Rich Eisen on New "SportsCenter" Podcast & Viral Larry David Interview

All right.

Joining me now, it's been a while, thrilled to have him back.

He, uh, has a great new podcast we need to discuss.

And he is from the NFL Network and ESPN.

I think you're a slash now.

Are you a slash now, Mr.

Rich Eisen?

Is it NFL Network slash?

If it's a slash, that means now you gotta figure out which one's in the, the left side of the slash, which one's on the right, you know.

All I'm just saying is that, uh, you know, there's, there's, there's many now homes , uh, the rare, the rare combination of.

You know, uh, employee partner, you know, like , cause the show that I'm sitting on right now, I've got a licenseship partnership deal with ESPN and uh now I'm, uh, You know, I have an, yeah, I have an ESPN Disney employee, um, badge again.

Jimmy, did you ever think that would happen?

Nope, nope, can confirm.

I never thought that would happen again, but it's pretty cool, man.

How, how did it all come about?

You give me a short version, but I, I'm curious how it came about that you are, you know, you were returning there and what.

I want like the like the first day, first minute whether someone called you an agent called you ESPN called you take me to the, the first minutes of that the, uh, executive, um, Dave Roberts, who is, uh, retiring in August, I believe, um, I, I love that guy.

He, he was dogged.

He wanted this show and he wanted me back and, um, and he stuck with it.

Um, they were eager to take, um, both the radio and TV together.

Uh, we came close to the radio show going first, um, but then they're like, oh, we're gonna wait till we get both if we can.

And they were true to their word when it was available to get um To get the, the TV show, they, they came and they came correct, and I'll never forget having, um, um, a breakfast with Jimmy Potaro and him saying the words.

And I got choked up.

And he's like, what are you choked up about?

And I'm like, I never thought I would ever hear from, uh, you know, man atop the ESPN flow chart that we, we would like you back.

And, um, so that was great.

That's pretty awesome.

And it all worked out with, um, with getting on ESPN radio and Disney Plus and the ESPN app at the same time, uh, last September.

So, I guess this is all, you know, almost a year old.

So the timeline.

So the, the ESPN purchase of NFL Network came after this stuff was sort of, I wanna talk about out of my control that, that's, that's just, that, that's way above the, uh, atop the flow chart there, man, um, so it's quite a 12 punch where you, you go back and then the NFL Network thing happens.

Yeah, I mean I was a partner first and then an employee after or a re-employee after I got.

I got that all, uh, that's, that's the, that's the, that's the, um, timeline there.

I mean, ESPN was rumored to be buying NFL Network or NFL Network sold to ESPN.

Man, as far back as 15 years ago.

It was a long time, but that never, I, I don't think it ever came close.

So, you know, the fact that it happened.

Um, it is wild, um, but the fact that I, you know, struck this deal for my show, um, first is, um, is completely separate from, from everything else.

Yeah, yeah, we'll, we'll circle back because I do have a couple of questions about sort of the NFL Network.

It's your interview, Jimmy.

You, you do what you wish, buddy.

Well, listen, I'm gonna be honest with you, it's gonna, it's gonna, it, it's going to take every fiber.

Of my being to not just have a one hour conversation with you about your interview with Larry David after the 29 point comeback because I can do that for an hour because I watched it.

I enjoyed it.

I soaked it in.

So, um, I, I'll try to be professional and we'll spend 5 minutes on that later whatever you wish, but let, I do wanna.

Discuss the, the podcast.

This was SportsCenter stories from the set because, um, when I had texted you about coming on, you said to me, you know, make sure you listen to the Dan Patrick one, and I did listen to it this morning.

You listened, you didn't watch it.

I, because I was writing my column.

So what's the, I mean, the watching is important.

I mean, the video that we, my, my producer and editor who's the coordinating producer of this program, and highly talented individual named Mike Hoskins, um, it is, uh, a painstaking process, but it's also been.

It's, it's the visual candy is seeing this stuff like again it, it makes you relive the, the past.

So but it's, I'm glad you took it in no matter what.

Yeah, it's funny you say that because I actually love the clips on the just on the audio side like there was something to that, um, and I was gonna say I think you undersold how good it was.

I was blown away with how good the conversation with Dan Patrick was, and you know what I thought, you know, it's, it's funny because I made a note of it.

And you just said about sort of playing the clips and audio versus video.

The fact that you had Dan's first SportsCenter with Chris Berman and Chris Berman, and now this is really old school media, I, but I know all about it because this is what I do.

Like Dan was at CNN and Berman making reference to that, um, and making reference to the Dan show on CNN.

Then on his first night at SportsCenter, so, you know, it's funny you talked to because the way I got that just audio only, I'm there, you know, typing my column or whatever, and I was like, oh my God, that's awesome.

So you get a different appreciation just audio than video .

Excellent.

I'm happy to crowdsource that because, um, again, I, I, I do counsel people to watch it, um, because again, um, the way that, that.

You know, Mike Hoskins puts everything together is so second to none.

Um, and the ESPN archives have been, the vault's been, have been open to us.

