The NBA Draft, the U.S. Open, and Trying to Attend the Knicks Parade

Erik shares his experience attempting to attend the Knicks’ massive victory parade. Plus, Giannis, the NBA Draft, and the U.S. Open.

The ED/BC Podcast. You think you hate it now, but wait until you listen to it.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome back to another edition of the EDBT podcast. Eric Dobratz and Brian Coleman on the uh last week of June here. Brian's getting busy in the sports world in Connecticut. We got the Travelers Championship, uh Pro Am on Wednesday. I'll get your take on the uh Lonnie Hawkins news if you haven't heard the former pro is coming back to uh make a comeback on Wednesday. I don't know if you saw that story, but we'll talk about that. Uh tease off on Thursday. We had the U.S. Open this weekend. And uh I guess, Brian, uh we could talk some Mets baseball if you'd like, talk about the Phillies and Mets. We could start there if you wanted to. Uh uh NBA draft is tomorrow, correct? Where will UCOM players go?

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Tuesday night, yeah. Tomorrow night, and this is Monday morning, so that means tomorrow. Yes, you got that right. I am correct.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Uh I went to New York City last week to attempt to go see the uh Knicks parade. I guess we should start there, Brian. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 1:01

The Knicks thing is finally going down. Yeah, I mean, uh I I was home working last week, and um I don't usually have the TV on in the morning for one, but I was had the TV on. I was flipping around. And every near every channel two, channel four, channel five, channel seven, channel nine, channel eleven, all every single one of them. Doing that parade. It was like uh was the coverage. What's that?

SPEAKER_01 1:26

As a former produ television producer, how was the coverage?

SPEAKER_00 1:29

I don't really get listen, as a producer, one of the few things that I never did, and I I don't regret this because I hate parades for the most part, is I never produced a parade, but it looked looked fine. Everybody had their outdoor sets, you know. I don't know all these stations religiously because I don't watch a lot of TV news anymore, which is a weird thing for me to say. Um, but it looked great, looked fine, but it looked it but it looks like every other parade. You know what I mean? Like there's guy the only thing about the parade that was funny on TV was just the fact that I guess maybe this could be a nitpick, is certainly a lot of the split players, but it was also a big thing about the non-players. There are celebrities, there is Timothy, whatever we call his name, is Shalomet out there. I always butcher this woman's name, the Law and Order SVU lady, uh, who my wife one time actually ran into, and they were both crossing the street and banged into each other one time, which is kind of funny. Mariska Haggert Haggert Haggerty and a couple others. Uh, and then the mayor obviously made which I thought, like, I'm not getting political. I was like, I thought I made a nice speech, but everybody was like bringing the mayor's speech. Oh, and then here come the players and Jalen Brown, uh Jalen Brown, uh uh Jalen Brunson cursed on live television, which is fun, which they didn't beat. Which I did see. Uh, you know, I wasn't even gonna bring up that guy, you know. Listen, I mean he is what he is. He won a title, but he's still it's impossible to like the guy. It's I he and I'm a ranger for you. He was my team too. And he got booed as well, I believe, right? Oh, of course he did. He's on he's on he's so unlikable, and we're not getting into well, we'll just leave it at that. So, yeah, because I want to hear about that's me sitting at home, like glancing and watching up at the TV a little bit. You were there, so you tell us what was going on. You attempted to get in, didn't quite make it.

SPEAKER_01 3:11

So listen, my kids and I, we talked about it, you know, when they won. Do you want to go? And, you know, I know my way around the city a little bit, Brian, and I also know that it was gonna be. I told them the night before we left. I said, listen, I will go. So I will go, but I said, you have to know that it's 50-50 if we get to the parade. And they said, you know what? Much like myself, they enjoyed the city. So they're like, listen, if we don't get into the parade, we'll still make a day of it. And we did. So basically what happened was, Brian, I worked the night before. So I get home at midnight, go to bed at 12:30, get up at 4, take a shower, get organized, wake the kids up at 4:30. We get in the car a little before five. We took the 548 train out of New Haven. So originally I thought about driving, you know, a little further down the highway to like maybe Fairfield or whatever. But the problem was they had to go to their friend's graduation at 5 o'clock. And if we were staying in the city for a while, I don't want to get stuck in 95 North Traffic on a Friday afternoon down in Fairfield County. So it would have taken, you know, so we just went on to Haven. So we got to the city at um, so I saw Kent Pierce, our news aid ph uh reporter, and Kevin Flauma, the photographer. They were doing live shots from the train station. All the TV stations were. And I had I knew we were in trouble, Brian, when I saw on social media at four o'clock in the morning that the L I R train um was sold out basically at 4 a.m. going to New York City. That's when I knew we were in trouble. I almost didn't wake up the kids.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:47

Yeah, I saw I saw a guy that left uh I don't know when we take him from New Jersey. Some guy and his kid worked said they got like they got like they left at 3 o'clock in the morning and just made it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

