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October 23, 2025 10 mins

On the Thursday October 23, 2025 edition of The Armstrong & Getty One More Thing podcast...

  • Michael Jordan has made his NBC debut, and shared a story about a free throw.
  • Shaquille O'Neal talks about the lesson he learned from his stepfather about facing pressure.  

 

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
On a dark day for the NBA, two legends step
up with good stories. It's one more thing I'm strong
and Getty, one more thing.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Yeah, truly, just a coincidence that on a day that
the big NBA game fixing poker scandal thing broke, we
got a couple of clips from two of the all
time greatest players of all time that happened.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
Stories they told recently because the NBA season kicked off
this week, so a lot of NBA players are on
various shows telling various stories because they're you know, announcers
and blah blah blah blah blah. First one is Michael Jordan.
Perhaps you've heard of him. Played for the Chicago Bulls
with some success.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
He has the wagging tongue in the steely nerve.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
You don't hear a lot out of him. I've always
considered him kind of dumb. He's always seemed like, at
least a very shallow guy to me, with not a
lot to say.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
But yes, shallow might be a better description. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:54):
A lot of people who are really good at focusing
on things to the point of obsession and being great
are kind of well, they're focused on one thing so
they weren't thinking about a lot of other stuff. But anyway,
here's a story Michael Jordan told on the show the
other day.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Do you ever do you ever pick up a ball?
And this ship, I hadn't picked up a ball in years.
Come on, just like walk past. There's got to be
a hoop somewhere at your place. You don't see a
hoop anywhere around here, right, I don't.

Speaker 5 (01:20):
It's the last time you picked up a basketball and shot.
I was at the right a cup. Yeah, And I
rented a house from uh from the owner. Sure, he
came over to do pictures and grandkids and I was
beating greet and thank him for allowing me to stay
in the house. And he had a basketball court. He says,

(01:42):
I want you to shoot one free throw. I said, really,
I already paid for the already paid for the house,
and god likely you got to see me. So when
I stepped up to shoot your free throw, it's the
most nervous I've been. Stop it in years.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Stop it. Come on.

Speaker 5 (02:00):
The reason being is those kids heard the stories from
the parents about what I did thirty years ago. Right,
So the expectation is thirty years prior and I haven't
touched the basketball. I hope you switched it. Absolutely. I
got the most gratifying that made my whole week is

(02:24):
that I was able to please that kid, not knowing
if I could.

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Wow. See that's charming. Oh yes, he early showed that
side through this whole you know, days in the public eye.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
It's funny, kind of an idea. I suppose there's no
reason for him to pick up a basketball. It's just
kind of funny that he, you know, having had one
in his hand probably every day of his entire life
from age five until whenever he retired forty one.

Speaker 5 (02:52):
For you.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
Just you know, why would he? I guess. I remember
I saw Larry Bird being interviewed a while back, and
Larry Bird was ask do you think you could bet
Michael Jordan one on one right now? He said, I'm
old and fat. God, I can't even imagine. He said,
I'd try real hard, I'd make him work for it,
but I'm old and fat. But that was funny. Here's
also a charming story. I thought this was great. This

(03:17):
is Shaq on The Tonight Show. Shaquille O'Neal on The
Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon the other night, there's a
game you.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Were playing against the Knicks and you didn't play so well.

Speaker 6 (03:25):
So it was sort of like the karate kid like
he had small little sayings that really didn't make sense
at the time. But so to your next stories. I
had a terrible game versus the Knicks. He made me
fly home, and what I didn't like about the military,
he was like me and me at the house at
oh seven hundred, So now I got to do math

(03:45):
in my head. I met him at his house in
Orlando and we got in the car and he's the
type you don't speak unless you're spoken to. So I
was like, what did I do wrong? He's like, shut
the hell up. So driving and we going to this bridge,
and before we approached the family, he said, you couldn't

(04:07):
handle the pressure, and I was like, yeah, it was
masson square guard and I just Patrick, you and one
of my favorite players. I couldn't handle it. And he
says to me, pressure is when you don't know where
your next meal is coming from. And there was a
homeless family sitting right there, a guy, his wife and
two kids. He said, that's pressure. He said, I'm tired
of you spoil rich athletes making all his money, who
don't perform at the level that you're supposed to perform too,

(04:29):
blaming it on pressure. So he made me get out.
I made contact with the family, I got him apartment,
got him a job, I got into Shade. But things
like that just gave me a different perspective. So pressure
to me is like, well, you don't know where your
next meal is coming from. So I don't really believe
in the word pressure.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Woh my god.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
I'd heard him tell that story before, and he said
that changed his perspective the rest of his career. That
was from his rookie year. He just he no longer
felt Pressure's just like just a game. I'm gonna try
my hardest, you know, I'd like to make this shot
or whatever. But it's not life or death. I'm rich,
I'm healthy, I got a great family. What am I
worried about here? Which everybody should be able to get
into that mindset really, but it's hard to do.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah right, Yeah. His dad sounds like an amazing guy.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Well he's a big military guy and everything. Yeah, yea, yeah, yeah.
I love Shaq Shack and the love Harry Entertaining dude,
Shack Fu Shack Daddy as hilarious, Katie.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
When I was at the University of Illinois, they played
the line I played, Did he go to LSU? Yeah,
they played LSU, and everybody's talking about Shaquille O'Neil, Shaquille O'Neil,
Shaquillo O'Neal, and uh. And I went to the game
and uh, and I came away completely unimpressed.