And, um, the only, you know, I guess, Uh, advice, if you will, with putting my thumb on the scale with Mike, uh, was, I, I said I just wanted to see an old school photo or a video once every 60 to 90 seconds in this.

Uh, show because it is, it is something that, uh, I've always wanted to do.

Um, I've been thinking about doing this for a while, and I've thought like, how will I be able to do it because the only way to do it right is to get all the videos and the rights and the music and everything, but, um, I'm not with ESPN.

So the minute, um, I, I got that high sign from ESPN that they were interested in, in getting me.

Uh, getting the show back, I mentioned this was SportsCenter to them on the spot, hand in hand with the Rich Eisen show.

And I'm like, I wanna do this, and they're like, we want you to do it, go for it.

Just took a while to finally, you know, settle this show down, so I could turn my attention to this was SportsCenter, and then get the interviews, um, you know, in the can, if you will, before sending it off to the, the edit bay.

Um, but the thing I really love about it is it's not just about.

Folks like Dan Patrick, Chris Berman, the other four interview subjects are Mike Greenberg, Linda Crone, the one that came out last Friday was Chris Fowler, and the one that's ending season one coming out this Friday on July 3rd, is Craig Kilborn.

Um, it's not just about me catching up with some old friends or old colleagues, and then sharing stories about what it was like for us to do it, what it was like for us to live it, but it's also to try and connect with the fans, remembering what it was like to experiencing it from their end.

And the things that I've heard from people are like, oh, I remember.

They remember their lives when they were consuming SportsCenter at the time.

Whether it was them as a high schooler or a grade schooler or a college student, or, you know, living in a bachelor pad or working late nights and coming home or hanging in a bar and coming home.

I've heard all that stories, and it's just been a connection with fans and a connection with a, with a time that I, I.

I really love, and then the, the greatest compliments I've gotten are from the interview subjects themselves.

Uh, I, I, I mean, some, some of the video that we got from Fowler doing SportsCenter or from Scholastic Sports America , the show he did before SportsCenter.

I don't think he ever thought he would see it again or or be or have a show chronicling it so it's, I appreciate you saying what you said.

Thank you .

So yeah, and I, I wanna say one other thing to piggyback off that, but let me just, before I get to that, so, so you had this idea before you had come back to ESPN with your TV and radio show, and you pitched it to them.

They were up for it right away on the spot.

I, here's the thing.

There's, I don't want this to sound like an insult because it's not, it's actually a compliment, but like, it seems like such a simple idea.

How has it not been done before?

Like, the, I mean, SportsCenter is Americana iconic.

How have we not had a podcast just on SportsCenter?

So I give you full credit for coming up with it and making it happen because how did this not happen sooner because, well, I mean.

Obviously , um, there's a connective tissue from the fact that I'm doing what I do with them now and for them now, um, and what I used to do for them, uh, not exactly with, um, that, uh, I, I can kind of bridge both, you know, worlds in a way, and I also wanna do it.

You know, I mean, uh, again, the way that I departed in 2003 and then returned in 2025, um, was, uh, for me professionally and personally, uh, a journey.

And for me to sort of open this door back again and relive these moments, um, I think I even said it in the interview with Dan saying that this is like therapy for me.

You know, it's like therapeutic for me to go through this.

So the, uh, but I, I can't speak to why ESPN had not endeavored something like this other than the fact of, you know, it's such a, a, a day to day world and living in the world of what's going on with LeBron or what's going on with, you know, baseball or anything else that, to take the time out and go hit the way back machine might be, might be off, off the beaten path.

Well, in, in just thinking about it off the top of my head while you were speaking, I think now it all sort of, sort of makes sense to me now because There are really only, I don't know, 12, maybe 3 tops people that could actually host this.

Like you're the perfect host for it because, you know, Dan Patrick is not with ESPN.

ESPN is certainly not gonna give Keith Olbermann a podcast these days.

Stuart Scott, unfortunately, not with us anymore.

So, Berman is not a podcast host.

So when Bob Lee not at ESPN anymore.

So when you think of like that era, the iconic legendary era, who's, who can host a podcast about it.

You, you know, maybe you, maybe Linda Cohn, uh, you know, that would be, uh, that would be it in terms of logistically and, you know, realistically who could do it.

So, yeah, and you're the perfect host for it because I think what I really appreciated about the interview with Dan Patrick, oh, let me say that this is what I wanted to say quickly.

I have to say, and this should make you feel good too.

In the, how long has it been out?

3 weeks maybe?

What 4 weeks for podcast.

Oh, it started June 5th.

June 5th.

The first interview I did was with Mike Greenberg last December, and Berman's was live at the Super Bowl.

And then I, um, and then I, and, and before the Super Bowl, Chris Fowler, I recorded that because he had just come back from the Australian Open, was here in Los Angeles before going up to.

The Super Bowl to call it for the international feed and then I did the last three in the span of one week in May.

So this is what I wanted to say.

It's been out since June 5th.

We're taping this June 30th.

Since it's been out.

I don't go, uh , more than maybe 3 days without a listener or reader emailing me, messaging me on Instagram, messaging me on Twitter.

