Kornet's Return, Jaylen's Rant, and All Time International Celtics Draft with Dorchester Author Mark McDonugh + a Brand New "Mediocre Life Update"

Summary

Green With Envy: "Kornet's Return, Jaylen's Rant, and All Time International Celtics Draft"

Podcast: Green With Envy: A Boston Celtics Podcast
Episode Date: January 12, 2026
Host(s): Will and Greg Manakis
Special Guest: Mark McDonough (Dorchester author, "The Dead Know Nothing")

---

Episode Overview

This episode of Green With Envy spotlights the return of "fan favorite" Luke Kornet to Boston, analyzes Jaylen Brown’s fiery post-game comments about officiating, and takes a fun, deep-dive into Celtics history with an all-time Celtics International Players Fantasy Draft alongside author Mark McDonough. The hosts also launch into a "Mediocre Life Update" segment, blending irreverent personal stories with sports talk.

---

Main Themes & Highlights

Luke Kornet’s Return and Boston’s Sports Memory

• Luke Kornet’s persona and Boston’s quirky sports culture:
  • Mark jokes he’s often compared to Kornet:
    “I mean, I’m just tall and white. But then his mannerisms are pretty much exactly the same as mine. And they gave him the mic… and he started singing Holy Night instead” (02:12).
  • Will and Greg reminisce about the oddness that endears players like Kornet to fans.

Celtics vs. Spurs Recap & Wemby’s Impact

• Wembanyama as "game-changer":
  • Will: “Watching Wemby... there’s got to be some type of statistic that they come up with for drives deterred or drives turned around, where people just go into the lane, like, ah, no, Wemby. Literally just turn around.” (06:12)
  • Greg dubs it the “Wemby U-turn,” noting even Jaylen Brown was avoiding the paint.
• Jaylen Brown’s rant on referees:
  • Greg: “Jaylen came out and said, ‘give me a fine because this is ridiculous.’” (06:37)
• Boston Media drama:
  • Mark: “[Boston]…they’ve wanted this feud with Jaylen and Jason for seven years now. I just don’t think it will ever stop.” (03:48)

Tatum’s Return Blueprint – Lessons from the Spurs

• Bench role for returning stars?
  • Will: “Maybe this is the blueprint for what you do with Jason Tatum, is you kind of bring him off the bench, you can pick your spots...” (05:00)
  • Mark: “If Tatum bought in, it would be the best possible thing. But I think if Tatum is, like, a sourpuss over the whole situation, then that would be the worst possible thing.” (07:36)
  • Greg: This could “really endear Jason Tatum to the Boston media… they would stop all the... trying to tear down the Jays.”

Standout Celtics (Without Tatum & Many Starters)

• Player spotlight:
  • Mark’s favorite: Jordan Walsh—“He’s a maniac. I mean, he was 6’6”, guarding Wemby last night… That’s the attitude…” (10:18)
  • Discussion on the limits of running Jaylen Brown and Derrick White for >40 minutes on a back-to-back:
    “He just didn’t have anything down the stretch. He played a pretty bad fourth quarter and I think a lot of it had to do with fatigue…” (12:26)

Celtics’ Need for Another Star

• Are the Celtics missing too much firepower?
  • Greg: “...the last two games against the Nuggets and against the Spurs have just shown me time and time again that Jason Tatum is going to fit on this team.” (13:56)

---

The All-Time Celtics International Player Draft (18:21–52:08)

A playful, snake-style draft of the best Celtics, past and present, who hail from outside the U.S. Only time with the Celtics matters.

Draft Highlights:

• Criteria: Only international players during their Celtics tenure. Five players per team, snake format.
• Comedic tone: Picks are often justified by both on-court impact and personal/nostalgic hilarity.

