
to have that here.

Speaker 2 (24:23):
Now, twenty one years later, which creature in Star Wars
do you think would make the best minor league mascot?

Speaker 1 (24:30):
It feels like and you mentioned the book, you know,
in the mid nineties ninety four, when I was working
for the Ashvill Tours is when this I write a
whole chapter about it. Is when this mascot madness kind
of started. And you know, Charleston, South Carolina went from
being the Charleston Rainbows to the River Dogs, you know,
and everybody started. You know, Hickory never had a team

(24:52):
that other crawled ads, and even with the Ashville tours.
We brought in it, we created this tourist bear right now,
I just Ewoks just looked like a minor league mascot
to me, like a like like an E walk, an
E walk low. I can see an e walk logo
on a hat, right, I mean doing something. And so yeah, no,
e walks to me always felt like like the like

(25:12):
I always wanted to see an ewalk like you. You
had some minor league ballparks, and I know with the
Oakland A's for years they had the dog that would
run the balls out to the umpire, right, and seeing
seeing wicket run out, you know, holding like a masket
of baseballs and delivering it to the umpire, I always
thought would be like the greatest thing ever. So yeah,
you and I love you walk.

Speaker 4 (25:33):
That's great and you know E walks. That's that's the
thing that for the minor league baseball mascot has got
to be kid friendly. It's got to be you know,
fierce in its own way. Right in Ewoks. Uh, They're
they're murder bears, but kids love them, so.

Speaker 1 (25:47):
That's right, that's it. Yet the fact that they killed thousands, right,
just roll with the fact that they're cute.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Who would Marty Smith be in Star Wars? Would he
be an imperial, a rebel or a smuggler?

Speaker 1 (26:07):
What do you think? You know, it's funny with Mars,
So I say this about Mari all the time. Marty,
Marty saw the original films. I don't think he's seen
another one since. He just but it's not Star Wars.
He just doesn't watch movies. Like Marty on our show
will quote a movie and it's like it's always Timstone
likes he's never seen I don't think he's seen a
movie since like nineteen ninety eight and h and so

(26:29):
it's so funny. But but it's a good question. He's
with that red hair and those freckles. He's kind of
got a Calcastes thing going. I've always thought of that.
But but there's no question in my mind, like Marty
would be like you know, he'd be a pod racer somewhere.
You know, he's got it. He's got it. Marty's the
most competitive person I know that was never paid to

(26:53):
be competitive, you know what I mean? Like I worked
with Tim Tebow and you know, Romend Harper and these guys,
but but Marty's so competitive, Like I I won't even
like I will like, I won't play pickup basketball with it.
And so Marty would more than likely be he would
not be on a cold planet, because if you've seen him,
he just did the he we were at Ohio State

(27:13):
for the first round of the collegetball playoff, and all
I did was screaming and yell about how cold it
was the whole show. And then he just did the
the Stadium Series hockey game back in Columbus and just
screamed and yelled about how cold he was, alduring Martin McGee.
So he would be he would he would definitely be
on a desert planet and would be a pod racer.
And I'm not saying he'd be good at it, but

(27:34):
I'm saying that. I'm saying that, Yeah, I've seen the
truck he drove when he was in high school in
Western Virginia, So he would fit right in with with
those guys, you know, stealing parts and building.

Speaker 3 (27:45):
Pod racers, building it up. I like that.

Speaker 2 (27:48):
Well, before we get to the last one in this
little section, I'm gonna ask kind of a similar follow up.
And this is very self serving, and you'll know why
when I ask it. I'm a huge, tiny Cornheiser fan.
I have followed Kornheiser for twenty plus years now, and
I'm always excited when I hear you on the show.
Tony Kornheiser is his own unique brand of grauchy old man.
That's part of why I like him so much. So

(28:09):
the follow up question is, who would Tony Kornheiser be
in a Star Wars.