Have you checked out this podcast?

It's awesome.

You've got it.

That, that was one of the reasons I wanted to have you on.

Oh yeah, thank you.

Oh yeah, thanks for passing that along, dude.

It means a lot, Jimmy, and uh, uh, seriously, not to listen, this world is crazy and, and, and, you know, what, what, um.

What passes for, you know, cathartic or soothing or therapeutic is obviously different for, for many people.

But this is a labor of love for me.

It really recalls a time when I was 26 years old and starting off, and recalls a time of me growing as a broadcaster, only to have that kind of ripped away in a, in a way that I didn't see coming.

Um, and now that I'm back again, for me to relive these days.

Um, it, it's, it's been a, it's great.

So to hear people say that and that they take it in, in the manner in which it was intended, which is, uh, uh, you know, um, you know, cotton candy.

It's, it's, it's, it's a, it's, it's a treat, hopefully for them to recall a time, a different time in their lives.

Same thing with me, and, and we share an experience , you know, and just real quick, um, the interviews are different.

Because Dan, um, was already a legend of SportsCenter when I arrived at age 26 and 96.

Chris Berman was a legend already two decades' worth almost when I arrived.

So, my opinion, my, my relationships with them are vastly different than, say, Mike Greenberg, who I Uh, beat to ESPN by, I think about 5 months, or Linda Cohn, who I was doing a gajillion SportsCenters with, or Chris Fowler, who I never did a SportsCenter with, and met basically through um the ESPYs process and just hanging with him for a couple of times, and you see in a couple, and if you watch it, I believe in the episode with Chris, Linda, and Dan, we show my wedding photo where they were all at the same wedding table.

Um, you know, with Stewart and Tario and Suzy Kolber, and, you know, and Peter Gammons, because my wife knew him through her Boston ties, uh, and then the Kilborn episode is kind of a little bit more off the rails, cause I only was with, we only crossed paths on SportsCenter with him by, I only crossed, we, we only crossed our paths together on SportsCenter for about 4 months.

That's it.

There's a great story on the pod with Dan Patrick about how you had just lost the ESPN job right before your wedding and there was an empty table there for the executives.

I got a kick out of that.

And that's what I wanted to get.

Glen, you got a kick.

It was wild to me, buddy.

Uh, it really was.

It was out of body, um, but it's all good now.

And like I said, that the minute I mentioned it, um, In, in the process of coming back together with ESPN, they were like, love it, go for it.

And then they were like, when are you gonna do it, you know, like it took a while to put it together.

What was the timeline on losing the ESPN job, getting married, going to NFL Network?

Like losing the ESPN job, um, was probably like May 29th of 30th, 2003.

I was married June 7th, 2003, and went on a honeymoon.

And about 6 days into the honeymoon, signed my contract with NFL Network and faxed it in from my hotel in Venice while my wife napped.

Um, so that's a great story.

And then, uh, a few days later got a call from my agent saying CBS Sports and current Big 10 commissioner Tony Pettitti had reached out to have me do the US Open late night highlight show which used to be between Dave and Kilbourn, uh, on CBS.

So that was my first job after, and then NFL Network launched that November.

So that's the timeline there.

So you didn't, so you, so it was a quick, quick unemployment, dude.

I mean, but painful no matter how long it is, yeah, dude.

I mean, I thought I would never leave ESPN.

I thought I would go, sort of like I'm sitting with Mike Greenberg on this show and he's been there 30 years.

I'm sitting there with Fowler.

Uh, he's been there 40 years.

I thought I'd be just like them, but it's fine, you know what I mean?

Like, uh, it's, it's a journey and it's, it's something that, you know, we, we, we all go through in, in business, with whatever business we're in.

Um, and, uh, the 23 years that I've been with NFL Network, um, have been nothing short of amazing and terrific, and, and now what goes around is now back again with, again, I have an ESPN, uh, uh, ID, which is nuts.

Total aside, that has nothing to do with anything, but I think that one of the most underrated facts in sports media is that Mike Greenberg is 58 years old.

He still looks 12.

It's ridiculous.

He's unreal.

He's, he's, he's, uh, 1 year older than me.

I think he's got, uh, uh, he's, he's about , uh, I think he was, he said he was born in '68, so he's about 2 years older.

And it's funny you talk about going back and then this week.

The Golics are back.

I mean, it's like, you know, I, at some point I'm expecting a release that Kilborn's gonna be back on sports.

I know .

Hey, and, and I, every single time I, I have these interviews for this with SportsCenter, and Kilborn's the same way.

I've invited them.

I'm like, I, I would love to do a sort of classic SportsCenter, um, you know, I've already done two of them.

I did one last August in advance of, of this show, uh, returning, uh, this show bringing me back to ESPN last August.

And uh then I did one Masters Sunday night in Bristol, my first one in Bristol in 23 years, and um love doing them, and um, you know, if I can maybe, uh, I did both of them solo, um, uh, if I can do sort of a classic SportsCenter version every now and then with a You know, in tandem with an old school colleague of mine .