Notable Picks & Moments

• Kyrie Irving goes #1:
  • Mark: “If I was going to win this basketball game... I’m gonna pick Kyrie.” (19:44)
• Al Horford, “consummate professional,” goes to Greg:
  • Greg: “Someone who won his first championship in Boston, Dominican Republic’s own Al Horford. Gotta go with Big Al…” (20:53)
• Dino Rađa nostalgia:
  • Will: “[He] represents 90s basketball... could be a character on ‘Dinosaurs.’” (23:40)
• Dennis Schröder defense:
  • Will: “...got a kind of a bad rap here in Boston. I’ve always liked Dennis Schröder’s game.” (25:52)
• Mediocre Celtics Legends:
  • Mark: “There are some hall of famers… but when the Celtics weren't particularly good, there would just be like, I don't know, random international players on the show... in Boston, they always become like, kind of like mascots almost.” (16:05)

Full Draft Teams (51:12)

• Mark: Kyrie Irving, Evan Fournier, Rick Fox, Aaron Baines (“all of Australia”), Daniel Theis
• Greg: Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, Leandro Barbosa (“Brazilian Blur”), Ugo Gonzalez, Jonas Jerebko
• Will: Dino Rađa, Dennis Schröder, Mickaël Piétrus, Neemias Queta, Yari [Jiří] Welsch

Best Tangent

• Tommy Heinsohn's legendary Baines shower quote & accidental three-point barrages (41:38):
  • “Gotta look at Baines in the shower and I’ll tell you real quick, he’s all Australia.”
  • Playoffs stat: Baines hit more threes in one postseason than in the whole regular season.

---

Author Segment: Mark McDonough & "The Dead Know Nothing" (52:08–68:21)

Plug for Mark‘s debut novel, set in Catholic Boston

• Mark describes his book:
  • “It’s like a mystery thriller. It’s crime fiction. Is this literature? I’m not exactly sure, but I would say it's a good story... it reads like a movie.” (66:25)
  • Themes include: Religious struggle, late-life reinvention, Boston culture, humor, and “sexual longing and fire in his loins” (per Greg).
• Greg’s favorite line:
  • “I would rather succeed as a human than fail as a robot...” (54:34)
• Real-life influences:
  • “The opening line is based on Greg. He tried to light a cigar and he lit his hair on fire. And then his mom yelled at him and we were like 28.” (57:14)
• Both Will and Greg reflect on Dorchester upbringing, Catholic upbringing, and the “innate longing” of the book’s protagonist.

---

Segment: Mediocre Life Update (68:35–85:36)

A recurring show segment escorting listeners through “hilariously unremarkable” life moments. Tone is light, self-deprecating, and often silly.

Highlights:

• Mark’s “Weapons” Halloween Debacle (69:23):
  • Wore an obscure witch costume to work:
    “People just didn't know what I was, so they were just, like, either scared or concerned or whatever... this girl who I've never met before... anytime somebody would come over to ask who I was, she'd go, he's weapons.”
• Greg’s Mom’s Passive-Aggressive Swiffer Gift (74:42):
  • Subtle parental shade, improvising cleaning without the battery pack, and debating “the right way” to clean—recalls his mother always cleaning the floor on hands and knees with paper towels.
• Will’s “No Sweets January” Dilemma (79:11):
  • Accidentally received a box of sweets during a self-imposed no-sugar challenge:
    “There's this temptation in the house that we didn't have before... Do we cave just for the gift?... Or do we just get them the hell out of the house?”
  • Group decides to either donate or freeze, agreeing on the importance of momentum in self-improvement.

---

Notable Quotes

On Boston's Sports Media:

• Mark: “They've wanted this feud with Jaylen and Jason for seven years now. So, I just don't think it will ever stop.” (03:48)

On Tatum coming off the bench:

• Mark: “If Tatum bought in, it would be the best possible thing. But I think if Tatum is, like, sourpuss over the whole situation, then that would be the worst possible thing.” (07:36)

On All-Time International Draft selection logic:

• Mark: “If I'm going to try to win, I'm gonna pick Kyrie. My favorite international player? No, definitely not.” (20:00)

On Celtics fandom:

• Mark: “[Random international players] may have only been here for like two or three years, but then you remember them forever.” (16:05)

On authorial authenticity (re: AI):