Speaker 1 (28:14):
He'd be a He'd be some sort of bartender, like
a canteen a bartender, right, yeah, the guy that's back
there cleaning glasses and you know, now I got to
go my blood off the floor. And why are you
guys doing this? You know no droids are allowed. Yeah,
no droids are allowed in here, right, So yeah, I
think Tony, it has been so much fun. By the way,

(28:35):
it's funny. I never knew Tony that well. But then
a few years ago they were looking for someone to
talk about the Daytona five hundred and I'd written a
story about it and they have me on, And yeah,
I'm really lucky because because he's an all time legend
man and he well, they called me for a lot
of stuff.

Speaker 3 (28:53):
Yeah, and I love when you're on.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
He just very quickly they do viery or listener emails
the end of most of their shows, and it's always
that big deal, like I sent I've sent a million
emails and I've gotten six or seven on over you know,
the years, all every now and then when you get
when you get an email on you're like, holy crap,
this is a big deal. And there's people that will
write in and they're like, oh, I work for, you know,
a pest control company. And one of the running jokes

(29:15):
is can I be the official pest control guy of
the Tony Kornheiser Show. So I wrote one in at
some point about being a Star Wars podcaster and said
and so he went on this whole little runner for
like a minute, and he my biggest point of pride.
He was like, Nick, what do you mean you talk
about Star Wars. It was just like it was just
this rent And like my friends that I've gotten to

(29:36):
know over the years that listen, they're like, dude, he
like called you out. So yeah, exactly, I got a
legit TK Rent about being a podcaster. So I'm probably
going to clip this out and send it to him
and see if I can get it on.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
He's been He's been really good to me. Man, and
it's uh, he's a legend by any measure, and so
it's been it's fun to get to know him a
little bit over the last few years.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
He's definitely one of my favorites.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
So the last one in this section, then we're gonna
get to our ten Questions quiz, which is a little
more Star Wars centric and focused, but this one is
also very self serving. Which sec rivalry is the most,
like the rebellion versus the Empire? And why is it
Auburn and Alabama?

Speaker 1 (30:17):
No, No, that's the answer. You said. You said it
before I could get to it. It's definitely Alburn and
Alabama because that was the that was what I was
fishing for. So and like like like the rebellion or
the resistance or whomever, sometimes their own worst enemy are
themselves and Auburn. And meanwhile, we always say the only

(30:38):
thing Auburn does better than you know, play football is
create their own drama and and so, yeah, and the
Rebels were really good at that. You know, sometimes you're like,
why are y'all doing this? You need to focus. And
that's how I feel about the Rebellion, and it's how
I feel about Auburn. Yeah, and then obviously you know,
Alabama's Alabama. And but then when you beat them, when

(30:59):
you blow up to Death Star, you know.

Speaker 2 (31:01):
Everybody all dancing and banging on stormtreeer helmets with drumsticks.

Speaker 1 (31:05):
Yeah, but then while you're celebrating and you're doing kind
of a bad job of running the republic, they build
another one. So yeah, yeah, right behind you. Perfect analogy.
So yeah, you took it. You know, there's no other
answer than that.

Speaker 2 (31:20):
Well, I kind of figured that would be the case,
but like I said, it was a very self serving
question to throw it out there.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
Well, we're going to now hit our ten question segments
what we do with our guests, sort of like inside
the Actors studio, but they're all Star Wars related. So
let me let me get to that first question here.
For you, what is your favorite Star Wars movie, TV show,

(31:56):
or book.

Speaker 1 (31:59):
I'm a Return of the Jedi guy. Listen, Empire Strikes
Back is one of the best films ever made. That's
not even that's not even a conversation. Like any list
you put together, whether you like Star Wars, whether you don't,
no matter what age you are, Empire Strikes Back is
on the list. But for me, personally, Return of the
Jedi is the one that I mean, it's the one.

(32:21):
I mean, I'm literally, I mean, I'm sitting there talking
to you guys, and my my mousepad is you know,
it was Best Star Too. And my my, you know,
this is my if you can see it, that's my
that's that's the ballot of death. Star Too is my
phone case. And so that's just that's the one. I mean,
I'm I quote that movie on an almost daily basis. Uh,

(32:42):
one of the most emotional experiences I've had in a
long time. Once I got to see the Charlotte Symphony
do the live score and and you know, I think
my favorite piece of Star Wars music is the build
up to the attack, you know, right right up to
it's a trap. And so yeah, no, no, I'm a
Jedi guy.