So I've asked Kilbourn, asked Fowler.

The last 5 minutes of the Fowler episode, I, is funny where he's trying to be nice and not, and not agreeing to do it.

Um, and, um, and I asked Berman to, and I'd love to do it.

I'd love to do it.

You know what I mean?

It, it, because again, I, I under totally understand why.

The current version of SportsCenter is different from the one that of course that I'm chronicling here because of phones and, you know, I mean shit, Jimmy, the show I did.

You know, with Stewart at 10 a.m. and then 2 a.m. and then re-aired starting at 5 a.m. all the way to noon.

Could you imagine ESPN putting a, a seven-hour, a 7-hour old show on the air?

Like never.

Like it just doesn't work anymore in that regard, but it's still, people still wanna see something in a highlight form, um, I, I think, um, so I, I enjoy doing it.

I do like it.

What What I really enjoyed about the Dan Patrick episode, just by listening, is it felt to me like neither one of you were bullshitting.

I was, I thought it was raw.

I thought the fact that you both went into problems you had with executives, with management, with nerves, um, I was shocked when Dan said there was a little beef between him and Stuart Scott.

Um, There's a Dan said someone told him you're just talent.

You said you had, and, and you two even went back and forth, not in an argumentative way.

I don't want anyone to think it's that, but you know, maybe just in, in conversation in your own experiences.

So I really appreciated the authenticity of the first episode with Dan Patrick.

So I wanted to make sure I said that to you, Dan, Dan, and by the way, we, we recorded that on Dan's 70th birthday.

I went to his studio in Connecticut to sit down with him.

And he was very introspective and reflective and honest and raw as you pointed out.

Again, he didn't have beef with Stewart.

Uh, Stewart was very competitive, and I told the story about how Stewart was pissed at me about me trying for Keith's chair after Olberman left, um, and, you know, one that Kenny May got, which definitely upset me.

And Stewart was upset that I was upset cause he, he thought we were the team, and why would I want to break that up just to be taking someone else's chair and try and live up to someone else's, you know, idea of what the team of the century was, if you will, and it pissed him off.

So I, I, I was, um, subject to Stewart's competitiveness.

And Dan was as well, um, on the basketball court.

Dan told a great story about it.

We made a, a few reels out of it, uh, that, that, that went viral, and, um, so, uh, you know, uh, we all have a respect for one another, and there really wasn't that much beef, but, uh, yeah, yeah, maybe beef was, but there was an issue at one point, yeah, I mean, yeah, and there was issues with a, with a lot of us because we were all very competitive.

Um, in, in, in there trying to get, I mean, there was only 2 SportsCenter chairs and only 3 of those, those chairs, 33 different shows, so there were 6 chairs a day or 7 if you want to include the 6 o'clock SportsCenter, um, and so getting those chairs was very competitive and who are you paired with and all of that stuff, and we were very honest about it, and I was honest about it with Linda as well, like you should watch that episode.

Um, too, where, you know, she basically said, and, and Fowler said the same thing too in his 23 years at SportsCenter.

They, they weren't teamed up with anybody.

So if you were teamed up with somebody, that meant, um, you had a, a, a special relationship that management was not affording you if you were just somebody that was always sitting in a chair with somebody else because The team wasn't together that night.

Um, and that, that was real, man.

It was real about not being in SportsCenter commercials, um, and some being in more than others, and why is that?

I mean, You know, again, it, it's you, you and Dan recollecting the, the SportsCenter commercials.

I thought the, the story, Dan, this is the story Dan tells about how he got Grant Hill.

Yeah, how about that?

and Jason Kidd too, yeah, and the audio, that was great, um.

I wanna give it a proper plug and then we can one, I had a, I have a suggestion I wanted to throw at you.

Sure, OK.

What do you got?

It's called This Was SportsCenter.

So obviously the podcast is about SportsCenter, but you mentioned someone on the podcast with Dan and you mentioned it on this podcast who was not a SportsCenter host, but I would love to see you interview for a podcast, and that would be Peter Gammons because What was in tandem with SportsCenter back then was Baseball Tonight.

And, you know, you talked about a different era with the phones.

If there was a trade, if there was a firing, it was Peter Gammons at 10 o'clock at night on Baseball Tonight with the breaking news, music and all that stuff.

And he was part of SportsCenter because I think you guys did interviews with Peter when news broke.

I don't know.

You know, I don't know if, you know, what Peter's health is or anything like that.

I haven't seen him in a while, but he'd be a guy I would love to hear from.

Me too.

Me too, because again, uh, I, I, I worked with Peter at many World Series, um, you know, I sat next to Peter Gammons when Clemens threw the bat at Piazza.

I was literally sitting next to him and down the left field line of the press area of Yankee Stadium that night.

I mean, I, and again, he was at my wedding.

Um, I would watch him, I would watch him, uh, open up envelopes, fan letters, people sending him $20 bills to autograph because he, he looks just like Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill.

I saw that happen.

So there's many different stories to tell right there, but you're also onto something.