• Mark: “I would rather succeed as a human than fail as a robot, and I really like that because so many people use an AI these days.” (54:34)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Luke Kornet Return & Boston's Love for Quirkiness: (01:51–03:10)
• Wemby’s Dominance & Jaylen Brown’s Frustration: (06:12–07:13)
• Tatum’s Possible Return Blueprint: (05:00–09:07)
• All-Time International Celtics Draft Begins: (18:21)
• Best Celtics International Players – Deep Nostalgia & Outrageous Roster Building: (23:40–52:08)
• Mark’s Book Segment: (52:08–68:21)
• Mediocre Life Update: (68:35–85:36)

---

Tone and Approach

The episode is conversational, irreverent, and nostalgic, featuring deep Celtics knowledge mixed with Boston-bred humor. The hosts and guest are unafraid to veer into life’s trivialities, family stories, and self-mockery, keeping the discussion both informative for Celtics fans and relatable to general listeners.

---

For Listeners Who Missed the Episode...

This episode is the perfect blend of Celtics basketball breakdown, deep roster dives, Boston sports culture, and lighthearted personal storytelling. While fans will enjoy the deep cuts on Celtics international players and Jaylen/Tatum drama, anyone can connect with the playful mediocrity of the life updates or the heart-felt discussion about creativity in the age of AI.

Whether you care about Banner 19 or just need ideas about what to do with leftover sweets, this episode delivers basketball talk with a shot of humor and heart.

Transcript

[State Farm Narrator]

Having the right people in your corner for life's biggest milestones makes all the difference. Like a friend who's there when you're house hunting or checking out a new ride, State Farm is there, too, helping you choose the coverage you need. With a State Farm agent, you know someone is there to help you along the way. And with so many coverage options, it's nice knowing you have help choosing a plan that fits your needs so you can continue celebrating all of life's milestones. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

New year. Same extra value meals at McDonald's. Now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery.

[Greg Manakis]

This is Mike Gorman, and you're listening.

[Will]

To Green with Envy with Will and Greg. All right, everybody. Luke Cornett makes his return. Wemby shuts the door on the Celtics. We're going to celebrate international players throughout the CE Celtics history today. And we've got our friend and author Mark McDonough here to help us all. It is a Sunday edition of Green with Envy. You guys know the deal. Let's lock in. Welcome in to another edition of Green with Envy. As always, this is your boy, Will. We are checking in. How you doing? How you living? Joining me as he does each and every time, my best friend, co host and the coach of our podcast, the one and only Greg Manakis. And Greg, on a day after Luke Cornett returns to Boston, I feel like our guest is easily the most appropriate guest that we could have had on.

[Greg Manakis]

That was the first thing I wanted to ask Mark is like, what is it like watching Luke Cornett return, return to Boston and just see all the media that was put out there, all the clips of Luke Cornet White should should not win the Tommy Award campaign. The video that resurfaced like, Luke Cornett is as close to Mark's personality as there is in the NBA.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, particularly there's like a few things I knew you guys were saying to me and I was like, I mean, I'm just tall and white. But then his mannerisms are pretty much exactly the same as mine. And they gave him the mic. This is when he was still on the Celtics. But this is the thing I always think about. They gave him the mic and I think he was supposed to be like, say like let's go Celtics or something. Something generic like that. And he started singing Holy Night instead.

[Will]

And literally that I would do so. Yeah. So for the audience speaking right now, our good friend Mark McDonough here, author of the Dead, the Dead Know Nothing. And literally, I don't think it's been confirmed that you guys aren't related. So until further notice, I'm going to assume there's some relation there. But I was going to ask what your favorite moments are. And that's my favorite moment right there because I've seen you do that joke end times in real life. And so when he did it, I was like, it's confirmed. They are related. Greg, I gotta hop out for one second. Run the show. I'll be right back.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay. That's how we do it here. Green with envy. Yeah, with. With Luke Cornett coming back to Boston last night. This. Mark, I'm speaking directly to the audience right now. You know, we, we thought with the Celtics that they'd come in, probably do some big tribute video to Luke and whatnot. Wemby comes in, steals the show. Watching the game last night. Mark, I know you're not like a basketball coach or anything, despite having spent a week at a Nike basketball camp with me one time as a camp counselor. What are your, what are your thoughts right now? What are people talking about in Boston with. With the Celtics?

