Blake Griffin

[0] Welcome, welcome, welcome to armchair expert.

[1] I'm Dax Shepard.

[2] I'm joined by Monica Padman.

[3] Hello there.

[4] How you doing?

[5] Doing great.

[6] Doing great.

[7] It's June Gloom.

[8] A little bit of June Gloom, but we have the windows open in the attic, and that's really pleasant.

[9] It is.

[10] So if you hear some cars on the thoroughfare, don't panic.

[11] We're not getting run over.

[12] We just have the windows open.

[13] Today we have an incredible athlete.

[14] Blake Griffin.

[15] Blake is a NBA Power Forward, six -time All -Star.

[16] He's currently playing for my hometown Detroit Pistons.

[17] He also was the 2011 rookie of the year.

[18] And he played with the Clippers here in Los Angeles from 2009 to 2018.

[19] In addition to all that, Blake has a new health and wellness focused podcast called The Pursuit of Healthiness, the Pursuit of Healthiness, which is launching on Audible this August.

[20] And I am a guest on it.

[21] You are!

[22] Yes, this is how we got to know, Blake.

[23] Just an incredible interview.

[24] We're so excited.

[25] We decided we want to have a lot more.

[26] athletes based on how this one went.

[27] He sparked some change for us.

[28] He really did.

[29] So please enjoy Blake Griffin.

[30] Wondry Plus subscribers can listen to Armchair Expert early and ad free right now.

[31] Join Wondry Plus in the Wondry app or on Apple Podcasts.

[32] Or you can listen for free wherever you get your podcasts.

[33] I'm not even going to flirt around.

[34] this.

[35] I'm going to get right at it.

[36] Did you watch Last Dance?

[37] Yes, I watched every episode multiple times.

[38] Multiple times.

[39] Oh, wow.

[40] Yeah, not to brag, but, you know.

[41] So I'm wondering, like, it's so fascinating for us, and we don't play the game.

[42] It's got to be even more fascinating for you, right?

[43] Because for us, it was a 10, so I can't even imagine, like, what your experience of that is.

[44] Yes, and the crazy part is that, like, most of those stories I've heard.

[45] I've been a Jordan athlete for a Jordan Chu athlete for eight years now.

[46] So I spent like a decent amount of time around Michael and he told the Dennis Rodman story one time.

[47] We were in China at dinner and he told the Rodman story.

[48] He also had, you know, he had some more details like to add in here and there.

[49] And so for a long time, that was like my story that, like, that was my MJ story that he told me. So that was like how I like, really like, you know, I milked it.

[50] I was like, you know, we're sitting at dinner.

[51] and like, you know, Rodman comes.

[52] I tell it, like, I was there.

[53] And so then I hear this story being told.

[54] I'm like, damn, like, there goes my, like, best story.

[55] But I still have a couple details that, like, weren't in there.

[56] So I can still, like, you know, win people over with that.

[57] I knew a lot of this stuff already.

[58] All the stories about him, like, playing golf, like, you know, days before games.

[59] Like, I'd heard those stories over and over.

[60] But, like, seeing it all together.

[61] And then also having the context of, like, what was happening in the season.

[62] at the time also just the behind the scenes footage is just amazing him being so relaxed and like messing with the camera before they run out of the tunnel for a playoff game just blows my mind because I could never do that you know what I mean like I don't think guys today can really do that yeah what's what what's your disposition just prior to a game a playoff game is like very very like the whole playoffs is very seriously for so many years it's just nothing outside of basketball our coach doc rivers with the clivers always talked about having your box you know you your family can be in your box, everything else has to be outside, everything else.

[63] You know, it sounds crazy, but the playoffs is, you know, what we play for, and it's the most important games.

[64] And now I sort of look at it from a different perspective, because I'm like, man, like, I play all these games during the regular season.

[65] I've been playing basketball my whole life, and they're, they're a little bit more loose.

[66] I take, obviously take basketball seriously, but they're much more loose.

[67] We play 82 games.

[68] You can't be that serious before every single game.

[69] So why am I now, like, changing how I prepare for, like, more important games?

[70] just still be doing the same thing.

[71] That would drive me crazy if I were you.

[72] Yeah, because I remember seeing Bill Murray on Letterman.

[73] Letterman's like, how are you so good?

[74] How are you so consistently good over all these years?

[75] And he said, well, I try to just be calm and no, it'll come.

[76] And I'm like, what a fucking wonderful approach to everything.

[77] Do you think that could be similar in sports, where it's like if you just had some faith and some belief and you were loose and flowy?

[78] To a certain extent, yeah, I thought you were.

[79] You were going to talk about Bill Murray before the space jam game.

[80] I was like, two very different games.

[81] The space jam game.

[82] Which he was huge in that game.

[83] He came up big.

[84] He delivered.

[85] Yes and no, because for me, like, we have shoot rounds in the morning.

[86] I can feel great at shoot around, hit every shot.

[87] I can, you know, when I get to the arena, three hours before I go out on the court and I'm shooting, I could feel great.

[88] And then you come out for the game and I might just, it might be one of those nights where I just, miss every shot so in a way it's like yeah you can still have an effect on the game you know even if you're missing shots but to me it's more than that like for me i have to be in the right mind space so it's it's a little bit for me personally it's a little bit more concentration not a crazy amount but before games i like go through like a visualization exercise where i see the ball being tipped i see where i am i walk through 10 to like 12 situations that i want to do well that game i know the other team we're playing is better at this i know we're better at that i know where i want to to all my spots on the floor.

[89] So once I started doing that, that helped me a lot.

[90] But in a way, yeah, you have to just breathe and let the game come to you, but it's sort of weird.

[91] You can feel great and go into it and be doing all the right things and just have a bad game.

[92] Yeah.

[93] Just because you have so many other variables.

[94] The way I describe it is like our team, and then there's also a team of professionally trained men trying to stop us from doing what we've been practicing to do.

[95] You know what I mean?

[96] Sure, sure, yeah, yeah.

[97] You think about it in those terms.

[98] It's always funny because coaches who go over offense is like, God, Guys, if we just run this, if you just concentrate on timing, this, this, and this, we'll score.

[99] And then we were, like, going over defense.

[100] Like, guys, if you just get to the right spots, they can't score.

[101] Yeah, yeah, both things can't be true.

[102] Yeah, in the coaches' eyes, it should be like 160 to zero every game.

[103] Have you ever worked with a sports psychologist to help with that visualization or come up with a routine that calms you?

[104] Yeah, I have.

[105] I've found that I sort of get more from, like, reading books.

[106] Since I got in the NBA, a lot of coaches will just give you books here and there.

[107] There's like a really great one about tennis, the psychology of tennis.

[108] I'm going blank on the name right now, but I did have like an awful experience with a team psychologist, team sports psychologist one time.

[109] It was like right at the beginning of the NBA's sort of pushing for most teams to have one.

[110] And so we get this guy and he's like, you know, I'm going to be spending time with every player.

[111] You know, come by your house if that works.

[112] He came by my house one afternoon, like after practice.

[113] We sit and talk for like two hours and it was great.

[114] And then, you know, he leaves.

[115] I go to take a shower and I come back and have a voicemail from him.

[116] I'm like, oh, he must have left someone I listen to it.

[117] And he's like, hey, coach, this is so -and -so, just left Blake's house, had a really interesting conversation.

[118] And I was just like, nope.

[119] No. Oh, no. Never talking to him again, so.

[120] Well, did he violate your privacy?

[121] Did he tell the coach anything?

[122] I don't know.

[123] That was the last time I ever spoke to him.

[124] Okay.

[125] I would like see him.

[126] I was just like, nope, we're not doing that.

[127] Totally off topic.

[128] But have you seen some kind of monster, the Metallica documentary?

[129] No, I haven't.

[130] Oh, I urge you to see it.

[131] They bring in a psychologist to help them.

[132] They can't record an album.

[133] It's all real.

[134] And they're just fighting.

[135] And they bring in a psychologist in that slowly, but surely the psychologist thinks he's in Metallica.

[136] And he just wants to be on tour.

[137] He wants to be backstage, all this stuff.

[138] And finally the guys realize, like, our only problem is this fucking guy.

[139] We got to kick this guy.

[140] They get rid of the guy.

[141] And then they just are recording the act.

[142] It's so great.

[143] I was like, yeah, the power of Metallica is strong.

[144] stronger than any degree you could get.

[145] Like, if you get that close to Metallica, you want to be in Metallica.

[146] Yeah, I mean, I get it.

[147] I would have tried the same thing.

[148] I'm curious about your opinion on one thing, because one of the big moments in the documentary, I thought was when, you know, they were asking all the other players about him, and they were like, he's tough.

[149] He, you know, he really pushes you.

[150] And then he's looking back at them saying it, and he's getting emotional at the idea that he pushed people, quote too hard.

[151] And I know a lot of people who haven't played team sports.

[152] Look at that and some people think of him as like narcissistic or a tyrant.

[153] And as someone in it, what's your opinion on that?

[154] There's different levels to me, right?

[155] Like his form of competitiveness, it would bring out the best in me, I think.

[156] Yeah.

[157] Because like the way he sort of went about it is if you were playing hard and busting your ass, I don't think he really went at like Steve Kerr, the way he win at Scott Burrell, right?

[158] He's just like, Scott, I'm bust your ass today.

[159] So, like, I think it sort of depends on the type of person and type of player you are.

[160] I just always connect with people who are very competitive, very serious about their craft, which he was.

[161] Like, you heard him get emotional towards the end of that one interview when he's like, you know, if that's not the way you want to go about this game or this craft, you know, you shouldn't be playing.

[162] And like, he was in tears at the end because, like, that's just how he's wired.

[163] And yeah, I remember hearing like, oh man, when this comes out, people are going to think Michael Jordan's asshole.

[164] I'd watch, I just, like, didn't see that at any point.

[165] But I'm also very biased, very biased.

[166] He's the best player of all time in my eyes, you know.

[167] I'm not biased at all.

[168] I have no connection to basketball, sorry.

[169] And I was like, oh, my God, I was in love with the documentary and him.

[170] And I also could see, yeah, he's just pushing people to their potential.

[171] He's not pushing them past that.

[172] I want to add, because Monica won't break for herself, but two times.

[173] state champion cheer.

[174] So just she knows what it's like to be a champion.

[175] Congratulations.

[176] Thank you.

[177] Where did you grow up?

[178] Georgia.

[179] Okay.

[180] I was going to say I'm from Oklahoma and like cheer is a huge thing.

[181] Huge.

[182] You know, we go to our high school state cheer competitions.

[183] It's, but like if you say that out here, like certain places out here.

[184] They don't get it.

[185] They don't get it.

[186] We don't have drum lines.

[187] We don't have like a ton of competitive cheer.

[188] We're missing a lot.

[189] You're missing out.

[190] We had coaches that, yeah, if someone walked in, be like oh my god these people are abusive but it does it does pull out i think the best it pushes you there's a big parallel when i'm watching that stuff uh i keep thinking about directors like so some of the best directors have this these infamous reputations of just being fucking assholes right and i and i always want to believe i'd like to believe you could be great and be kind and i guess like a coach like pete carroll right i look at him and i'm like yeah they won man and he was kind and he was understanding, he was empathetic.

[191] And I would even say, you know, Coach Phil Jackson, he wasn't like a screamer.

[192] He was kind of a, you know, the Zen Buddhist, as they say.

[193] And so it's hard to know what will produce results, isn't it?

[194] You have to have seen every single approach at this point.

[195] Yeah, and there's at different levels, there's different types of coaches.

[196] So high school, it's obviously not that serious, but it is serious in certain places.

[197] And coaches can be hard on you, but they also, it's high school kids, like this kid might have just had a geometry class like a test you know what I mean so like you can't completely berate this kid but then you get to college and even more so back when I played like even 10 years ago college is the coaches have all the power and the players like you just get in line like you can't miss clash you're not talking back to the coach you're just there doing exactly what you're told and then if you get to the next level I remember getting into the league and at the time when I I drafted the Clippers, we were not a very good team, and it was just chaos.

[198] The players are making way more than the coaches.

[199] So, like, in the players, I remember a guy, he was on the team already, like a vet.

[200] It signed a $55 million contract, and he's like, man, I got 55 million reasons why I don't have to listen to him.

[201] I was just like, whoa, that is nuts.

[202] So it's completely different on every level.

[203] And then within that, there's different styles of coaches.

[204] Like, my college coach wasn't one of those guys that was a super, super hard ass.

[205] there were some crazy ones that I heard about.

[206] But then in the league, I've had some who are, you know, we practiced hard or some who are more just like players coaches.