I've already asked for future seasons of this, because again, I just did 6, the, and again, I know you're listening, which is great.

The visual, the visuals are, are.

Spectacular because there there's also photographs that match the conversation.

And it is so time intensive, uh, for Mike Hoskins, who, again, sits in the chair for my show every day as as a coordinating producer 3 hours a day.

It's, it's, it's painstaking.

So, doing 6 of them, um, was all that I really wanted to start this with, but we're gonna do future seasons, and I've already asked Jeremy Schaap to do it, um, because again, he was a Dallas-based reporter.

In the 90s.

I mean, so you could put two and two together about him and his SportsCenter stories, but also the Bob Knight interview where Bob Knight said, you're not your dad.

There's also the, the Jim Harrick moment where, you know, he's, he would, Harrick screamed at him in a parking lot.

Um, so there's some, he did a lot of the OJ stuff too, right?

He was, it was, it was.

Mark, was it Mark Schwartz, was that his name?

Yeah, that was Mark Schwartz for sure.

That was Mark Schwartz who did that.

But, um, you know, in the same way that again, Chris Fowler's episode of this was SportsCenter, we go down a serious memory lane about college game day and how that started.

So we turned that show into a de facto this was college game day.

And so for the Shap episode, we would definitely, and I already told him that this is the goal.

I wanna turn it into a, this is the sports reporters.

This was the sports reporters talking about him and his dad and Lupica and those, if you remember sports reporters on a Sunday morning was must-watch stuff just as much as, um, SportsCenter.

So they're, they're just iconic moments of this era of this network that need to be mined with these stories, um, and I'm, I'm happy to do it.

I, I really love doing it.

Let me give it a proper plug.

This was SportsCenter.

Stories from the set.

Episode 1, Dan Patrick.

Episode 2, Chris Berman.

Episode 3, Mike Greenberg.

Episode 4, Linda Cohn.

Episode 5, Chris Fowler.

Episode 6 will be Craig Kilborn, and it's on YouTube and Rich wants you to watch it, but it's also on Apple if you're like me and You know, it's still like Apple, Disney Plus, the ESPN app.

If you wanna watch it on YouTube, it's on the Rich Eisen Show YouTube channel.

The audio version is wherever you get your podcasts, and it's presented by Gusto.

Uh, they're the partners presenting partners of, of the show.

Yes.

Last question on it.

What was The biggest surprise you got from one of your guests from a story or an anecdote or something you didn't know.

Well, uh, Chris Fowler saying the first guest he had when he did Scholastic Sports America, which was like a, to use Sports Illustrated, uh, history, uh, it's like a Faces in the Crowd television show where he was chronicling high school athletes.

Um, the first episode and first interview was Emmemitt Smith.

I'm like, get the hell out of here, man.

You've gotta be kidding me.

Um, the story that, um, uh, Linda Cohn told about how Stuart Scott once upon a time, walking into his, her office tripped on the over something and fell into the office and said, you know what this means, and Linda said, what does it mean?

And he said, now I've got to do that every time.

Uh, I went into your I go into your office, and he would do that.

He would trip his way into her office every time.

It's a Stewart story I've never heard.

Uh, and the same thing with Dan recounting the basketball story with Stewart.

Never heard that one either.

Um, that's just 3.

There's so many of them.

There's so many of them, and, and, and, and I appreciate you, um.

You know, giving me the opportunity to let your audience know about it.

Well, I would have had you when it came out, but this is what people have to understand in booking the podcast.

When this podcast came out, it was in the middle of Knick's fever, so it was, that was sort of, so how great was that run?

Unbelievable was that?

It's great, dude, you know, I mean, and, and, and, um.

You know, 53 years.

Um, you know, I'm 57, so I was 4 when the last Canyon of Heroes parade with the, with, um, with the Knicks went down, so I don't remember it and just lived and died.

Bernard King was my favorite Knick of all time.

Um, I loved Oakley when Dolan let him, uh, get ejected from the Garden.

I, I despised it.

Um, I still hold that against him.

Um, and, um , and I said, I'm, I just can't root for the Knicks anymore until that gets settled.

And then Jalen Brunson showed up and he pulled me back in.

Uh, I mean, he's so inspiring.

The guy is just so easy to root for, so incredible to love, and then, um, the one thing that I don't think anybody saw coming was his infectiousness with the rest of the team.

Uh, I thought he would just be another Nick who was exceptional.

Uh, but for whom the basketball gods would eventually kick in the nards just like they did Ewing and everybody else.

And he's overcome it, and the rest of the team has been spectacular around him.

Mike Brown, uh, I thought that was a terrible move as well.

But as it turned out, man, listen, um, Joe Torre, everybody thought was, uh, a retread and a last.

Um, you know, what was a poor choice of, uh, replacement for Buck, and look what happened there.

It's just been all great.

I can't believe it has happened.

It has been spectacular.

And, you know, you know this, when there are certain players in New York.

That Get to a level where they take over this, you know, we saw it with Jeter, we saw it with Eli.