The um the the first train out of New Haven, the 458, was packed.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

That's what I was gonna ask you. But some people have to go to work, right? So that was the funny part.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

You know, you're you're and you're making all the stops in like Westport, and you see these guys getting on the train with their paper under their arm and a little briefcase, and they're looking around like what the you know what I mean? Like so I so we the but it gets worse. So we go to Grand Central, we'll get there a little before eight, we just follow the masses to the subway. You're taking the four or five train downtown, and while it it took us three times to get on the train because it was so jammed to get on the subway. So, like uh the subway showed up at Grand Central, it's packed. So about a third of us get on the first subway train. Then the next one comes down, and about a third of us get on. So we got on the third one. They're going by pretty good at that time of day. Um so we get on the train, and while we're on the train, um the conductor on a subway or whatever says, Hey folks, due to NYPD and crowding, we're not gonna make the stops at X, Y, and Z. So you either can get off at Fulton Street or I think it's Bowery Garden or something. That's where the parade started. Okay. So we ended up getting off at Fulton Street, which is kind of halfway the midpoint of the parade, the route.

SPEAKER_02 6:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Wall Street's closed. You can't get off at that stop. We could have got off at City Hall and gone straight there where the parade ended, but I'm like, you know, I don't I want to try to see some of the parade. Right. So we get off at Fulton Street, Brian. It is Woodstock at the platform. Getting off the train. I mean, you can't move.

SPEAKER_00 6:42

I'm already out.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah. So I'm not a claustrophobic person per se. But you're underground. It's hot. You're on top of each other. You know, my kids are old enough, 18 and 17. You know, my son's six feet tall, my daughter's tall. Like we're, you know, young adults, so I'm not like I have to grab a six-year-old by the hand, you know. Um so we go in towards the exits, and we get towards the exits, and all the exits are blocked off of police tape with NYPD cops standing in front of them.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

So, how do you get out of the train station?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

So now all of a sudden the anxiety is going up a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Because I'm saying to myself, they're not letting us up because there's so many people already above ground. So I say to a cop, and now people are starting to get pissed. Like, what do you mean we can't get out? So we're literally like in a fishbowl just going around in a circle like a washing machine there for a little bit, trying to figure out what to do. And one of the cops is like one of the cops like, you have to walk down to Williams, the Williams Street exit or whatever, which is along the platform. So the hundreds of us, thousands are walking that way, and people are starting to come back towards us.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Oh, that's not a good sign.

SPEAKER_01 8:03

And I'm just like, You don't want to see that. So we're walking, so we keep walking. At this point, I'm like, I just want to see daylight. I want I want air. I want air. Yeah. And my kids are fine. And um, so we're walking, we find the exit, and the exit, there's a long line to go up the stairs, you know, and people are coming down the stairs saying, they're not letting you through, they're not letting you through. And a couple of was like, I don't give a shit. We're going off. So just get out of there. We make our way up to street level, and the cops had blocked off the entire area where you were exiting off the train. So, like, you're not getting to the parade, and the cops are like, We're you're not getting to the parade, guys. It's done. Like, we're we've we've hit our max. Um, again, so we ended up, I'm like, I saw I say to one of the cops, so we're hanging out for a few minutes, we're enjoying the vibe. It's all Nick fans, everyone's having a good time. You know, you got the t-shirt guys, you got them, you know, all the street merchandise. My kids bought a couple of shirts. My son did some good haggling, you know, shirts were 20 bucks, he got two for 30 for him and his sister. So um I want to get back to that.

SPEAKER_00 9:17

We'll we'll let me return to that point in a few minutes. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 9:21

So then, you know, I see set we're near South Street Seaport. So I'm like, listen, let's get out in this crowd. We walk over to South Street Seaport. We walk over to we see the Brooklyn Bridge. So we go kind of the observation deck of the Brooklyn Bridge, like, okay, I'm I'm feeling all right. So the kids are like, come on, let's go back and see if there's another way to get in. I'm like, guys, you know, I'm I'm just like, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna play along. So we're walking along, you know, it's everywhere you go, you can't get through. People are on top of, you know, street signs trying to get a glimpse. The parade hasn't even started yet because it's only 9:30. And um after uh about 20 minutes of walking around, I'm like, guys, you know, let's cut our losses. So we walked up to City Hall, right? And City Hall was packed. You could see City Hall uh and all the jerseys hanging, which by the way, someone has to explain to me why 33 had some other name on it. I I don't understand that. I don't know how that's terrible. I don't know what that was all about, but um again, another reason to feel bad for Patrick. Um but so we ended up uh I know you had some questions, but we ended up going to just walking north, going to Chinatown, Little Italy, and then walking across town to the West Village. And then that's it.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Okay, so I mean you're in an I I I give you uh kudos for getting as far as you get. Because I would have been out like well, first of all, this doesn't this sort of everything we've been saying about what happens if the Knicks ever win was validated by your experience. I mean the city, you know, the whole island, it feels like half the island of Manhattan was uh was just like you couldn't move. I feel that's what you're describing. And we knew that this was going to happen. And another thing, and I know this would have to be older Knicks fans to be there, and I don't know if you if the older fans are even go through this. I did not know again, the Knicks have only won three times that. I did not know that in 70 and 73, because the city was in such a financial mess that the Knicks never had a parade. So this is their first ever parade, just for historical context. And Eloy, it just sounds like everything we knew we thought, like the city will go nuts, it'll come to a standstill. It came to a literal standstill.