Speaker 2 (33:02):
Cool, perfect similar question, but one of the only non
Star Wars questions in this what is your favorite non
Star Wars movie?

Speaker 1 (33:12):
I love the right stuff, Yeah, the right stuff, And
I think that's a somehow has become forgotten and I
think it's one of the greatest films ever made. You know,
it kind of fell in that same window of age
for me when I was like thirteen years old, I
wanted to be an astronaut. Speaking of Alabama, I went
to I went to Space Camp when they first started

(33:34):
in the eighties. I went to Space Camp. I was
I was on track man, and then all of a sudden,
the science turned into math. And that's when I realized
that I'm gonna be I'm gonna be a sports writer. Yeah,
most of my counselors at space Camp were Auburn students
back in the day. But it was a great experience.
I'm literally on my desk right now. It's the NASA Archives.

(33:56):
I got that for Christmas. I still love it. But
The Right Stuff is to me, one of the most
underrated films of all time, and I'm very proud of that.
My daughter is My daughter's a centophile, and we had
this conversation the other day and and you know, she's
twenty years old and she would rather watch The Godfather
than anything that's out right now. So I'm very proud
of that. Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
Yeah, And that's a fantastic answer. And it's just another
reminder that Worke cut from the same cloth, because same thing.
Grew up a space nerd. Then when I found out
I had to be good at math. I went and
turns out not so much. Went to space camp in
sixth grade. The whole dell there you go. We were
we were, I mean, it was.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
It was one of the great experiences of my life.
But it was. Uh. But but and I and I
successfully I'm gonna drop a star trek uh on you.
But but we successfully we got through the Kobashi Maru
like when we did the thing, and I was I
was the mission commander and I'm very proud of that.
So we were at the National Championship game in Houston
two years ago Kosawall nash Championship and the Oriyan crew

(34:55):
was there, like the folks that are going to return
to the Moon, and they had the direct of NASA
sitting with them, you know, senator and uh and I
walked up and introduced myself. I said, I just want
you guys know that I went space camp in nineteen
eighty four and I've successfully you know, got us through
a worst case scenario missions. So if y'all need any
pointers or anything. So yeah, but once a turn of math,

(35:19):
my astronaut last dreams were done. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (35:22):
My biggest disappointment was that we didn't end up getting
launched into space like the movie Space Camp in the.

Speaker 1 (35:27):
Eighties, we had jypped. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (35:31):
Well, speaking of numbers, I hate to bring this into math,
but describe Star Wars in three words or less.

Speaker 1 (35:47):
I mean, my personal sentence would be altered my life.
But my description, if I was in the elevator trying
to describe it to someone would be space, family, drama, cool.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
Like it completely nails it. We're gonna get in a
couple of favorites for the next couple. What is your
favorite Star Wars sound effect? There's so many good ones.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Yeah, I mean, gosh, that's really really difficult. I'm an
R two D. I love R two D two anything
that comes out of his mouth. I'm all about out
of his out of his mouth. But you know, process
or whatever at the droid depot at Galaxy's Edge. You know,
I've been known to just drive everybody crazy because I'm
hitting every button I can find, just just droid sounds.

(36:36):
But then, and then, and then and then. The best
R two sound is obviously the scream, you know, when
when things are going wrong. But I mean when when
Boba fet when he drops the bomb. That that that

(36:57):
absolutely sucked all the air out of the theater and then
we get that sonic noise that it's it's hard to
beat that. I too. What's underrated though, and it sequels
is on the hold of Maneuver when which I love,
I love Last Shadow. I'll down that hill. I'm not
gonna apologize, but you're in. But but that that that

(37:21):
movie was so good and that scene was so dramatic,
and again like the Charge, like the Sonic Charge, it
was the silence of it and then that kind of
rip and scream and all that that that was that
to me, that's very underrated. But yeah, you can't. You
can't go wrong with a you can't go wrong with
the with the Sonic Charge from from Boba felt.

