May 12, 2024 • 36 mins
J.R. and Alvin discuss the NBA Playoffs, Jokic's MVP, early MLB season and wish all the moms a Happy Mother's Day! Enjoy and thanks for listening. Please share, comment and subscribe.
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(00:02):
Welcome to the The Firelight Podcast,brought to you by the The Firelight Podcast
Network. I'm jug joined by mywonderful cost Alvin Glenn. What's good because
yo, yo, what's good man? I'm good man, I'm good.
Thomas Stevens is not here. Heis out. Word on the street is
Thomas Stevens saved a cat and akindergartener from a burning building all in one
(00:29):
day. On in one day,you know the kindergarten. Kindergarten was holding
the cat. Hahah. He isstill a superhero, still a superhero.
Yeah, and they say not allsuperheroes wear capes, but he does.
He does, and it does.Yeah, a purple velvet with some boots,
(00:52):
with some boots and a challice.Shout out to you. Thomas Stevens
continued doing great things. The worldneeds you. We need more superheroes,
so keep it up. And apparentlythe world needs it more than we need
because he ain't been here a while. We have to call h uh.
Put a bulletin out on him.Put a bulletin out on and uh.
(01:14):
And I think our offices has movedto downtown North Dakota. We need to
get him. The memo the memo. We need to send him to memo.
Yeah, a work, but thememo the official change. I agree,
We're gonna have to do that,so it's out of Thomas. Yeah
(01:36):
man, what up, Pool.We'll see you in a couple of weeks,
yes, sir, But yeah,man, how's everything with you?
You know, man, we wastalking last week about as a New York
sports fan, things is kind ofgravy right here. So just just relishing
(01:57):
the Knicks pulling off a big win, can't forget to mention that the Rangers
have not lost a game in theplayoffs. They are six and oh,
So I mean, I hate thejinx them because I am also a superstitious
fan, so I don't want tojinx them, but as of this recording,
they were six and oh. Butthe Knicks are the story right now,
(02:20):
and just all of their games arethrilling. They take down to the
wire because of the way they play. They're not the most prolific offensive team,
but they play great defense. Theygot a lot of will, So
what tends to happen is their gamestend to come down to the wire.
And because they got a great leader, their best player is not only poised
(02:46):
and not only gets a lot outof his players, but he also shows
up and performs well in the clutchmoments. And so it's great to see
because we haven't had that player andthe nick uniform in a long long time.
He is quickly quickly moving up thelist of my favorite best knicks of
(03:09):
all time. He is already numberfive. Mm. Okay, so so
not necessarily greatest store best. Weare gonna do that. Who your favorite
Nick all time? Five? Yeah, So it stars with Patrick Ewing,
then it goes to Banar Kings inorder. This is in order stars for
(03:31):
Patrick Ewing, goes to Banar King. Then it goes to Walter Clive Frasier,
Okay, then Mark Jackson and thenJalen Brunson at number five and honorable
mention to Alan Houston, honorable mentionto Larry Johnson. Honorable mentioned the street
wheel right, all all those cats, but it's it's something about the way
(03:55):
just how Jalen now moved past themso quickly. Is definitely something about the
way he plays, the way heshows up, the fact that he wants
to be there, he wants theball in his hand. Just I'm just
all in on jail and Brunston reallyreally am absolutely, I'm just disappointed because
(04:17):
Chris Childs is you know that guybecause he threw that two piece at Kobe.
I'm sure he's one of your favorite, you know, but John Star
Chris Childs like, you know,being a Knick fan, We've definitely Charlie
Ward some interesting characters. I've likedOak and you know, so he'll he'll
(04:40):
go down as one of my favoriteNicks of that era. But I like
the way he played, loved thatphysical style of basketball. So many of
the man in that organization. Soyeah, yeah, have some great ones.
But trust me, if y'all,if y'all are fans from you know
some of the previous seasons, Uh, Porzingis is not on that list.
(05:05):
I remember I was not a fanwith the Nicks. Sat Chris STAPs,
Chris stabs yours and Phil Jackson's favorite, right right, Yeah, But it's
been great series, man. Ilike the way the Pacers are. You
(05:29):
know, they are young team withwith uh and so they're showing listen.
You know, I appreciate the politician, especially during the playoffs, right,
I know that I don't watched wedon't watch enough playoffs series that we know
when you're losing and uh, youhave something to complain about to try to
(05:50):
get an edge with the rest.And I've seen some of the best coaches
do it, no doubt, Butyou ain't got to bring up big city,
small city man. Anybody that's kindof ain't nobody trying to heal it,
just keep it on for whatever reason, y'all not calling the way I
like it, and work the rest, but bringing up big city, small
(06:12):
city like the refs are trying toget the Knicks into the finals or the
NBA. Now, you know,if if Rick Carlisle was one of my
uncles, I would expect to hearsome of the conspiracy theories because I've been
hearing at conspiracy theories about the NBAthe little Boy. But when you NBA
(06:33):
coach, I'm not expecting that tocome out of your mouth. Yeah,
and a veteran coach, Yes,correct. And that's such a flimsy argument
for to say it's scuts on thedude being a small marked team like the
reigning champions ain't from Denver, Hello, exactly so. And the team that's
(06:58):
whooping up on the reigning champions ain'tfrom Minnesota. Hello, So can we
talk about the Minnesota for a second. Oh yeah, man. The thing
that's most impressive about Minnesota, one, of course, is not only how
well they play defensively, but howversatile they are defensively. Like you got
(07:24):
the a four time Defensive Player ofthe Year at center, but you also
got like a wingman who's also adp O Y candidate. His backup is
also just as good defensively, smilingin the face of the best player on
the other team, like let's goright, like clapping his hands, smiling,
yell that is that's that's devious ashell, man, Like I don't
(07:48):
play basketball no more because my kneesdon't agree with it, right, But
when I did, I think themost frightening thing and I would say that
was a pretty intimidating player. Butthe most intimidating thing to me is to
see someone enjoying locking me down.It ain't nothing I can do about it.