SPEAKER_01 11:41

I uh, you know, and we talked about it. The the Knicks are the only team in New York that brings everyone together. Again, there's seven Nets fans. And so it's not, you know, when the Yankees wins, you have people, you have people like yourself who hate the Yankees, so you're not gonna go to something like that because you're a Mets fan. When the Rangers win, you got Islanders Devils fans who are never gonna do that. You know, the Rangers are probably what probably 60, 70% of fans in hockey in New York are Ranger fans, probably.

SPEAKER_00 12:07

60% Yeah, but you're not the L I R put it this way, the L I R would not be sold out at 6 45 in the morning. Correct.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Um so the other thing I would say is so I understand security was a big concern, Brian. We're you know, we got wars going on, and New York City is always a target. And I had was in the back of my mind, I did talk to the kids about, you know, keeping your eyes open, all that stuff. But you can't have a parade that's only 10 blocks. Like they should have made all of Broadway. Again, I understand, and you're stretching security thin, so there's more vulnerability, but you can't have a parade with two million people trying to squeeze into a 10-block area. You know what I mean? Like some people said, you know, should you have done it in Central Park or something like that instead, a bigger area. So I get the Canyon at Heroes, but again, at this point, you're you're getting so many people in such a small area. Half the people there. I mean, we were walking to the West Village, Brian, and there were still people walking down to City Hall with their Knicks gear on, and you could hear them all saying, I hope there's room for us, I hope there's room for us. And I was a couple people like, turn around, turn around. I I met a guy, I met a guy who got there at 5 30 and they told him he couldn't get in.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

Yeah, it that just sounds insane. And you mentioned making it bigger, but again, we do have to remember this is on a Thursday morning and a Thursday afternoon, and this is a city of massive commerce. Like, I mean, you you can't it'd be enough to do it on a Saturday. You mean we see when they have like parades and stuff on Saturdays? I I don't know, there wasn't a good answer for it.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Well the weather was iffy too, which probably turned some people away because we we debated not going at all because it was supposed to rain. And it only sprinkled on us.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

They held off for the most part. So anyway. I think that well, this is all very fascinating to me. I mean, not fascinating, but it just like I I can't criticize anybody because there's like a saying, logistically speaking, we knew I don't know how many people that you know. I don't have our frame of reference. They said the Celtics parade a few years ago was four million people. I have to think the Knicks, obviously in a much bigger city than Boston, was probably at least double that. Um Yeah, I never saw the exact numbers. That sounds which sounds insane, but I mean maybe those numbers are are incorrect, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Yeah, I mean people always guesstimate these things, but again, it just was disappointing because you have such a again, like it the whole and I we stopped for a gelato in Little Italy because it's like 9.30, you know, it's like 10.30 in the morning. Yeah, and I bought the kids some Dunkin' Donuts in the car ride at 5.15 in the morning, and now you're kind of stuck in between. It's not really lunchtime. And the woman who waited on us in this old little Italian place is like, Oh, you're here for the parade? I'm like, Yeah, she's like, I'm just so happy. It's made everyone so happy. It was just nice to hear. You know, there was no bullshit, like no a couple people were a little anxious, but for the most part, there was it was a it was a uh a good vibe with the crowd. At one point, I remember we were walking, trying to get close to Broadway, and we were in the middle of the crowd. And if it had just been me, I would have been fine. But uh, there was a cop in front of a barricade, and like I could hear a woman kind of like screaming, like to get in, and like I got a little bit of a sense that you know what, this might get out of hand a little bit, so let's go over there. You know, let's get away from this. But I'm surprised there wasn't some of that, but I don't think there was. Yeah, and and you know, again, we talked about it too, Brian. The other thing too, like if you're a family going to these things, man, you have to be prepared. Like for you, if you had gone to this, you have to know that every other person is smoking dope.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Oh, absolutely. That was my that is a question I want to ask. Yeah, because like you know, I've gone into the city on just, you know, anytime now, my kid, my daughter, my youngest daughter, she's you know, she's New York's okay, but I don't love it like some people do because it smells funny. And it smelled, I mean, like I it smelled weird before pot was legalized, but now it's like every other street is just like you're just getting a you can get a contact high walking three blocks. Yep. I mean, I remember I remember my kids two years ago wanted to go. Well, we get it. We went in and we saw the damn tree just at Christmas time. You're in the Rockefeller Center at Christmas at like 12 o'clock in the afternoon, and it smells like weed. Like, it's a Rockefeller Center, there's a Christmas tree. You're getting high here. I give you again, I don't think I would have I I would have never done that, so I give you guys credit for doing that. I thought the boy was a Celtics fan. He's wearing a Knicks shirt. You can't do that. Yeah, I don't mean to sound mad dog, but you can't do that. You can't do that. That's not acceptable.