Speaker 4 (37:43):
It's fair, totally fair. Well, I think you answered the
next one. But who's your favorite droid out of all
of them? It's got to be our two, I guess,
But well, I.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Mean R two, R two. The reality is is that
our two saved the galaxy more times than we can
spend tire podcast going through all the time, and it
kept everyone's secrets by the way, you know, yes, I
mean the most loyal of loyal But the we did
a droid draft actually when we did uh, we did

(38:16):
that on on our on every telling of the Odds,
and we had such a good time doing it. But
it's uh, you know, I'm I'm a I love Pitt Crew.
I love the Pitt Droids because I'm a because I'm
a NASCAR guy. I sometimes get a little tired of
the smart Elex. Uh. I wasn't as heart broke. I

(38:36):
love Solo. Also, by the way, I wasn't quite as
heartbroken when she died and they plugg her into the
system as everyone else was, because I was I was like,
good because she just navigate now. But uh, but it's
it's hard, it's hard not to go with our two.
But I also I love C three po And it
goes back to like I said, that's my answer because
I love I just love that Laurel and hearty idea.

(39:02):
I love that againt C three p had that incredibly
emotional moment and rise of Skywalker when he said goodbye
to his friends. I just I think in him, I
just and I love, you know, uh, the fact that
he got the first and last line, you know, and
really in the in the in the first film and
in the in the ninth one and so, and I
love the book, by the way, I love Dam's book

(39:24):
about about being C three po. So I'm gonna go
We'll go with C three all right? Cool? You like
these You like these long, rambling, non committal answer.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
The answers are long and interesting, but they don't really
commit to anything.

Speaker 2 (39:39):
Yeah, but the answer, Yeah, it's a favorite child situation
most of the time. All right, Well, let's change it
up a little bit.

Speaker 3 (39:50):
Which Star Wars character would you most like to be?

Speaker 1 (39:53):
And why? I mean, you gotta go Hant Solo. I mean,
he's I mean, I'm being frozen for a while is
not any fun. But but but and you know, your
son giving it to you in the end not great,
but everything else is awesome. He's just what I love
about him. And I'm also I'm a Captain America guy.
And what I like about ye and I had to

(40:14):
I was you talk about nerding out when when I
had the chance to talk to Anthony Mackie at the
Dayton of five hundred old Sports Center. But then he
and I talked about it off camera. But what I
love about Han Solo is what I also love about
Sam Wilson as Captain America, which is there's no superserum.
He can't fly, you know, he can't shoot lasers out

(40:35):
of his fingers. He can't do any of these things.
And Han Solo never once came close to even moving
a cup across the table, right, there's no forced sensitivity whatsoever.
And his what I love about the character. And again
I love Solo. I love Solo the film. That's another
hill I will die on. And what I love because

(40:56):
it's it's that reminder of every opportunity in the WARLD
world to just be a bad guy and just be
happy that way, but has a moral compass that he
cannot ignore. And to me, that's what I love about
Han Solo. And again, uh, I thought the force wasn't
even real, but still but still was compelled to always

(41:18):
do the right thing. And plus he's he's funny as hell.
So it's you know, it's and and you and you
know I've met lots of ladies and drove the fastest
shipp in the galaxy. I'm not sure. I'm not sure
what else you want from somebody?

Speaker 3 (41:29):
Right, I can't beat that. Yeah, wins across the board,
That's it.

Speaker 2 (41:32):
And at this point, honestly the way the world's going
being frozen for a little while might not be the
worst deal.

Speaker 1 (41:37):
Ye yeah, yeah, yeah, no, no, I'm kind of doing
that right now. As a matter of fact, I'm not
reading anything or looking at anything except for except for
Star Wars.

Speaker 3 (41:45):
There you going into that carbon taper for a while.

