Lakers Talk HOUR 1_09-14-26

0:00College football is back. So, Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oho, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwink up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. Welcome into Lakers Talk. It's a Monday night in September. It is quiet time in the NBA, but the NFL is popping. And that's starting to get my juices flowing, Geeter. I'll tell you what, a great feeling for those you driving around or maybe watching us on YouTube or serious and you got Kenneth Walker on your fantasy team. This is fantasy season as well. Yeah. Yeah. Kenneth Walker to the house. I just... You have a guy that goes to the house. It just feels G. 00. D.

1:02Well, you know, I was thinking about the last time I started to figure out from you. The last time that you were as nervous as you were yesterday. In the G team league. Yeah, you know, because we have this G team league where an owner gets trapped after week one. It's a bunch of ESPN people. It's all ESPN people. Including Steve Mason, including Dave McMeneman, Deandre Hawkins, all around the cut line. And so you were. Kramer, Bergman Travis Rodgers. Bergman wasn't looked to be in trouble for a little bit. Seems like he's okay now. And you know, this made me I was like, when is the last time that the Los Angeles Lakers had you in a spot like this mentally where you were ready to combust? I would say game six 2010 down. Don't go back to 2010. I'm just saying game six, you know, brink of elimination. What about let's come out and win. I was on the brink of elimination last night, not feeling good about the Cowboys offense, not feeling good about the Vonte. Williams, a nine points down. But your Vonte took you home, buddy. And then he took me home twice and it was just chill time, but I was getting heckled a little bit on the so Cal Chop.

2:03Text chain. I didn't like it. No. And I just couldn't believe because I've never been in a guillotine league before that I was going to be eliminated out of 18 teams week one. I just could not wrap my head around that. And that's how we have a group text about it right now. McMahon and Mason are tied. Okay. At 85 points each and we don't know the tie breaker rules because I don't know that this has ever happened in the first week of a of a guillotine league. So we will be updating you on that just because it's all the personalities in here. Mason is freaking out. He's texting in. Like, the man, I'm trying to figure out what the rules are. Deandre might still be the one that goes. So we will update you on that. A lot of it has to do with what happens with Bownix, what happens with Jalen Waddle, Kenneth Walker. If you had him, you're safe now. You're good. Right. He just popped it big. I most people understand the fantasy tweak. Not every listener. No, but I can relate to it. And if you don't play fantasy, well, just think about something that really tweaks you. Yeah, it's like no to weak panic. Nobody wants to know necessarily about like, okay, this guy scored for me.

3:05And that means I'm going to win. But if it's, if it's, if they can think about Steve Mason sitting at his TV and in the fetal position and being unable to move right now until this game over, then that's funny here about, I think. I don't 300% and I didn't mean to jump in late there, but I was just about to type into the chat because people were asking if we were to take calls. Today, we're doing it all. Yes, we are in the Z call from listen, we're two weeks from training camp. Yeah. There's not a lot going on in the NBA right now. We appreciate our job and we will talk Lakers. We have Michael Thompson coming on, right? Ben Galover coming on. Yes, two of great about, you know, when we get in Trevor back on Yovon and I was explaining we're going to have them all on a lot during the season. Because you now are going to keep this train moving. Well, they're okay. There was one piece that I wanted to start with though because Funchie sent this to us earlier. What's up, Funchie? Love it. What's going on guys? Alright, Funchies in the mix tonight. So Norman Powell apparently got into the mix. Norman Norman. And I was trying to think you know, if there's something. If there was something that was going to annoy you as much as potentially being chopped out of the guillotine league is for one of the biggest competitors in our country, frankly, and you.

4:07As people have seen when we play games together. Yeah. If there was something that could fire, fire you up, Funchie, do we have the audio of that or was it just the clip that you sent? No, I just sent the clip. I can, I can get, take up the audio in one. A couple of seconds. Yeah, we don't really, we don't even necessarily need to hear it. Basically, somebody asked him who is the most overrated team in the NBA. And he answered, first of all, you guys know who his guy Neon is. I'm not sure. He's like the biggest like, like, Neon, like, I don't know. He has like, show that a lot of his watcher, whatever. Yes, popular. Yeah, a lot of millions of people watch him. What are you asked in normal pals like Lakers. Yeah. So I mean, coming from a former clipper, I expect that to be honest with you, Mike. I mean, it's the irony of all that, like the most overrated team over the last few years. He was on, right? Never really amounting to anything, doing anything to play else. Now he's on Miami. So before we talk overrated, like, just just worry about your own squad, your own thing. And he's not saying like the most overrated franchise. I don't think I think he's talking about this year Chicago, right?

5:08Oh, he's in Chicago now. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he got, he moved over there. Oh, so he's in hell. I mean, well, so they're building. Let me let me start. Let me tell you, Norm Pal is a great player. Well, in terms of, okay. So I'm looking at what he's saying, Mike is like, well, he's saying the Lakers are overrated this season. Is the way I felt about it because you can't say that franchise is overrated. But for me, Mike, what I think baffles me with all of this. I'm not finding any publication or anywhere that's reading Lakers are winning an NBA championship. Now, a lot of people have them above the line three through six. But also there's an ESPN publication that came out and said they will be the biggest team to drop out of all 30. They expect them to drop the most. So no one's pumping up L.A. and saying the Lakers are winning titles. Well, let me give you the odds. But they have good players and they have been in the playoffs. They just want a series this past year. Yes, they lost LeBron James.

6:08But to say the overrated is just ridiculous. I mean, they're 250 win teams in a row. So let me let me I'm going to play a little game here. Okay, with you and Funchy. And this is just going to underscore how absurd this argument is by Norm Pal. And clearly it's just something because he was here and he was rooting against the Lakers. And he wants to be a part of that. But he's a Bruin, correct? I mean, I'm just saying like, but let me hear. So let's hear. Here's going. You guys are going to give me a team. No, I'm wearing a Laker jersey growing up back and forth. Okay, we're going to see who lasts the longest. Give me a team that Vegas has has better title odds for than the Lakers. And we're going to see how long you can make it just to kind of underscore the ridiculous nature of Norm Pal's point. Okay, Funchy. Give me a team with better odds than the Lakers. Okay, see. Okay, see. Peter. Next. Next. Correct. Three for three. Denver. Denver. Correct. Four for four. Funchy. Hmm. Oh, yeah. Now we get to the great area now. I'll give you another one. Philadelphia. Correct. Um, let's say.