(08:11):
Like that is intimidating and it's frustrated. This dude just laughing sliding ninety
four feet off the court. Tome, that's what's That's what I really
enjoy about some sports is that youcan see someone get dominated and it is
(08:31):
interesting to see when someone enjoys whenthey're dominating somebody else. But it's a
mental game because to your point,I never liked it either, right,
And it can have a crazy effecton you when you're like, there's nothing
I can do, There's literally nothingI can do. Yeah, shout out
to Anthony Edwards because when you throwthat level of defense on a team and
(08:54):
then his and call Anthony Towns abilityto put up points, Yeah, they're
a dangerous team. Right, Andshout out to Mike Conley for being the
anchor, you know, glue forthat team the better and like they are.
(09:18):
And I won't say, well,we talked about last week how tough
it is to repeat in general,h but it's it's doubly is tough for
you when they're bad going against theteam like Minnesota, because Minnesota has the
capability to exploit all of their weaknessesin a way that in the first round
(09:43):
the Lakers just couldn't do, especiallywithout a defender like Jared Vanderbilt, you
know, him being hurt and soto have that kind of athleticism and length
and versatility, it is kryptonite forDenver because Jokic struggles against length because he's
a blow. The rim player JamalMurray is creative, but he's not super
(10:09):
explosive. Nope. And their thirdoption can't create on his own in Aaron
Gordon. Correct. And so wheneverybody's blitzing the ball and blitzing Jokics and
Murray, they got a feed offto a guy like like Garon Gordon who
(10:31):
can't hit open shots. That's theproblem, right, And he's got to
rely on other people to create forhim or get put backs and garbage,
you know, and not necessarily garbage, but we call him garbage points.
And he's just not the type thathe's going to create for himself and not
going to run the offense through him. So everything bogs down and before you
(10:52):
know it, they down twenty again. But they were able to do that
against the Lakers because the Lakers couldn'tforce stops four stops. The other thing
that's being exposed is they got agood matchup for Michael Porter Jr. Yeah.
Absolutely, And he's someone who,to your point, isn't isn't creative
(11:16):
and consistent enough to take advantage ofthis type of defense. Yeah, And
a guy like Porter, if he'snot scoring and if the ball is not
going in for him, he doesn'taffect the game and any other way.
So it's not like he's gonna bea lockdown the fender or he's going to
be an energy guy and that's hisroad and he's good at it. But
(11:39):
when it's not going he doesn't haveany other way to contribute, and it's
tough. And one thing I'm learningabout the Nuggets, and I hate to
say this, but I call itlike I see it. They seem like
a bunch of front runners to me. Mm. It was when things aren't
going away, they're starting to fallapart. You know, when you look
(12:07):
at who I mean, I giveMichael, I give Joker. I think
he's mentally tough, and even Jamal, But to your point, you don't
see that grit right in that team, right and to our previous conversation,
(12:33):
they had it last year mhm.And it's tough to keep that up.
I mean, it's your old schoolhip hop head. You can't fake the
fuck but for so long, right, no, you can't. And so
you know, sometimes you need andyou know, some of the best teams
when are importing players, you know, like when to your point, it's
(12:54):
really difficult to take the same teamto repeat, and some of those teams
kind of it might be a tradeor free agency and they bring in some
of that hunger in because they,to your point, are anticipating the team
that just wanted knock on hav It, Right, Yeah, so it's difficult.
So h Yoga is their leader.You mentioned him being mentally tough,
(13:22):
So I guess his question is kindof twofold. When do you think he
was worthy of being the league thisyear? Well? With the role I
thought and beat Embiid at the beginningof the season before he gets hurt was
to me the MVP and so butI think you know, he eliminates himself
(13:45):
due to the injury, not justbecause he doesn't play enough, but I
think in terms of the actual criteria, now you have to play a certain
amount of games. But I thinkyou know, he came back at the
very end of the season playing reallywell. But you gotta give the joker
to me the credit the edge becausehe plays consistently and out of the only
(14:15):
other player I would say, you'relooking at Tatum, You're looking at Anderson,
maybe Sga Across. I'm a nickI'm gonna throw Jalen Brunson in there,
but consistency I think definitely matters,and so him having done it year
after year after year after year,he would have got my vote. Kay.
(14:35):
So with that, and I knowit's hard to compare errors, but
do you think he benefits greatly fromplaying a traditional center style in this era?
He definitely does, because he's uniquein that way. You know he's
(14:58):
not you know, Embid is anotherone who but it's not throughout the entire
league where you're seeing the night right. Yeah, And this is why I
think, again, you hate tocompare errors, and I think it gets
(15:18):
skewed in a historical sense because thisis what bothers me when people say Jokic
is the best big man, topthree big man of all time, and
that's so tough to say. I'veheard people say that, and I've heard
people say he's been than a lodgeright and that guy like you mentioned Patrick
(15:43):
Ewing, and it's Yokich is great. But I find a hard time believing
he would be as dominant if hehad the face correct night at the night
at the night. Those type ofcenters who for one, not only could
(16:07):
combat him mm hmm physically would makehim work, right, they were,
but they would also be accustomed tohis style of play. A lot of
centers these days don't lie to Guardenbecause they're not accustomed to Garden, a
big back to the basket seven footthat it's just not I mean when you
really think of in terms of sinnersin the league right now, who might
(16:33):
give him hard efforts when they compete, you know, embad up there,
Yeah, go bear a d occasionallyoccasionally, but even him not not consistently
right right, just not to yourpoint, elijahwan Ewing. They're playing chat
(16:57):
Robinson, they're playing at a timewith every team had right and even low
end centers. And y'all don't getus. We're not saying NBA basketball in
general was better or worse. Itwas just different. So don't don't don't
come at us with that. I'mjust but even lower end centers in those
(17:18):
days we're very capable. Brad Doughertymm hm, very you know, guys
like that, like I mean,you know, yeah, I mean right,
Robert Parrish. You know, theyweren't slouches. But even if they
were low ends and they will beaccustomed to this style of play. You
(17:40):
just don't get that type of waveof big men, and so I think
it's you know, in the leaguethat's dominated by perimeter play, you know,
I think he definitely benefits from it, and it allows him to stand
out and be his uniqueness was wasn'tas unique twenty years ago. I mean,
(18:04):
he he's an extremely skilled basketball player, and so because of that,
he's able to take advantage of thedefensive deficiencies of most teams. But you
know, to his credit, greatpasser, and that coordination is great,
(18:25):
awesome, right, I mean,and so I think it's it's a combination
of right time, right era,which is why he is showing up as
as one of the best of theleague, because yeah, and he takes
advantage of being a guy who's notoverly explosive, right, he knows how
(18:52):
to play angles and and you know, you pump fake people out of this
use and you know, shoot fromdifferent angles. Like he's very very crafted
to his credit. Yeah, absolutely, kind of like Steph Curry in that
way. And yeah, you know, has found a way to It's kind
(19:15):
of like in baseball. You know, you got the fastball, but then
you got the change up, andso most players are so used to the
fastball. If you've got an effectivechange up. You're going to strike a
lot of people out about your point. I think if you're playing defense,
whether it's going against a left handedparent, left handed person, but you
used to playing right handed, oryou're used to playing a more explosive athlete
(19:37):
when you get to come across someof them crafty, slower athletes that is
more skilled and play at their ownpace, right. Jalen Brunson is another
one, absolutely yeah, and youknow when and which makes like players like
(19:57):
your Steph more say, likable butrelatable because as fans, most people look
at guys like that and say,this guy can't jump over a phone book.