Speaker 1 (41:48):
I'm all about it right now.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
Yeah, all right, Well, this one is not an easy question,
but it's it's I think we all have one, an
unpopular opinion about something star Wars, something that that's a
little bit perhaps off the beaten track. Doesn't have to
be a hot take, but something that you know, you

(42:11):
believe in, or that you you you gotta I thought
on that people may or may not agree with you.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
Okay, I'll give you two. And it always makes me
mad again. I love Solo. Solo. Solo is one that
I will just like, if I got an hour to
kill and I'm doing laundry or whatever, I will just
throw Solo up on Disney Plus and just have it
in the background. Like I think, I think that people do.
This internet thing that happened where people took a stand

(42:39):
on it. It was such a and then they got
mad because we didn't get any movies for a while.
I'm like, well, it's because you wouldn't i'd tell you
a story. So sec media days we're in probably I
guess it was probably probably Hoover when we were still
at the gallery all those years, and we always do
radio interviews, radio Marty and I'll go out. It was
pick an hour, and I remember I sat down and
there was a guy and he had on a Millennium

(43:01):
Falcon sweatshirt and the movie had just dropped. The movie
had dropped like a few weeks earlier. And I sat
down and we come up live, you know, and you
know it's it's Spanky into sports Freaks from you know,
wherever miss it. I don't even know where the front.
I can't tell you who it was. But I said, well, hey,
before you even get started, I said, tell me you
get your Millennium Falcon sweatshirt on, and tell me. We

(43:22):
thought solo. I'm not gonna see that. And I proceeded
for the next ten minutes, just be off on this
poor guy. And then they get to the end. I go,
all right, so you're gonna take a stand on something
that doesn't even make any sense, and I go and
then you're gonna be mad because they're not gonna make
any movies. They're gonna not make movies because y'all decided
to try to punish people for something that wasn't even

(43:43):
real or whatever. And and I went on and on
and on and on and on and on and then
and then we get to that, all right, well we'll
talk about sports now, and he goes, well, we're out
of time. So I made my I love solo. But
the other thing, and this drive is auto OKW crazy.
If you listen to it to our podcast, you'll hear it.
I love and Or. I think and Or is what

(44:03):
we call prestige television. Right, Yes, there are more amazing
moments in that first season, but it took me a
minute to get there. Like what I kept telling everybody,
we're like two episodes in and I and I kept
telling Arta and Clinton. I kept saying, is this show
just gonna be British people mumu by campfire? Because that's
kind of what we got right now. But then once

(44:25):
it got go, once the heist happened, and then you know,
and then the prison break, and I mean the in
the funeral, the moments were so amazing and I cannot
wait for season two. But when I go back and
watch it now, it wasn't as slow as I remember.
I think. I think, I just my brain is still
movie brain, like I'm waiting for it. Get there faster
and and and now you have to understand this is

(44:47):
a television series and it's a slow burner. But yeah,
that first two episodes, I literally was like, is this
We're just gonna sit around campfires? I can't understand anybody,
Like I got the TV at Thunder the ninety and
uh but but once but once it got going, it
was great. But yeah, but already gets so mad at
me when I say that, But it's true.

Speaker 4 (45:05):
What do you think of this release schedule that's coming
for Indoor season two? Of the three episodes at a
time of a week.

Speaker 1 (45:11):
I mean, and the way that the show is chunked
out those three episodes are very significant because you know,
we're I think we're dealing with an entire a big
period of time within those three and then next thre
you're gonna be another period of time. So so I'm
really and and you know, and and everyone has been
very open about the fact that this is going to
walk us literally right up to the opening moment over

(45:33):
a one, which which is amazing, But I like it.
I mean, it's different. You know, we all got a
little spoiled at the start of the streaming world where
we would get an entire season, you know, which which
granted entire season, like nine episodes, but at least you
can sit there and binge it. And then all of
a sudden, when we started getting one a week, my

(45:53):
daughter was like, what is this? This is how TV
used to work, you know, yeah, kids out there, this
is how it used to work. But the I like it,
I mean, you know, and I like that. I've always
liked the fact that they typically will drop two episodes first,
you know, get get a little momentum going, you know,
and so but it's gonna be it's gonna be interesting.

(46:15):
It's gonna be really really interesting. And it's uh and
you can tell the people who are involved with it
are so excited. And even my friends that work in
promotions at the Walt Disney Company, you know, we're already
starting to talk about what can we do to to
you Can I get a guest on Martin McGee? Can
we get a guest on Telling the Odds? And you
can tell with the pr people who work on these

(46:38):
things all the time what they're really excited about and
what they're having to get excited about. And they are
very excited, very excited about it, and so I'm I'm
really really I'm anxious to get it out there. Cool.