7:08I'll give you another one. Don't give another one. I want you to beat. Do you want to beat Funchy? I did. Okay. Did he already say the first? Yeah, I said this first. I said this first. Boston. Boston. Yep. Minnesota. Yep. So that's seven. Keep going. Okay. Wow. Miami. Miami. Slightly better odds than the Lakers. I don't know. Paul probably didn't know that. Anyway, Peter. Eight teams. Yeah. So there are still a C123. Four teams remaining. Houston Rockets. Houston Rockets actually slightly below. Okay. So that's your first. That's your first one. Funchy. Now you get an extra one if you get this wrong because you gave him one. Okay. Funchy. Uh. Uh. There's an obvious one. Think of somebody that moved over to the Eastern Conference. Um. Somebody that may or may not have played for the Lakers. Already said them. You said Philly. Yep. Yeah. Remember I jumped in and gave him another one. Cleveland. Oh, that was actually.

8:08Yeah. Cleveland. Cleveland. Okay. Cleveland's another one. Maybe Miami. Who finished first in the East last year? Detroit. Detroit. And that was my turn. Who? What team just consummated a trade today? Toronto. So. Okay. See. San Antonio. Nick's sixers Celtics. Cavs. Pistons. Nuggets. Timberwolves. Raptors. Heat. 11 teams have better title. I'd say 12 best odds. So who exactly? Better odds in the Lakers. Who exactly is overriding the Lakers going into this year? I don't see any prognosticators picking them to win the title. Have you? But just. What? So this is just. It's just the easiest. It's like, Hey, who's the most overrated team in the NFL? Oh, the Cowboys. Right? Yeah. I think it's the most overrated team in baseball. The Yankees. It's just there. It's the stock answer without doing any research. And it bugs somebody like you, I think. Yeah, it does. And so do the, you know, the click articles where they grade up a D or. You know, they put a good player and there's not ranked high in the top 100 or whatever.

9:08It just happens all the time. And you know, you're always going to have those articles. It's funny to hear it from a professional athlete still in the league. But it just goes to show. Kind of the bitterness when it comes to the LA franchises. Across the board. Now, they're okay. I don't want this to sound like it's. Complete just purple and gold glasses on. But other than the thunder and the spurs and the next, I would posit that there isn't a single other team. That I would automatically say is better than the Lakers going into next year. I think that if we're kind of trying to assume health for Philly, I can, I can get behind the talent there with M.B. But I worry that M.B. is going to be able to make it through a long playoff. Where do you put the Pacers? The Pacers are just behind the Lakers. So it's like Lakers plus 4,000 Pacers and I mean, this is the thought with the Houston Rockets. You know, you got Ben Fleet back. You got Stephen Adams back. Marcus smart. Marcus smart is added to their team on paper. Healthy with some good youth K.D.

10:10They they have better out Minnesota who changed their team. Better odds. Completely changed their team. Completely changed your team. I guess Yoke Chimuri who have, I think, one playoff series win since they won the title. And I do love Yoke Chimuri, but they just seem to get a pass all the time. So it's just the way it goes. It's always been. And then after they punked out in the playoffs last year, who won by the way? Who won more playoff games last year? The Lakers are the Celtics. The Lakers did. Okay, Lakers did. So I would say the biggest to kind of to kind of bring this full circle as we look into what to expect from the Lakers. Going into this season. If the Lakers have the requisite talent to hang with all of the teams that we just mentioned, which I think they do minus the top two in the West and to an extent the next we'll see how they come back from winning. What they have in the postseason is a devastating playoff performer who dragged a team to the finals a couple of years ago that wasn't really more talented than this current Lakers team.

11:16Right. The number two on that team at the time probably in terms of a score like younger Jalen Brunson Austin Reeves at this late age 28 going into the season. I think pretty equivalent there from a guard perspective. Looking at the now Kyrie obviously was there a brother. So it's a way Brunson had. Brunson gone by then. But yeah, so Kyrie was there with Luca. Yes. So Kyrie and Austin similar. I think in terms of their offensive production about now Kyrie is the better all around offensive player he had proven it that but like a guy this 25 and five. He's a big shot maker too. I mean, he's listen. Now Walker Kessler relative to. To the big meant to Gafford and to lively. I think that's a pretty fair trade off if he's healthy. I like Walker Kessler there. A role player like on the on the perimeter. I think Quentin Grimes is exactly what you need there. Two Zaire Williams, Mattis Thiball defensive options wings, Laravia like these are these are the types of pieces that you you just kind of do your role well and then let Luca care you home.

12:18And I think that he's better than anybody on these other contenders when you get into a playoff series. And listen, I we talk about it all the time. It's always talked about on the chat. I mean Austin Reeves got paid and you're going to have that camp that said they overpaid for him. For me, I am a big Austin Reeves guy. I understand where he is now slotted. And I expect big things out of him this year. And the biggest has to be durability, right? In a proven number two, which he has shown Mike when he's in rhythm and playing. And in that kind of role, we've seen him as a number one win games for the Los Angeles Lakers when Luca and LeBron were out. But for me, I think what I'm most excited about is AR has to deliver in the playoffs. I go back to when he first became a starter. And he had that incredible run against Memphis and Golden State. And then his last two playoff runs, not so much, right? Minnesota playing on that hurt foot. Nobody really played well in that series well documented. He took a lot of accountability for that.

13:18And then this year he had to come back from injury. And he started out slow, but he did have a couple of good games and a couple of bad games against OKC. But that's OKC as well. So I'm just intrigued, excited, whatever word you want to use, adjective to describe. Like just there's just there's some big things out there for Austin reason. And I want to see it. All right. That's a very good point about it. And super key, because if he can reach that next level alongside as like a real number two in a playoff context, then all of a sudden they got something moving. OK, coming up next, let's kind of put a bow on this whole clipper situation, because Steve Balmer has apparently changed his mind and his reversed course from what we had originally heard. And I want to see if that is persuasive for you or not. Coming up next on Lakers Talk, then we'll talk to our buddy Michael Thompson for a little while. Who knows what the big Bahamians been up to. Yeah, we're going to find out. I mean, he's just been sending me TV clips lately. I have a feeling he was on the couch.