I could do that if I wantedto, but he's still scoring,
right. I could do that ifI try, if I was still in
(20:17):
my twenties, and I could havedone as opposed to guys like Shat or
Lebron, who people just feel wandered, right yeah, people just feel like
he just wanted a gene louder,you know, and neither to me like
what people in both cases are sellingthese athletes Short's a level amount of effort,
(20:41):
skill development, training, taking advantageof what your particular gifts are and
bringing something to the team. Effort, and you know, to your point,
I think unless you a lot ofpeople don't appreciate how skilled Shaquille was
with his footwork and with his body. Yeah, yeah, those are takes
(21:07):
I hate to hear. It's stufflike you know, Shock didn't just bully
his waiting to the lane. Allyou do is dump. Yeah, if
if Lebron went so big a strong, if Michael couldn't jump so high,
like I hate stuff like that becausethat's part of your skill set. Yeah,
so I couldn't say, like,well, you know, Sandy Kofax
(21:33):
couldn't throw the balls, right,he may have such a strong arm,
right, it wouldn't be good.Like you know, Randy Johnson didn't have
a cannon for an arm, PeytonManning didn't have such accuracy. Like,
No, that's part of your skillset. That's what makes you, right,
that's what made because it's a wholelot of dudes with strong arms can
jump out. Who didn't do that? A lot of big muscular count right
(21:56):
to the league. Yeah. Idon't know if any the Stanley Roberts Hello,
but right right he was. Shacksaid it himself. Stanny Roberts was
wait like twice as good as hewas, but he just didn't work.
So yeah, it's uh, thisis just part of being great is doing
(22:18):
great things, Yeah, and doingthem a lot doing them. And so
we'll see if Denver can come back, because they're definitely on the ropes right
here. Man. Yeah, Ithink I have more faith in the Pacers
making a run with the Knicks thanI do with Denver getting off the mat
(22:41):
and beating Minnesota. It's just toyour point, I don't like the look
on the faces when I look atthe Denver Nuggets, like yeah, either,
I mean I like it because I'mnot a Denver fan, but I
like what you see. I like, right, But you know, and
it's not like Jamal Murray just hadan off night, missed a bunch of
(23:06):
open shots or yo kic just likeyoga, just defense and get a whole
lot better. But that's not it'snot unusual. He kind of laps in
the defense. He's gotten bad,but he's not an elite defender. Their
their best hope is Anthony Edwards hasan off night. I think they're banking
(23:27):
on to get back in this series. Is somehow he can't be as dominant
as he has, but he's beenthe best player on the court, right.
But the only thing with that iseven if he even if he does
have an off night, two thingscan happen and probably will. They got
another All star and prolific offensive playerand called Anthony Towns and two defense ten
(23:56):
typically doesn't have off nights. Yes, that's true. Yeah, Defense it
travels well, so whether it's homeor road or defense doesn't go away.
Defense is like the truth, youdon't have to keep making up. It's
gonna stay right there with you,which is why it's so easy to love
(24:18):
these Knicks if you love hard nosedefensive right uh teams, because you know
they tend to play good d Ithink Minnesota is a better defensive team,
but different. I think that theinjuries are absolutely going to come up to
(24:41):
hurt because well, I haven't heardanything about og. He heard his hamstring
last night, but I haven't heardany updates on if he's going to be
in and out. But I amextremely impressed with how that plays. YEA,
yeah, so do you think andI know, as a a go
(25:02):
to guys of one, Julius Randall'snot your favorite guy, correct, but
do you so do you think itwas losing him was kind of addition by
audition, by subtraction, or wouldyou have liked to see him in this
playoff the way they're point, Iwould have liked to see him in this
(25:22):
playoff run the way they were playing. I think the way the Knicks were
playing, Jalen was already cemented asright. I can't say the guy because
Julius Randall was still a guy aswell, so they were developing as the
guys. But my point is justthat I don't think I think what has
(25:45):
allowed what has happened in Julius Randall'sabsence is Dante and Josh Art have stepped
up, and I don't think Ithink they would have been more role players
with Julius Randall, and even IsaiahHartenstein. I think they've had to elevate
(26:07):
their games to make up for theJulius Randall loss, and so I think
that's definitely a factor. But eitherway, I'd rather have Julius. I
mean, I didn't like him asa to your point, as the number
one option, but I thought heplayed hard. I thought he you know,
(26:30):
was growing and was giving him somespace to hopefully get it right.
Some of the mistakes he was makingjust terms some of his choices on the
court. Yeah, I like,yeah, you know, he's only he's
one of the only dudes that haveever seen stand up to Zach Randall.
(26:51):
Mm hmmm. Well it's interesting,right because when he came in, I
kind of saw him as a aZach Randolph, like that was kind of
my ceiling for him. But uh, he's shown up to be more of
a more athletic version than I imagine, and I think changing the shifting of
(27:15):
the game that forced him to changehis style. But yeah, that was
definitely my comp for him Zach Randolphin the league. But he's a better
shoot him, more athletic, morerange, and in today's game, you
know, the tough guys are dyingbreath. Yes they are. I do
(27:37):
think, you know, as goodas the season has went for the Knicks,
I mean because I think that ogtrade of R. G. Barrett
R J. Barrett was one thatI wasn't sure about. But I'll take
that as a win. Yeah,I'm good with that. But Obie Tompin
I wish they had kept and Iunderstood. I really think they did solid
(28:00):
for Obie and it was just like, look, we got Julius here,
You're not gonna be the guy.You know, we like you, We're
not gonna sign you. Just goahead and we'll get something for you.