SPEAKER_01 16:47

So it's funny. I um we had the discussion about that. So he's he's an NBA fan. I think uh uh he daddy, no, no, you're right. I said the same thing. Because two years ago when the Knicks had that great series against Philadelphia in the playoffs, yeah. Um, you know, we were sitting watching home, and I remember he was into it, and he just he's like, there's just something about the Knicks team. Like, you know, we've talked about it, like there's you know, you're not gonna root for them per se, but they're they're they can be fun to watch. There's not real, they're they're likeable, I guess, for a better lack of a better term. And so they are, I guess. But you know what I mean. You you know if you're a true Celtic fan, but he's not. I mean, he we're kind of in between where we live, you know that. So I understand. So I don't think he's a Knicks fan per se. I just think he got kind of caught up in the moment. Like he's still like today. He was asking me, Dad, do you think the Celtics are gonna trade for Giannis for Jalen Brown? I'm like, well, would you do it? He goes, Yeah, I would do it. I think the Celtics need to make a change.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

So there you go. That'd be our next that's in our next segment. We'll talk about that. That's coming up. I'm checking my phone. Um, yeah, well, good for again. I I mean, listen, I'm good for the Knicks. That's fine. I mean, I would you catch me wearing, you know, I don't know what. Nazi, no, I shouldn't say that. You would not catch me in a Knicks shirt, but congratulations to the Knicks fans, and I'm glad you had your dad.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

I'm glad we went. Uh so the NBA season winds down with that. We got the draft coming up uh tomorrow night. And it's funny, usually the draft was on Thursday night, I thought.

SPEAKER_00 18:09

I think so too.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Uh I know they got the so um, you know, you asked me Alex Caraban, Terrace Reid Jr. I, you know, it's funny. I haven't heard a lot. I I'd heard some people a month ago saying the Knicks like both of them. Yeah, and they would be perfect players for the Knicks or like an Alex. You could see Alex Caraban on the South exceeding the Hauser guy, you know, someone like that. Yep.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

Um Hauser might be a buck by tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, I think I have a feeling that Terrace Reed Jr. will get drafted late first round. I could see him in the Knicks, especially if the Knicks have to give up someone like Mark um Mitchell Robinson with their salary cap. So I can see the Knicks going for a big man of the hell to add some size um coming off the bench. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

I'm not really like uh this is I am not nearly the way into the draft the way I'm into the NFL draft, but one of the cool things about the NBA draft is like the it's like a week later you're there. Like the NFL draft, the season ends in February, and they draft. I mean, you get you get even if you love the draft like me, you're like, can we just freaking draft already? It's two marks now. I know but I did see two marks. I just read two marks, one in the athletic, and I think probably one in East Pan, doesn't matter. Uh they each one had Terrace Reed mocked to Boston, makes sense. One had Terrace Reed mocked to the Knicks, makes sense. Uh I I did not, I think Caravan is probably it if his best shot. I can see the Stockholm's going for Caravan because when they when the GM uh uh when Brad Stevens says we've got to get bigger, then you know he fits their role just like terrace reed would, though. Um but that'll be the story.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

The problem with Caravan, like I see him more as like maybe early second round. I just don't know. I just don't know. I don't think he's consistent enough offensively, Brian. I just don't know who will guard. I mean, I guess the NBA is not a defensive league anymore. Who's uh I bring up Hauser, like who are those guys guarding? I I I I guess, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:59

That's a good thing because again, I don't know the Knicks, uh but I mean with the Celtics, if you can't play defense, you never get on the floor. I mean, even Hauser's a decent defensive player. They don't build teams with players who are defensive liabilities. I mean, you know, there's nobody you can attack. So I think it's funny. I don't want to get too deep as again. I'm not John Hollins or anybody like that. I'm not an expert on these guys. I do think you're right. Carapan's probably second round, and and you know, I think he hopefully can car later roll. Reeds legitimately, like, I don't know how good he can be because he's still getting better. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

A little undersized, he's only about 6'9. I haven't seen the specs on these guys, but listen 6'10.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

I was like, I don't think he's 6'10. Really?