When you win a title, Brunson, Has done all that and more so it's been that's been so fun to watch because he's such a good guy, um, and it's funny I, I kept thinking of the similarities in getting rid of Buck and bringing in Tory, getting rid of Thibodeaux, bringing in Mike Brown.

You're the only other person I've heard say that.

It really is crazy.

He's turned on perfectly.

I mean, the, the move of, of turning.

Cat into a point center in the middle of the Atlanta Hawks series is a button push for the ages.

And that sparked a, a, an historic run that the rest of the team followed up with, uh, with Brunson just coming up with incredible performances and clutch shots.

And again, for him to score 45 in a closeout game on the road, matching of all people.

The record held by the one guy personally responsible more than anybody else of keeping Ewing ringless.

The fact that, again, the Knicks were supposed to be victimized by Jordan performances, not have one turned in for them.

It really is unbelievable what Jalen Brunson means.

And then, The shot that everyone will remember more than anybody from the series was not even him.

It was OG An and Obi who, um, was an acquisition, a stroke of genius, and a gutsy one to trade away Barrett and quickly for him.

Um, and then for screw, you know, FM picks, which here in Los Angeles, Rams fans know, um, is, is a potential championship move.

Did that with Bridges.

Uh, I mean, in heart is, is, is the glue guy.

Um, you know, the, the moves that they made I just A plus, A plus.

You know, when the 53 year thing hit me because throughout the finals, we kept hearing about 53 years, 53 years, but it didn't hit me because In my head, Because of my, I, I don't think of 1973 as being so far in the past, right?

So this is when it hit me.

I was watching ESPN had rerun.

The outstanding 30 for 30 they did on that, what was it, June 17th, 1994, 16th, 17th, whatever it was.

And In that 30 for 30, they chronicle the Rangers winning the Stanley Cup.

And it had been 54 years for the Rangers.

And I remember being, you know, in my twenties when the Rangers won the cup or, or late teens, and the chant back then was always 1940, 1940.

That seemed 5 million years ago.

So that.

54 years felt so far away.

The 53 years, it never hit me.

And then when I saw that was the Rangers in '94 ended a 54-year drought, then I had that holy shit moment that, oh my God, 53 years.

It added because I wasn't really hitting me until that.

And you know, the Rangers 54 years.

Um, curse ended thanks to a number 11.

Yes, just like the Knicks, it's crazy that Messier and Brunson wear the same number.

It's nuts, man.

It's crazy, but thank God it happened and Anthony Volpe, don't even, I'm not, we're not gonna go, no, honestly, just real quick, I, I, I, I don't understand.

I don't understand.

He's a he's, he's defensively worse than Caballero.

What are we doing?

I mean, is it just because he, he came in?

I don't know.

He may be a nice guy, a great teammate.

I, I have no idea, but he doesn't make the Yankees better.

I don't think Rich Brian Cashman likes to admit there's a mistake.

That's what the issue is.

I, I, I, I don't know.

Like, why don't we have a catcher.

I don't know, man.

Uh, you know, Judge going down, uh, is very unhelpful.

um, but the, here's the thing, the American League is not, um, is, is clearly the inferior league , and the Yankees just need to stay in hailing distance of Tampa and, and get the guys back.

And a rotation, the idea, and by the way, it's a great, it's a great idea.

Schlitler and Cole from the right side, and Rodon and Fried from the left.

That's a four-game series right there.

Uh, good luck.

Um, the issue is that back end on the bullpen, one will think that Cashman will get somebody right on that front.

And Judge and Stanton get healthy, and the lineup is ready to roll.

Um, I, I'm, Rice has been terrific.

You gotta, you gotta give Cashman the props there.

And we'll see.

Um, I'm not ready to, to say, and look at the Knicks.

If you, you looked at the Knicks in January or February, you're like, forget it.

This is another year where we're gonna be waiting.

And then, Something clicked.

We'll see.

I, I don't know, but I'm not ready to cash in the chips just yet.

Let's go back to the next.

They're the happier topic.

They have a 29 point comeback in Game 4, unprecedented.

A big theme in that was Larry David courtside going through the emotions and then the next day he showed up on your show, which I, I would, if I could do it, I would get out of my chair and bow down to you for that book it and I, the amazing thing about that is in that game, Larry almost fell when, when, um, Josh Hart missed the layup.

Larry was as emotional, you know, Larry's not an emotional man.

The emotions were there.

And then you asked him about game 5 and he's like, I'm going out to dinner.

I'm, I'm happy to report he did not go out to dinner.

I can, I can, here's your follow-up.

You know, he's, he did not.

You were like, I, I, I, I, it almost felt to me as someone who does interviews, I felt like you're almost thrown off because you're like, well, game 5 is Saturday.

He's like, well, I have a problem.

You're like, he's like, I, I have to go out to dinner.

You're like, you didn't say he was going to like a party.

It wasn't a surprise birthday.

Birthday party.

It wasn't an anniversary.

He's just like, it's my Saturday night.

Go out to dinner.

And I, I felt like you were like, wait, is this, is it, what is going on right now?

His wife, I, I don't know if it was also a little bit of a bit.