But with Julius getting hurt, wecould we would have liked to have Obi
on our team, and yeah,that would be nice. Question though,
is do they because they've got evidenceof they can be successful without Julius Randall,
(28:29):
do your move them in the offseason. Yeah it's tough, right,
yeah, and don can watch sportit is. But it's tough to
get rid of talent willingly. Sothat's a tough question. Yeah, you
know, the one before move on. I've been due for the last few
(28:51):
years. I had no idea that, I say, your heartstyle was a
black dude. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Yeah it's his dad's black, likehis dads like. But yeah, yeah,
and especially as less importance time,so you know, I never would
(29:15):
have thought it. But yeah,hm hmm, that's that's that's interesting.
He's someone who has I thought hewas gonna be more of a shooter for
some reason. I just I don'tknow. I just thought he could shoot.
But he will go down and theylook at this season as just one
(29:37):
of the unsung surprise heroes of thisyear. All right, yeah, he's
uh, definitely more capable than Ithought he'd Yeah, he's played well absolutely,
Oh real quick, Well, we'lldo a deeper dig on this next
week, but give a little bitof a tease on Major League Baseball.
(30:03):
Yeah, so will those of youare not aware. Occasionally we do as
a resident baseball expert here as wellas hockey. But yeah, so we
we occasionally do an als baseball roundup. So yeah, well we'll have your
music cueued up next week, butget the folks a little bit of taste,
(30:26):
a little teaser, you know,as we come into the season,
you know, just so everybody understands, I am still a die hard Yankee
fan, diehard Dodger fan. Andso how did that happen yet those who
haven't heard the story, Yeah,and you know, literally, since I'm
a little boring, I'm a fanof those teams, the Dodgers. I'm
(30:51):
a Dodger fan because in the seventiesand honestly in the seventies, I'm watching
baseball and the Yankees are Dodgers aretoo popular successful team. So again,
like most kids and as they watchsports when they're young, if the team
is winning, it's a chance thatyou might become a fan of that team.
(31:12):
I'm also a fan because of theDodgers, because as you grow up
in Brooklyn, you grew up inNew York City, a lot of older
black people were Dodger fans because theyused to be Brooklyn Dodgers. They were
also the team that gave Jackie Robinsona shot. So there was as I'm
a kid and teenager, I'm meetinga lot of black people in New York
(31:36):
City who Dodgers were their favorite team. So that just kind of fueled me
to hang on to that team.And then if you are a New York
fan of sports, you got tobe a fan of one of the local
teams. And so you know,I'm a Yankee fan mainly because the Dodgers
(31:59):
and the Rock and the Mets inthe National League, so you can't really
root for both of them. Soeventually I just latch on to the Yankees
as a teenager and just ride themon out. But die hard Yankee,
diehard Dodger fan. And to theircredit, they are really both looking good
(32:20):
as the season starts, and somany people might have heard about the Dodgers
signing that seven hundred million dollar contractshow hal Tani, So that was a
big deal coming into this year.And he's having a great season, one
of the major league leaders and homeruns. And then on the Yankee side,
they didn't have the greatest year lastyear, but they made some really
(32:42):
good moves and got a young outfieldof Wan Soto in the trade from the
Padres, and he's from New Yorkand it's just thriving in this new team
and so have a good year.And so with him Aaron Judge as one
two, the Yankees have got offto a good start. And so they
(33:04):
need some help with pitching names healthythis year John Carlos, Yeah, and
knocking them out the park busy,yeah, quickly. When he hits the
ball, it's like a line driveright hit the ball screaming because it's getting
hit at like one hundred and twentymiles per hour right off the bat.
So yeah, so that you knowa little insight on my two favorite teams.
(33:29):
But I'll come next week with somemore some updates and maybe some rule
changes and just how maybe even giveme some predictions of who we might expect
to get to the end of thisin September. No doubt. Yeah,
we look forward to it. Soyeah, So next week we'll have an
Ours Baseball round up. So introducedour knew listeners to around the Trivia where
(33:53):
I put al and thumbs through around of brain twisting, exhausting triviua and
now now the term with me.So yeah, it's always pretty fun,
whether it's occasionally, especially in slowtimes like this when there's not a lot
of NFL going on now, soyou know, we like to break it
(34:15):
up a little bit. Sounds good, sounds good? You got anything else?
Will we leave? No? Man? Just uh we're going into Mother's
Day weekend, So show some loveto your mother. Take some time out
on Sunday too. You know,if you are blessed to have them in
your life, show them some love. Absolutely, man, I agree,
(34:37):
that's what I was going to say. Show all the mothers in your life
some uh some love this weekend,man, as I mean we always should,
but give them a little bit extrathis week. Your wives, I
know you know when I mean,aw, you're aware most of our listeners
are. My wife was out oftown aiding her her father at the time
(34:59):
for six week and I got itdone, but I was I was beat
up when uh scambling. So Igot two teenage boys. It was not
easy feed and getting them around.So shout out to my wife, my
mom my, sisters, my cousins, my aunt's allis so show you to
(35:20):
show the mothers in your life andtruly a blessing. Mothers are truly a
blessing. Absolutely, And for thoseof you who are aware with our previous
show, shout out to Keita,shout out the shout out to Gina,
and shout out the lady. Welove it out, no doubt, we
love you. Shout out to allthe moms and wives of one out of
(35:42):
should no doubt. Cool man,Well, Thomas, we'll see you next
week. Man, hope you ain'tbreak the ankle. Twist twist the ankle,
break a leg and nothing out.They're saving lives man, the cat
and the kindergarten. The are goodright right right Kate. We don't want
that Kate to get caught up inthe branches or something and getting them out
the tree. Absolutely. Man,y'all go out there and do us a
(36:05):
solid like, comment, share,subscribe, Find us on YouTube, go
to fire Life. Find us onall your favorite podcast platforms. Check out
Ours of the show Aftergate, allof our shows on the network. We'll
see y'all next week. Until then, to fire Life The fire Life
Welcome to the The Firelight Podcast,brought to you by the The Firelight Podcast
Network. I'm jug joined by mywonderful cost Alvin Glenn. What's good because
yo, yo, what's good man? I'm good man, I'm good.