[207] It sort of depends on your style.

[208] And like, I think if you come off as genuine and authentic and it's you, it'll work.

[209] Whether it's the hard -nosed style or it's the laid -back style.

[210] But you can't fake it.

[211] If you fake it, guys will sniff that out and you'll lose the locker room in a heartbeat.

[212] Well, you're right.

[213] That leap from college to the NBA, there's a huge leverage switch too, right?

[214] Like, forget the money.

[215] If someone was going to get fired from the Bulls, it was not going to be Michael Jordan.

[216] No. And I would say even most of the teams you've been on, the coach is probably getting fired before you are.

[217] Right.

[218] And that's an interesting dynamic.

[219] Yeah, I mean, you know, there's different sort of ways to go about.

[220] I mean, like firing versus getting traded, it really just depends.

[221] Like sometimes it's better for the team, better for the direction.

[222] It's not necessarily the coach.

[223] And sometimes it's the other way around, you know.

[224] But yes, job security for coaches in the end.

[225] NBA has got to be up there with one of the worst in the world.

[226] And if your coach says either you fire Blake or you fire me, odds are he's getting fired.

[227] If you say either you fire the coach or you fire me, I think still the coach is getting fired.

[228] Yeah, in most situations, players have more power.

[229] My coach now, Joanne Casey, was in Toronto.

[230] Toronto had one of their best years of all time.

[231] They got to the playoffs, lost to LeBron in the playoffs for like the third year in a row.

[232] He won coach of the year in the NBA, as voted by his peers in the media, and then got fired.

[233] Oh, my God.

[234] That is fucking brutal.

[235] The NBA award show is in, like, July, I think.

[236] And so he had to go up and accept his coach of the year award while he was interviewing for new jobs.

[237] Oh, wow.

[238] Which is just a, you know, whether you agree with the firing or not, you can just admit that that's just a shitty situation.

[239] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[240] Monica and I are obsessed, because Monica and I are both.

[241] pretty superstitious, even though I don't believe in a higher power or anything, I yet believe in superstition.

[242] And we love how superstitious athletes are.

[243] We're always picking up on the different things.

[244] And it's just, it's such a ripe, fertile ground to like, oh, I drank a coffee one minute before I went through the thing and I scored 50 points.

[245] Like, do you have a ton of little routines you do?

[246] Yeah, I refer to them as routines as opposed to superstitious because if something goes wrong and it doesn't happen i don't want to have that thing in my mind um that i like am going to play bad and the routine for me is just to get through playing 82 games and having to do the same thing every single day in a way it it sort of sounds backward but it keeps me sane because for my job i have to do a certain amount of things on a game day so like when people always ask me this question i can get super deep and go through i have so many from the time i wake up to the time i guess my last one would be when we warm up again at half time because then once the game is going it's all you know it's all out the window uh actually that's not true when i come to the bench for timeouts i do the same thing you know what i mean so yeah i have routines that i could spend way too much time talking about them there's certain ones where i just do the same thing at every time and for us too when we get to the arena there's like a the clock is on right so at 90 minutes the clock starts to count down until game time so before that i'm using my phone timers i get to the game three hours early so I'm doing all my stuff before that once that 90s starts like and then I have a thing where I'm at all places in the arena there's that countdown clock so I know at 65 minutes I'm eating my pregame snack at 62 minutes I'm on the table I'm getting massaged oh wow 48 minutes I start getting taped I'll finish around 42 minutes and I'll have seven minutes before our pregame and I even put my music to that so I normally like make a playlist so I want to listen to like the certain songs at a certain time so they I love this I love it I would do all that stuff how have girlfriends responded to that routine have some of them like you you don't have to do all this bullshit um for the most part I would say they're very understanding just because they see how much I care about it but yeah it's for sure it's taxing because if they're like at home or like at the house I'm you know I'm gone for sure when I come back I have to take my shower as soon as I get home I I eat lunch i'm watching film i take a nap i wake up i get i take another shower i get dressed i you know what i mean it's like there's not a lot of time there's maybe an hour or maybe 45 minutes in there where i can just sit and talk yeah there's no real room for another person in that that routine yeah but after the games practice days you know those are where you sort of make up for for that especially with my kids too on a game day i can barely see him and now my son's at the age where i can take him pregame with me to where he can be in the locker room like after the game he comes in the locker room he says next to me in my locker and I can share that with him but I won't really be able to do that with my daughter you know what I mean yes just because of the nature of a locker room so many penises that's what we're talking about yeah yeah they're everywhere I'm a little nervous for your son though because that's probably a misleading group of folks to look at their penises as a young man too I mean you're like a very big gentleman yeah I mean he's got to learn he's got to learn someday okay so great so you do all those things i love that there's so much shit you can't control that being able to control every little moment that you can control helps give the illusion of control maybe a bit yeah for sure and like not every guys like this but i have found that most of like the really good players or the consistent players who are in the league for a long time and you know if they're role players then they manage to be in the league for a long time they have these sort of routines but i've had teammates who have even more than I have and, like, actual superstitions.

[247] I had a teammate who, like, before he would run out of the locker room to go into the tunnel before he ran out, would, like, spin around three times.

[248] Like that type of superstition, you know what I?

[249] I don't necessarily have those.

[250] Well, sort of.

[251] I sort of do.

[252] But, yeah, it's about being in control for me, for sure, because, like I said, I'm doing this so much that it helps put me in this place, like, oh, I know what I'm doing, oh, I'm ready for this.

[253] you know I this is familiar and even on the road now I've been in the league for long enough that like I know every road arena so I know how my routine is going to change a little bit going into that because oh this locker room the training room is here yeah and do you eat it like the same restaurant in every city and you try to get the same hotel room or any of that stuff just by the nature of how teams travel I sort of do get the same room or room type every single time like I know when we're in Chicago I'll be all the way at the corner of the, you know, there's four corners, I'll be at one of the four corners.

[254] So I know the room.

[255] Yeah.

[256] Restaurants kind of depends.

[257] Like, you know, if I have friends in the city, then I'll, you know, maybe I'll go out to them.

[258] Like, before I'll go with a teammate and we'll go to a familiar place.

[259] But it's not sort of the same thing.

[260] I eat room service for, like, the morning of, and then I order room service from my pregame meal, and I take it with me. Are you kind of like a 40, 40, 20 eater?

[261] Like, what's ideal for you as an athlete?

[262] I'm saying 40 % carbs, 40 % protein, 20 % fat.

[263] So for my lunch and pregame meal, I would say it's a little bit higher on carbs, like complex carbs.

[264] Yeah.

[265] And then right before, I'll do a little bit more protein.

[266] I have these homemade, like, protein bars I've been doing for, like, six years now that are, like, just another part of my routine.

[267] I eat those at the same time, you know.

[268] Yeah.

[269] Oh, man. I'd like to follow you on one of these days and just watch every little detail.

[270] It sounds safe.

[271] I like it.

[272] Yeah, feel safe.

[273] Yeah, it makes me feel safe.

[274] Yeah.

[275] Now, I got to ask, it seems like it must be such a giant shift from when you're playing to then when you're just out on your own, right?

[276] Because all that regimented living and knowing the plan, and then all of a sudden just the light switch turns off, right?

[277] And is it an adjustment or do you try to just maintain this kind of militant schedule in the offseason?

[278] What's it like transitioning back and forth?

[279] I sort of lead two different lives.

[280] like season is so scheduled and so like you said militant and everything's you know laid out i mean we know our schedule for what three months before the season starts so even like in april i know what i'm going to be doing on april 14th in october so yes and no like there's certain parts when it comes to like working out and it comes to like doing the things that i need to in the off season i'm very meticulous about it and very like schedule i do the same thing but other stuff i sort of just kind of wing and i and i it's also weird too because at the end the season you've been playing for seven months now so you have to take time off so you go from every single day having something to do for morning to night and then once you lose in the playoffs you don't know when it's going to be you lose and the next day you wake up and you don't have to set an alarm you don't have practice you don't necessarily have to eat super healthy you can kind of relax you don't have to work out it's a very weird transition to where when I was younger I would like sort of like going like i i hadn't watched game of thrones at one point and i locked myself in my theater for like two weeks straight and watched five seasons of game of thrones hell yeah as soon as we lost in the playoffs one time and it was just like my way of dealing with being sad about you know not not being in the playoffs anymore but yeah it's weird you have to kind of like find that find that transition and it gets easier the older you get that kind of appeals to me because i i i've always liked and it's not healthy so i either eat perfect or eat fucking terrible I've been big into health and nutrition for a long time.

[281] I think my mom was just a very, like, very well -versed person.

[282] She's not a nutritionist, but no, it was just a lot.

[283] And grew up eating very healthy.

[284] Like, I was the kid that, like, my brother and I would take, like, barley green, which is sort of like the equivalent of a green juice now.

[285] Like, it was a powder, and we'd mix it with water, and we drink it every morning.

[286] Take, like, fish oil since we were kids.

[287] Oh, wow.

[288] All this stuff is, like, not, like, crazy to me, right?

[289] I've sort of, like, ramped it up.

[290] And I think my third season in the NBA, I was like, this season, I'm going to be so strict just to the T. And I did until, like, March came around.

[291] And I was so burned out.

[292] I hadn't, like, had candy or, like, you know, anything bad.

[293] And I just fell off the wagon.

[294] And it just, like, happened, like, right before the playoffs.

[295] And I was like, that was stupid.

[296] Like, now I have to figure out.

[297] I got to figure out how I can balance this.

[298] You said an unrealistic goal.

[299] Yeah.

[300] But it also taught me. an important lesson, not just about food and nutrition, but just about everything.

[301] You can't, you can't just restrict yourself from doing certain things because those are going to help balance that life.

[302] And I still struggle with.

[303] I'm not great at it, but that's sort of my routine now, especially during this quarantine, it's like I try to eat healthy for six days.

[304] And then Sunday, I go, you know, do whatever I want.

[305] And then Monday I'm back on it.

[306] Yeah, yeah.

[307] So your dad was a track and field star and he played college basketball, right?

[308] Mm -hmm.

[309] College basketball and football, yeah.

[310] And football, wow.

[311] How big is he?

[312] He's like 6 -5, like probably 6 -4 now, but like 6 -5, big guy, yeah.

[313] Oh, boy.

[314] Wow.

[315] Okay.

[316] My mom's 5 -11.

[317] Wow.

[318] Wow, wow, wow.

[319] Did they meet in college?

[320] No, they actually both taught at the same high school in Oklahoma.

[321] Oh, okay.

[322] So you and your brother, you have an older brother.

[323] Mm -hmm.

[324] And you guys were homeschooled, yeah?

[325] Yes.

[326] So my mom and dad both being teaching.

[327] recognized how poor, Oklahoma City, I don't know if you remember from three years ago, there was a huge public school teacher lockout.

[328] Public school teacher compensation is awful in the state of Oklahoma.

[329] It might be like, I think it's bottom five.

[330] And they just made a decision early on.

[331] Like, they can't afford for us to go to private school.

[332] So my mom was like, I'm going to stop working.

[333] I'm going to homeschool them.

[334] And we'll figure it out, you know, as we go.

[335] So we were lucky because our homeschools, like, led by, she'd been teaching for 15 years at that point.

[336] Right, an actual teacher.

[337] Yeah, it wasn't like a walk in the park.

[338] She had like a lesson plan.

[339] We had like a schedule I had to, but it was also great because I could wake up at, you know, eight, do my chores, nine o 'clock, start school, 12 o 'clock be done because I didn't have any wasted time.

[340] My mom would teach me a lesson.

[341] I would finish.

[342] I would move to the next one.

[343] I was just bam, bam, bam, bam, knock it out.

[344] Yeah.

[345] And so I wasn't being deprived of like a true learning experience.

[346] And then also sports for me and my brother.

[347] We played four sports during the year.

[348] So we were constantly around friends from sports or friends from the neighborhood.

[349] So for us, it really worked out.

[350] And then we got to a certain point.

[351] My dad left the Oklahoma City public schools and took a job at a private school so that we could go there, Oklahoma Christian School.

[352] Okay.

[353] So now, how much of your desire to play basketball was your own desire and how much of it was wanting to do whatever Taylor did?

[354] I was a little bit of both.

[355] My dad was great because being a basketball coach, he didn't make us play sports.

[356] We wanted to play sports.

[357] The only thing he made us do was finished once we had started a season.

[358] Like he was like, you're not going to quit, ever quit.

[359] And I don't even think I ever wanted to quit anything.

[360] And he also encouraged us to play whatever we wanted.

[361] Like I loved soccer growing up, loved baseball, football, basketball, golf.