14:18Watching curb. He's watching old reruns of what's that what's that show Funchy that he watches from the 70s. Funchies on the phone right now. Just like Andy Griffith. Not not. It's the one with the super racist guy. Oh, artsy bunker. Yeah, he's just sending clips of that in our text. So that's basically what he's been up to. So we're going to dig into that. OK, all that coming up next on Lakers Talk. He's Geater. I'm sure that he is being away. The weight is over. Football is here. And so is draft Kings. Draft Kings is now live in all 50 states. One app. Every sport. Nationwide. New Draft Kings customers. Sign up with code LA and spend five bucks to get 200 in rewards within 21 days. Includes all markets. That's code LA in partnership with Draft Kings. The crown is yours. Gambling problem called 1-800-Gamber or 1-800-Myreset. Connecticut called 888-789-7777. Visit ccpg.org. And on behalf of Boothill Casino and Kansas, that tax pass through may apply in Illinois. 21 plus Void in Canada.

15:18Bet with Draft Kings Sportsbook to get bonus bets that expire in seven days or trade with Draft Kings predictions to get predictions dollars that expire in one year. Event contract trading involves a risk of loss. Predictions offer Void in New York. Non-withdrawable rewards issued as $50 click to claims every seven days for 21 days. Terms at decayng.co slash offer. Limited time offer. Nationwide based on sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability. Various by-state. Callers football is back. So Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oho, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwinkup call at 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton for this day. Get into that chat, Jack. Welcome back to Lagerstock.

16:19That's the voice of Chris Geter McGee. I am Mike Trudell. And we are about two weeks from media day. We're about three weeks from the start of Lager's preseason. The NFL has started. I know we're all coming off the weekend hot with fantasy football. But it's starting to get my juices flowing in terms of looking forward to the NBA season, Geter. I'm glad you said juice is flowing. I feel like this time of year and most Southern California natives who are driving around will understand this. There's something about September. That's a birthday month for me too, Mike. But it's also just happy birthday last week. The weather is amazing. It's actually really hot. But the ocean is like 73 degrees. The surf is good. The lakers are about to start. Football's going. Kids are back in school. College football. Kids are back in school. I got USC volleyball now. I got a lot going on. I'm just in a better mood. It just puts me in a better mood. And then training camp starts. I mean, get through the preseason. I will crank you for a couple of weeks. But I still got football. We'll be doing these shows.

17:19I'd be in a better mood if matches United hadn't just completely started. Sorry about that. That's been tough for you. That's not me. But then it, you know, that mid-October is just glorious. Well, I think this is going to put your mood down a little bit. What I'm going to do is I'm going to put my mood down. What I'm going to do here. So I have two different statements. One is just sort of from the Clippers. And then one is from Steve Balmer. Now, this happened a couple of days ago. You and I haven't had a chance to discuss yet. So I wanted to just get this over with so we can move on and have some fun and let Michael Thompson build us back up. All right. So after the NBA came out with the just very clear and very decisive documentation from the law firm that the Clippers had cheated. And here are the penalties. This is the way that in, by the way, none of that was like up for debate or argument. There's no, but there's no report out there that's like, well, actually, no, this is inaccurate. These four different companies didn't pay Kauai under the table. Nobody's saying any of that. Have you heard any of that? Okay.

18:19No. Okay. Here was the statement immediately after the findings from the Clippers. We vehemently reject the NBA's findings, which are the result of a heavily biased investigation seeking to justify a predeterminerative rather than facts and evidence. What the league told us privately differs from what it announced today publicly and they have not held themselves close to the standard commissioner's oversight at the start of the investigation to ensure it's fairness and accuracy. For the past year, we cooperated fully in a good faith. We will now fight just as hard to demonstrate our innocence. We intend to vigorously challenge these findings and penalties through ease to, I'm, excuse me, through every avenue available to us and look forward to an ethical and impartial arbitration process. Okay. So that was last week. That was a, yeah, that was September 2nd. Okay. New statement. This is yesterday. I think that I saw this for maybe two days ago. Shops tweeted this. Clippers owner Steve Balmer is complying with the NBA's punishments of the franchise for salary, caps for convention, deciding not to pursue any legal action statement from Balmer. This has been a very difficult time for everybody associated with the Clippers and for that, I have sincere regrets.

19:22I want to apologize to our fans, employees, and my fellow NBA team owners for the distraction and distressed this matter as cause for which I accept responsibility as principal owner. We are committing to put this chapter behind us. We have communicated to the NBA that we are complying with the penalties assessed by the league have paid the fine intermoving forward while there are still disagreements concerning the findings in the report. This is not where I want to focus. Team owners should support not distract last paragraph. The challenges ahead of us are significant, but so as our resolve, we will continue to, okay, blah, blah, blah. All right, Gita reactions to the two. I guess statements on the other side, either side of the fence from the Clippers there. Travis Kelsey 55 year catch and run. For me, the first response right after it went down was the emotional real response from them. Deny, be upset, already fracture relationships for members of the media or people that were in their circle that questioned them.

20:24Drag people that that that's what that seemed to be to me that first response. The second response was like a PR firm, right, but yet you're apologizing but not really admitting anything. So to me, that's kind of a half ass apology. That's just my opinion because you still had to throw in there how you, you know, disagree with some of the findings and I will down, but I will accept the punishment because I want to do this for our fans. So, the thing I'm saying is like one sounded very like, hey, we need to let's all sit around this table. We have our PR person. Let's construct the perfect thing, but I got to throw this in there still. The other one just sounded like we're going to come out and fight this and this is BS and we're going to show everyone that we didn't do it. The thing that just just hits me from a kind of an emotional standpoint out of this is that the first response was the chance for the PR firm response.

21:24Of course. Instead of that, it was the vitriolic deny, deny, deny that we've done the lying this much. We're never going to stop lying. So then what changed in the course of the week and a half before they ultimately could be a capillator. They just realized that there was they literally couldn't do anything and they were caught red handed. And during that week and a half to two weeks, you're getting completely blown up by your own fan base. And all the other owners because the other owners and this is reported by win horse and others on the other. They all the other owners were like, hold on a second. At first, they were kind of like Mark Cuban, right? We're like, okay, commerce our guy. We got his back. He's telling us we believe him. Like let's give this a chance. Maybe there's nothing behind it. Then they read the report and they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on. And you know what? They should be pissed. Like he's got more money than everyone. So he could cheat all the time and win players and don't worry about the rules. Well, other people can't get it. That's why it's so frustrating for somebody that I have no skin in this game.