SPEAKER_01 20:37

Yeah, I mean, he might be. I mean, the the one they measure you in the NBA draft, and they're not gonna lie about your numbers, you know what I'm saying? So anyway, well, we had a long segment there. We'll take a quick break, come back, and we will talk about the the couple trades, baseball, U.S. Open, Brian, much like yourself. I never really got into it this weekend. I had a lot going on. Graduation parties, work. I mean, I was into it yesterday afternoon because I had a report on it. But you know, Wyndham Clark doesn't really move the needle per se. I thought he was great in the postgame, however. Uh the whole place was rooting against him, but I thought he did a good job addressing that. So we'll talk about all that more on the EDBC podcast.

SPEAKER_00 21:09

All right. Remember, folks, real quick, Carol, I'll just remind you to take care check out the Instacart Plus program, especially if you're a family member. If you've known, if you've never used Instacart, it's a great time to sign up for $9.99 a month. You can create a family account where you and other members of your household can all shop on the same online cart. You can all log in from your different devices, and all your stuff goes in the same cart. So you get in one delivery, not a bunch of deliveries, one delivery, and you get free delivery not any over 35 bucks, 5% credit back, on eligible pickup orders, service fees that are reduced every time you order, and some extra perks from top brands like mileage points from Delta Airlines and exclusive benefits for Chase credit card members. So remember if you're gonna shop from home, shuffle home and save it. I don't tail Taylor Heroes not moving the needle from me.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

Yeah. I think I mean I can see if it's I don't know if he has the ability to shut down one or the other, but if I'm the and it how do you feel as a Celtic fan? Like, I don't know. It's like I I don't want to blame Jalen Brown for last year. I mean, Jason Tatum didn't play and he was terrific in the playoffs. I didn't think the Celtics did a good job of how they handled Tatum's return in the playoffs, Brian, from like 10 minutes to 40. I just, and I didn't, I I blame the coach for a lot of the way they played basketball, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Coach had a bad series.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

Coach a bad series. So part of me, I was I'd be comfortable running it back if I was a Celtics and making a few tweaks and hoping that Tatum is better next year and that you go back to where you were two years ago.

SPEAKER_00 22:50

You don't know what the internal dynamics are. And yeah, you do hate to get give up. It's funny, I'm like, I'm sitting here going where they're I'm reading things like you're irrational with some of these things. Like you don't want to give up really anything. And like I'm reading, like, oh, they might trade Hugo Gonzalez. Like, I want to keep Hugo Gonzalez. I'm like, Brian, what are you doing here? I'm one of those idiots that like 15 years ago, more than 15 years ago, I was pissed that they gave up Al Jefferson to get Kevin frickin' Garnett. Yeah. In retrospect, that was fine. That was okay. We do that with all of our teams. We do, don't we? It's silly.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

You wouldn't trade Daniel Murphy years ago for you know drink scuba.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

I I don't know. It's like are you sure you don't want to Mark Fientos and uh you know uh Monte Mauricio? Because they're available. Um I I I think there's a good chance it happens. I mean, I don't know. I would be I think I'd like it. I think it's a gamble worth taking for the Celtics. It could blow up in their face. Because Giannis is almost dirty, he's had injuries, he has string problems, it could blow up in their face.

SPEAKER_01 23:49

Well, yeah, and the other thing too is they talk about calf issues, and you know what calf issues means, Brian. Sometimes that leads to Achilles, exactly, and we're seeing that all over the place. Oh uh coincidentally, I'm dealing with it myself right now, Achilles issue, and it is not fun.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

It's not fun. I'm trying to avoid, I'm trying to go I'm trying to avoid it. My my tournament this is meniscus surgery, but don't re-hab three times a week. It's not I don't so yeah, we're getting old. Um so yeah, I think it would be a gamble worth taking for Boston because I don't know if this core I don't know what the dynamic is with J Brown and Tatum. You know, the media's tried to break those guys up for like the last five years, and yet when they play together, uh I mean they're two years removed.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Well, and Brown hasn't done himself any favors on his podcast and all this other stuff too. Says stupid things.

SPEAKER_00 24:34

I mean, there's they're two years removed from a title and they're still relatively young. And, you know, and people saying when you can keep all three, you can't keep all three on a max contract. You'd have you you'd have to sign me to play, you know, point guard. You couldn't follow forward. I could see that. Yeah, I guess. Well, again, with the knee, I don't know. I don't know. So I don't know. I uh I you know we're gonna talk. We here's what's gonna happen, folks. We're gonna stop the show. You know, we're gonna be done in about 10 minutes. 20 minutes later, they're gonna make a trade, and this damn podcast is gonna be dated.