Speaker 3 (46:51):
Cool, that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (46:54):
Uh, let's see what if you could own any spaceship
or vehicle from the Star Wars universe?

Speaker 1 (46:59):
What to be?

Speaker 2 (47:00):
And I almost feel like I need to take your
in one off the table and make you choose something else.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Because yeah, normally with.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Fans of our age or our age, we.

Speaker 2 (47:10):
Take the falcon off the table because that's everybody's answer.

Speaker 1 (47:13):
So well, I just did myself a favor, so let
me shall you listen this is I just got this.
I just got this new desk lamp. H Yeah you did.
I just got that's my new desk lamp. I just
got so outstanding. All right. So, but if we're taking
the falcon off, and we're taking the end one off.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Make you work for it for a second.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Yeah, I mean, when my wife is out of town, hm,
what do I do? I I have a place, I
have a PS four, and I have Star Wars squadrons
and Captain Morgan and I go put the VR helmet
on and we fly that xt wing just all night long.

(47:59):
It's the answers that it Yeah, my truck. I drive
a red Ram Dodge Ram and the and it has
the Rebel logo license plate on the front and then
the it has the wrap around the license plate on
the back and it says RAD five standing by. I
call my call my truck red five. So I think
we'll I think that might believe that's the answer that

(48:22):
will take it.

Speaker 3 (48:22):
That's a good one.

Speaker 1 (48:23):
That's great, I know, and it feels basic, right. I know.
The hard course are like, oh you gotta go no no, no,
no no, it is what it is. But it's on.
But I love them all.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
That's leg answer.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
Well, I'm the one that goes like I do. I
do a segment on never telling the Odds, the Galactic
Garage and it's just me and arened out about ships.
And but my family that we just know when we
go to Hollywood Studios or we go to Disneyland, my
family knows I'm gonna take my time because even though
I've stood there and done this probably fifteen times, I'm
gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna go, We're gonna go look

(48:55):
at the A wing or we're gonna stand there. Ye,
and we're gonna go look at the next gen XT
wing and we're gonna stand there and I will just
go ship to ship to ship and just stare at
him and uh and that's I just I just can't
believe they're sitting there, right. I mean again, that goes
back to the kid thinking we're done. I just can't
believe that they're sitting there full size. I tell you
when we're sorry. So, when we did a promo shoot

(49:16):
for never telling Me the Odds a year ago, and
it was I had been to Dayton of five hundred
and then we were going to Tampa. The Tampa Bay
Lightning was doing a Star Wars night and we are
to you know, his hockey people let us do a
bunch of stuff. But in between we met at Disney
World and we did like a photo shoot and shot

(49:39):
some promo stuff at Galaxy's Edge and guys, they walked
us into Galaxy's Edge at five thirty in the morning
when it was still dark and the park didn't open
until eight, and we were in there by ourselves and
it was dark. But what was amazing was the sound
effects run all night. So we were standing in the

(50:01):
dark and the lights are on on the ship like
it's dark, but the lights are blinking on the falcon,
you know, and the ship that's you know, delivering and
cooking the food, you know, that sits up on the
you know, that's parked all the time. The engine starts
firing up, and there's ships flying overhead, and it was
the cool and we were the only people there, and
then Chewbacca walked in to do a photo shoot. It

(50:21):
was it was but but you talk about nerding out.
I mean, you know, my wife still has the video
of us walking around the corner of the galaxy's ash
for the first time and me seeing the falcon and
I knew it was coming, and I still cried. It's
just just it is what it is.

Speaker 4 (50:37):
Yes, Yeah, it was the same way when I saw
the falcon, it was just it blew me away. It was,
you know, as a kid who's always dreamed of seeing
it and then to see it it's such full size.
It's just loves your way. And I think you're right.
One of the great things about both galaxies edge in
California and Florida. I had the chance to go to both.
The sound effects are amazing because you find yourself looking

(51:00):
up and you expect to see a shuttle flying over
something and it's just it's it's really great. It's really
a very cool place to go.