22:30Like this doesn't affect me personally one way or another. Whether or not the Clippers get fined or not. It's just the principle of it. And you got like if you got caught deads for right dead drives doing anything. I don't care what it is. If you if I find out you did something and you lied to me about it, even if it was unoccupied. Then you never look at me the same exactly. Then I'm just like do know this was your chance to come clean with me. You chose not to so then don't come back in two weeks. Once your first attempt didn't work and then expect that I'm just going to be like, oh, yeah, okay, no problem. And Mike people are people are going to find out more information and more information as this goes on. Oh, Kauai basically turned and said, here you go. I'm going to go to Toronto. Lawrence Frank who literally you gave before your extension to who is in your front office for all these years. Six months of notes. He says all play ball like you're caught got caught by your own people. It's over. So you just take it and you wear it. And that's it. But to come out and kind of do this.

23:30We accept. We want our fans. You know, this is what it's about. They deserve better. Yeah, you know, and by the way, they do. So last thing on it. They do. And this is the I want to appeal now to the coach in you. And for folks that don't realize Keeter multiple national championship wins as a youth volleyball coach. I'm working right now with my sons who the older ones who are 11. About kind of accountability, right? And this is by the way, this is still something I need to work on. I'm not great at this. But when, okay, you played a game and you made some mistakes in that game. But if I ask you what happened in the game, you're going to point out your teammates mistake. Like that's it's a very difficult thing to teach kids, right? 11 year olds. I'm sure in volleyball, it comes up, right? So how do you teach kids accountability to recognize to own their own mistakes, not blame their teammates and to focus on that? I mean, it's a constant communication and it's constant conversations. And there might be some progress and then two steps back. And then we need to move forward.

24:33I've always coached basketball and volleyball for 28, 30 years while I was doing it. 15 to 18 years old, basically. Sometimes I dropped into the 12 when my kids were little, then it became a little bit younger, 12 to 18. Never coached in college. But you're main, but you coach how many D1 players? A couple hundred. No, no, no. Do you want to hoopers only Harold? For volleyball, but the volleyball, oh, tons. All of them. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for years on the, on the boys and girls, yeah, they basically all are playing for the big programs around the country. Yeah, for sure. For sure. I mean, for since, you know, 19, 25 on high level, probably some lip. Yeah. So you're having conversations, but even with my own kids more, I think it was even more important. I mean, listen, when I was a coach, we had rules. And I would set those rules up with parents like after a tournament, if you're upset or after a game, if you're upset, you cannot come talk to me. You cannot come up and have this conversation. You have to 24 hour rule. You can call me and email me in 24 hours and we can set up because a lot of times people would call them.

25:33But I also had a rule with them like when you get in that car with your kid and you are driving home from the game, try to talk about something else. Now, obviously, important game, big win, big loss, it's going to be brought up. Let your kids drive it. But also don't talk about other mistakes that other people made. It's just not the right way to do it. Now, you can always have an open policy with your kid to vent. And that's absolutely cool. But let them kind of lead that like don't just jump in on your kid or criticize your kid, all that kind of stuff. Now with the kids, it was all about accountability. Like many, many times, hey, I can't do this because this player isn't getting me the ball or this player is not setting me if it was volleyball. And I always said, but I'm not getting enough of this. What else could you do to affect the game? Are you playing better defense? Are you doing this? How about you know, you take care of your assignment and your role and start in that role and good things will happen around you. But taking accountability is something you're taught at a young age. And we all fail at it. Adults as well. And so are the clippers and so do the clippers. Alright, coming up next. Michael Thompson, Gita, Tardal, yes, Ben O'Lake.

26:39College football is back. So Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number. We got you want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky Jersey. Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwinkup call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton for this day. College football is back. So Hilton called to me the superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number. We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky Jersey. Oh, that smells lucky. Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwinkup call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay.

27:40Hilton for this day. Oh, man. Welcome back to Laker Saki's Christmas Eve. You know the show and you know the station. Sorry for jumping in their mic. You're good. Then you know Deandre Hawkins. And he just had a bad beat. Young D. It could be getting guillotine. Bonex is in the SPN league. Bonex is just destroying Deandre's life right now. Bonex has the like to say he is tragic. Bonex 113 yards. Tragic. He's got the one touch down. But an interception now a fumble. And he's got Deandre in jail. Deandre still has a slight chance. You know who loves Sundays in the fall. Who's that? Michael Thompson. Is Michael Thompson with us? Nobody does love Sundays in the fall. Okay, we're going to get so to stay in the room. They love Sundays. I talk to them all every time I talk to them the false about Sundays. Now if the Lakers don't play, they're so excited. Well, do especially because nobody likes to watch football more than two. So for him, it's not just Sunday though.

28:42He's watching every college game on Saturday. He's watching whichever the Friday game is in college. A lot of times there's like a Thursday game now. It'll randomly see in some random conference. You can find a game every night. I mean, you and I are like a long way away from that in our careers and in our lives. You know, when you're retired and the kids are out of the house. And there's no more use sports. And you got your grandkids and stuff, of course. Imagine the amount of football you're going to watch. You're going to be stewed Lance. That's true. Yeah, that's that's where the question is going to be sort of like. I mean, stew's got it wired. How much do you, you know, do you have an international travel stage? Or do you just go right to the couch potato stage? No, I hope monetarily I can have a international travel stage every year. I mean, at least somewhere. I want to see a lot of things in my one biggest regret in life, Mike, because when I was younger, I didn't travel enough. I travel a little bit. I wish I have that same regret. It was sports related on my travels. I feel like the reason that I didn't travel much.

29:43And even like before my wife and I had, well, we were only married for one year before we had kids. But we were together like dating for, let's see, five years before that. The reason we didn't travel a lot is because I didn't have any freaking money at the time. You know, it's funny. That was like, oh, let's go to Paris. And like, wait, how much is that flight? I think for those people listening out there that have kids, you know, my kids age, that dream of traveling right when they're out of college. I just let them dream it. And I hope they do it. Yeah. But they don't know how expensive it is. No. I mean, you can, so you can do it. Like I did the European trip right after college when I was staying at hostels and stuff like that. But you're not going to do that with your girlfriend of a couple of years. No, that's not a mean. You can do it with your friends. You doing your buddies and just kind of, we'll sleep, but we'll, go back packet, sleep in the streets of Paris for one night and just kind of wake up. Yeah. All right. Well, we are, Fudgey, what's happening? We're trying to get Michael on the phone. Yeah. So try and get him. Okay. All right. Here. I'm going to, I'm going to text Blast him right now. Actually, we can, I can just call him right in the air and see if he answers. Can I embarrass him? You just led me to something. Can I, can I jump in here?