Speaker 1 (05:38):
Really, he's just.

Speaker 2 (05:39):
A big, huge dude who backs in with his ass
and flips the ball.

Speaker 6 (05:44):
To the hoop.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, and he doesn't.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Look terribly skillful. And then he made hundreds of millions
of dollars doing that very thing. Yeah, over and over again.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
He was unstoppable there for about three four years.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
He showed you.

Speaker 7 (05:57):
Huh, hey, Kobe, tell me all my ass tastes. That's right,
Kobe tell me how my ass taste Haro shack ping
of all time? And then my only other Do you
know that story, Katie?

Speaker 5 (06:09):
No?

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Oh, yeah, I think it was after they won their
NBA championship in Miami. Of course, it was. That's what
he was up so he he and Kobe don't get along.
Lakers are a dynasty. He he and Kobe don't get along.
He leaves and goes to Miami, then wins a championship
in Miami.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
So well, he was more or less sent away because hey, Shack,
it's Kobe Steam.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Yeah, so he leaves, he leaves, goes to Miami, wins
a championship in Miami, then goes to a club that
night and is the DJ at the club, and he's
they're scratched free syl. He's freestyling. That was his wrap.
Hey Kobe, tell me how my ass taste. That's right, Kobe,
tell me how my ass tastes.

Speaker 2 (06:44):
And there's he did. He was actually pretty good freestyling too,
but that was like the hook.

Speaker 1 (06:50):
I love that. Oh my god.

Speaker 8 (06:53):
He seems like such a fun guy. I've seen so
many videos of him circulate online.

Speaker 1 (06:58):
You know. There was one reason where he was backstage somewhere.

Speaker 8 (07:01):
I don't know what he was doing, but there was
this little, tiny kid and he was wearing a Shack
jersey and it was more recent and the security the
kids went to go run to hug Shack, and the
security kind of pushed the kid back, and Shack looked
over and pushed the security guard out of the way
and pulled the kid over and put his arms around him.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
And stuff.

Speaker 8 (07:17):
It was. He just seems like a real down to
earth dude.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
Yeah, he's very generous, Yeah, very generous.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
With it's because you know, you heard the story about
his dad. Is his upbringing that guard right, Yeah, So.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
My only other Shack story, And Jack was there too
when the original Dream Team was practicing at the Charlotte
Coliseum whatever they call it where the Hornets played back
in the day, when we were working in Charlotte and
the players were coming out of the locker room to
get ready for practice. We were right there on the
court we'd been allowed to observe it or whatever. Super cool,

(07:48):
and all the guys come out, including a couple of
seven footers, and like, wow, that's a big dude, and
blah blah blah. And then standing next to a couple
of seven footers, Shack comes out and it's like, holy shit,
is that just one dude. I mean he was so
thick and so muscular. He made the other giant dudes

(08:12):
look like children. Wow, unbelievable.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
That's right. Cool. That must have been so cool.

Speaker 2 (08:17):
Stop it with that, right, Yeah, it was incredibly cool.
If you're an NBA fan, Yeah, it was amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Oh yeah, although I was snubbed.

Speaker 2 (08:26):
By the great Alonzo Morning.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
That's right, That's right.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
I said, hey, lonso a quick picture and he's like, no, man,
I gotta go over here.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
He just walked away.

Speaker 2 (08:38):
So that's been a running joke between us now for decades. Nah,
I gotta go over there. Jack. Jack was snubbed by
John John No Rick Berry Rick berrys remember that Rick Berry.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
He's in the newsroom for a while. He's a well
known dick though, so it's not that surprising. I said, hey,
I just I just gotta say hello, because, like my
dad will be amazing that I can say. I actually
shook your hand, and he said, you know whatever, went
back to that's what he actually says to a guy
who says what I said. I mean a colleague, no

(09:10):
less and yeah in a radio colleague. That's the opposite
of shack yeah whatever. People idolize me, whatever, who cares
people like me on him?

Speaker 8 (09:18):
I've played basketball well, I don't need more, obviously, but
when I was a kid and I got to go
to the Warriors basketball camp, the Junior Warriors in Oakland,
and I'll never forget. They're smaller names, obviously, but Antoine
Jamison and Muggsy Bogues. Back in the day with the Warriors,
they were like the dream team. We got to scrimmage
those guys, and they were so fun and they were

(09:40):
out there just playing with all of us kids, and
I just remember looking up and going, oh my god,
Muggsy Bugs looked huge to me because I was I
was like a little peanut, but it was so.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
He was about five eight or something. Yeah, one of
the smallest five to six.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:53):
He played for Charlotte when we were there too. He
was amazing to one.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Really.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Oh by the way, if you are an NBA fan
and you like the whole thing, there isn't a video
that I saw not long ago of Shaq and Kobe
talking to each other. They kind of did an interview
with each other shortly before Kobe's death when they had reconciled,
talking about their days together and everything like that. That
was really interesting as a basketball fan, I reckon, Yeah, well,

(10:17):
I guess that's it.
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