Thomas Stevens is not here. Heis out. Word on the street is
Thomas Stevens saved a cat and akindergartener from a burning building all in one
(00:29):
day. On in one day,you know the kindergarten. Kindergarten was holding
the cat. Hahah. He isstill a superhero, still a superhero.
Yeah, and they say not allsuperheroes wear capes, but he does.
He does, and it does.Yeah, a purple velvet with some boots,
(00:52):
with some boots and a challice.Shout out to you. Thomas Stevens
continued doing great things. The worldneeds you. We need more superheroes,
so keep it up. And apparentlythe world needs it more than we need
because he ain't been here a while. We have to call h uh.
Put a bulletin out on him.Put a bulletin out on and uh.
(01:14):
And I think our offices has movedto downtown North Dakota. We need to
get him. The memo the memo. We need to send him to memo.
Yeah, a work, but thememo the official change. I agree,
We're gonna have to do that,so it's out of Thomas. Yeah
(01:36):
man, what up, Pool.We'll see you in a couple of weeks,
yes, sir, But yeah,man, how's everything with you?
You know, man, we wastalking last week about as a New York
sports fan, things is kind ofgravy right here. So just just relishing
(01:57):
the Knicks pulling off a big win, can't forget to mention that the Rangers
have not lost a game in theplayoffs. They are six and oh,
So I mean, I hate thejinx them because I am also a superstitious
fan, so I don't want tojinx them, but as of this recording,
they were six and oh. Butthe Knicks are the story right now,
(02:20):
and just all of their games arethrilling. They take down to the
wire because of the way they play. They're not the most prolific offensive team,
but they play great defense. Theygot a lot of will, So
what tends to happen is their gamestend to come down to the wire.
And because they got a great leader, their best player is not only poised
(02:46):
and not only gets a lot outof his players, but he also shows
up and performs well in the clutchmoments. And so it's great to see
because we haven't had that player andthe nick uniform in a long long time.
He is quickly quickly moving up thelist of my favorite best knicks of
(03:09):
all time. He is already numberfive. Mm. Okay, so so
not necessarily greatest store best. Weare gonna do that. Who your favorite
Nick all time? Five? Yeah, So it stars with Patrick Ewing,
then it goes to Banar Kings inorder. This is in order stars for
(03:31):
Patrick Ewing, goes to Banar King. Then it goes to Walter Clive Frasier,
Okay, then Mark Jackson and thenJalen Brunson at number five and honorable
mention to Alan Houston, honorable mentionto Larry Johnson. Honorable mentioned the street
wheel right, all all those cats, but it's it's something about the way
(03:55):
just how Jalen now moved past themso quickly. Is definitely something about the
way he plays, the way heshows up, the fact that he wants
to be there, he wants theball in his hand. Just I'm just
all in on jail and Brunston reallyreally am absolutely, I'm just disappointed because
(04:17):
Chris Childs is you know that guybecause he threw that two piece at Kobe.
I'm sure he's one of your favorite, you know, but John Star
Chris Childs like, you know,being a Knick fan, We've definitely Charlie
Ward some interesting characters. I've likedOak and you know, so he'll he'll
(04:40):
go down as one of my favoriteNicks of that era. But I like
the way he played, loved thatphysical style of basketball. So many of
the man in that organization. Soyeah, yeah, have some great ones.
But trust me, if y'all,if y'all are fans from you know
some of the previous seasons, Uh, Porzingis is not on that list.
(05:05):
I remember I was not a fanwith the Nicks. Sat Chris STAPs,
Chris stabs yours and Phil Jackson's favorite, right right, Yeah, But it's
been great series, man. Ilike the way the Pacers are. You
(05:29):
know, they are young team withwith uh and so they're showing listen.
You know, I appreciate the politician, especially during the playoffs, right,
I know that I don't watched wedon't watch enough playoffs series that we know
when you're losing and uh, youhave something to complain about to try to
(05:50):
get an edge with the rest.And I've seen some of the best coaches
do it, no doubt, Butyou ain't got to bring up big city,
small city man. Anybody that's kindof ain't nobody trying to heal it,
just keep it on for whatever reason, y'all not calling the way I
like it, and work the rest, but bringing up big city, small
(06:12):
city like the refs are trying toget the Knicks into the finals or the
NBA. Now, you know,if if Rick Carlisle was one of my
uncles, I would expect to hearsome of the conspiracy theories because I've been
hearing at conspiracy theories about the NBAthe little Boy. But when you NBA
(06:33):
coach, I'm not expecting that tocome out of your mouth. Yeah,
and a veteran coach, Yes,correct. And that's such a flimsy argument
for to say it's scuts on thedude being a small marked team like the
reigning champions ain't from Denver, Hello, exactly so. And the team that's
(06:58):
whooping up on the reigning champions ain'tfrom Minnesota. Hello, So can we
talk about the Minnesota for a second. Oh yeah, man. The thing
that's most impressive about Minnesota, one, of course, is not only how
well they play defensively, but howversatile they are defensively. Like you got
(07:24):
the a four time Defensive Player ofthe Year at center, but you also
got like a wingman who's also adp O Y candidate. His backup is
also just as good defensively, smilingin the face of the best player on
the other team, like let's goright, like clapping his hands, smiling,
yell that is that's that's devious ashell, man, Like I don't
(07:48):
play basketball no more because my kneesdon't agree with it, right, But
when I did, I think themost frightening thing and I would say that
was a pretty intimidating player. Butthe most intimidating thing to me is to
see someone enjoying locking me down.It ain't nothing I can do about it.
(08:11):
Like that is intimidating and it's frustrated. This dude just laughing sliding ninety
four feet off the court. Tome, that's what's That's what I really
enjoy about some sports is that youcan see someone get dominated and it is
(08:31):
interesting to see when someone enjoys whenthey're dominating somebody else. But it's a
mental game because to your point,I never liked it either, right,
And it can have a crazy effecton you when you're like, there's nothing
I can do, There's literally nothingI can do. Yeah, shout out
to Anthony Edwards because when you throwthat level of defense on a team and
(08:54):
then his and call Anthony Towns abilityto put up points, Yeah, they're
a dangerous team. Right, Andshout out to Mike Conley for being the
anchor, you know, glue forthat team the better and like they are.