Speaker 1 (51:07):
You know. So when they did when they did the
first Galaxy Edge opening in LA they had really large
X winging drones. No really couldn't tell you, but you
basically they were just designing something. The imagineers basically just
designed something where you see a silhouette and those things
were flying overhead. And you can't have that flying around

(51:31):
all the time because now it's air traffic and these
things are big and all that stuff. But they're in
One of them is in the Air and Space Museum,
the Hangar version of Air and Space Museum by DULAS Airport, Washington.
It's amazing to look at. But I wish I wish
those things were every now, and they're gonna bring them
back every but I'm meant to see those things flying around,
I would I would pass out. Literally.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
I haven't made it to Galaxy's Edge yet, but I
know when I get there, I'm going to be just
a useless pile of everything just ending in front.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Of all that. But then I'm also still I'm still
a Star Toars guy, like a row. So it's it's
it's it's an amazing it's it's an amazing experience.

Speaker 4 (52:10):
That was the highlight of the first trip that I
took with my kids to Disney World years ago. They
were small enough where they needed an afternoon to just
stay back at the hotel, and my wife was like,
I'll stay with the kids. I was like, no problem,
and I literally did star tours, like are you sure?

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Yeah, okay, yeah, okay, that's amazing.

Speaker 4 (52:40):
So our second to last question on this list is
what is your favorite Star Wars moment, whether it's in
the film or something that's happened for you.

Speaker 1 (52:51):
Well, I mean the moments for me or are when
when films have come out and been able to turn
my dollar to the theater her you know, you know,
and that and that's why the sequels will always hold
a special place in my heart because taking her to
go see the sequels and she she was just gotten
old enough to love it and had seen the originals

(53:13):
and she loved Anakin, you know, from the prequels, but
My favorite moment and and I still get emotional when
it happens, is when Luke can't take it anymore in
Jedi and comes out from one of the stairs and
the music the truck shot them, you know, him backing

(53:36):
Vader down as they come out from underneath the stairs,
and it's such a departure score wise for what John
Williams had ever had done at that point. That moment
right there. I get chills just now thinking about it.
But it's, you know, so when he says sister and
and Luke comes out, that's the one that that's that
to to this to this day. That's I still sit
in a hotel room in Boston two nights ago and

(53:58):
it dropped on T N T or whatever, and I
out there and waited on that moment. So that that's
the one for me.

Speaker 3 (54:03):
Very incredible, very very good.

Speaker 1 (54:05):
All right, our last one.

Speaker 2 (54:06):
We all have these, certainly as Star Wars fans of
a certain age, but also as dads.

Speaker 1 (54:11):
I think these come into play a lot.

Speaker 2 (54:12):
What is your go to Star Wars quote? What is
that thing that you just say? It can be random,
it can be one of the you know, do or
do not? But we've all got that Star Wars quote
that we go to what's yours?

Speaker 1 (54:23):
All right? This is an answer with a prop. I
have a I have a book back here called Admiral
Acbar's Guide to Everything and and and like you can
see here on the back he says, it's a book.
That's the whole book. It's a barn, it's a cow. Right,

(54:44):
So no, it's a trap, in fact, and it's a
double espresso, you know, and so so I uh and
in fact, it's funny. I do for Sports Center in
the fall and for college game do I get to
write these essays and they kind of let me pick
my topic and and we kind of based on what
all is happening in college football. But I did a
Sports Center essay last year because there was a week

(55:08):
on the schedule where the games weren't that great. And
my whole essay was, it's a trap, and you know,
be careful. It's a trap. And at the very end,
you know, they like photo shop my face on amar
Achbar's body and said it's the trap at the trap
is the one. But I look what I love, and
you guys, I love the subtle ones. So when my
daughter was visiting colleges. My wife and I both went

(55:29):
to the University of Tennessee. This a couple of years ago,
and we we went back to Knoxville and we had
just done Martin McGhee, and so people kind of had
me on my mind because we've just done the show
and we're walking around my daughter's getting the campus tour
and people are going, hey McGee, hey mc gee, and

(55:49):
go balls and all that stuff. And I leaned into
my wife and I go, I shouldn't have come. I'm
in dangering the mission. And I love the subtle quotes.
But it's a trap. I don't I don't have more
than and what are those star destroyers waiting for? But
but I don't. I don't go more than ten minutes
without more. I don't give more in a couple hours
a day without saying. It's a trap.