[Mark McDonough]

I guess. I mean, you know, Boston sports media is extremely annoying all the time. And so like, the, the. The main thing that people just can't get over is like, will Tatum fit with this team when he comes back? Which is just. I guess they just need drama. But we won a championship two years ago, so like it. There is no issue. But I guess to make the story more compelling, because they don't want to talk about exos and O's, right? They want to talk about. They want this. They've wanted this feud with Jaylen and Jason for seven years now. So I just don't think it will ever stop.

[Greg Manakis]

Unfortunately, I think there is some merit to the conversation just because with Tatum, he played such a specific style of basketball and the ball gets pretty sticky with him. He's pretty methodical player. And this year it's seemingly more built around Jalen's preferred style. Right. With Jalen off ball, he's like the play finisher. He is running a career high in pick and rolls. But those pick and rolls aren't the same as Jason Tatum where he would just like walk the ball up the court and then kind of manipulate the chess pieces on. I asked Mark. Well, I don't know if you heard.

[Will]

I heard everything. I got you guys I'm okay, I'm on. I'm on. I'm on board. Let's keep it rolling.

[Greg Manakis]

Hop in. Hop in. What do you. What do you think?

[Will]

Well, I was gonna say, you know, I do find the Tatum piece, and it's interesting because this is one of the questions that I had lined up, too, is, is Mark, you're kind of our plug into the Boston sports scene outside of, you know, just clips that. That make the rounds on. On Twitter and YouTube. And so the Tatum piece of it, you know, and I just saw today Chris Mannix had. And I don't know where it was from, was from a podcast or an article he had, but then it talked about, you know, Tatum is. Is really going to start ramping up to try to figure this out, to be able to play in February or March, which is always the timeline that we were talking about. And Greg and I haven't been ready to dive fully into the conversation yet of, okay, what is Tatum gonna look like? Or what's going to be the best way? But I am curious for this idea that Greg had, and it's appropriate. Coming off the spurs game last night where, you know, watching Wemby, who has now played, now started 15 games and come off the bench for games, like, Greg brought this up maybe, like two, three weeks ago is like, maybe this is the blueprint for what you do with Jason Tatum, is you kind of bring him off the bench, you can pick your spots. And like you saw last night, the way in which the spurs were able to kind of balance Wemby's minutes left him really fresh down the stretch to be able to come in for that game. And I do think that he was probably. Even if I have quibbles with different things that happen at the end of that game last night, Wemby being on the court was probably the main reason the Celtics lost that game at the end. Both his shot making and there's got to be some type of. I was thinking about this. There's going to be some type of statistic that they come up with for drives deterred or drives turned around, where people just go into lane, like, ah, no, Wendy. Literally just turn around.

[Greg Manakis]

The Wemby U turn. Yeah, it's. It was especially in the fourth quarter because Jaylen was attacking Wemby throughout the game. And then when he stopped me, he got no foul calls. That was a huge part of last night's game. Jaylen came out and said, give me a fine because this is ridiculous.

[Will]

He wasn't pleased.

[Greg Manakis]

And Jalen would go into the lane and literally would make it to the elbow, see Wemby, and then just turn right around. Derrick White would do the same thing. And nobody wanted to challenge Wemby because Wemby deterred Jalen Brown. And if Jalen Brown's not going to finish over Wemby, then who is? Right? So I. I agree. Will. There needs to be, like, a Wemby U turn stat. That is. That is monitored.