(09:18):
And I won't say, well,we talked about last week how tough
it is to repeat in general,h but it's it's doubly is tough for
you when they're bad going against theteam like Minnesota, because Minnesota has the
capability to exploit all of their weaknessesin a way that in the first round
(09:43):
the Lakers just couldn't do, especiallywithout a defender like Jared Vanderbilt, you
know, him being hurt and soto have that kind of athleticism and length
and versatility, it is kryptonite forDenver because Jokic struggles against length because he's
a blow. The rim player JamalMurray is creative, but he's not super
(10:09):
explosive. Nope. And their thirdoption can't create on his own in Aaron
Gordon. Correct. And so wheneverybody's blitzing the ball and blitzing Jokics and
Murray, they got a feed offto a guy like like Garon Gordon who
(10:31):
can't hit open shots. That's theproblem, right, And he's got to
rely on other people to create forhim or get put backs and garbage,
you know, and not necessarily garbage, but we call him garbage points.
And he's just not the type thathe's going to create for himself and not
going to run the offense through him. So everything bogs down and before you
(10:52):
know it, they down twenty again. But they were able to do that
against the Lakers because the Lakers couldn'tforce stops four stops. The other thing
that's being exposed is they got agood matchup for Michael Porter Jr. Yeah.
Absolutely, And he's someone who,to your point, isn't isn't creative
(11:16):
and consistent enough to take advantage ofthis type of defense. Yeah, And
a guy like Porter, if he'snot scoring and if the ball is not
going in for him, he doesn'taffect the game and any other way.
So it's not like he's gonna bea lockdown the fender or he's going to
be an energy guy and that's hisroad and he's good at it. But
(11:39):
when it's not going he doesn't haveany other way to contribute, and it's
tough. And one thing I'm learningabout the Nuggets, and I hate to
say this, but I call itlike I see it. They seem like
a bunch of front runners to me. Mm. It was when things aren't
going away, they're starting to fallapart. You know, when you look
(12:07):
at who I mean, I giveMichael, I give Joker. I think
he's mentally tough, and even Jamal, But to your point, you don't
see that grit right in that team, right and to our previous conversation,
(12:33):
they had it last year mhm.And it's tough to keep that up.
I mean, it's your old schoolhip hop head. You can't fake the
fuck but for so long, right, no, you can't. And so
you know, sometimes you need andyou know, some of the best teams
when are importing players, you know, like when to your point, it's
(12:54):
really difficult to take the same teamto repeat, and some of those teams
kind of it might be a tradeor free agency and they bring in some
of that hunger in because they,to your point, are anticipating the team
that just wanted knock on hav It, Right, Yeah, so it's difficult.
So h Yoga is their leader.You mentioned him being mentally tough,
(13:22):
So I guess his question is kindof twofold. When do you think he
was worthy of being the league thisyear? Well? With the role I
thought and beat Embiid at the beginningof the season before he gets hurt was
to me the MVP and so butI think you know, he eliminates himself
(13:45):
due to the injury, not justbecause he doesn't play enough, but I
think in terms of the actual criteria, now you have to play a certain
amount of games. But I thinkyou know, he came back at the
very end of the season playing reallywell. But you gotta give the joker
to me the credit the edge becausehe plays consistently and out of the only
(14:15):
other player I would say, you'relooking at Tatum, You're looking at Anderson,
maybe Sga Across. I'm a nickI'm gonna throw Jalen Brunson in there,
but consistency I think definitely matters,and so him having done it year
after year after year after year,he would have got my vote. Kay.
(14:35):
So with that, and I knowit's hard to compare errors, but
do you think he benefits greatly fromplaying a traditional center style in this era?
He definitely does, because he's uniquein that way. You know he's
(14:58):
not you know, Embid is anotherone who but it's not throughout the entire
league where you're seeing the night right. Yeah, And this is why I
think, again, you hate tocompare errors, and I think it gets
(15:18):
skewed in a historical sense because thisis what bothers me when people say Jokic
is the best big man, topthree big man of all time, and
that's so tough to say. I'veheard people say that, and I've heard
people say he's been than a lodgeright and that guy like you mentioned Patrick
(15:43):
Ewing, and it's Yokich is great. But I find a hard time believing
he would be as dominant if hehad the face correct night at the night
at the night. Those type ofcenters who for one, not only could
(16:07):
combat him mm hmm physically would makehim work, right, they were,
but they would also be accustomed tohis style of play. A lot of
centers these days don't lie to Guardenbecause they're not accustomed to Garden, a
big back to the basket seven footthat it's just not I mean when you
really think of in terms of sinnersin the league right now, who might
(16:33):
give him hard efforts when they compete, you know, embad up there,
Yeah, go bear a d occasionallyoccasionally, but even him not not consistently
right right, just not to yourpoint, elijahwan Ewing. They're playing chat
(16:57):
Robinson, they're playing at a timewith every team had right and even low
end centers. And y'all don't getus. We're not saying NBA basketball in
general was better or worse. Itwas just different. So don't don't don't
come at us with that. I'mjust but even lower end centers in those
(17:18):
days we're very capable. Brad Doughertymm hm, very you know, guys
like that, like I mean,you know, yeah, I mean right,
Robert Parrish. You know, theyweren't slouches. But even if they
were low ends and they will beaccustomed to this style of play. You
(17:40):
just don't get that type of waveof big men, and so I think
it's you know, in the leaguethat's dominated by perimeter play, you know,
I think he definitely benefits from it, and it allows him to stand
out and be his uniqueness was wasn'tas unique twenty years ago. I mean,
(18:04):
he he's an extremely skilled basketball player, and so because of that,
he's able to take advantage of thedefensive deficiencies of most teams. But you
know, to his credit, greatpasser, and that coordination is great,
(18:25):
awesome, right, I mean,and so I think it's it's a combination
of right time, right era,which is why he is showing up as
as one of the best of theleague, because yeah, and he takes
advantage of being a guy who's notoverly explosive, right, he knows how
(18:52):
to play angles and and you know, you pump fake people out of this
use and you know, shoot fromdifferent angles. Like he's very very crafted
to his credit. Yeah, absolutely, kind of like Steph Curry in that
way. And yeah, you know, has found a way to It's kind
(19:15):
of like in baseball. You know, you got the fastball, but then
you got the change up, andso most players are so used to the
fastball. If you've got an effectivechange up. You're going to strike a
lot of people out about your point. I think if you're playing defense,
whether it's going against a left handedparent, left handed person, but you
used to playing right handed, oryou're used to playing a more explosive athlete
(19:37):
when you get to come across someof them crafty, slower athletes that is
more skilled and play at their ownpace, right. Jalen Brunson is another
one, absolutely yeah, and youknow when and which makes like players like
(19:57):
your Steph more say, likable butrelatable because as fans, most people look
at guys like that and say,this guy can't jump over a phone book.