30:43Please, please jump in. Laker, Lake Show podcast on Spectrum. We did it last week and a lot of people texted me about this and also hit me up on Instagram about it. Brett is called Phil Live. I saw that. Yeah. And he actually answered the phone. Pretty incredible. I thought. Get out of here. You called any pick up? Yeah. I think it was a full street cred moment for, for Brez. I mean, it was awesome. On air. Wow. He's like Phil, we're on a podcast and he's kind of silent. Then they kind of talked about the weather for, talked about the weather. The weather. The ass how hot it was here. Yeah. Winnie P. Has an L.A. Number. He was in Montana. He said he wore a jacket last week. Yeah. He said, uh, and we, we basically called to congratulate him on the statue. Yeah. I mean, and that's going to be in April. We're really conform to that. We said, listen, I'm, I'm risking him never answering my call again. So I give Brez a lot of props. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. That was a nice moment. I am in studio with you this week. Are you in, is it Wednesday? Are you in week? Our show day changes to Wednesday or Thursday.

31:45Thursday. I will be when you're on air. I will be hopefully wrapping up a sweep of Northwestern. You're on the monitor. I will be in Evans. Is it Evans town? Evanston. Evanston. Yeah. Evanston. Hopefully. How's our most possible cocktails deep? Daniel Volley this year? I haven't checked. Our good friend starts for them. One of my former player coaches that team, he's got a young group. A really good recruiting class, but they're young. So they're going to take some lumps this year, but they're starting to play a lot better. So the children drink and going in probably taking business. I don't know. No, you know, I, I never look ahead like that. OK, you're not taking it for granted. Never. I never do. OK. next week as well. Okay, so, so who's doing the show with me then? Bergman. Morales. So Bergman's in. By the way, Bergman with a great call on the show last week. I wouldn't say great. Good. Is that because he gave me the victory? Yeah. Yeah. I'm just from a personal bias standpoint. I wouldn't say great.

32:48Remember when I won that game last week? Yeah. Nine and one. Some would say that I wanted, but ultimately we for some reason, I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. I don't. There wasn't one person that jumped up and said, you want fair and square. Hold on. I'm just gonna. I'm gonna call Michael real quick. Let's see if he's ignoring us or just punches. This is going to be good radio. I'm looking forward to that statue reveal as well as a J. Mac. Just pointed out on the YouTube chat. I feel like Phil for me. He's the goat. Oh. It was not his not his cleanest breath is he. Okay. He just texted me 10 minutes ago. Get out of here. Yes. He just texted me a curb enthusiasm clip, right? Of just so he's just sitting in his is literally sitting in his house. And he recorded it with his phone just a clip where Larry David's going off because Syria doesn't have room. Then he just sent a meme of the Dallas Cowboys defense, which is like a bunch of old guys in the present yard. You probably seen that before. And then he compared that to some basketball players.

33:50And that was let's see that was like six minutes. No, that was like 10 minutes ago. And now he's now he's screening your calls. Funchy. Yeah. And it's not even like bringing in six minutes going straight to horseman. We know he's literally just at his house doing absolutely nothing. I know he's is. Yeah. What is good? Do you? I don't even know if he has a home phone number. Because I remember he does. He's old. I'm gonna have to now I'm gonna have to find out what that is. And we're gonna have to call we're gonna have to call Julie and see what's happening there. Michael, how do you feel about Michael Ruining or the segment of our show, Peter? Not as good as I feel about Kenny Walker scoring another touchdown. Yeah, that's the chief. This is a little Laker related. I am just laying it to Luke Walton in two leagues. And two just two different leagues. Why are you and why are you in two different leagues with with. He's in both leagues. And I'm happy to match up with him week one. And just absolutely destroying it was a score. And the great part is now he's partners in these leagues because once the NBA season starts, I mean, Luke, he goes dark.

34:51Yeah. Yeah, he's not. No, I mean, he's not a coach or yeah, the assistant coaches are back. I want to be on with that basketball. Then most of the world. I'm curious to see what the business look like this year. No, Isaiah Stewart. You know, they bring in Isaiah Joe, but like how much of a difference is he gonna make almost God Austin Reeves? They still don't have a secondary creator really. But you know, what's going to happen with Durin? We got Kade taking probably another step up. Most consider him a tough and player. Durin's going to be a piston for sure. I just don't know what is he going to be. But what if he, what if he's so mad that he takes a qualifying offer and then try to go to Sacramento or something next year? Someone brought up a great point. Jay Mac here. I'll mention his name again. He's doing a Larry David to you and me. Look, this is unacceptable. We're all right. Let's, let's take a break. We will, we will ascertain to get Michael again. This is your former partner on the air. Well, I mean, this is a dear friend of this to Funchy today. Because you know, Funchy is one of the few people that can get Michael Thompson to actually do something.

35:52And sometimes if he's not, if he's not answering Funchy's text, then sometimes I'll call Emerald Texan, like, hey, dude, come on. Funchy, aren't you going to say about this, bro? You already confirmed a Funchy? All right, well, Funchy's on the phone. Let's do this. Let's take a break. If we don't have Michael when we come back, then we're flipping the script to something you and I are going to get to today and want it to get to last week. And that's a deep dive on Walker Kessler. All right, so we're going to do that. And then you guys can also call us in the second half of the show. And we can talk about anything. We can talk, we can talk Lakers going to the season. You can give us your fantasy football horror story from the weekend. It doesn't matter. 877, 777, what's the number again? Oh, come on, Mike. 877, 710 ESP, 3776. 3776. That's what it is. I work here too. Gita Richardell, ESP, in a way. College football is back. So Hilton caught a meme. The superstition concierge to make your fan rituals a reality. Need a room to match your lucky number? We got you. Want to make sure our team doesn't wash your lucky jersey? Oh, that smells lucky.