[Will]

Because real quick, the. The final point I was going to ask Mark here is with Wemby kind of setting the precedent, what do you think the reaction would be, based off what you're hearing in Boston, if the Celtics tried to do the same thing with Tatum? Tatum comes off the bench instead of jumping right into the starting lineup. Or do you think that's just, like, perfect for Boston melodrama? That's actually probably not dramatic, but we're gonna make it dramatic.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, I think that's exactly it. It's like. It's not dramatic, but they would love it, like, whatever. You know how like I said, Greg, the talk radio here is just crazy or whatever to do simulcast on TV now and everything with Felger and Ma whoever. But I think in terms of actual basketball, if Tatum bought in, it would be the best possible thing. But I think if Tatum is like, like sourpuss over the whole situation, then that would be the worst possible thing. So I think it comes down to whether Tatum's just going to embrace it or not. Because if he's just going to be making. Frowning on the bench, then just stardom. That's what my opinion is.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think what it would do is really endear Jason Tatum to the Boston media more than anything. Right. Is they would. They would stop all the. About trying to tear down the Jays and all the stuff that they've done over the years and just be like, see Jason Tatum, he gets it. This is what Celtics do. This is Celtic culture. He's. He's finally, like, transcending above the, you know, ostensibly selfish young kid that he was and is now turning into, like, a real grown adult sacrificing for the team.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah. And Kevin McHale came off the bench a ton. I think he was, like, sixth man for a lot of those years.

[Will]

Yeah. Six man of the year twice. Yeah.

[Mark McDonough]

And I don't know, he was, like, third in MVP voting one time or something. So, I mean, like, you can still make a huge impact. I guess it's just the. The public image of your star coming off the bench. But I think Wemby makes it easy for us, like you said.

[Will]

Yeah, yeah. There's a blueprint for it now. And, you know, it's. I was surprised at how close so last night I had to watch the spurs broadcast just being here in Austin. So I. So I watch the spurs broadcast, and I didn't realize how close it was for games that he started versus games that he's come off the bench. And, you know, even their. Their color guy is Sean Elliott, you know, spurs legend. And he even talked about it where he was like, all right, guys, I'm gonna stop complaining about him coming off the bench. I get it. I get it. I think it's actually. So it's clearly been like, a topic of conversation within the spurs as well. But, yeah, I think it's a really interesting concept. And so Jason Tatum, I think will be the. The funnest thing to talk about when we get to the point of. All right. Right around the All Star break, probably a little post All Star break Mark. The thing I'll ask you here is. So let's. Let's take Jalen Brown off. Off the table and every. You know, even with his comments last night about the refs that Greg talked about outside of him, Peyton Prisher and Derek White, who we. We kind of, you know, talk a lot about just because those are the three best players on this team actually playing right now. Who's the. The number one player outside of those three? That just is your personal taste that you've kind of found yourself most interested in this season?

[Mark McDonough]

Well, I think Jordan Walsh, for me, is an easy answer. Like, he was like, shooting whatever, 100 for, like, five games. Obviously that wasn't sustainable, but you guys know how Boston is. They like, like rough and dirty players. And like, he's a maniac. I mean, he was six. Six, guarding 1B last night. And was Wemby just turning around at some points and just easily scoring over him? Yeah, but, like, Jordan Walsh, in his head thinks that he deserves to be covering 1B. I think that's the attitude maybe in those years before the championship that, like, the. The knock on the Celtics was like, there was no dogs on the team except for Marcus, who's a smaller. Maybe a smaller version of Jordan Walsh. But it was like, oh, we don't have any fight in us. And like, so Jalen has completely flipped that switch. But as a. As a second guy to have with him, Jordan Walsh is. Is awesome.

[Will]

Yeah. And I texted Greg last night. I. I didn't really understand the decision. I'LL let you jump in here. I didn't understand the decision to, to, to have Jordan Walsh on Wemby early and I thought he did Admirable. To your point, Mark, Wemby's seven foot nine. He's gonna turn around, just take a couple jump shots and make it. But I, I thought Walsh gave him some problems early and then Joe seemed to go away from that late. I thought that was the mistake. But that was something I had mentioned to you Greg, over, over Texas last night.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, I mean I think it just had. I didn't listen to any of the post game, but I think this came down to spacing on the offensive side of the court and they decided to go with Baylor and Baylor proved that he deserved to be on the court. Right. I mean he had, I think he was 4, 4 at 1.23. He's like, he's making all the Marcus Smart plays. You mentioned Marcus Smart. Like he does things that literally remind me of Marcus Smart being first to the floor, taking charges, all that stuff. He's just a white lefty and he's not Marcus Smart like the, the lottery pick from Oklahoma State. Right. So I do think that for me I didn't really see too much issues with how Joe managed the, the team down the stretch. My issue was playing Jalen Brown 44 minutes and Derrick White 43 minutes.