[362] Like, we would play street hockey.

[363] We would do whatever.

[364] And his belief was that, you know, one sport's going to help you with another sport.

[365] And just team building, being around kids, working with other people, learning how to be a leader.

[366] I mean, I remember from the time I was so young, my dad, like, just drilling in my brain.

[367] If you think you're a good player and you have the ability, it's your job to help make your teammates better.

[368] And so I remember him always teaching me the lesson of, like, you can't throw the ball to him like you throw it to him.

[369] So those are things that I was learning as a kid.

[370] I didn't realize I was learning, but I was learning to, like, deal with people and work with people and figure out people's strengths and, like, maximize them.

[371] in such a way that it was like just a fun game for me I didn't realize I was doing it at the time and well it's what a leader does right I mean that's the when you watch last dance you're like I'm trying to explain to Monica because she was never into basketball that happened to be like the 10 year phase I was obsessed because I'm from Detroit 88 89 I'm in seventh grade so I love basketball because of them but I'm trying to explain to her I'm like there's so much involved I'm like Alan Iverson if you just watched him play you'd probably say oh he's the best ever I mean just that guy could score, his handles, everything was insane.

[372] But then there's just this other component.

[373] Can you get the best out of guys?

[374] Can you lead a team to victory?

[375] And that seems to be a whole different skill set.

[376] I remember trying to navigate that when I first got into the NBA, not necessarily when I first got on, because when you first get in, you're just trying to keep your head above water.

[377] But then, you know, after a couple of seasons, you're trying to figure out how to become like a leader amongst men.

[378] Yeah.

[379] Yeah, I'm 21 years old.

[380] My teammates are or 35 with, you know, kids that are, like, in middle school.

[381] So, like, I can't connect with them in the same way that I can connect with, like, college teammates or, like, the guys that are my age.

[382] So I remember, like, sort of going on a journey to, like, you know, talk to different guys.

[383] And the one guy I talked to was Tim Duncan that stood out to me the most.

[384] And it's weird because growing up, I was, like, never a Tim Duncan fan.

[385] I didn't, like, dislike him, but I was just, like, the spurs are boring.

[386] Like, they just, like, you know, they're fundamental.

[387] They do this.

[388] He's like, like, spank shot, which my dad drilled in my head as well.

[389] But as soon as I got in the league, I was like, oh, I get it.

[390] Like, this guy's awesome.

[391] You know what I mean?

[392] He was one of those guys sort of that taught me within the game, like, playing while I was playing against him, that, like, it's okay to, like, mess with guys.

[393] It's okay to, like, be funny or, like, say something.

[394] I would, like, line up next to him, like, at the free throw line, and he'd look over and be like, oh, fuck, not you again.

[395] Like, you're still, you know, like, that type of stuff.

[396] Whereas, it might be, like, a little dad joke, but, like, in the heat of a game, it was so disarming to me that like this amazing player was like taking time to like you know have these little jokes with me like little side things with me he was so unique in that every time i watched the game we were always against them in the final so i wasn't rooting for him per se but he was the guy more than any other player that ever played where i'd be like hold on what they just say he has 38 points when i missed that like he was so not a flashy player but he was just so goddamn consistent consistently putting up double double double double you know yeah guarding him was so frustrating because you kind of like especially towards the end is like you kind of knew what he was going to do but you just weren't going to stop it's not like lebron where it's like okay like he's just like physically very good player and he can overpower you some guys he can jump over some guys it's just like he's he's not beating you with speed he's not necessarily beating you with quickness or or strength yeah but he's still just going to score because he's just better Like, he knows how to do everything.

[397] And it's frustrating, but at the same time, like, an unbelievable amount of respect for guys like that.

[398] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[399] We've all been there.

[400] Turning to the internet to self -diagnose our inexplicable pains, debilitating body aches, sudden fevers, and strange rashes.

[401] Though our minds tend to spiral to worst -case scenarios, it's usually nothing, but for an unlucky few, these unsuspecting symptoms can start the clock ticking on a terrifying medical mystery.

[402] Like the unexplainable death of a retired firefighter, whose body was found at home by his son, except it looked like he had been cremated, or the time when an entire town started jumping from buildings and seeing tigers on their ceilings.

[403] Hey listeners, it's Mr. Ballin here, and I'm here to tell you about my podcast.

[404] It's called Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries.

[405] Each terrifying true story will be sure to keep you up at night.

[406] Follow Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries wherever you get your podcasts.

[407] Prime members can listen early and add free on Amazon Music.

[408] What's up, guys?

[409] It's your girl Kiki, and my podcast is back with a new season, and let me tell you, it's too good.

[410] And I'm diving into the brains of entertainment's best and brightest, okay?

[411] Every episode, I bring on a friend and have a real conversation.

[412] And I don't mean just friends.

[413] I mean the likes of Amy Poehler, Kell Mitchell, Vivica Fox, This goes on.

[414] So follow, watch, and listen to Baby.

[415] This is Kiki Palmer on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcast.

[416] So how did you transition?

[417] Can you point to a moment where you're like, okay, I'm going to be the leader of this team?

[418] It was weird for me because when I got drafted, I think they had won like 18 games the year before.

[419] The Clippers.

[420] The Clippers had won 18 games the year before.

[421] And so when I got to the team, it was a destination where guys would come to the end of their careers to like sign a one -year deal or play just in L .A. in a, you know, a good city or it hadn't really truly been, like, super successful.

[422] So it was weird because then my first year, we sort of did the thing.

[423] It was like, okay, we're just going to have a bunch of young guys.

[424] We're going to play these young guys.

[425] And so I was sort of one of the older ones, at least, like, that was on the court.

[426] And I sort of had my own way of leading men.

[427] And then the very next summer, we traded for a guy named Chris Paul, who's one of the best point guards of all time.

[428] And because we got him now, like, you know, other old.

[429] older guys wanted to come to the team and play there.

[430] It sort of became destination or at least was starting to.

[431] So then our team got very old again.

[432] And I was sort of lost in that.

[433] It was a very weird thing for me to navigate of trying to like be a leader, trying to get better as a basketball player, but then also like learn from these guys.

[434] It was a hard thing for me to sort of figure out.

[435] And I never really like talked about it in that sense.

[436] But it was.

[437] It was like, how do I navigate like all these different things while still just trying to be a good player yeah and by the way it's not like arrogance it's your responsibility if you are the the scoring threat on the team you know it's your job to do that you can't right you have to take on that role it would be ridiculous not to yeah it was it was sort of weird for me too because my first like several years i was more physical like i would just try to dunk and i would you know rebound and and really just try to like impose your will physically on people and didn't have some of the same skills that you develop over time.

[438] And I remember, like, my rookie year, sort of like blowing up in terms of, like, just becoming more well -known as a player and sort of stepping on to that true NBA stage.

[439] And then my whole rookie year, we were bad.

[440] This is before we got all those guys.

[441] And, you know, into games, if it was a close game, we weren't supposed to win.

[442] We were super young.

[443] It was just like, people liked watching us because we were just fun to watch.

[444] Yeah, a lot of energy.

[445] he was like we lost it was no big deal it was like oh he finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds like man amazing like you know rookies aren't doing that and then it's so quickly changed to like all right like he's got to be doing this this and this now and I just heard so much negative and so much hate that I like sort of like turned myself off you know whether there was some reporters or some people or like I just fed in too much to that and I closed myself off and looking back I wish I had handled it differently but again I was was 21 years old and like oh and not to say that's you know super young but it is super fucking young i want to get into a lot of that actually but i got to say you too your profession is so unique and i thought this had so many basketball games i'm hearing some guy who literally can't take a flight of steps or he'd have a heart attack yeah screaming at grant hill and informing him how he should do that job and i think what other profession are there people who know fucking nothing about it and can't accomplish any of it, authorities screaming at the people who are experts.

[446] It's not like you go to a courtroom and there's a bunch of dipshits screaming at the judge about jurisprudence.

[447] It's insane.

[448] But alas, you're in the one occupation where people just scream at you of how you should be doing your job and none of them can do your job.

[449] And the fact that you guys can handle that is amazing to me. You know what?

[450] I think you're just like prepared to handle it.

[451] Just because like when you start planning high school and you go to opposing high school, is they have their student section and they're yelling stuff at you.

[452] So from even in youth basketball now, it's so bad that other parents are like, not necessarily heckling like the fans do now, but like they're saying stuff.

[453] They're getting crazy.

[454] Like the kid falls down.

[455] They're like, you know, yelling, whatever it is.

[456] So you're sort of, you climb those levels of in person, in arena, end game, like heckling.

[457] What you're not prepared for is the media and what I wasn't prepared for.

[458] Twitter had just started.

[459] And right when I got drafted, I think it was 2009, when Twitter was relatively new, that's what I wasn't prepared for, is just being so, like, publicly scrutinized, so heavily in such a personal way.

[460] Because you can not read articles.

[461] And if you're on Twitter, it's hard not to see stuff.

[462] And I have to imagine, they're also making character judgments of you, right?

[463] So what they're probably saying, and I'm completely unaware of whatever they were saying at that time, but I, I will say when they start saying like can he lead this team or blah blah blah these are like character assessments of you not are you physically talented can you score yeah there was one time earlier on in my career might have actually been my second year where we had lost two games in a row maybe i'd gotten stitches and i was in the back for a long time after the game and normally like the media comes in the locker room or you know you have to go to like the press comments room so i'm back in the locker room for so I come out, no media's in the locker room anymore.

[464] And I asked one of our guys, like, am I good?

[465] And he's like, yeah, you're good.

[466] Like, I thought I didn't have to go speak that day.

[467] So how I get my stuff, I go home, and I see this article from this ESPN writer about how after two back -to -back losses, I left one of my teammates out to the one that did go to the press conference room.

[468] I left him out to dry, and that shows exactly who I am as a player.

[469] It's just a situation where it's like spoken after.

[470] almost every game my whole life.

[471] And because I did in that one time, now a character assumption has been made.

[472] But why should you have to anyway?

[473] Like, what does that have to do with you playing?

[474] You have, on a game day, you're required to speak to the media like three times.

[475] Like once before, or after shoot around, once before the game and once after the game.

[476] The way I get around talking before the game is I go into the training room.

[477] If you're in the training room, you don't have to speak.

[478] But now I also sort of have an understanding with our team beat riders like, like, hey, I'm trying not to speak before the game.

[479] I'll stay after and talk to you, you know, longer or whatever you need.

[480] I always kind of set that up beforehand.

[481] And most people are very, you know, very conscious of that.

[482] But then you go into away arena and, like, somebody's beat writer might not know that.

[483] So you kind of have to do the whole thing.

[484] But, like, our PR guy does a good job now.

[485] But when I was younger, it wasn't that easy.

[486] Well, another insanely unique thing about your job is that, like, we've all fucked up at work, right?

[487] We all fail at our job.

[488] The notion that right after the failure at your job, you'd have to go out and answer questions and be scrutinized about your failure.

[489] I mean, it really is a unique human situation to be in that cannot come naturally.

[490] Yeah, and I also, I have this bit that I always have a stand -up charity show, a charity event every year.

[491] And so, like, sometimes I'll get up and I'll do, like, a little, like, my own version of a five -minute set, you know?

[492] And one of my things was it's not only that to, like, have a bad game, but you're also getting.

[493] up and doing this after you've been exercising for two and a half hours, you're not going to come off super smart if somebody sticks a microphone on your face.

[494] You know what I mean?

[495] So you're just not going to come off like smart.

[496] You might not come off where you're like super reflective about the game because it just happened.

[497] I haven't had a chance to like think about it.

[498] I went to the locker and our coach talked to us.

[499] I took a shower.

[500] I put my clothes on and now I'm speaking to you.

[501] Yeah, post game interviews are a weird thing because they're there's sort of necessary for people to write the story, but you know.

[502] Yeah.

[503] Well, it's got to drive the whole business.

[504] It's part of it.

[505] Now, have you ever done the math?

[506] How much do you run in a game?

[507] Have you ever figured that out?

[508] Yeah, so they track everybody now.

[509] So like guards run more than big men.

[510] I think I average like 1 .8 to maybe 2 .1 miles a game.

[511] That's just like non -walking movement.

[512] Okay, okay.

[513] But it's a fast run though.

[514] I mean, you know.

[515] Yeah.

[516] So basketball is all like Sprint, stop, sprint, shuffle, stop, back pedal, run.

[517] You know, it's not a lot of just jogging.

[518] Unless some of you've just scored and we're jogging back on offense.

[519] It's a lot of like quick bursts and then like sort of continual movement.

[520] Right.