SPEAKER_01 25:01

Yeah, 100%. Uh, we'll mention real quick too, before we move on to baseball, uh, it looks like uh Dusty May heading to the NBA, Brian, the Michigan coach, wins a national championship and gonna go coach the Mavericks. Good for him. You know what, Brian? If I a couple years ago with Hurley, too, you can't uh college sports is, you know, I don't know where it's going, man. And I don't blame these guys if they want to go to the NBA. Dusty May, go coach Cooper Flag and try to build something down there. Dallas is a good basketball talent.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

He's coming back. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't blame him. They go give him, you know, five years, a hundred million dollars or something stupid like that. Send your generational wealth. I mean, why not? I mean, he'll get that money in Michigan, too, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

But oh, he will. I mean, I don't know how he'll do. You know, this this kind of reminds me of like it came out of the blue. Like, I'm reading all these NBA assistants for this job, but it just reminds me again. I'm sorry to use my team, like Brad Stevens 15 years ago, out of the blue. Like, you're hiring Brad Stevens? Wow, where'd that come from? Feels exactly the same way. And for me, I'd say this for college coaches. If you can supplement, if you can stifle your ego, you can't be a John Callapari or a Rick Patino. That's they failed on the pros because they know they're not the stars. Nobody's gonna come to you, whatever the hell they play in Dallas. Someone's coming to Mavs games to see Dusty May. You know, they could go 70, 12, and they don't care about Dusty May. So if he can do that, just yeah, I think it's good for him. And maybe, you know what, maybe good for the Mavericks to go do a little out-of-the-box sneak in here.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Yeah, no, I like it. Good for them, and it's good for UConn. And if you're a UConn fan, that's one great coach that you don't have to stand in your way. And you know, Michigan's probably gonna have to tear it all down again. There'll probably be a bunch of kids leaving to go somewhere else. So that's one less uh roadblock in your travel to hopefully winning a national championship.

SPEAKER_02 26:43

So there you go.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Uh baseball, briefly, Brian. Uh Yankees lost two or three this weekend to the Reds. Again, the Yankees doing Yankee things just today. I could spend a half hour on it if you want. Defensively, just playing people in different positions, which drives me nuts. You know, I just yesterday, I don't know if you saw the play in the ninth inning, ground ball up the middle, it turned into a triple. I just you can't make this stuff up. Uh Caballero in left field, and Anthony Volpe continues to get so much run when he should be sitting his ass on the bench be and Caballero should be playing shortstop every day, but you don't want to hurt Volpe's feelings because he grew up liking Derek Jeter.

SPEAKER_00 27:20

So, I mean, I think it's insane the run he's getting. That that that I will agree with. Um, you know. Um the Mets, I just what am I gonna say? They had a great night Friday night in Philly, and then again, absolutely they were non-competitive Saturday night. By the way, all three last two nights they were on national television. Well, great for America. I mean, they get blasted by Phil by Philly.

SPEAKER_01 27:39

Mets' biggest issue right now is starting pitching, and um it's just Soto didn't do himself any favors last night getting thrown out of a second. If you're a Met fan, you wanted to throw the remote at the television, it was so funny.

SPEAKER_00 27:48

He does, you gotta put up with it though. It drives me nuts, you gotta put up with it.

SPEAKER_01 27:52

Um he's great, he's having a great year, man. He's having he's not doing any he's can't blame him, man. I mean, listen, I know Juan Solo, all that stuff, but listen, he's doing his job. The team is uh I mean you can hopefully get Lindor back this week, but uh enough with Freddie Peralta. I've said all season long. That guy is not an ace. You know he's he's they traded for him and sold you that he was an ace. He's not, he's like a number two or three guy.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Yeah, you know, yeah, and uh, you know, um our friend, we all we love listening to one. My you know, Mike Francis on a spot the other day. He's I saw the clip, and he's all right. He's like, Pete Alonzo, you have uh you know, he's got 17 home runs, you got 50 RBIs before the break. You couldn't use that. Mitch didn't need, couldn't use, did had no need for that behind one soto, didn't need him, didn't want to talk to him. I I've never been more disgusted. I mean, I feel like I'm 17 again, and they let Daryl Strawberry walk out the door. I'm just disgusted with that decision.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

I hate crying over spilled milk. It's such a pet peeve of mine, Brian, especially. I can't let it go. I I don't blame you. I saw the highlights last night when he had his 18th home run the other way at Dodger Stadium last night, and you listened to Jim Palmer make polar bear crack. I mean, the idea you could have signed him. This could have been the second or third year of his contract with say two more to go, and that would have been totally acceptable. But Stearns just did not want him on the team.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

And that's all there is to it. He wanted to be here. This isn't strawberry wanting to go home to play in LA 30 years ago, or Jacob de Grom, which that's fine. He didn't like to live in New York. He's more of a relaxed, he went more of a relaxed atmosphere. I get it. I mean, I wish he had, but hadn't left, but I get it. This guy wanted to stay.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

Screamed about it in the offseason, and the Red Sox people thought they were smarter than me and you. And Alonzo would have they're complaining about lack of offense in Boston. He would hit 50 home runs at Fenley Park. He's already got 18 in Baltimore. And it's just uh it took he got off to a bit of a slow start, but home run hitters hit home runs. That's it. And you gotta live with them at first base. But the idea that the you've seen the guys that are running out at first base, and again, they've had awful injuries, Brian. You mentioned Ronnie Mauricio and those guys. I mean, you know, got Brett Beatty playing third base, throwing the ball down right field last night. It's just and David Peterson, how why they keep sending that poor guy out there, Brian? You know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 30:11

They don't remember.