[Will]

Yeah.

[Greg Manakis]

On the second night of a back to back against the Spurs. Like it didn't really three games and.

[Will]

Four nights as well too.

[Greg Manakis]

So that's like to me it was like was Jalen asking for this? You always hear stars talk about how they need some, some games during the year, their conditioning. Maybe that was one of those games. But that didn't make any sense to me. And you could see Jaylen, I think at one point he was like 0 for 6 in the fourth quarter. He just didn't have any, anything down the stretch. He played a pretty bad fourth quarter and I think a lot of it had to do with fatigue and once again frustration with the referees.

[Mark McDonough]

Do you think also maybe it was just like they want to see where they stack up against like the actual good teams in the league because like the east is so weak. So like and the spurs are, the spurs have been handling the, the Thunder. So like if we beat the spurs, the transitive property is that we're a good team. Maybe.

[Greg Manakis]

I don't know. No, I, I, I agree with that. I do think that one of the biggest issues now that I'm like thinking about it as we're Talking it through. And the coffee is hitting the brain with Simons and Pritchard. They didn't make much of an impact on the court last night. And I do think maybe that had something to do with it, is that they weren't getting the offense they normally get out of those two guys. And they're like, who else do we have on the team that can actually generate offense? So that's probably why Derrick White and Jalen Brown on the court for a little bit longer. And the last two games against the Nuggets and against the spurs have just shown me time and time again that Jason Tatum is going to fit on this team. To come back to that Jason Tatum discussion, like, we need one more superstar on this team. Like, what a. Like that's not like the greatest thing to say, but like there's too many times.

[Will]

Expert analysis here agreeing with them be. You know, I think there's a. I think an extra superstar. I think that's what this team's missing.

[Greg Manakis]

At the trade because it's against the contending teams. Right. Like the Nuggets and the spurs are both contending teams. Obviously, Jokic didn't play, Devin Foul didn't play for the spurs last night, and Wendy came off the bench. But the. To Mark's point, like, the measuring stick is not the teams in the Eastern Conference. It's not the Toronto Raptors minus Scotty Barnes and Brandon Ingram and Jakob Pearl. Right. It's the teams that actually matter and all the teams that matter in the Western Conference. So, like, those are the games that I'm really paying attention to to see how this team could stack up without Jason Tatum. And if it looks like Jason Tatum isn't coming back, if over this next month where Manic says he's supposed to be ramping up to come back, if it's not there with. With Tatum, that's when you really have to visit the trade discussions that we've discussed on other pods.

[Will]

Yeah. So, you know, I think right now it feels like the Celtics, you know, obviously sand statum, top of the league. They're just. Just missing that. That little extra something which is. Was quite a big something in Jason Tatum. But, you know, again, the. We'll see Celtics have a couple games coming up here. They're back on Monday night against the Pacers. So the schedule doesn't let up as far as just the amount of games coming in one. So we'll see how Joe handles the minute situations going into this upcoming week. For today, though, we're into something a little Bit different. And Mark, I'm gonna ask. I asked you, you know, I, I posed like, hey, let's do something fun when you come on the podcast. Let's do like a draft or something. And you said, let's do an international players draft. And I was like, hey, I, I love it. I don't, I don't. We haven't done this on the podcast. We haven't talked much about it and it kind of fits. Play the Raptors on Friday night. Canadian team. Play the spurs last night. Victor Wembanyama. Pretty.

[Mark McDonough]

They're basically the international team. Spurs, right?

[Will]

Exactly. They're. Yeah, they feel very international, especially with their history. Like they, they feel like the international landing place for a lot of these guys where it's like, that's where they want to go when they come to NBA. So I want to, you ask before we jump into to drafting our favorite international players from the Celtics of all time, why did you pick this as what you wanted to do when you came on today?

[Mark McDonough]

Honestly, there's some hall of Famers that were international Celtics, but like when we were growing up when the Celtics weren't particularly good, there would just be like, I don't know, random international players on the show.