[521] Which makes like, as basketball players, we always say like there's no way to replicate basketball shape because it's just such a dynamic, like, this did that happen with Jordan in the baseball body.

[522] Yeah.

[523] And dad said it can't be that different.

[524] of a body and I said, yes, it's crazy.

[525] It's crazy because it's all, you're just planting and stopping and turning and pushing off.

[526] And then also, you're pushing on people.

[527] So, like, if you go to do cardio, I don't know how you would, unless you just made up an obstacle course where you're mimicking playing basketball, you wouldn't be able to get in the basketball shape.

[528] You know what I mean?

[529] Yeah.

[530] It's a very unique sport that way.

[531] All right, now I'm going to catch Monica up to speed really quick.

[532] He plays four years in high school for his father as the coach, his brother's there for two of the years?

[533] Two of the years, yeah.

[534] They win the state championship all four years.

[535] Ooh, four -time state champ.

[536] And listen to this, their record over those four years is 106 to six losses.

[537] Of those four years, they won 106 games to six losses.

[538] Wow.

[539] Yeah.

[540] So Blake is a phenom, and his brother convinces him to go to Oklahoma, which was at that time pretty unconventional, right, for what a standout high school player you were.

[541] you could have gone to bigger schools, right?

[542] Yeah, I think at most, I guess, in that time, most of the top players in the class would go to, like, the Dukes and the Kansas and the, you know, those.

[543] And did you and your brother play together at Oklahoma?

[544] Two years, yeah.

[545] Then we both got drafted the same year.

[546] Get the fuck out.

[547] Okay, so I don't know much about your brother.

[548] Do you guys play the same position?

[549] My, like my sophomore year, I stayed two years in college.

[550] I was the center and he was a power forward.

[551] And then in the NBA, I was a power forward.

[552] So he sort of went from being a power forward to a small forward when he got to the NBA.

[553] No, we never, we could play together.

[554] Okay, I have to assume he was better than you when you were young, yeah?

[555] He was the person I was constantly chasing.

[556] Yeah, did you so relate to Jordan when he was talking about playing his older brother and just wanting the dad to see that he beat him?

[557] Oh, yeah.

[558] I looked up to him, you know, still to this day, one of my best friends and, like, very close, but we would just go head to head.

[559] We'd fight every day because of sports.

[560] You know, it was never just a fight.

[561] It was always because he beat me in something, and I just had to, you know, had to fight.

[562] Was there an exact moment where he'd fight?

[563] you're like, oh my God, I'm better.

[564] Yeah, I think, like, at a certain point, we stopped, like, fighting, but we would always play one -on -one.

[565] And I remember, like, he says the same thing.

[566] It sort of happened when he left for college, and I was still there.

[567] So, like, the reason we won four state championships, my first two years, he was the best player in the state, and he just dominated.

[568] So, like, I got to sort of as a freshman and sophomore just kind of, like, ride on his coat tails.

[569] And then when he left, like, that's sort of when I, like, came into my own as a player, there was a time where I beat, in one -on -one, but, like, I don't know if he, like, particularly, like, credits it just because there's a lot of variables.

[570] But, yeah, like, there's a moment where, like, you know that you can beat him, because one -on -one's a different than fight.

[571] You know what I mean?

[572] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[573] You might catch somebody one day.

[574] There's a moment where I'm like, oh, yeah, like, I got him.

[575] And once I have that, I got him, like, I'm never losing that confidence, you know?

[576] Well, you just beat the best player you've ever played against, probably, in your mind.

[577] And, like, also your basketball hero that's tangible, that you can touch, you know what I mean?

[578] Because I wasn't around NBA guys.

[579] I wasn't around a lot of college guys.

[580] So, like, that was, like, the guy I was chasing always.

[581] Yeah.

[582] Now that you have done all the things, where does winning those high school championships rank on your pride scale?

[583] Pride scale?

[584] I mean, it's up there because, like, even though it's high school and we were in a smaller class, it's like, we did the absolute best.

[585] that we were supposed to do.

[586] So we did it.

[587] And I also took high school basketball.

[588] We all did.

[589] Took it so seriously.

[590] From the time my dad got to this school to start coaching, he won five state championships there because he won his first year there.

[591] And then there was a year that they didn't.

[592] And then my brother got there and then that was it.

[593] Can I just say really quick, I can't imagine that bond between you guys to be a father, to all win a state championship together, to know your boys.

[594] I mean, my God, he must have been exploding with pride.

[595] Yeah, I actually just saw there was like a little sort of documentary thing.

[596] And somebody sent me like a clip that I'd sort of forgotten about.

[597] And it was like somebody interviewing my mom and my dad.

[598] And my brother's senior year, state championship game was so special and rewatching it.

[599] It really took me back to like this place because it was the last time that we all, us three were on a team together, on the court together.

[600] So special for us.

[601] and my mom, my mom realized, and I think my dad did too.

[602] I don't know that my brother and I really appreciated it in the moment, as we do now.

[603] But my mom, hearing my mom talk about it, you know, it's like one of them's going to college and one of them's going to still be here, but it's like the last time.

[604] And then luckily we got to play again together in college, which was my brother and I, obviously, my dad went there, but we got to play again together, and that was even more special.

[605] Okay, now I'm going to erase Monica.

[606] I'm going to, but so you understand he's an amazing high school.

[607] school basketball player.

[608] Then he goes and plays in college.

[609] He plays two years in college.

[610] And in those two years, in his sophomore year, you get 30 double doubles, only one shy of David Robinson's record, which is insane.

[611] So double doubles when you get double digits either scoring, rebounding assists, right?

[612] It means he's doing everything.

[613] Okay, so you're just one shy of David Robinson sophomore year.

[614] You also got 504 rebounds, which is just one shy of Larry Bird's record in 1978.

[615] You just, you crushed in college and then you become a first round pick for the Clippers in 2009.

[616] And here's a part I have great confusion over and I want you to help me understand this.

[617] So you get drafted.

[618] You got no say, right?

[619] You have absolutely no say in which city you're going to.

[620] You're just praying you're not going somewhere you don't want to live.

[621] Right.

[622] How do they negotiate your contract?

[623] Because you don't have the leverage of taking other offers.

[624] How do you get market value, given that you had no choice in where you're going?

[625] So in the NBA, every first round pick, 1 through 30, is slotted.

[626] So it's already figured out for you.

[627] So, I mean, the first pick of the first round makes this amount of money, and he's guaranteed two years, team option three and four.

[628] So your contract is just structured for you.

[629] Okay, okay, great.

[630] That makes sense.

[631] So, like, no agent makes money off of a first round pick's rookie deal.

[632] Because they didn't negotiate anything.

[633] It's just, it is what it is.

[634] Okay.

[635] Second round is different.

[636] You can negotiate.

[637] You can get more here, here, here.

[638] But it'll never exceed what those preset ones are probably in the second round.

[639] No, no. Yeah, no. Okay.

[640] Now, did you watch the ESPN 30 for 30 broke?

[641] Yes.

[642] Okay, so for the people who didn't watch it, they point out that in general, the general arc for a human being in the workforce is the older they get and the more experience they have managing money, the more money they get.

[643] And they peak out most people in their 40s, you know, between 40 and 50, and they've had all this experience managing money.

[644] And it's a perfect time to get it now.

[645] It's completely flipped in sports where you had the least amount of experience managing money.

[646] And then you get this enormous amount.

[647] What is that experience like?

[648] I cannot imagine at 21 years old getting millions of dollars.

[649] What was the experience like?

[650] So when I got drafted in 2009, all these, and Antoine Walker, who was one of the guys that the documentary broke was sort of featured about because he made so much money and literally lost it all.

[651] When I was getting drafted, you'd go to this thing called Rookie Transition Program.

[652] Everybody that got drafted goes to this program and they sort of give you a three, two and a half day crash course of like everything you need to know.

[653] Some of it's just like, you know, have any sense at all.

[654] It's just very obvious stuff.

[655] But the financial portion was very, very interesting to me and it was very eye -opening because it scared the shit out of me. And I'd always heard these stories.

[656] So when I got drafted, I got an apartment and I got a car.

[657] The only other big thing I did was pay off my parents' mortgage.

[658] Oh, you sweet son of a bitch, yeah.

[659] Okay.

[660] And, you know, no, you know.

[661] And, like, other than that, I didn't really spend very much money at all.

[662] And then sort of as you, you know, get another contract and another contract that's, you know.

[663] You readjust.

[664] Yeah, you readjust.

[665] But I also, like, had a great financial.

[666] managers and my mom, you know, she did all our taxes, everything for my family.

[667] We also had, because they were teachers and their income was so poor, we had a second family trophy company that we ran out of our awards company out of the back of our house.

[668] And so she would do financials for that as well.

[669] So she had a good understanding of how, you know, budgeting and all that stuff.

[670] And also when we were kids, my mom made us budget.

[671] Like we had to put a certain amount aside for like savings.

[672] We had to put a certain amount, you know, for stuff we wanted to do.

[673] So I sort of had an understanding.

[674] And my mom also, my poor financial managers had to have a weekly call with my mom for like the first two years in my career, maybe even longer than that.

[675] I finally was like, all right, you know, I got, they've earned a good grass for us.

[676] I'm very fortunate and lucky that I had, you know, my parents to like lean on.

[677] It was just sort of an easy transition for me. But, you know, it's not quite the same for everybody yeah and um it sounds like you watch these documentaries as i do i remember watching the one um maybe the bad boys or something and i'm looking at isaiah thomas who in in detroit was an absolute god he is a god in the NBA and it was talking about like that year they won a first championship i think he was on a million dollar year contract which was outrageous then yeah and i'm watching this documentary in 2019 going wow a million dollars 30 years ago is not a lot Like, whatever number you think is huge today, you've got a lot of life to live because it's a young man's sport.

[678] It's rife with complexity.

[679] Yeah, and it's, you know, I think the number that always kind of shocks people is like the average NBA career is like three and a half years.

[680] Right.

[681] People think it's longer because you're just hearing about the guys who are really good and have been in a league a long time.

[682] But you're not hearing about the guys who come in and play one year and they're out or play two years and they're out, three years and they're out.

[683] So that also just, like, scared me, too, because it's like, you just never know what's going to happen.

[684] You know what I mean?

[685] I've been fortunate to play, you know, 11 years now, and, you know, and that's obviously beats the odds, but I, and I still want to go more.

[686] But as a young player, the hunger and, like, sort of the being terrified of, like, the horror stories was just always in my mind.

[687] So I just, I never went crazy.

[688] Now, okay, so again, catch Monaco.

[689] So he gets drafted, number one.

[690] So slow.

[691] No, you don't know the history of it.

[692] Do you understand what's going on?

[693] Monica, okay.

[694] You know what money is?

[695] Time to check back in.

[696] So, Blake goes to the Clippers first round.

[697] Congrats.

[698] Thank you.

[699] Fractures his Pitella.

[700] Ooh.

[701] And he doesn't play for the full first year he's in the NBA.

[702] Oh, boy.

[703] Heartbroken?

[704] Does it rattle your confidence of like, because when you're that age, you feel completely invulnerable to injury?

[705] Was it like, no, no, this isn't part of my narrative.

[706] If I'm not someone who would be out for a year with an injury.

[707] There's two reasons.

[708] One, like you said, you feel you're unstoppable.

[709] Like, injuries don't even cross your mind or any of that.

[710] But also, I just got to my dream since I was a kid.

[711] It just happened.

[712] And I'm like, wow, like, this is cool.

[713] I'm still terrified that I'm not going to make it.

[714] So I'm, like, working really hard.

[715] I'm not really taking it for granted.

[716] But I'm like, this is the beginning.

[717] So our last preseason game, like you said, got hurt.

[718] And then, you know, found out I wasn't going to be able to.

[719] play i thought i was going to be able to like let it heal on its own two and a half months later it doesn't have to have surgery i miss my whole year and around that time there's a guy named gregg oden who was a really good player for ohio state got drafted number one to portland same thing knee injury doesn't play his rookie year another knee injury misses a lot more games knee injury knee injury is out of the league number one same pick as me and so now i'm starting to hear like, oh, he's another this guy.

[720] And then on top of that, the Clippers, like I mentioned, they were deemed as like a cursed franchise for a long time.

[721] Right before I got drafted, Bill Simmons, a ESPN writer wrote this long article about how I should demand that they not draft me because I'm going to go there and I'm going to end up like all their other number one picks just turned out, you know, not have great careers.

[722] And so I had like all that on top of my dream getting taken away, on top of being hurt, which is just mentally and physically a tough thing.