I could do that if I wantedto, but he's still scoring,
right. I could do that ifI try, if I was still in
(20:17):
my twenties, and I could havedone as opposed to guys like Shat or
Lebron, who people just feel wandered, right yeah, people just feel like
he just wanted a gene louder,you know, and neither to me like
what people in both cases are sellingthese athletes Short's a level amount of effort,
(20:41):
skill development, training, taking advantageof what your particular gifts are and
bringing something to the team. Effort, and you know, to your point,
I think unless you a lot ofpeople don't appreciate how skilled Shaquille was
with his footwork and with his body. Yeah, yeah, those are takes
(21:07):
I hate to hear. It's stufflike you know, Shock didn't just bully
his waiting to the lane. Allyou do is dump. Yeah, if
if Lebron went so big a strong, if Michael couldn't jump so high,
like I hate stuff like that becausethat's part of your skill set. Yeah,
so I couldn't say, like,well, you know, Sandy Kofax
(21:33):
couldn't throw the balls, right,he may have such a strong arm,
right, it wouldn't be good.Like you know, Randy Johnson didn't have
a cannon for an arm, PeytonManning didn't have such accuracy. Like,
No, that's part of your skillset. That's what makes you, right,
that's what made because it's a wholelot of dudes with strong arms can
jump out. Who didn't do that? A lot of big muscular count right
(21:56):
to the league. Yeah. Idon't know if any the Stanley Roberts Hello,
but right right he was. Shacksaid it himself. Stanny Roberts was
wait like twice as good as hewas, but he just didn't work.
So yeah, it's uh, thisis just part of being great is doing
(22:18):
great things, Yeah, and doingthem a lot doing them. And so
we'll see if Denver can come back, because they're definitely on the ropes right
here. Man. Yeah, Ithink I have more faith in the Pacers
making a run with the Knicks thanI do with Denver getting off the mat
(22:41):
and beating Minnesota. It's just toyour point, I don't like the look
on the faces when I look atthe Denver Nuggets, like yeah, either,
I mean I like it because I'mnot a Denver fan, but I
like what you see. I like, right, But you know, and
it's not like Jamal Murray just hadan off night, missed a bunch of
(23:06):
open shots or yo kic just likeyoga, just defense and get a whole
lot better. But that's not it'snot unusual. He kind of laps in
the defense. He's gotten bad,but he's not an elite defender. Their
their best hope is Anthony Edwards hasan off night. I think they're banking
(23:27):
on to get back in this series. Is somehow he can't be as dominant
as he has, but he's beenthe best player on the court, right.
But the only thing with that iseven if he even if he does
have an off night, two thingscan happen and probably will. They got
another All star and prolific offensive playerand called Anthony Towns and two defense ten
(23:56):
typically doesn't have off nights. Yes, that's true. Yeah, Defense it
travels well, so whether it's homeor road or defense doesn't go away.
Defense is like the truth, youdon't have to keep making up. It's
gonna stay right there with you,which is why it's so easy to love
(24:18):
these Knicks if you love hard nosedefensive right uh teams, because you know
they tend to play good d Ithink Minnesota is a better defensive team,
but different. I think that theinjuries are absolutely going to come up to
(24:41):
hurt because well, I haven't heardanything about og. He heard his hamstring
last night, but I haven't heardany updates on if he's going to be
in and out. But I amextremely impressed with how that plays. YEA,
yeah, so do you think andI know, as a a go
(25:02):
to guys of one, Julius Randall'snot your favorite guy, correct, but
do you so do you think itwas losing him was kind of addition by
audition, by subtraction, or wouldyou have liked to see him in this
playoff the way they're point, Iwould have liked to see him in this
(25:22):
playoff run the way they were playing. I think the way the Knicks were
playing, Jalen was already cemented asright. I can't say the guy because
Julius Randall was still a guy aswell, so they were developing as the
guys. But my point is justthat I don't think I think what has
(25:45):
allowed what has happened in Julius Randall'sabsence is Dante and Josh Art have stepped
up, and I don't think Ithink they would have been more role players
with Julius Randall, and even IsaiahHartenstein. I think they've had to elevate
(26:07):
their games to make up for theJulius Randall loss, and so I think
that's definitely a factor. But eitherway, I'd rather have Julius. I
mean, I didn't like him asa to your point, as the number
one option, but I thought heplayed hard. I thought he you know,
(26:30):
was growing and was giving him somespace to hopefully get it right.
Some of the mistakes he was makingjust terms some of his choices on the
court. Yeah, I like,yeah, you know, he's only he's
one of the only dudes that haveever seen stand up to Zach Randall.
(26:51):
Mm hmmm. Well it's interesting,right because when he came in, I
kind of saw him as a aZach Randolph, like that was kind of
my ceiling for him. But uh, he's shown up to be more of
a more athletic version than I imagine, and I think changing the shifting of
(27:15):
the game that forced him to changehis style. But yeah, that was
definitely my comp for him Zach Randolphin the league. But he's a better
shoot him, more athletic, morerange, and in today's game, you
know, the tough guys are dyingbreath. Yes they are. I do
(27:37):
think, you know, as goodas the season has went for the Knicks,
I mean because I think that ogtrade of R. G. Barrett
R J. Barrett was one thatI wasn't sure about. But I'll take
that as a win. Yeah,I'm good with that. But Obie Tompin
I wish they had kept and Iunderstood. I really think they did solid
(28:00):
for Obie and it was just like, look, we got Julius here,
You're not gonna be the guy.You know, we like you, We're
not gonna sign you. Just goahead and we'll get something for you.
But with Julius getting hurt, wecould we would have liked to have Obi
on our team, and yeah,that would be nice. Question though,
is do they because they've got evidenceof they can be successful without Julius Randall,
(28:29):
do your move them in the offseason. Yeah it's tough, right,
yeah, and don can watch sportit is. But it's tough to
get rid of talent willingly. Sothat's a tough question. Yeah, you
know, the one before move on. I've been due for the last few
(28:51):
years. I had no idea that, I say, your heartstyle was a
black dude. Yeah, me too. Yeah, I didn't know that.