SPEAKER_01 30:12

I know, I know. Peterson's gonna end up going somewhere next year and have a great year. It's gonna drive you nuts. It's gonna be Seth Lugo. Yeah, he's gonna go 17 and 7 for like Atlanta next year, and it's gonna drive you nuts because he's gonna he's the old pitching coach they had is gonna straighten him out.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

100%. I've seen them, I've seen that movie a million times before. Zach Wheeler came back from the thoracic Atlas syndrome. Most of these guys don't come back. If he had it when Zach Wheeler is pitching unbelievable. If Christ, if he was still in the Mets, he'd be he he'd be in a wheelchair. That's how it goes for the Mets. Uh but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Were you surprised they left Peralta in for so long the other night to kind of make it be better? I don't care.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

I don't care. Bullpen's actually been great. You guys want Luke Weaver back? Maybe we maybe we treated him. He hasn't given up a run since April. It's been amazing. Even Devil Bullpen's been phenomenal, but you're down six-nothing in the third inning. Um I don't want to talk about it anymore.

SPEAKER_01 31:00

But the thing is, you're nine games under 500 now, and it's like, but you're teasing you because if you go win three out of four against the Cubs this week, you're like, again, like, okay, we're only five games out of the second wild card. You know what I mean? It's like the new baseball, Brian. You're still in it. But they we're still a ways away, Brian. But at the deadline, you gotta be sellers.

SPEAKER_00 31:20

You gotta, you gotta sell. Deadline's two months. I mean, almost a month and a half away. It's later two months. It's later this week. Oh, less than that.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Five weeks, yeah, six weeks. Uh yeah. Today's the 22nd or 21st, whatever today is. 22nd? I don't even know.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

I don't know. You know what? We'll see what happens. They'll probably get rained out tonight, which is good, but we'll see. I'm gonna, you know what? We'll see. You know what? I'm looking forward to the travelers this week. You'll be out there. I know you got a crazy week. Can I say one thing about I'm disappointed, but I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but we won't, I guess we'll never get my tareko on when I say this. I was really bummed out to find out that the travelers, NBC's doing the travelers now. Because their golf cover is just freaking terrible. And I just like, really? You know why they are, right? I it's like a they've got to like divvy up the number of uh It was a trade.

SPEAKER_01 32:09

CBS wanted to cover Durrell, I think, or something, and so they had to give up one to get that, and they gave up the travelers for that. So I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 32:17

I'm just used to Nance and those guys. Nance used to live in Connecticut, he knows the course well, so we'll see. I mean, I'll still watch, but uh hopefully and again Rory not playing was stunning because I know Rory you had a great story about Rory last year, so that's kind of a borrow. But hopefully there's a great tournament and you guys have stories this year.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

With his with the new schedule, and there's gonna be a there's gonna be a uh a tweak to the schedule again. The PGA has a press conference tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. with the commissioner and Hartford and Cromwell to talk about that. Making sure Giannis didn't get traded. Um checking.

SPEAKER_00 32:47

No, not a Giannis trade.

SPEAKER_01 32:49

So the uh I forget what I was talking about, the golf course.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

There's a press conference tomorrow with somebody from the city.

SPEAKER_01 32:58

Yeah, so Rory basically cut his schedule back a little bit as he's got a family. He lives in England now, so he's not doing as many events as he's done in the past, is my point to that story.

SPEAKER_00 33:06

So that's kind of what I read. That yeah, he's moved his family, he's cut down, but I thought, you know. Plus, I thought everyone loved the travelers, but I guess this is maybe a case where, you know, it's the we where the being the week after the US Open maybe hinders it. That's when you can see.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

Well, the good thing is it's across, it's a literally a uh uh helicopter ride to har to Cromwell from there, so that's the easy part. Um Wyndham Clark is supposed to be coming to Cromwell this week, Brian. He is one of the committed guys, and this is an upper echelon tournament, so I'm assuming he's not gonna pull out. He's played here every year. Uh US Open, we mentioned, I did not watch a lot of it, Brian. I didn't watch any of the first three rounds. I I didn't watch a stroke from the first three rounds.