[723] So it was like a year full of like self -doubt and like just wondering, but it also scared me and just like working as hard as I possibly could.

[724] And I got some great advice that like I still stick with today and as cheesy as it sounds like in every bad situation, I have to try to find the silver lining.

[725] For me, that was working as hard as I could, getting back in shape and then also going to every game and watching and studying and seeing, you know, how this league operates and it definitely gave me, you know, an upper hand, you know, going into my second first season.

[726] Yes.

[727] So in retrospect, uh, okay, so then Monica, let me catch up speed.

[728] Wake up, Monica.

[729] Oh, I'm here.

[730] I'm here.

[731] I'm here.

[732] I'm here.

[733] He then goes and plays the next year and he gets rookie of the year.

[734] He gets nominated to the All -Star team, which is very rare for a rookie.

[735] You score a tremendous amount of points, you know, you just, you crush what then becomes your rookie year so are you at a vantage point where you can look back and go oh wow that year probably made me something durable or you know it was a test you passed it could have taken you out like there's so much mental fucking quagmire there that you could have succumb to you could have lost all your confidence do you think it stealed your your resolve yeah i think i learned a lot of lessons for sure i i don't know that i necessarily thought about it as like i could have gone the other way i just took those lessons and i moved on looking back now or maybe at the end of my career, I'll be thankful for that time because it really gave me, you know, my first true test, I guess, when I first got to the NBA.

[736] But, like, in the moment when I'm starting to finally play my rookie year, I'm almost just kind of like finally, you know what I mean?

[737] I'm not really, like, looking at it from, like, a lesson perspective, even though I did treat it like that as I was trying to come back from it.

[738] Once I started playing that first year, I always just say, like, there was a game that happened where, like, after that, my life just never went.

[739] back to how it was like it just took off and it's just been like that ride ever since you know there's ups and downs but it's just been that ride yeah and i almost i've had tons of humbly moments over my life and work and you know now from this vantage point weirdly grateful for all them because again you could have like you're in high school you're winning championships you go to college and then next thing next thing next thing next thing and then you can almost wake up after it's all over to evaluate it, but I do think that one year pause maybe, it's a time to, like, think maybe more clearly on what player you want to be, when you finally do come back, maybe a heightened gratitude that you wouldn't have had if just everything worked out perfectly.

[740] It's just kind of hard to know.

[741] Yeah.

[742] Now I can appreciate that much more, but in the time, I don't think I really sat back and appreciated it because, like, now I've seen guys who have, you know, gotten hurt their first year and not played, and then their sort of their projection didn't meet their production.

[743] Yes.

[744] I see that now, and I realize, you know, what could have been, definitely now appreciative and grateful for those lessons I learned.

[745] And then also, too, having that year, my sophomore year of college, and then getting drafted, number one, in, like, my own little world, like, I was, like, I was, like, doing it.

[746] At that point, that was the best I could possibly do in my mind.

[747] And so I had people who were around me, not like super close, but people that were around me. And then when I got hurt, those people went away.

[748] Ah, good lesson to learn early.

[749] Yeah.

[750] Next year when I started playing, I remembered all those people who were like with me, texting me, call me, and then they went away.

[751] And then when I started playing again, they're back.

[752] That's again, that's a great life lesson because they would have never stopped without that year.

[753] And you really wouldn't have maybe found out.

[754] 100%.

[755] My question is a bit broader.

[756] because you were just saying, like, you had done everything right and you were sort of at the pinnacle.

[757] What is it like managing NBA egos?

[758] Like, everyone is in the NBA.

[759] Their egos must be enormous.

[760] They're the best of anyone they've ever come across.

[761] And then they all get put together.

[762] And then there's a ranking within that.

[763] And I just feel like that must be a nightmare ego -wise.

[764] And you have to work together.

[765] It is.

[766] That's a great question because, like, if you ask a coach, like, I don't know, 70 % of coaching in the NBA is managing egos.

[767] Ask any coach.

[768] People talk about it all the time within the NBA.

[769] Because like you said, you're the best player.

[770] The kid, you're a best player in high school.

[771] You're probably the best player in college.

[772] And then, you know, you come to the NBA where there's a pecking order.

[773] And the players that stick around for a long time, they realize if they're not one of those, like, top 20, 30 guys, then you got to find your role and you have to star in your role.

[774] You just have to, like, throw yourself into that and realize the.

[775] importance of that.

[776] That's what so cool about Rodman's story, isn't it?

[777] I had no idea until I watched that that guy was scoring 26 points a game in college.

[778] I'd never seen him be offensive.

[779] Yeah.

[780] And I'm like, how cool.

[781] He figured his thing out.

[782] Yeah.

[783] He's the perfect example.

[784] He has championships and he's so famous because he just was himself and he just accepted that.

[785] And unfortunately, I've seen a lot of kids come in, guys come in who are very, very talented.

[786] and they just can't grasp that idea of not being the man. And I know that's a hard thing to do, but the guys who are smart figure it out, and they say, okay, I'll do this.

[787] I heard an actor say, it's like, if you notice there's three people playing the trumpet, you better play the clarinet.

[788] Right.

[789] Because you're not going to play the trumpet with those three people and stand out.

[790] So what are you going to play?

[791] And you know what?

[792] What's really sad is like people around those people sometimes do them a disservice because everybody's circle around them thinks they're the best too.

[793] It's not just that player.

[794] And also, a lot of times everybody around those people are depending on them to be a good player and to make money and in an unfair way.

[795] They're putting all this pressure on them to like, oh man, no, you got to score, bro.

[796] You could score better than him.

[797] Or you can do this better than him.

[798] Like, coach is screwing.

[799] He's not playing you enough.

[800] And those people constantly just constantly tear you down.

[801] so lucky that I've had like my brother and my dad who are basketball players and coaches and my mom just not built that way and the people that around me aren't like that.

[802] But there's so many guys that do and it's not their fault.

[803] But like that's part of the downfall.

[804] That's why having that group of people around you is so, so important.

[805] Well, your job, you are probably around more rags to riches stories than any place on the planet.

[806] 100%.

[807] And it's got to be the most unique dynamic.

[808] I'm fascinated by it.

[809] It's like, you know, lowest of the lows in a lot of circumstances to like very quickly, like kids are signing at 18, 19 years old, kids are signing a 20 million dollar deal.

[810] And it's like, you know, that's a, what's the, it's like a famous percentage of people who win the lottery that go broke.

[811] Oh, yeah, yeah.

[812] Or suicide.

[813] People convince suicide who want a lot?

[814] It's all misleading.

[815] It's a, it's dangerous getting that dream you've thought of forever, because it doesn't come with the matching happiness when you look in the mirror, right?

[816] You've got to earn that another way.

[817] Right.

[818] And even then, like, adding the fact that you're 19 or 20 years old on top of that, it's just like...

[819] Stay tuned for more armchair expert, if you dare.

[820] In Oklahoma, growing up mixed, you feel like you were a man without a country, or was it fine?

[821] My parents did such a good job because they got married in the early 80s in Oklahoma, which is not the most tolerant place, a bunch of great people there, but, like, you know, they've had their fair share of nasty looks, of comments, of remarks.

[822] It's still happening today, so you can imagine what it was, like, 30 years ago.

[823] Yeah.

[824] So my parents did a really, really, really good job of just rising above it.

[825] And so there's situations that my brother and I look back now and were like, oh, wow, that was, like, that was racist.

[826] You know what I mean?

[827] like where because my parents didn't give it the power, it didn't affect us either, which I didn't realize what's happening at the time.

[828] But remember girls in like high school saying, oh, I like you, I like your thing.

[829] And they're like, I like, I like you too.

[830] But like, I can't, I can never date you.

[831] And I'm like, why?

[832] Like, my dad won't let me. But now I think like, man, that's super fucked up.

[833] But at the time, I was just like, yeah, all right.

[834] You know what I mean?

[835] Which is crazy to me. Well, did you identify with Rodman?

[836] I thought the saddest part of the last dance was when Rodman, or maybe it was in the Rodman documentary, which is also phenomenal, but when he's talking about going to that small town, and he's like, yeah, people are calling me, Oklahoma, it was in Oklahoma.

[837] Oh, yeah.

[838] People calling me the N -word.

[839] He's like, you know, but black people call me the N -word and the white people call.

[840] And I was like, oh, man, he doesn't even see how fucking different it is and how damaging and it is, it's so telling of how fucking oppressed you'd be to not really even be aware of it.

[841] Yeah.

[842] I had great friends growing up, and I went to a great school, but, like, there definitely were situations.

[843] And it's also weird for me, too, because when my dad got that job at a private Christian school, there was another family who was mixed, and then there was like one other black kid at the school, who that was one of my best friends.

[844] And it was like I would be playing basketball on the weekend with my travel team, and I would be with all, like, my black friends and then I would go back to school and I would be with my white friends and it was two completely different worlds and so I always like felt really weird about not that I was like trying to act like one way or the other it's just like who you're around is like sort of who you are at a certain point I remember I felt like I have to pick like a side yeah no I just this is who I am and if you're on this side or this side cool but this is who I am and like obviously I wish I had that ability when I was 15, 16, 17 years old, but I didn't.

[845] And the older I got, the easier it got.

[846] But it was harder than I thought, especially when I look back on it.

[847] Like the more like stroke is, you know, you go through stuff as a kid and you don't think about like, oh, I'm reacting this way because of that, not because of this.

[848] And now I realize all those things.

[849] Well, there would be layers for me that would piss me off.

[850] And the one would be, I got to imagine if I was black or mixed, I'd almost be more comfortable You're just a racist great You hate black people But the fucking cheer for me in a game And then treat me like shit in public That layer of hypocrisy Or I can't date you Yeah yeah like I'm a hero here And then I'm a piece of shit here That would be the thing I think That would most irritate me Yeah It was interesting because when I was growing up My neighborhood was just You know lower middle class maybe And like my neighbors on the right Were black My neighbor's on the left or white and it was kind of like neither racist, you know, but like just in like the way that you just separate the two, you know, and I just always remember the thing.

[851] Like one was like one of my best friends in the neighborhood and one was a girl that was like, you know, she went to the same schools and stuff, but like didn't really mix.

[852] You know what I mean?

[853] Yeah.

[854] Not because there's hatred again, but just because like you didn't really mix.

[855] And it was always kind of weird because, you know, this was in the day where you'd go ring the doorbell and say so -and -so home and he's not home.

[856] I'd go to the other house.

[857] I would always.

[858] go to my, you know, my boy's house first.

[859] And I always felt like I was just constantly choosing, constantly, like, picking.

[860] I was never mixing the two.

[861] And I wish I had done a better job with that.

[862] And I wish I had known, you know, what I know now or be a little bit more secure about it.

[863] But that's just kind of how it was, like, in Oklahoma, you know, at the time.

[864] Very nice symmetry, though, that it went white family, mixed family black.

[865] I'm glad that it lined up like that.

[866] It was just a nice steady progression.

[867] It was great for me because I didn't have to pass over one house to get to go I can just pick and split.

[868] How old are you?

[869] 31.

[870] Oh, he's younger than me?

[871] it's heartbreaking, right?

[872] Yeah, but I was...

[873] Do you like older women?

[874] Oh, but I was going to ask because I had an identical story of a person who is like, I like you, but I can't go out with you because your parents probably work at Dairy Queen.

[875] And now the stereotype in Georgia was that Indians ran Dairy Queen.

[876] Now I got to catch you up on her.

[877] Okay, go ahead.

[878] You'll wake one.

[879] Familiar, familiar, the same Georgia, Oklahoma, sort of same.

[880] Yeah, exactly.

[881] And so that one event has derailed my opinion of myself, my relationships, everything, like, from then until, like, a month ago, essentially.

[882] When I, like, really started doing work on it, do you think those experiences have affected relationships?

[883] I got over that pretty quickly.

[884] I don't think it like ever deterred me from hanging out with who I wanted to hang out with or pursuing who I wanted to pursue.

[885] I think I think there's still a little bit of today.

[886] I mean, the beauty of being in Los Angeles, there's just so many cultures and it's such a diverse city that like, you know, moving here at 19 was like a really a breath of fresh air because like I wasn't that different.

[887] Yeah.

[888] So I think I sort of like quickly got over that.

[889] Also, you had this great asset that you were thriving in such a profound way and one.

[890] level.

[891] And especially if I, like, you know, grew up, went to college there and just stayed there.

[892] Yeah.

[893] You know, without basketball as my outlet, as well as taking me places that I never dreamed of being.

[894] And so I'm fortunate that way that it sort of brought me out of that.

[895] It opened up so many opportunities for me that it helps me come up out of that situation.