Yeah it's his dad's black, likehis dads like. But yeah, yeah,
and especially as less importance time,so you know, I never would
(29:15):
have thought it. But yeah,hm hmm, that's that's that's interesting.
He's someone who has I thought hewas gonna be more of a shooter for
some reason. I just I don'tknow. I just thought he could shoot.
But he will go down and theylook at this season as just one
(29:37):
of the unsung surprise heroes of thisyear. All right, yeah, he's
uh, definitely more capable than Ithought he'd Yeah, he's played well absolutely,
Oh real quick, Well, we'lldo a deeper dig on this next
week, but give a little bitof a tease on Major League Baseball.
(30:03):
Yeah, so will those of youare not aware. Occasionally we do as
a resident baseball expert here as wellas hockey. But yeah, so we
we occasionally do an als baseball roundup. So yeah, well we'll have your
music cueued up next week, butget the folks a little bit of taste,
(30:26):
a little teaser, you know,as we come into the season,
you know, just so everybody understands, I am still a die hard Yankee
fan, diehard Dodger fan. Andso how did that happen yet those who
haven't heard the story, Yeah,and you know, literally, since I'm
a little boring, I'm a fanof those teams, the Dodgers. I'm
(30:51):
a Dodger fan because in the seventiesand honestly in the seventies, I'm watching
baseball and the Yankees are Dodgers aretoo popular successful team. So again,
like most kids and as they watchsports when they're young, if the team
is winning, it's a chance thatyou might become a fan of that team.
(31:12):
I'm also a fan because of theDodgers, because as you grow up
in Brooklyn, you grew up inNew York City, a lot of older
black people were Dodger fans because theyused to be Brooklyn Dodgers. They were
also the team that gave Jackie Robinsona shot. So there was as I'm
a kid and teenager, I'm meetinga lot of black people in New York
(31:36):
City who Dodgers were their favorite team. So that just kind of fueled me
to hang on to that team.And then if you are a New York
fan of sports, you got tobe a fan of one of the local
teams. And so you know,I'm a Yankee fan mainly because the Dodgers
(31:59):
and the Rock and the Mets inthe National League, so you can't really
root for both of them. Soeventually I just latch on to the Yankees
as a teenager and just ride themon out. But die hard Yankee,
diehard Dodger fan. And to theircredit, they are really both looking good
(32:20):
as the season starts, and somany people might have heard about the Dodgers
signing that seven hundred million dollar contractshow hal Tani, So that was a
big deal coming into this year.And he's having a great season, one
of the major league leaders and homeruns. And then on the Yankee side,
they didn't have the greatest year lastyear, but they made some really
(32:42):
good moves and got a young outfieldof Wan Soto in the trade from the
Padres, and he's from New Yorkand it's just thriving in this new team
and so have a good year.And so with him Aaron Judge as one
two, the Yankees have got offto a good start. And so they
(33:04):
need some help with pitching names healthythis year John Carlos, Yeah, and
knocking them out the park busy,yeah, quickly. When he hits the
ball, it's like a line driveright hit the ball screaming because it's getting
hit at like one hundred and twentymiles per hour right off the bat.
So yeah, so that you knowa little insight on my two favorite teams.
(33:29):
But I'll come next week with somemore some updates and maybe some rule
changes and just how maybe even giveme some predictions of who we might expect
to get to the end of thisin September. No doubt. Yeah,
we look forward to it. Soyeah, So next week we'll have an
Ours Baseball round up. So introducedour knew listeners to around the Trivia where
(33:53):
I put al and thumbs through around of brain twisting, exhausting triviua and
now now the term with me.So yeah, it's always pretty fun,
whether it's occasionally, especially in slowtimes like this when there's not a lot
of NFL going on now, soyou know, we like to break it
(34:15):
up a little bit. Sounds good, sounds good? You got anything else?
Will we leave? No? Man? Just uh we're going into Mother's
Day weekend, So show some loveto your mother. Take some time out
on Sunday too. You know,if you are blessed to have them in
your life, show them some love. Absolutely, man, I agree,
(34:37):
that's what I was going to say. Show all the mothers in your life
some uh some love this weekend,man, as I mean we always should,
but give them a little bit extrathis week. Your wives, I
know you know when I mean,aw, you're aware most of our listeners
are. My wife was out oftown aiding her her father at the time
(34:59):
for six week and I got itdone, but I was I was beat
up when uh scambling. So Igot two teenage boys. It was not
easy feed and getting them around.So shout out to my wife, my
mom my, sisters, my cousins, my aunt's allis so show you to
(35:20):
show the mothers in your life andtruly a blessing. Mothers are truly a
blessing. Absolutely, And for thoseof you who are aware with our previous
show, shout out to Keita,shout out the shout out to Gina,
and shout out the lady. Welove it out, no doubt, we
love you. Shout out to allthe moms and wives of one out of
(35:42):
should no doubt. Cool man,Well, Thomas, we'll see you next
week. Man, hope you ain'tbreak the ankle. Twist twist the ankle,
break a leg and nothing out.They're saving lives man, the cat
and the kindergarten. The are goodright right right Kate. We don't want
that Kate to get caught up inthe branches or something and getting them out
the tree. Absolutely. Man,y'all go out there and do us a
(36:05):
solid like, comment, share,subscribe, Find us on YouTube, go
to fire Life. Find us onall your favorite podcast platforms. Check out
Ours of the show Aftergate, allof our shows on the network. We'll
see y'all next week. Until then, to fire Life The fire Life
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I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Cardiac Cowboys
The heart was always off-limits to surgeons. Cutting into it spelled instant death for the patient. That is, until a ragtag group of doctors scattered across the Midwest and Texas decided to throw out the rule book. Working in makeshift laboratories and home garages, using medical devices made from scavenged machine parts and beer tubes, these men and women invented the field of open heart surgery. Odds are, someone you know is alive because of them. So why has history left them behind? Presented by Chris Pine, CARDIAC COWBOYS tells the gripping true story behind the birth of heart surgery, and the young, Greatest Generation doctors who made it happen. For years, they competed and feuded, racing to be the first, the best, and the most prolific. Some appeared on the cover of Time Magazine, operated on kings and advised presidents. Others ended up disgraced, penniless, and convicted of felonies. Together, they ignited a revolution in medicine, and changed the world.