[Will]

Don't give away any names because we got.

[Mark McDonough]

But, or even in the early 2000 and tens, there was kind of some lovable like miscellaneous players that bounced around the league. But in Boston, they always become like, kind of like mascots almost. And that's just everybody I know that likes the Celtics, like really loves these random international players that may have only been here for like two or three years, but then you remember them forever.

[Will]

It's. It's pretty funny you say that because I have a few tabs open right now of guys that I looked up last night and you're 1000% Rex. A few of these guys, I was like, man, that was a crazy three year stretch with insert this guy. Looked it up. Some of these guys played like 41 games one year and it was like, didn't even make it a full season. But in my mind they were on the team for a half decade. So yeah, I think this is going to be pretty interesting here, Greg. I'm thinking let's do five players each and we'll do snake format. We'll have guests go first. We'll go mark Greg, then to me, I'll pick twice and then we'll circle it back. Anything else that you want to add to this draft, Greg, or anything else that, that you got before we, we Jump in.

[Greg Manakis]

No, I'm not gonna lie to you guys. I completely forgot where you're doing this. So I've just been kind of, like, going through the list of all celtics players that I've ever played for the organization and just seeing if there's any names that, like, I've missed because I. I thought about it, like, subconsciously, and I know a bunch of international players, but. But as I'm going through the list, I'm like, oh, I did forget about that guy.

[Will]

So glad to see my text get.

[Greg Manakis]

Read if it's in it. If it's in a group text, I don't read was.

[Will]

It was an individual text and a group text, so I don't think either of them get read is what I'm putting on blast here.

[Greg Manakis]

But.

[Will]

All right, let's get this started here. We will rock to international players draft. They have to have had played for the Celtics is the only rule. Doesn't matter how long they played for the Celtics. Just had to have played for the Celtics at one point in time. Feel free if you want to make it a full point guard, guard, wing, big man. Do what you want.

[Greg Manakis]

The one caveat I. I have is, is it how they performed on the Celtics or just in general?

[Will]

Just for. Just for how they were in the Celtics? I think that's. I think only their time with the Celtics is. Is. Is what matters because, number one, I think that makes it a lot funner. Makes it a lot funnier. Anyways. All right, Mark, we'll give you the first pick. Greg, do you want to go second, or do you want to go third? Because you didn't know we were doing this. Apparently.

[Bob Evans Advertiser]

Bob Evans creamy Mac and cheese and buttery mashed potatoes are made for the moments you can't plan, like last minute school costumes, glitter explosions, or when little Liam brings three friends for dinner. No plan. No problem. Say hello to plan B. O B from Bob Evans. Because when you bring out the Bob, you can take comfort in knowing you'll always have something delicious on the table, no matter what the day brings. When you need comfort, bring out the bomb. Available now in your refrigerated section.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

New year, same extra value meals at McDonald's. Now get a savory sausage mcmuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska, and California. And for delivery.

[Greg Manakis]

I'll go second. That's cool.

[Will]

Yeah, I have.

[Greg Manakis]

I have a ton of people. Yeah, I can.

[Will]

Okay. Good.

[Greg Manakis]

I'm good.

[Will]

All right, Mark, Greg, Me. I'll. I'll go twice. Mark, you got first pick. What you got for.

[Mark McDonough]

All right, I've got a first pick. If it gets rolled out, then I've got a backup. So would Kyrie count as an international player?

[Greg Manakis]

Of course.

[Will]

Yeah. Yeah, that works.

[Mark McDonough]

All right, I'm taking Kyrie then.

[Greg Manakis]

Tell me more.

[Mark McDonough]

He's clearly the number one pick in this draft. I don't know what else to say. Future hall of Famer. Yeah.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay. Yeah, I mean, Kyrie was definitely on my list. I just didn't know if I wanted to pick him as the first pick in any Celtics draft. But I. I think it was a.

[Will]

Draft we did recently where we just kept. We just. I think we. I think you and I just agreed we're just not picking Kyrie. I think it was, like, the player by, like, each year on the team or something, and we just. I think we just mutually agreed not to pick Kyrie in that draft.