[896] Okay.

[897] So then my last question is so Donald Sterling.

[898] There's a new documentary coming out, right?

[899] I'm very excited to see it.

[900] Did you participate in that i actually didn't they did a 30 for 30 on this whole thing and then right after that they were doing this and i was like i'm i've told my piece you know yeah yeah by the way but i also had to talk about it so many times before that that i was just kind of like i don't want to do another deep in -depth like sit down for three four hours and and go over this one subject you know what i mean well again this would be another trigger of mine if i were black or mixed which is okay so there's this racist asshole and now I got to fucking answer all these questions because this guy, like this is my responsibility to constantly be available and I'm doing it to you right now.

[901] But I don't, you know, I don't need that.

[902] Like I didn't sign up to have to now talk about this guy being an asshole all the time.

[903] Yeah, it's really interesting because there's a draft lottery that happens where they find out who's picking what.

[904] So the Clippers want to get the first pick and then, you know, a month later is the actual draft.

[905] So during that time, they announced that they were going to take me with the first pick.

[906] And I remember my mom called me one day, and she was like, I was like, honey, I just was reading about the guy who owns the Clippers.

[907] And at the time, I didn't know much about him because, like, the Clippers were never on TV.

[908] Never.

[909] Barely in L .A. were they even on TV?

[910] I'm from Oklahoma.

[911] And, like, yeah, exactly.

[912] They were on PBS.

[913] And so I'm from Oklahoma.

[914] So, like, you know, I heard about the Lakers and those Celtics and the big teams.

[915] So I sort of looked into it, man, like, there's a lot of stuff, but, like, no one really seems to, like, say anything.

[916] Really quick to bring Monaco up to speed.

[917] Do you know this?

[918] No, I don't.

[919] So the owner of the Clippers, he made a bunch of racist comments.

[920] Didn't he also bring his, like, his mistress into the locker room and stuff?

[921] Didn't he do weird shit like that?

[922] Am I thinking of the same?

[923] Yeah, so quickly, he made up all his money in real estate.

[924] He had so many different lawsuits surrounding racial discrimination, literally recorded saying this or that about different minority groups.

[925] also driving up prices to be able to kick them out, treating them unfairly, like all these different things, right?

[926] Yeah.

[927] So when I first got drafted, I had to go to his house in Malibu for a white party.

[928] It was like a, you know, everybody dressed in white.

[929] Oh, my God.

[930] Oh my God.

[931] So I get there.

[932] He's wearing all black at his own white party.

[933] So he's wearing all black.

[934] And he proceeds to parade me around the party.

[935] He would hold my hand and bring me around to other people and, like, introduce me. He'd be like, this is our number one pick in all the land.

[936] And look how strong is.

[937] Feel his arms.

[938] Oh, you do stuff like that.

[939] So then, you know, we're playing for him.

[940] He would always do, you know, things he would bring, yeah, people in the locker room.

[941] I can't remember.

[942] Yeah, she probably came in the locker room.

[943] There was a girl that she was, he was always with.

[944] It was just known as his mistress, him and his wife, whatever.

[945] I don't know whatever they had.

[946] When he was taking you around the party and feel his muscles and all that, in that moment, were you feeling, I mean, because it's very, it's very plantation -owned.

[947] look at this thing I own, feel how strong he is.

[948] Like, was that on your mind while it was happening?

[949] Or just feel like, oh, this guy's kind of a weirdo, and I am pretty ripped, so go ahead and feel.

[950] What was happening?

[951] A little bit of both, because, like, I'm just getting into the league and, like, he's the owner of this team.

[952] I don't know how, obviously I know this is not normal, but, like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do.

[953] How much power do I have in this situation?

[954] Yes.

[955] I would, like, not hold his hand as much as I possibly could.

[956] Which was like, you know, me standing up.

[957] People were like, no, you could have done more.

[958] I was like, ah, yeah, but I wiggle the way a few times.

[959] So, yeah, I don't know.

[960] Obviously, it felt weird, but I also was just like, get me out of here.

[961] So fast forward, he gets caught on tape saying to his mistress, she secretly recorded him.

[962] I mean, he was saying a bunch of racist stuff.

[963] So then this is happening right before the playoffs.

[964] So then these tapes come out, and we're about to play game.

[965] three of the first round big series.

[966] And this all comes out and we're like now what do we do?

[967] Because like people knew he was racist before this.

[968] It just brought it to light again.

[969] Like he had multiple lawsuits for racial discrimination.

[970] So now people are looking at us like, what are you guys going to do?

[971] Here's another thing I've griped about a lot and Monica disagrees with me and I think I'm wrong about it.

[972] But I will say I am very sympathetic to like a black actor who just wants to be a comedian and then the second they're famous because they're black, they also also have to be a social activist.

[973] It's just not a responsibility that a white guy has to deal with.

[974] And I think that's a little unfair.

[975] So similar to the Olympics, right, when they wanted the black athletes to not go to the Olympics, I'm like, I mean, they already had the shittiest fucking life.

[976] And now you have to tell them not to go reach the pinnacle of their dream.

[977] Yeah.

[978] On top of that, I just, some part of that feels.

[979] And then you're, you've worked your ass off to get to the playoffs.

[980] And now you have to, you know, oh, yeah.

[981] Go ahead.

[982] And I haven't, I haven't, I've been, I've been, I've the documentary yet I don't know if this is going to go against what anybody says but like in my mind and I know in most people like we weren't going to boycott the games because we never played for him right yeah he paid us I wasn't like this is my owner man this guy like great you know like fuck this guy like he's paying us he owns the team sure but we're like this isn't him like actually owning us we're playing basketball we're doing what we want to do and we're good at it and we're in this situation.

[983] You know, we decided to do a thing where we turned our warm -ups inside out.

[984] We had to wear these jackets out.

[985] So we came out to have court for warm -ups.

[986] We took our jackets off, threw them on the ground, and we were all just in basically blank T -shirts because they were inside out.

[987] It's so gangster.

[988] That's in the commercial for that doc.

[989] It's so gangster.

[990] I love it.

[991] Again, at the time, maybe I'm just a horrible judge of, like, how big moments are at the time.

[992] At the time, you're just kind of like, all right, like, we got to play this game.

[993] It's like the whole box thing.

[994] We're like, this is not in our box.

[995] We've worked our whole season to get to this point, and now we're going to let this asshole, like, ruin it and, like, you know, take the focus away from what we're really here for when we were never playing for in the first place.

[996] And so, you know, I think we navigated it pretty well, given the circumstances, and given how fast, this came out on a Friday night.

[997] Our next game was Saturday.

[998] Oh, geez.

[999] So Friday night, or maybe it came out Saturday morning, we had a team meeting Friday night, and our coach was like, hey, this is going to come out, just so you guys know.

[1000] And I'm pretty sure Saturday morning, it all blew up on TMZ, whatever.

[1001] So we quickly sort of had to decide, like, what we were going to do because everybody was sort of looking to see.

[1002] Like, people thought we were going to boycott.

[1003] And I remember getting, like, text from people, like, you guys should boycott.

[1004] Like, you guys shouldn't play and all this stuff.

[1005] And I think our coach at the time was like, turn your phone off.

[1006] Not because he didn't want us to deal with it.

[1007] He did want us to deal with it as a team.

[1008] But he just didn't want people, you know, trying to get in our ear who didn't work this whole season who didn't put blood, sweat, and literal tears into the season to be at this position to say, like, oh, you guys shouldn't play, because then we're doing ourselves a disservice as well.

[1009] Yeah.

[1010] So it was a crazy situation.

[1011] Blake, you are fascinating.

[1012] Yeah.

[1013] At first I was like, we've never had an athlete on, really, and I was like, other than Coach Carroll, but he has such a cool philosophy, I thought it would transcend that, and it did.

[1014] And I think you so transcend the sport the way you've lived your life and played the game and all that.

[1015] I'm thrilled you're in Detroit, my hometown.

[1016] I hope you eat a lot of cony dogs while you're there on your cheat day.

[1017] And I admire you a great deal, and I think you should be proud of the way you've handled yourself, as I'm sure you are.

[1018] And thanks for having me on your podcast.

[1019] Yes, thanks for having me. I appreciate the kind words, you know, likewise, a big fan.

[1020] Monica, new fan, if you're caught up yet.

[1021] Monica, you all caught up.

[1022] Yeah, I'm caught up.

[1023] I'm there, I'm there.

[1024] Yeah, he's a legendary.

[1025] He's one of the greats.

[1026] Just tell you now at the end.

[1027] You know, but my introduction to you was I saw you do a UCB show.

[1028] I saw you do a snow pants show with Ben many years ago.

[1029] Yeah.

[1030] And you did great.

[1031] Thank you.

[1032] Thank you.

[1033] I appreciate it.

[1034] It's fun.

[1035] That's great.

[1036] Well, I hope that I can hang out with you in real life when all this is over.

[1037] Yeah, let's do it.

[1038] Great meeting you.

[1039] Let's make some L .A. Detroit -style conie dogs.

[1040] Yeah.

[1041] All right.

[1042] Thanks for all your time.

[1043] All right.

[1044] Thanks, guys.

[1045] And now my favorite part of the show The Fact Check with my soulmate Monica Padman Oh, see how chilly this coffee is It's got a good chill We should get a microwave in here You think so?

[1046] Yeah Okay For reasons such as that I gotta say though In two and a half years of being in this attic That's the first time I've wanted a microwave Have you wanted one other than this?

[1047] No, but that's weird That's like the first thing most office places Uh -huh.

[1048] What are they called?

[1049] Yeah, we don't know anything about real life.

[1050] No, I used to work at my...

[1051] Water cooler, you know, chit -chat, office politics.

[1052] No. I worked at my aunt's law office.

[1053] Was it like a proper go there, industrial complex, many floors, huge building, elevators?

[1054] No, because she had her own practice.

[1055] So she had one...

[1056] She has her own practice, and so she has an office space.

[1057] But there's other offices there, too, for other people doing other things.

[1058] And there's conference rooms.

[1059] Ooh.

[1060] Yeah.

[1061] And break rooms, and you have microwaves in there.

[1062] You sure do.

[1063] To make your lunches.

[1064] I'd say it's second most valuable to the fridge.

[1065] If you don't have a fridge, you've got nothing to microwave.

[1066] Well, that's right.

[1067] That's right.

[1068] Other than when, you know, film productions rent office space for pre -production.

[1069] Uh -huh.

[1070] I think that's my only experience.

[1071] In an office.

[1072] Like going to a large office building, parking in a parking garage, taking an elevator up, seeing people like, oh, I wonder where that person, what floor they work on, seeing the same people but never saying hi.

[1073] Wow.

[1074] I've had many.

[1075] You've had many?

[1076] Yeah, because I've had like internships and all kinds of stuff.

[1077] It is a specific feeling for me. It's a very specific feeling.

[1078] It screams adult.

[1079] Like no one's here but adult.

[1080] Yeah.

[1081] It almost feels like a penitentiary.

[1082] Like they're not inviting.

[1083] When you roll up in front of that huge office building, you're not like, oh, I'm home.

[1084] No. And like, oh, look at this monolith.

[1085] I've got to navigate my way to this tiny office that's one of a thousand in this building.

[1086] Yeah.

[1087] But I guess part of it is it's good that it doesn't feel like home.

[1088] Sure.

[1089] So you'll be productive.

[1090] Yeah.

[1091] And then you leave and then you go home.

[1092] It feels like a separate place where our jobs don't really feel like a separate place.

[1093] Not even this specifically, but even acting.

[1094] It's like you do.

[1095] You go there, but then you come home and it's so part of you.

[1096] And like what generally I pull up to work and there's a trailer and it's mine and it's like a home away from home.

[1097] And I'm excited to get into my little nest.

[1098] Yeah.

[1099] That's what I just remembered it.

[1100] I was going to tell you.

[1101] So we know somebody who just got in some public.

[1102] Twitter trouble.

[1103] Twitter trouble.

[1104] Yeah, let's call it Twitter.

[1105] T .T. T .T. She's in some T .T. Uh -huh.

[1106] For some tweet she wrote a long time ago.

[1107] 11.

[1108] Oh, no, nine years ago.

[1109] 2011.

[1110] 2011, nine years ago.

[1111] The tweet is, it's offensive to disabled folks.

[1112] But what's interesting is it's a joke on the stereotype of Asians, which is Asians are, the stereotype as Asians are super smart.

[1113] Yes.

[1114] So the tweet was, we shouldn't use the word retarded anymore.

[1115] We should refer to them as Asian America.

[1116] Now, the joke is it's against what the stereotype evasions is.