Speaker 2 (56:10):
It works for everything, And you're right, the subtlety, the
subtle ones, those are the ones that work.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
I said, you know a bunch of times.

Speaker 2 (56:17):
Mine was always like if I was dropping a kid
off at daycare and my older kids were in the car,
I'm running in the grocery store real quick. It was
I'll be right back, locked the doors and then after
half second, pies, hope they don't have blasters.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
No, like at the point where they'll say.

Speaker 3 (56:31):
It to me now and they're seventeen years old.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Bit well, but and that's a great moment though. Like
my daughter we were on we were in we were
in Europe. We took her to Paris. It was her
COVID trip that got cancel. We finally got to take
her like last summer, and we were on an escalator
at the Louver and there was a guy right behind
us and we have I have no idea what language
he was speaking, because everyone from all over the globe,

(56:55):
you know, was there. And my daughter lean over and
she goes, I think Grido is behind us. I was like,
that dude, totally sounds like Grito. And so so she's she.
I'm very proud of the fact that she she will
drop a subtle reference as well, and especially when she
gets it right.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
So I think the Gredo thing, I'll throw this out there.
It's just so bizarre. So I have a good friend
who uh, he's actually uh he done a lot of
work for Pixar and Disney, and and when he found
out that I was a Star Wars fan, he he
was like, oh, I know the entire Greto speech on

(57:35):
solo and he just went into it and it was
it was wild.

Speaker 1 (57:40):
It was he spoke a dease. It was just so fun.

Speaker 4 (57:43):
But it was just one of those things like again,
it's you know, he he's one of us. He'll understand
when I goes.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
Yeah, yeah, what my favorite is now because I will
my Instagram feed probably just like yours. It's just nothing
but Star Wars. And the funniest thing is where they
take like that is that one girl. It's a clip
from like Gimore Girls or Gossip Girl on them and
then the girl, the actress goes she use three words.

(58:12):
I just need you to say the three words and
then and then it cuts to he is you know
what a one guy. I will sit there. I will
sit there and scroll Star Wars is forever.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
Because my favorite was always the change my Mind meme.
The guy at the table it says change my mind,
and it says day wana wanga change.

Speaker 1 (58:32):
My That's it. That's it. That's the absolute best. Yeah,
that's great.

Speaker 4 (58:36):
Well, absolute best is the way to describe time we
spent with you.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
Ryan.

Speaker 4 (58:40):
Thank you so much. This has been an absolute blast.
Tell people where they can follow you and tell us
make sure they know about Never tell Me the Odds.

Speaker 1 (58:49):
Yeah, I'm at ESPN McGee on all the social media
platforms and then my work is you can find on
ESPN dot com. We Marty McGee's every Saturday morning seven
am Eastern, uh six am Central on ESPN Radio and
SEC Network. And uh yeah, Never tell Me the Odds
is about to be. It's about to come out of hibernation.

(59:09):
You know. We we are our producer Kelsey has had
a great opportunity and and h we were looking for
a producer. Clinton is a dad now, so he had
paternity leave and uh and now we're we're about to
get a crank back up just in time for and
or so wherever just like you guys, where wherever you subscribe.
It was we the like subscribe download all that stuff.

(59:33):
Uh yeah, me, Clinton Yates and U and Artocal and
we loved y'all show. And it's been so much fun
getting to know you guys, you know, and we have
such a great time with the with the other product
that we did together and and we we hope to
participate in that again this year. So give us a call.

Speaker 4 (59:52):
So thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
I appreciate you. See you again. Thank you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:00:00):
This has been around the galaxy. The Star Wars fan
talk show copyright twenty twenty five Pete in the Seed Studios.
If you had fun, please like, subscribe, share, rate, and
review it, and make sure to head on over to
www DOTSSW network dot com for more information about the show,
how to join us as a patron, and to get
our merch Our music has been brought to us by

(01:00:21):
the band Apollos Ghost. Available wherever you find music.

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