His wife is absolutely well aware of all of the significance of this, and, and, um, LD is just as, as pure as the driven snowman.

And, and my favorite part of that interview, when, when interviewing him, you just gotta, uh, my, my job is, as far as I like to say.

It's just when you can see when the, the wheels are turning, and you could see the wheels are turning and he's beginning to come up with something funny and it begins to make him laugh a little bit, you just got to sit back and let it go.

And Asking him about um, Uh, sitting where he was and asking him if at some point, because Wimbuyaama was so dominant in that game 4 1st half, if, if you ever thought about putting his legs out to trip him, you know, as that curb reference, you could see he got that and then he started going off about, The coach standing up and blocking his view and the problem was the assistant coach, and I understood he meant that the assistant coach isn't, he is not, uh, high up enough the flow chart to be able to block his view.

You know what I mean?

Like one coach, he can handle two, is now, uh, an etiquette problem.

And then he had said that if, if he was a coach, he would be more considerate of the people.

Yes, yes.

He was not.

It was great because you, you summed it perfectly.

He was sort of like, you know, can you believe, you know, that, you know, the, the Spurs coach is in front of me, and he's like, and then the assistant, and then that was just too much for Larry, and that all his game is so good in real life that all he needed to be is Wembayama's height, and he, he fully believes his game would have translated to the NBA.

Oh my God, that is just gold, and, uh, I, I love that guy.

So great that Jerry and Larry were both, both there, right there.

I assume, I assume you saw that, that, that meme that somebody captioned the two of them.

You know how to.

The Spurs know how to take the lead, but just don't know how to hold it.

I showed that to Larry, and he found that hilarious, rightfully so, just so funny, man.

I, I was, when the, I tweeted out when the game started that I was annoyed they were both there and not sitting next to each other.

That annoyed me as a Jerry and Larry.

Like I wanna get to the bottom of that.

All right, let me ask you a couple of questions here about NFL Network ESPN before I let you go, so.

So your pregame show lives on the way it is, correct?

On Sunday mornings on NFL Network.

That's the way it's been described to me so far.

And, and in terms of play by play for some extra games, is that still part of your resume?

No, it is not.

OK, so you're done with play by play.

Uh, I believe I am.

Yes, I am.

How do you feel about that?

Uh, I enjoyed doing it a lot, man.

I enjoyed doing it a lot, but it's such a You know what, it's so counter to what I normally do.

So, sitting in this chair on this set, right, 3 hour radio, TV simulcast, game day morning on Sunday morning.

If there's dead air, if there's blank.

Space, if there's no talking, my my first thought is to jump in and fill the void.

It's the exact opposite when you're calling a game.

Like, your job is to shut the F up after the big moment happens.

So, to be good at that , or to, um, to be as good as you want to be at that, you gotta do it a lot, you know, you gotta, you gotta do it a lot.

And then, you know, to be fully, uh, transparent.

You know, when I first started doing it for NFL Network, it was like, cause I, I, I don't want to be one of those announcers who calls the game off a monitor at the stadium, you know.

So, I wanna look at the field, but looking at it, it was like seeing it through a straw.

You know, and then by last year, I was seeing the whole field.

Um, and so I, I loved doing it.

Being at these international games also, you know, if folks are like, why are we doing this?

Why are we taking the time out?

Why are we sending our games over?

There's nothing like it, man.

It's like a Super Bowl.

It feels like the World Cup , uh, when you, when you're seeing an NFL game abroad.

Um, so, yeah, uh, I, I, I absolutely love the endeavor.

It's a challenge.

It's totally different, you know, than anything that I do.

So I would imagine though when when ESPN bought NFL Network, your main concern goal was keeping the Sunday morning pregame show and still, I don't know, I, I, my, my main goal and concern was, um, that all of my colleagues, um, are.

Taken care of, to be honest with you, um, and, and that the mission of NFL Network for 23 years would be maintained, um, and so far so good, you know, I mean, have you, have, do we know, is the pregame show, the cast for the most part staying the same like, I, I do not know, you know, um, there's a lot of pieces up in the air.

Um, so we'll see, we'll see who's sitting on that set come, uh, week one.

I don't know.

All right, last thing before I let you go, right before we started taping, the news broke that LeBron is leaving the Lakers.

You're in LA.

Is that like a major story that everyone there cares about, or?

Not, you know, I mean, the LA fan.

I mean, here's, here's the thing, um.

You know, in the same.

I don't know, the same way the the Knicks are.

It is different though.

The Knicks, you just saw why it's a Knicks town, right?

And, listen, we're Yankee fans, we're diehard Yankee fans.

By the way, um, I had Reggie Jackson call into the show the day of the Canyon of Heroes parade, which was awesome.

You'd love that, dude.

Um, cause I, I've gotten to know Reggie throughout the years, and he's a, by the way, he texts me during game day morning cause he's a Steeler fan, and he loves Kurt, loves Mooch, loves the show, and he would just text me and I'm, uh, I , I'm, I'm not gonna lie.

Again, I'm fully transparent with you, man.

I'm like, this is, this is freaking awesome.