36:54Hilton's unmatched hospitality can keep up with any superstition. Even a marching bandwink up call it 555 and 55 seconds. Hit it! When you need a team that will do whatever it takes on game day, it matters where you stay. Hilton, for this day. ESPN's going to Super Bowl 61 and so can you. Enter for a chance to win the trip of a lifetime. Four take us to Super Bowl 61. Plus a three-night stay at Disneyland Resort where you and up to three guests can enjoy the magic of Disney. Plus the Super Bowl champion, Cavalcade. Enter at www.esPN.com slash SBLXI by December 31, 2026 for your chance to win. No purchase necessary. It's 1231, 26 at 1159 PM Houston. Open only the legal residence of the 50 US states in Washington, D.C. who are 18 plus a time of entry. For odds of winning and full official rules, visit www.esPN.com slash SBLXI. Void were prohibited. Welcome back to Lakers Talk. We just had, I'm not going to lie to you guys. We just had maybe the worst segment that you and I have ever done together on any air.

37:55And, you know, look, I can take accountability for that. Yeah, I thought I was great. I mean, the main reason is that Michael wouldn't answer the call. Right, and we were set up to talk to Michael Thompson. And so then had to kind of scrap what we were originally going to talk about. And you bailed us out of it to an extent. Still wasn't great though. I mean, it wasn't great. And then you tried calling like Breast called Phil. Yeah, I'm calling Michael. When straight to voicemail started, it started giving his phone number out. Then I had to hang up on that real quick, which I mean, I couldn't even give him a phone number. Er, I couldn't even give him a message. So the great Michael Thompson though, it sounds like is here with us right now. Is that correct? Michael, are you there? Hello. Hey, there he is. Hey, what's up, Michael? Hey, Michael. Hey, Michael. I don't know, man. So my phone's been acting up. I've been not getting calls here. I get my calls come through. But for some reason, people will call me. Yeah. And the calls will not come through for some reason. I don't know what's going on. I think you're OK with that, Michael, because you're drinking a nice glass of red right now watching my homes return.

38:55And the chiefs absolutely drug the Broncos. Yeah, I hate these kind of games where the game, the opposition, Daniel Blitz, I dated. Didn't even, wasn't even already been ready for this game. I hate these kind of non competitive games. Yeah. All right. Well, Michael, I know that your cell phone is working, though, in the sense that you keep sending me clips of various TV shows that you're watching. Tonight it was curb. Usually you're sending videos of Archie Bunker, whatever, usually something races that he said. That's kind of the main thing that you like to send us. Yeah, the good old days when TV was a lot less censored as it is now. You could laugh out ourselves and not be so sensitive about things back in the 70s. And you see young to remember this back in the 70s and early 80s, man, you could say stuff that would get you canceled again. You just have a big old laugh about it. Listen, Michael, I appreciate you thinking that I was too young, but I remember Archie. I remember the Jefferson's good times. What's happening? Sanford's son. That's what I grew up on. Wow, surprise you.

39:56You must have been four or five years old. I was born in 71. Wow. You see these days, they're going to be like a little toddler. Yeah. Yeah, he enters a little older than he looks, right? He's just a handsome man. He doesn't have the big forehead like me and Ireland. He's got the hairline. This kind of little lower in the front. He's got the natural tan from the beach. Yeah, you know, that's just how he rolls, man. Yeah, he's like Steph Curry and Ronaldo. He doesn't age. So it's two kinds. So empty what's been on your mind lately? We don't have to just, we don't have to talk lakers the whole time. But what's the top of the line, Michael Thompson update? People want to know what you've been doing. I have been fascinated to tell. As you know, we talked about women's basketball all the time. And Gita, I have been fascinated by how much the WNBA and women's basketball dislikes Caitlin Clark and refuses to acknowledge a greatness and her impact on the game. Do you see where she was not even starting for World Cup for Team USA and World Cup? And she just happens to be the most prolific guard in the WNBA combining scoring and assist. She setting records.

40:57She combines the most points of any back court player in the WNBA. And WNBA history, but yet she cannot start for Team USA. That this is the strangest response or reaction to a superstar and a league and sports history. Michael, I'm glad you brought that up. I saw some highlights because I wasn't watching, but I did see Caitlin have some big impact in that final. And I saw the nice chemistry between she and Angel Reese, a couple of nice times, a couple of big shots. But yeah, I mean, Caitlin Clark is the real deal, man. So fun to watch. It is crazy to have heard Angel Reese. It could sometimes be criticized Angel Reese and be a critiquer and last at her game sometimes. But one thing that a young lady can do is rebound. She played great defense and she actually scored some baskets in Team USA. And whenever she and Caitlin were on the floor, they were flowing there and sinked. They looked like Malone and Stockton and they were leaving the team. But then Carol Lawson and the old veterans on the team are jealous or envious.

42:01And they would put them on the bench and not play them. Even though they were the best one, two punch for Team USA. It is it is strange to see how petty the WNBA is when it comes to the young stars. It's weird. Well, okay. So I guess I wouldn't say it's the it's not the WNBA with Clark. It's USA basketball. They left her off the Olympic team, Michael. A couple of years ago, that was obviously ridiculous. They say, now these are the same people and who involved in the WNBA. It's the same sort of response or reaction. They just do not want to let this woman take over women's basketball because they really believe it's more than just taking clock that generates all this worldwide interest. And they don't realize it is her and her alone. Yes, there are the stars. And these are the good. It's all a lead player. There's no question about it. But she is no splice. Reggie Jackson once said she is the sprawl. That's the twig. Well, I will say that her production is certainly unquestionable. Like so you so she's I think she's third in scoring right now and tied for first in

43:03the sys. And the numbers are about like 22 and nine, which remember, they only play 40 minute games. So I think this is something that we you have to kind of constantly mention and adjust because oh, it's not the same as Luca. Well, no, it really is because if you add an extra eight minutes or even if you give five of those eight, then those numbers are going to go up to basically 30 and 10. And so she's a she's a 30 and 10 player in the WMBA, which is which is very impressive. This is a third year guys. And I'll make a prediction right now. She's going to play a good 15 years in the league. I make a prediction, Gator and Chudell. They will never never make her or name her MVP of the WMBA. Never. I'll take that bet. Yeah, I think I will too, Mike. And I don't want to equate it to a young Kobe or young Tiger Woods when they were kind of jumping onto the scene and there were some jealousy. So I know it's not the same thing, but I agree with Mike. I think she'll be MVP. You don't think so. If you're free, no, never she should be at she should have been MVP or rookie here. She should be MVP this year.