SPEAKER_00 33:47

Not one. I thought it's I thought it sucked. I hate that course. I don't know that course, but I I'm like, well, I'm one of those people. I know people say it's like the opposite of the travelers, where you know the the pros can go up to to the travelers and just they love the course because they can just dominate on the course. Uh 20 under par to win. You don't some people hate that. They don't want to see 20 under par. I'd rather see that, and it's not great, I admit, but I don't want to see everybody fighting to just make par on a course that's un that's freaking unbelievably hard. Yeah, I don't, yeah. I don't, I don't that's not fun to watch. I can I don't want to see someone struggle, I'll go watch my, I'll go have somebody record me play. I don't, I don't like I don't know. And I never I know everyone's complaining about the crowds, but I was like, if you're not from this area and I would never you you know you do not want to drive out 50 miles east to Long Island on a Sunday in the summer. You're gonna sit in trouble. You're it's gonna be worse than trying to get to the next parade. I mean, no wonder they didn't have any crowds.

SPEAKER_01 34:41

No, a hundred percent. Um Wyndham Clark, uh if you remember called last year that he missed the cut at the U.S. Open and destroyed the locker room, I guess. So that was a big deal. So afterwards, yesterday in his postgame, I mentioned that he was first of all, two things. His dad took a red eye from Denver to New York to watch his son play the final round on Father's Day, which I thought was a really nice point. Uh and then uh Clark afterwards basically uh Tariko did a great job and said, Hey, listen, Windham, yeah, you had to battle the course and you had to battle the fans because everyone here was rooting against you basically because they wanted to see Scotty make history by winning a grand slam and winning the U.S. Open for the first time. And he basically said, Listen, you know, I just gonna take a while for people to get back on my side. I did some stupid things last year and I've apologized for it, but I hopefully I can win the fans back. So I thought he did a good job of uh, you know, kind of kind of addressing the elephant in the room. But man, he made some, he made just enough putts down the stretch, Brian. He birdied seven, he buried 16 and then bogeyed 17. And Sam Burns had a short putt, not a short putt, but a a good look at a birdie on 18 when he which would have put him at 400 as well, and they just rimmed it out. So, you know, good stuff in the last few minutes. But again, I didn't watch the first three rounds. It just wasn't into it for some reason. Especially when Rory's not involved. When Rory's not involved, I'm I'm not understripped.

SPEAKER_00 36:02

I I mean I wanted to see Sheff. I always want to see if Sheffler can find one could break through. I mean, uh, I it's always fun for me to sort of see if this guy can just do stuff we haven't seen before. But again, Wyndham Clark goes in yesterday. Why would you the insective wasn't there to watch, at least till middle, at least the middle of the day, because he goes in there with a six-stroke lead. You know, okay, this could be there's no drama here today. Nobody likes the guy anyway. Why do I want to watch? But you're right about Clark. It'll be interesting. You'll be out there again. Eric's gonna be out, folks. He'll be out there all week. If you see Eric wave side, you'll be out there all week. Be interesting to see, you'll see it firsthand of how Clark is received if he hopefully he plays and see how he's received by the fans up there.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

And he'll probably have a press conference, I'd assume, on Wednesday or Thursday. I know Keegan Bradley and a couple other guys have press conferences, so we'll we'll keep you informed. Brian, you got a couple birthdays you want to hit us with before we uh bug out of here, buddy? Sure, why not?

SPEAKER_00 36:52

You know, we sometimes with a little time, just a few minutes left for the birthday show. Okay, well bang through those real quick. Um, Meryl Streep, one of the greatest actresses of our generation, celebrating birthday today. It's Meryl Streep 75, 77, or 80. We're gonna go with the low end. 77. Yeah, okay. Uh couple 80, couple, another eighty huge person from the 80s. So when we were kids, so this is one of those ones designed to make us feel old. Cindy Lopper, singer. Uh girls just want to have fun. Uh celebrating a birthday. She's 65, 70, or 73. 73, yeah. She's 73. Oh my goodness. Now I saw a couple people saying happy birthday to this guy in social media. Neil's Lofgren. Great artist.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Follows me on Twitter, Brian.

SPEAKER_00 37:41

Great. Rock and roll artist. Short kind of short, but he that's okay. Longtime member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. So uh you might be able to see you might have seen this one, but is Neil's turning 70, 75, or 80? All three milestone birthdays, but which one is it? Say 80, but I haven't seen them. Go ahead. 75.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

All right. Last one before we got a minute to go here.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

All right, here. We've been talking a lot of hoops, so let's talk about the Hall of Famer guy. Uh uh Portland Trailblazers didn't draft Michael Jordan because they already had this guy. Uh pretty good if he's not Michael Jordan. Clyde Trapster, the NBA Hall of Famer. 60, 64, or 69.

SPEAKER_01 38:19

64.

SPEAKER_00 38:21

Alright, you got that one. You redeemed yourself somewhat.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

All right, we gotta go golf coverage next week. We'll wrap it up. We'll have some med changes, all that fun stuff, maybe even a cast to notes. That'll do it for this edition of the EVBC Podcast. I'm Eric Keys Brian. Till the next time, Brian. Take a buy. See ya.