Like Reggie freaking Jackson, like this is, I'm again, 57, this is why I love the Yankees, was after 76, he comes in, he hits 3 home runs.

So he texts me during the show, hey, I'm driving and I'm listening to you for the next 3 hours, and I'm like, that's cool.

And I'm like, you should call in, you know, cause the parade's happening, and him talking about the Knicks and what it means to the city, and what it meant when the Yankees won, and Brunson, I'm like, give him some advice about what it's like to to be the straw that stirs a drink in that town.

And he basically said that he doesn't need any advice .

His head screwed on right, but yada yada yada.

Um, the Knicks.

Um, bring everyone in New York together, right?

When the Yankees win, Mets fans are like, whatever.

And when the Mets win , Yankees fans are like, whatever.

Or that never happens anyway.

Uh, or Jets, Giants, or, or, you know, there's very few people in New York are like, I root for both the Jets and the Giants.

The Knicks though, Count, like, honestly, some of the Mets fans in my life who are, you know, 100% basking in my Yankee misery whenever that happens, we're on the chain like talking about how great this is together, right?

So, it's not like the Lakers are, it's, the question is, is this a Laker town or a Dodgers town?

Um, and I think at the end of the day, people will tell you it's a Lakers town.

Um, at the end of the day, but it's pretty damn close.

Did they embrace LeBron?

Was LeBron a favorite out there because he's kind of, he was on 3 teams already, and I, I understand that.

But at the end of the day, Jimmy, we were talking about on the show today because O'Shea Jackson Jr.

um, co-hosts a wrestling podcast, no contest wrestling with TJ Jefferson, who's on my show every day.

And whenever there's a big LA sports story, certainly involving the Lakers, we have him.

Chime in and this was as epic a story as there's been in a while, um, you know, he, he He pointed out that the Lakers are his longest consecutive relationship, that his career began with 7 years in Cleveland, then 4 in Miami, and then 4 more in Cleveland, 8 with the Lakers.

And his career, his career will end with it, the longest tenure he's had in, in the NBA consecutively is here in Los Angeles.

8 years.

I was even surprised to hear that number.

Um, so he's been a, a fixture here.

And Lakers fans do love him, but I don't think, you know, approaching Kobe or Shaq level or obviously Magic or what have you, he won one title here, and unfortunately it wasn't in front of fans, um, because it was during the pandemic.

It's not a fake fake fake.

Fake fake fake fake.

No, it's no, it's not.

It's, did you see the NBA?

Did you see the NBA Finals between the Knicks and the Spurs?

We can't compare that.

No, I understand that, but you can't compare anything normal to the bubble.

I mean, fake.

No, but you also can't compare the bubble to anything else.

The way it was done that you're, you're in the middle of a pandemic.

You're leaving your family.

There was what was going on with, uh, George Floyd.

If you remember that, they almost stopped playing.

You know what I mean, and you're gonna go through all of this and still win a basketball game, let alone, it, it's, it's a different set of circumstances.

I understand why people put it fake season, fake playoffs, fake title, but unfortunately for, for LeBron, his one title wasn't, as you would say, a standard-issued championship.

Um, and so, um, put that all together, uh, they'll still retire his jersey, and there'll be a very nice video here for him.

Uh, I don't know if there'll be a statue of him out in front of, of, uh, of crypto like there is of so many other stars here.

So, that's my answer to you.

I'm sure people are very upset that he's not gonna be here, um, and it's kind of a shame, man, because the, the March this past March when he and Luca and Austin Reeves were healthy.

They won 16 games, um, and Luca was the player of the Month of the Western Conference, and they were, they looked like they could win it all.

But it's clearly something's going on behind the scenes for LeBron to not even, uh, enter conversations in an exclusive negotiating window for the Lakers.

Uh, I had Brian Winhorst on the program on Monday this week, and he said that LeBron had not yet made himself available to talk with the Lakers.

And then on the last day of the negotiating window , Rich Paul's telling Shams, we've told the Lakers we're, we're not even talking.

So he clearly wanted to hit, um, a reset button.

I don't know where he's gonna go, but that's gonna be a fascinating conversation.

And the only thing that I think we can agree on.

There's gotta be um a one-hour show with Jim Brady to make the announcement.

Speaking of nostalgia, there's another pod.

There's another.

This is SportsCenter.

This was decision.

This was the decision.

I, I don't know that, that, that'll be for somebody else to, to take on.

So, well, I appreciate you coming on.

Like I said, I, I thoroughly enjoyed the new pod.

This is SportsCenter.

Everyone should check that out and, uh, you get time off here before football, or you're, we're dark next week.

I'm, uh.

Speaking of endeavoring, I'm going back to the American Century Championship with a golf game that was, uh, 2nd to DF.

I was 2nd to DFL last year, so I hope to improve, um, but that's, it's, it's just a great, uh, time.

So I'll do that, and then, man, training camps are right around the corner, Jimmy.

So I know the countdown is on.

Well, I appreciate you coming on.

Enjoy the summer.

We'll speak to you down the road.

Thanks.