[1117] Yes.

[1118] Look, I also don't think those are good tweets.

[1119] I don't think she should have tweeted them.

[1120] But I also, we know her and hasn't written anything like that in eight, nine years.

[1121] And so for me, when I see that, I'm like, that is how you measure change, how someone has evolved and changed and been like, oh, I'm not.

[1122] It's also kind of a, because she's not a provocative tweet.

[1123] She was, though.

[1124] She was.

[1125] She was.

[1126] She has changed a lot, I think.

[1127] I was going to say it's also a comment on what the cultural sensitivity was nine years ago.

[1128] It's hard to remember exactly what the temperature was.

[1129] For sure.

[1130] I know I said it in 2012 in hit and run.

[1131] And some people were upset, but not a lot of people.

[1132] That was 2012.

[1133] People were starting to say, let's stop saying that.

[1134] word in movies.

[1135] Right.

[1136] You're always in this tricky position when you're writing a movie, which is, are you painting an accurate picture of what people are like?

[1137] Do you have characters in your movie that are realistic and of the town that they would be in?

[1138] Is it accurate or not?

[1139] Like people, you know, a good chunk of the country saying that word.

[1140] Right.

[1141] And so if you have a character that's kind of backwards and everything else, it's kind of untrue to pretend they would say the other version of it.

[1142] Totally.

[1143] So you're in this quagmire between.

[1144] Am I realistic or do I pretend people don't say that word for the movement?

[1145] Because you shouldn't say the N -word, but clearly when we do movies, especially if they're historical, and they're about racist people, it feels fraudulent or dishonest to not have them say the N -word.

[1146] But I think that's a little different, right?

[1147] Because you're not saying it's okay.

[1148] You're saying this is what it looks like when someone says that, you know?

[1149] And it's like, is that character...

[1150] Are you celebrating them?

[1151] Correct.

[1152] Right.

[1153] Yeah, I think that's the big, that's the big difference.

[1154] But anyway, so those tweets I came to surface yesterday.

[1155] And she posted like a really big, long apology message.

[1156] And I was looking at all the comments and I just was like, I have to comment.

[1157] Oh, what was the pervasive theme of the comments?

[1158] Was there consensus?

[1159] No. So there were so many people real mad, really, really mad.

[1160] Mad at the tweet?

[1161] At the tweet.

[1162] Or mad at her apology?

[1163] Well, it was tricky because the first response was because the verified ones go to the top.

[1164] I think that's why it looks first.

[1165] So this person is someone verified and he's white.

[1166] And he says, it's not my apology to accept, but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

[1167] And a bunch of people jumped on that and was like, yeah, it's not.

[1168] It's not your apology to accept.

[1169] even though he acknowledged that.

[1170] Right, right, right.

[1171] So it was tricky because it's like a lot of people who are affected by the tweet, who are upset.

[1172] And then there were a handful of like white people who are defending.

[1173] And so then that became like, yeah, white people, you just don't get it.

[1174] So then it's this whole thing.

[1175] So I was like, I think I have to comment because I'm the only person who is technically affected.

[1176] by the tweet and knows her and knows she's a good person.

[1177] Can I ask really quick, technically, how you were affected by the tweet?

[1178] Because I am Asian American, and I did look it out.

[1179] Oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm still hung up on the R word.

[1180] Right.

[1181] So that's also what's weird.

[1182] Like, there's like a few people who are like, actually it should be more on this, but no, everyone's upset about the Asian American part.

[1183] Oh, wow.

[1184] Her aside.

[1185] Yeah.

[1186] You know, the validity of that, whatever.

[1187] Yeah.

[1188] That aside, inviting judgment in 2020 for things you said in 2006, it's just a bad idea because, again, we do lose sight of how different things were.

[1189] I was a part of storylines in 2004, five, and six that just you wouldn't be in those storylines now.

[1190] I 100 % agree.

[1191] Did it make you think I was like, it's so funny because I know her.

[1192] Yeah.

[1193] And I know that how unequivocally she's on the side of good, even more because I know that, then I read her tweet with the most good faith I possibly can.

[1194] And then I was like, can you imagine if we applied that same good faith to all the tweets we read?

[1195] But that's why, because I thought that too, I was like, well, I'm obviously giving her the benefit of the doubt because I know her and I know what's true about her.

[1196] And okay, so these other people who tweet crazy things, they probably have people who defend them for the same reason.

[1197] But here's the difference.

[1198] If Megan, if she tweeted it a month ago, I would be like, hey, you can't.

[1199] You can't and this is why.

[1200] But because it was so long ago and there has been a clear change and you can see someone's evolution, it's like that's really all you can ask.

[1201] Yeah.

[1202] But like with other people, like people would say like Trump's racist and they can point to a hundred times over the course of time leading us.

[1203] up to now where that has proven to be true.

[1204] Not like in 1988, he said one thing.

[1205] Right, right.

[1206] It's a pattern.

[1207] So you have to just like follow the pattern.

[1208] The tricky thing for me, and I guess, look, I'm a dinosaur.

[1209] I'm getting old.

[1210] The world makes less sense to me. I'm wrong.

[1211] I'm just wrong more often than I'm right.

[1212] I will say all these words, what's really funny is what we have a problem with is how people look nervously in a restaurant at a family who's got a mentally challenged kid.

[1213] And then that's obvious.

[1214] What is painful is to have people stare at you like you're an other.

[1215] We get really hung up on what word we're referring to that on.

[1216] We're placing all of our discomfort with how people are treated onto the word.

[1217] And my hunch is every time we pick a new word and we're cool with it, inevitably that word then will become its own landmine.

[1218] Because I, you know, I wrote this big thing in a script I wrote once about the term made.

[1219] Like no one uses the term made anymore in Los Angeles.

[1220] You'd say your housekeeper or whatever.

[1221] And then some people will say my house manager or whatever, it gets elevated.

[1222] And at some point you go, like, what's demeaning isn't the name.

[1223] What's demeaning is that one human's cleaning up another human shit.

[1224] Now, we can keep getting hung up on the name, but that's not really what we're...

[1225] And it's demeaning that they're not getting paid enough.

[1226] Yeah.

[1227] It's just like a smokescreen.

[1228] And you even look at it with the evolution of like, calling black folks Negroes then colored that was an improvement from Negro and then colored was bad and then African American and then black and it's like we can keep changing this name forever the issue is how we're treating the people and then the name becomes really symbolic of the mistreatment and I just think it's not upstream it's like the last stop is what you're actually referring to this injustice as yeah I agree the name is just indicative of the behavior, but if the name triggers the feeling of being demeaned, then we shouldn't say it, you know, and leave it up to the marginalized group to decide what they want to be called.

[1229] I think that's fine.

[1230] But so I wrote, as of today, we are no longer friends.

[1231] No, I did not.

[1232] I wrote, all you can ask of a person is to acknowledge, learn, and, grow from mistakes.

[1233] And then I said, you're a good person, Megan.

[1234] As someone who's Asian American and knows you personally, I feel qualified to say that.

[1235] And of course, people are up my ass, yeah, which I knew what happened.

[1236] But I didn't care because it's true.

[1237] And what I also know is true is none of her friends can comment.

[1238] They're not allowed.

[1239] Yeah, because they'll get canceled.

[1240] Yeah, they're not allowed.

[1241] And so I was like, I'm happy you did that.

[1242] I have to.

[1243] Yeah.

[1244] Anyway, so that's something happening on the internet right now.

[1245] Yeah, yeah, that's an update.

[1246] That's our five minutes on the internet.

[1247] What's new in the internet?

[1248] I guess you're judged by your reaction to it is what Hussein said does.

[1249] A couple different people have said, yeah, look, everyone can fuck up.

[1250] Literally the only thing is like, how do you react to it?

[1251] And sounds like she reacted is taking as much responsibilities.

[1252] I'd be tempted to explain the joke.

[1253] Sometimes I'd be like, I don't think people are getting the joke.

[1254] But it doesn't matter.

[1255] It doesn't matter because it's so privileged to say my wanting to make a good joke is more important than you're feeling safe in the world.

[1256] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[1257] So, yeah.

[1258] But I guess it's like when you're in a fight, too, with your wife or your partner, your loved one.

[1259] And you're like, yes, you're right.

[1260] You're right.

[1261] I just got to be glad I didn't get home at nine.

[1262] I got home at seven.

[1263] I know that's not the point, but it's like you feel so like in this.

[1264] this litany of things I did wrong.

[1265] The few things I did right, I want recognition.

[1266] Right.

[1267] No, I get, yeah.

[1268] I just wonder what, you know, we all recognize that most things in society are, are pendulums, right?

[1269] They're kind of like, they have intensity.

[1270] Then they, they ebb and they flow.

[1271] And I guess I'm a little concerned what the ebb and the flow of this will be, because you get so fatigued.

[1272] We all have like a finite appetite for all this.

[1273] As humans, so you're just like, I'm over.

[1274] overwhelmed and I'm unplugging or I'm retreating or I don't want to know anymore.

[1275] I can't take on anymore.

[1276] And I just wonder what that critical mass is.

[1277] And then how much stuff will get missed because I don't know.

[1278] I get all of that because I feel it.

[1279] And then every time I do, I think that is literally how the black folks are feeling.

[1280] Every day.

[1281] Yeah, yeah, 400 years of this.

[1282] Yeah.

[1283] Yeah.

[1284] Yeah, someone just made a, oh, fuck, it was the John Stewart interview.

[1285] You sent me. By the way, what's the title of that?

[1286] I implore everyone to read that.

[1287] New York Times.

[1288] Yeah, New York Times, John Stewart interview from, like, last week.

[1289] Promoting his new movie.

[1290] John Stewart, we want you on so bad.

[1291] So bad.

[1292] He just has a most phenomenal way of making points.

[1293] He said, you know, after six weeks of people, white people being quarantined.

[1294] They were like, no, fuck it.

[1295] I don't care if I get this disease.

[1296] And he's like, imagine 400 years of that.

[1297] That's really what it is.

[1298] I know.

[1299] There's been some great memes that have really gotten it right also.

[1300] Just saying that.

[1301] Like putting it in perspective that they...

[1302] Oh, yeah.

[1303] They've done these side -by -side protest signs, right?

[1304] Where one woman's like, I need a fucking haircut.

[1305] And the other person's like, I need to breathe.

[1306] Yes.

[1307] Yeah, they're pretty staggering.

[1308] Yeah.

[1309] But...

[1310] But happy birthday, everyone.

[1311] Happy birthday, everyone.

[1312] You're looking for a nice transition into positive?

[1313] Well, I do think I like that we're dedicating slots to the topic.

[1314] And I also like that there's a day of none of it.

[1315] I want to be able to give both a reprieve and dig into it.

[1316] Yeah, but even on the days that are all about it, there's other conversations that come in and out.

[1317] I feel more along the lines of if we're going to reflect what it should be, it shouldn't be this insane intensity and then nothing.

[1318] Then an insane intensity and then nothing.

[1319] It's like this is a part of our lives.

[1320] Corona's a part of our lives.

[1321] Race is a part of our lives.

[1322] So avocado toast is a part of our lives.

[1323] So, you know, it's like this is all a part of, which we do, like on this episode with Blake.

[1324] We recorded this before the protests.

[1325] But we talk about race in this episode.

[1326] We talk about his life and Donald Sterling.

[1327] Donald Sterling.

[1328] And we talk about him feeling like he had to.

[1329] choose.

[1330] He had to choose whether he was going to hang out with this white friend or he was going to hang out with his black friend and that it all felt so separate.

[1331] And he had to make decisions.

[1332] And can I just say we've not really had any athletes on?

[1333] Yeah.

[1334] I loved it.

[1335] I got so, there was like a whole world of interest we've never got to ask people.

[1336] Totally.

[1337] Like even though how you negotiate a first round.

[1338] I was so like, I've been dying to know that for 20 years.

[1339] I thought it was so fun.

[1340] He is amazing.

[1341] I really, really liked him.

[1342] I think I was like, what an amazing guest and so interesting and what a different world and the whole thing.

[1343] I want to have more of the athletes on.

[1344] I really dug it.

[1345] Yeah, me too.

[1346] I enjoyed it a lot.

[1347] Yeah, he's a cool guy.

[1348] Cool guy.

[1349] Younger than me. It's embarrassing.

[1350] Would you date him?

[1351] Yeah.

[1352] I want to see you guys together that height difference.

[1353] I would love to.

[1354] Oh, it would be so exciting.

[1355] Blake, Monica's open for business.

[1356] I'm here.

[1357] I'm waiting.

[1358] Okay.

[1359] So he mentioned the.