44:03She's the most I think is your will. She's probably still the is a slightly better all around player, right? Her team won the title like two years ago, Angel Wilson was doing things in last year. Yeah, but the feelings. Probably still the best player. No, not only is she setting records on the floor and she's taken the will be gone. Indiana Pacis was a terrible team before she got there to a serious player. And I don't leave that. Only that fact, but Trudeau and Geer, she is the only player, the only player in the whole league that makes them move to the bigger venue because she's coming to town. She's the only one. They do not do this for any other player that that plus a player in the court makes it the most valuable player in the game because of the amount of revenue she generates and interest she generates for the league. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. I'm just I'm saying MVP is still like the best player. And I think she's coming. She's she could be. Oh, two days. Angel Wilson, 26 points, 9.4 rebounds, 2.0 blocks leads the league and all that except for recess. A couple more rebounds.

45:03It's not about the best. Every piece about the best player is the most valuable player. Yeah, I'm the team that's the best, which Vegas last year was, right? But you're missing a part about the best player is the most valuable player. She's the most valuable player in the league. She brings the most value to the league moving for I think we can agree on that. Okay, Michael, what else is happening? Oh, I got a question for Michael. US Open. Tell me you stayed up late to show. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, that's all. It looks like looks like America's finally found themselves a big time tennis player who can compete with center and Alcaraz because those are the big two. I also now very I'm 29. So he's still in his prime. He's going to be around for a few. You have a look, you know, because they had Taylor Fritz and he had Francis Tiafo. They're always around to meet the quarter finals, maybe make a semi final here and there, but it looks like Ben Shelton at 23 is here to stay for a while, but he's got a, he's got a tough time though breaking through the top three because some three boys in front of him.

46:04They're all young, all in the mid to early 20s or even in a prime of 29 is very. So I guess Shelton could sneak in every now and then and will win a 10 big time major like Marbrica did during the Fetter or Joke it's in the Nadal era, but, but the center at 24. Alcaraz of 21. Alcaraz 23 like Michael. Who's that? Alcaraz is 23 now. Yeah, yeah, whatever 23, 23, what are they still young? So Shelton might win one or two majors, but I can't see him winning more than that, but those other three guys are around for the next five or 10 years. Gotcha. Empty any NBA story that has been a top of your mind lately. Like obviously we all follow the Clippers thing. Gider and I talked about that the first couple of segments that you're feel free to get a take off if you want on that. Or anything else that's been coming to your mind when you think about the NBA season starting in a couple of weeks. Well, of course, a lot of our storylines going on around the league. Now that says, Kawai is going to be in Toronto with Scotty Barnes and RJ Barrett and some other good young players that the rapists have.

47:08What is a place in the East now? If everybody's healthy, we can be towards a we always evaluate how things the strength of teams as long as everybody is healthy. Philadelphia is right now the favorite New York is still there, of course, but Philadelphia is the favorite. Everybody's healthy, but the rappers have put themselves in the top four in the East as long as Kawai can play 75 games. OK, top four. I think I don't think that that's crazy. Like they were fifth last year. They add Kawai, you know, the question to me is like how much just a toy slip off of 60 wins with teams kind of taking them a little bit more seriously. Andy Yanley and Pacer's rise. Indie coming up. How much does Cleveland benefit from getting paid in Watson, not really losing anything? How do the Celtics do? They had 56 wins, but now they're without Jalen Brown. They got a healthy Tatum. Is there another team Orlando to me, Michael? Could still be very good. They get what I think could be a really good coach. Miami just got Yannis. They were 10th last year. So that's the thing with the East now. It's pretty it's about 11 teams deep. And I agree with you about Toronto being good, but top four is no shoeing for almost any of those teams to me outside of the next and probably.

48:12Philly, if they can get reasonable health from Embed. Yeah, it's going to be tough. It's going to be a lot of fun in the East and West now is going to be good to obviously the top two are San Antonio, Oklahoma City. But who's going to be three, four and five behind those guys and everybody's healthy. Of course, Minnesota, we got to see how the back court of mellow and Anthony Edwards, how they mesh, you know, with the ball be taken out of mellow's hands. Is he going to and he's going to mature and act like a like a grown up around Anthony Edwards and and Rudy go bear in those guys and Chris bench doesn't tolerate that kind of juvenile behavior that he needs to portray or display and and Charlotte. So how much he grows up is going to make an impact on Minnesota or if he doesn't grow up. And you know, you also have a fourth of Lakers with Luca and his crew coming back with Austin will often Austin play up to all NBA level. Now he's making 45 million bucks a year or so. So so it's going to be a lot of great story lines in the West to. Empty, how excited are you for clay to have a new opportunity on the East Coast playing for Pat Riley's heat with Eric's poultry and what they've done there getting Yannis in there and bam.

49:21How healthy is he and just kind of taking that you know for us a little bit and giving us the whole scoop there and and also you being able to watch those games before Laker games being on these coast. Four o'clock tips for 30 tips that I'll be get to see the whole game before we have to do the pregame show for the Lakers, but you're excited for play because the last two years and Dallas is a 34 35 36 year old veteran. And you don't want to be playing for and games that mean nothing you know you're not in the playoffs. You don't have a chance to make the playoffs in the stage of career. You want to play in meaningful games. What a place for contenders. So that's what he has now in Miami as long as Bam and Yannis to play 77 78 79 games. You know, don't miss too many games and it played and tell a loss and Tim Hardaway Jr. Those three guys can knock down their trees consistently around a 40% to clip from outside to give up the space to floor for Miami because Miami got two beasts in the paint, but it's playing hard away and Larsen and Andrew Wiggins can knock down their trees. Consistently, Miami compete in the West with anybody.

50:24So Michael. We were discussing the whole Clippers thing and you know just taking accountability, which I was they didn't do it first and then try to do 13 days later. For somebody that you know really hasn't made many mistakes in life like yourself. What's the last time that you had to hold yourself accountable empty? Like I know you've never done anything disrespectful. But Julie, you know what you're right. I'm sorry. I mean, I was wrong. Have you ever been wrong, Michael? No, I haven't made a mistake yet. Life. So I don't really know how to do. So I don't understand what Steve Barman those guys are going through, but yeah, I was hoping that the NBA wouldn't hit the Clippers too. As hard as they did, I was hoping that okay, find them a hundred million bucks or 50 million dollars. Take away two first round picks and maybe suspend bomber or be official for a year. But don't cripple the franchise. There's the punishment they put on the Clippers. It's not a cripple them for the next seven or eight years. And that's unfair to the fans. The fans are going to be the ones to suffer. So I thought two first round picks, a loss of two first round picks a hefty fine and a long suspension would have been enough.