[1360] Bill Murray space jam game.

[1361] And I didn't really know what he was talking about.

[1362] But I guess I forgot Bill Murray was in Space Jam.

[1363] Yeah, right.

[1364] Yeah.

[1365] I totally didn't realize that.

[1366] I mean, I loved Space Jam as a young person.

[1367] You weren't a comedy nerd yet.

[1368] Yeah.

[1369] So I didn't know that was just a man. You were just a Bugs Bunny nerd.

[1370] I was.

[1371] He was just an old man. That's a big get.

[1372] But Bill Murray is the ultimate sports fan.

[1373] Do you know, about him.

[1374] He's like commentated on ESPN.

[1375] He plays in every single celebrity golf tournament.

[1376] He like lives for golf.

[1377] He loves sports.

[1378] So you can, that's kind of a trick way to get Bill Murray.

[1379] So I bet he was like, yeah, hang out with fucking Michael Jordan for three months.

[1380] I don't care how shitty this thing is.

[1381] I got to do it.

[1382] That makes sense.

[1383] Yeah.

[1384] He says, people forgot I got the assist on the game winning basket.

[1385] It's so easily forgotten.

[1386] I stole the ball.

[1387] I made the pass.

[1388] Nothing.

[1389] I don't even get interviewed after.

[1390] That's what Bill Murray said.

[1391] Yeah.

[1392] Okay, the book on the psychology of tennis, there's a book called The Inner Game of Tennis by Timothy Galloway.

[1393] That's the one that kept popping up when I typed in psychology of tennis or sports psychology tennis.

[1394] So I think that's one, although there's so many sports psychology books, so I'm not sure.

[1395] And I could be wrong on the history of sports psychology, but I do think it gained popularity or awareness with tennis specifically.

[1396] I think those were the first athletes to start really.

[1397] using psychology coach makes sense because i get tennis is such a mental game it is a mind fuck yeah when you're up like 4015 and then all of a sudden you're you're induced and you're like how the fuck did this happen now i got to win two in a row and all of a sudden you just like collapse mentally it's a damn fun game i'm not good at it but it's so fun every time i play i do really enjoy it but i'm so bad at i mean i'm never taking a lesson or anything so i'm just kind of like running around i'm leaving okay bye bye I wanted a Diet Coke.

[1398] I'm sorry.

[1399] Did you see my pledge to try to get Diet Coke to sponsor me?

[1400] I did see it.

[1401] I also, you posted about the Ball Sack Cowboy Painting, and I just want people to know that's in my house.

[1402] Yeah.

[1403] Well, I think fans of the show know it is the reason I posted it was because Aaron was telling his friend about it.

[1404] And then the guy got curious and Aaron said, do you have a picture of it?

[1405] And then I found one, and then I thought, oh, I should share this.

[1406] It's becoming a valuable piece of art. I'm nervous someone's going to break into my house and try to steal it.

[1407] We've talked often about what a guy on a first date being brought back to Monica's apartment would think, because she has a whole wall dedicated to pervy pitchers.

[1408] Sort of, yeah.

[1409] It's not a wall.

[1410] It's a bench and all of this stuff is kind of up against it right now.

[1411] But it was an accident.

[1412] It was just like, oh, I'm just putting all the stuff I can't put up on a wall yet on this bench.

[1413] bench.

[1414] And it turns out most of it's pervy.

[1415] Yeah.

[1416] So you got the ball set cowboy.

[1417] Well, that's hanging up.

[1418] That's hanging.

[1419] Yeah.

[1420] And then you have the porous walker, amazing piece of art. That too is probably worth $100 million.

[1421] You had that commission.

[1422] So yeah.

[1423] And then you've got some really nice needle point from our friend Laura.

[1424] Yeah.

[1425] It says great tits.

[1426] Yep.

[1427] It's two birds.

[1428] Tits are birds.

[1429] And it says great tits.

[1430] It's beautiful.

[1431] It's gorgeous.

[1432] And I have another thing, too.

[1433] Oh, octopus made of penis, the tentacles are penises.

[1434] Yes, I won that at a white elephant.

[1435] But if you're, like, new to your apartment, you might go like, I don't know if I've got enough gas for this gal.

[1436] She's a straight up purve.

[1437] Well, maybe that's the right feeling.

[1438] Oh, yeah, maybe you are.

[1439] And maybe it's not false advertising.

[1440] warning them exactly what's going to happen.

[1441] That's right.

[1442] It's as advertised.

[1443] Blake.

[1444] So he said the compensation for Oklahoma schools is really bad for teachers might be bottom five and then when I looked it up the list I saw which I think was from 2018 I think it was second to last oh boy yeah it was behind Montana and then Missouri was one above it so Montana was the worst oh and then Oklahoma and then Missouri and like I think it was it was 31 ,000 something that's what a teacher makes there yeah it's not a lot not enough Teachers have to buy their own In addition to not getting paid anything They also have to like buy their own supplies It's that's a huge mess It's not the The high water mark of our country It's not we gotta work on that We gotta work on this Okay he said he got drafted in 2009 When Twitter was relatively new Oh this circles all the way back to Twitter Look at that 2006 is when Twitter jumped on the scene I think I joined really soon in Yeah I think I was Early adopter.

[1445] Early adopter.

[1446] I know exactly where I was when I created my account.

[1447] I was at my father -in -law's house in Utah while he's living in Utah.

[1448] We were en route to Wyoming.

[1449] And I'm like, I'm going to join this thing.

[1450] I'm going to start telling people what I think all the time.

[1451] I know.

[1452] Hopefully it'll come back to haunt me years later.

[1453] I remember also starting it.

[1454] I was living in my parents' house.

[1455] Because I, 2006, I think I also joined really early.

[1456] 2006 was my freshman year of college.

[1457] Ooh.

[1458] I feel like it would be more resonant if I was in college because I'd be reading tweets and then seeing the people, right?

[1459] Because you're friends.

[1460] Right.

[1461] Oh, but I mainly just like followed celebrities.

[1462] Oh, okay, Matt and Ben.

[1463] Yeah, maybe you.

[1464] Oh, I doubt it.

[1465] I hadn't, I wasn't in, all right, was I on parenthood?

[1466] I don't, no, I wasn't on parenthood yet.

[1467] Then I probably wouldn't.

[1468] Who cares?

[1469] I just made it all about being back.

[1470] to him getting drafted in 2009.

[1471] Okay, yeah.

[1472] So 2006 is when Twitter began.

[1473] Okay, so this is really interesting.

[1474] What's the percentage of people who win the lottery who go broke?

[1475] Ooh.

[1476] What is your guess?

[1477] I'm going to say 40.

[1478] Over the past couple of years, several news organizations have attributed a statistic to the National Endowment for Financial Education, stating that 70 % of lottery winners end up bankrupt in just a few years after receiving a large financial windfall.

[1479] Oh, 70%.

[1480] 70 %?

[1481] Well, my assumption for how it went wrong with those people was that people have not had that kind of money.

[1482] A, do they realize it's going to get paid over 20 years?

[1483] So they're like, oh, I have $10 million.

[1484] Well, no, you have 300 grand a year for the night or whatever the numbers are.

[1485] Yeah.

[1486] And then, so does that occur to them after they've bought a bunch of shit?

[1487] And they thought they had all this money, but then they're like, oh, I guess they only have after taxes $1 .50 a year.

[1488] I can't live in a mansion.

[1489] Yeah.

[1490] I mean, something's happening clearly because 70%.

[1491] Easy come, easy go, I guess.

[1492] Yeah.

[1493] That's sad.

[1494] It's really sad.

[1495] Yeah, a lot of suicides, too, in that group.

[1496] Well, probably because of this, the yo -yo emotionally of, like, having nothing or having whatever you have, which is probably normal and good.

[1497] Yeah.

[1498] And then having this crazy amount, but then losing it.

[1499] Like, there's just not good for your brain.

[1500] brain or body.

[1501] Is it better to have had and lost or to never have had at all?

[1502] Oh.

[1503] That's about love.

[1504] I know, but I wanted to apply to money.

[1505] The 30 for 30 on Donald Sterling is a podcast.

[1506] I thought it was a show.

[1507] It's going to be.

[1508] They keep advertising.

[1509] Oh, yeah.

[1510] You said they're going to do a doc, right?

[1511] Which I can't wait to watch.

[1512] Oh, yeah.

[1513] The one he was talking about that he was a part of.

[1514] is a podcast, I believe.

[1515] There's this five -episode podcast, 30 -for -30 podcasts on it.

[1516] I started it last night.

[1517] Oh, you did?

[1518] Is it good?

[1519] Yeah, so fascinating.

[1520] I want to listen.

[1521] If you had to pick gun to your head, the rest of your life, you can either only see narratives or you can only see documentaries.

[1522] Oh.

[1523] And they'll be, let's say in this hypothetical, there'll be a consistent stream of either.

[1524] Like, there'll be just as many docs as there would have been narratives and vice versa.

[1525] And of similar quality.

[1526] They're of similar quality.

[1527] Yeah.

[1528] We got to make everything equal.

[1529] And is the quality high for both?

[1530] Mm -hmm.

[1531] That's.

[1532] It's a little easier for me to pick.

[1533] Because you pick doc.

[1534] I would.

[1535] I mean, it's so fascinating when one is great.

[1536] Yeah.

[1537] And you're, I get blown away on a level that I just don't from a made -up story.

[1538] I think I agree.

[1539] If the level is high, a documentary, I'd pick that.

[1540] But if the level is, like, mediocre or middle, I think I might pick narrative.

[1541] Like, how about this?

[1542] You can only have seen one of these two things.

[1543] Okay.

[1544] Either the last dance or the first season, because we've got to compare 10 and 10 episodes of Handmaids.

[1545] Yeah, last dance.

[1546] Last dance, yeah.

[1547] But I thought you were going to say Fleabag.

[1548] Oh.

[1549] And I was like that would be really hard for me to.

[1550] That's a, I'm glad you thought of that one because I don't think I was, I had one in the chamber.

[1551] Like Fleabag made me feel new things.

[1552] Like Last Dance did.

[1553] Handmaids is unbelievable.

[1554] I love that show so much.

[1555] And it does.

[1556] I mean, it makes me think.

[1557] But it doesn't give me a feeling necessarily that like I got with Fleabag and I got with Last Dance.

[1558] So that's harder for me. Yeah.

[1559] Yeah, I'm an info junkie.

[1560] I know.

[1561] I know.

[1562] That's the thing.

[1563] I'm such an info junkie.

[1564] Also, the docks are such fodder for conversation.

[1565] Yeah.

[1566] And there's like, I feel like there's more pausing when watching a doc than say flea bag where you like really hammered out with everyone.

[1567] True.

[1568] Yeah.

[1569] I don't know.

[1570] Yeah.

[1571] I think I agree.

[1572] This is the Sophie's showing.

[1573] Really tough.

[1574] That's all for.

[1575] Blake?

[1576] Nice Blake.

[1577] A really.

[1578] really liked him so much i really did too that was such a fun conversation you you acted like i didn't know anything about basketball which is true well like yeah i was nervous that like when someone comes within two points of larry bird in college or hakeem like some of these you know really best ever yeah when he's like within a few points of those people it's like it's a big deal it isn't i almost feel bad for him it's like you know anyone in a post Jordan era or a, you know, post -Cobie era, the bar is so insanely high that it's hard to be recognized about what a fiend.

[1579] You could be a phenom and not, you know.

[1580] Yeah.

[1581] I guess who cares?

[1582] I guess that's your ego, right?

[1583] It's your ego, yeah.

[1584] If you're that good, which he is, you're going to keep playing what she does, and you're going to make money and do what you love to do every day, and that's enough.

[1585] Yeah, it's just had there not been a Larry Bird, that'd be him.

[1586] You know, he would have that record.

[1587] And if there wasn't this guy that's just two points away.

[1588] Two points.

[1589] Yeah, it's crazy.

[1590] So he's playing for your team.

[1591] I know.

[1592] Detroit.

[1593] I have to start watching basketball again so I can cheer on my new friend in my hometown.

[1594] Well, if I start dating in, then we can all go hang out in Michigan.

[1595] Yes.

[1596] We'll stay at his place.

[1597] All right, well, I love you and I love Blake.

[1598] And it'll be really fun going on double dates with you guys.

[1599] I'll try not to monopolize on me. And be like, stop talking, monopolizing my boyfriend.

[1600] I'm trying to talk to him.

[1601] I'm trying to talk to him about that.

[1602] That's my boy, man. I'm painting.

[1603] Okay.

[1604] All right.

[1605] Love you.

[1606] Bye.

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