51:30How excited are you that there was no Pablo Torrey when you were getting a bag of cash in the Bahamas on your way to Minnesota? Yeah, man. How do the how do the gophers get you out of that 90 degree weather, Michael? You know the thing about it. If you're going to think that surprised me, geater and true that if you're going to cheat the way the Clippers did, right? Why do you put anything down in the email or on paper? Do everything by handshakes and word of mouth. Now, where you leave no paper trail. Like you did. I don't get. Exactly. Yeah, like, yeah. Yeah. What was the name of the guy that gave you the bag of cash was just one guy or would they send multiple different kind of like people that work for the, you know, the athletic department guy? I cannot divulge his name. No, no, with the technical program. Talk about that. But whatever happened to the gold old days of meeting in a back alley, just one on one and closing down deals that way. Yeah, just a brown bag. That's all we need. Michael, how excited are you or it was the word intrigued?

52:30I don't know what you would describe kind of the post LeBron air as we get ready for Laker training camp with with a new look in Luke and AR leading the way with Walker Kessler. Yeah, very intrigued. This is going to be a very fun year. Exciting you look forward to Lucas. Now the taste of the franchise, Austin Reese is all NBA type player. Walker Kess is all defensive type of a rim protective. So and you got a bunch of young wing new wing guys around these guys. So excited to see what Jay Jay, Redick and the staff are going to do with this new collection of players. But I think the Lakers will be very competitive this year. They're not the favorites to come out of the West, but they're going to be a tough out once they get to the playoffs. All right, Michael. Just one more question about this. Like Clay has obviously signed a bunch of deals over the years, like a bunch of endorsement deals. The one I think about the most is probably the ante deal and, you know, shoe deals are sort of one thing because all the best players in the league do that on the side. But Uncle Dennis clearly pushed a lot of this and, you know, Kauai to whatever degree he knew didn't know about different things.

53:30That's all at this point. We I guess we'll find out at some point. What was your rough like reflection back to the time that you were playing and just how much this stuff has changed going back to you having your own Nike deal. And then Nike with a bunch of other guys, then Nike deciding actually we're going to give it all embedded all on Michael Jordan. So your deals essentially got pushed. And then you kind of being near magic Johnson who probably had all of his stuff on the side relative to what what happened with this current thing. Can you just kind of take us through the evolution of what it's been like to see NBA monetize in the way that it has been for players? Yeah, it's been monetized a million times more than what I was going to lead. Thanks to David Stern and taking the game global and bringing in more sponsorship deal, more interest, more eyeballs from around the world made that interest go off and made more companies and sponsors want to be involved with the league. So it all starts with David Stern and his vision to expand the league to even greater heights. And the money is just crazy now. Everybody wants to be affiliated with the league.

54:31That's the league has such a good reputation and it's so much fun. And it is the arguably the second favorite sport in America behind football. So it's crazy to see how much the league is expanded and how much money is involved and available to the players now. As long as you play well and keep your nose clean and come across as a good good guy to the fans, everybody can get a little piece of the deal as long as you do it above board. And there's no reason for you to have to go under the table to try to get deals because companies are looking for players to sign up and push their brands for them, especially now with social media around. Michael, the YouTube chat has the exact same question that I was going to ask because I wanted to bring it back to the Lakers and Mike and I've been doing this show throughout the summer and we keep kind of asking different people. And I am very, I'm actually kind of excited to hear your answer because I can make an argument for any of the new guys. Who most intrigues you and who are you excited to see of the new guys? Walker Kessler, you know, he played five games last year.

55:32I want to see if he can be second team all NBA defense this year because Santa because nobody's going to love that. I plan to win the young if he is a center that's the case at all defense. The walk of Tesla has to average a double double and block three or four shots of game and be a rim protective. He can do that because the Lakers have got scoring. You know, they can score with anybody, but if they can get some solid rim protection that he could be a combination of go bear and and and when the middle somewhere in between there, then the Lakers will have something special in him. Michael Thompson. It's great to talk to you as always. Is there anything else you'd like to get after your chest before we let you go? Yeah, I am sick and I don't know true that I know you don't care, but I think I get a mic. I am so sick and tired. I'll see you listening to all these boxes like Terence Crawford Ryan Garcia, of course, Stevenson. I don't know who you got anybody listening to me out there. A lot of our yellows are from Mexican Americans. They love their boxing too. I'm so sick of these guys talking so much trash against each other and nobody gets an arena to fight.

56:37I'm sick of it. What happened? Michael, we used to set up these fights and it was on and we'd all sit around and we grew up right. You're high versus her and turns versus let her let her versus high. Let her go around the place is the fight the great. You know, they they through that probably told you little Mike through that about those times. But not the day the fighters all they do is just talk and never fight each other is duck each other. Exactly. That's lame, Michael. Well, I'm glad you got that after chest. I hope that he's right. Yeah, you're right. I can't argue with you. That's the thing I'm most frustrated about in sports. How the great fighters of the day will just don't fight each other for some stupid reason. Michael, years ago, this is late 90s. I was at a sterile beach Mexico at a beach volleyball tournament thousands of people gathered to watch on a big screen when Tyson bit whole field zero. We just don't have that vibe anymore. I want to back. Yeah, because the good fighters out there for some reason these idiots don't understand that you fight each other.

57:38You'll make 10 times the money fighting each other and fighting some other bum like to doubt. Well, all right. Thanks for earning it like that. The great Michael Thompson. We appreciate you joining us and we will look forward to speaking to you and seeing you in a couple of weeks. MT. Yeah, I can't wait to see you guys in the first preseason game. That's going to be fun. All right. There he is. MT legend himself. Bring it on. All right. We're going to take a call or two coming back and then we'll get to another one of our favorite guests. Ben Golliver in the second hour of our show here. He's Gator Ishtudel on Laker's talk. He is Ben Ola. Fall has never looked or tasted this good. Sweet Greens Fall Harvest Menu is back with seasonal favorites dressed to impress and made to be devoured. Warm roasted sweet potatoes, crisp apples, maple glazed brussels, and crave worthy flavors in the autumn harvest bowl, maple glazed salmon plate, and roasted bacon brussels side. The season's most desirable menu has returned to sweet green. Featuring Fall's best dressed.

58:39Make your move. Order on the sweet green app.