[Mark McDonough]

Okay, I'll elaborate further. If I was going to win this basketball game, five of three teams playing, then I'm gonna pick Kyrie.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay.

[Mark McDonough]

My favorite international player. No, definitely not. But if. If I'm going to try to win, I'm gonna pick Kyrie.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay. I like that. As, like, the. The purpose of what we're doing here is to draft the team that would actually win a game of five on five.

[Mark McDonough]

Yes.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay, now I'm on board. All right, well, I'm gonna pick a consummate professional. Consummate winner. Someone who won his first championship in Boston, Dominican Republic's own Al Horford. Gotta go with Big Al, even though he's left the Celtics twice, which, you know, kind of doesn't sit right with me, that everyone's just like, oh, yeah. But he was such a beloved teammate. Yeah. He left us twice when we needed big men. And if he didn't leave the first time, there's a very chance we win the bubble championship. So I'm gonna go Al Horford, just because he's gonna anchor my defense. And I think his time in Boston, the amount of years that he ended up spending, he was great for both stints. Al Horford, all day, every day.

[Mark McDonough]

And they. I think they said this in the Celtics documentary, but he's, like, the only free agent we've ever signed, basically.

[Greg Manakis]

Well, I mean, I remember before, like, Amir Johnson coming to the Celtics was, like, a huge deal. And then we got for a couple years later.

[Will]

Yeah, there's levels to it. It's slightly Slightly. Slightly different. Bringing in. Bringing in Al Horford and Greg. I'm sure you knew that he was atop my board as well.

[Greg Manakis]

Of course.

[Will]

Yeah. I had to get him going to make this pick. Yeah, it's a great pick. Without Horford, I will say, you know, I hadn't really thought about. Steve just said this, like, I never really factor in, like, oh, we probably would have had a pretty good chance of winning that bubble championship if we had Al Horford. I don't know why I've really not actually thought about that. I mean, I guess the one we would have never signed, Kemba, which long term, would have also been good, even though he was really good up until the bubble that season. So I don't know. Making that what you will, but that was a pretty interesting point. Okay, so you took Al. I hadn't even thought of Kyrie, I'll be honest. And so my top two on the board, Al was number one. I'm gonna take my number two here, and I'm gonna go with the guy who I think represents 90s basketball, pre Antoine and pre Paul Pierce. Or he's one of the. A handful of guys. Give me the hall of Famer. Give me Dino Raja. And I'm gonna be honest. Dino Raja, hall of Famer. I think he made the All Star team one time. Couldn't tell you a lick about his game. Right. But I just remember, if you ask me what's 90s basketball, before Antoine and Paul get there, I'm thinking of Dino Raja. I'm thinking of Todd Day, mostly because as a kid, they have fun names to say. And probably Dana Barrows because he's local. Those are, like, the three things that I'm kind of thinking of. Maybe there's someone else I'm missing, you know, outside of, obviously, like, knowing of Larry Bird, but, like, who we were watching, because I didn't really remember watching Larry Bird. And so for me, Dino Raj, when I think of the International Celtics, when I think of 90s Celtics, he's just the first guy. And I also think that, Mark, I feel like you would know this. What was that show? Dinosaurs, that had, like, animatronics.

[Greg Manakis]

It was just called the Baby that would always Beg for Food.

[Will]

Yeah, the show was awesome. And I feel like in my head as a kid, I was like, like, oh, Dino Roger is probably one of the names of those dinosaurs. Like, he could. He could be a character on the show. So for. For those, you know, very specific reasons, I'm gonna go Dino Raja with my first pick. Second pick, I'll just jump right into it. Let's go ahead.

[Mark McDonough]

Can I pause just for a moment?

[Will]

Yeah.

[Mark McDonough]

Very quickly, I was on Dino Roger's Wikipedia page, as I am every day. No, because of this draft. And it said something about, like, Tommy Hindson's catchphrase was like, bing, bang, boom, Dino Raja. It's like, nothing to do with Dino or Raja, just bing, bang, boom.

[Greg Manakis]

And then Mike Gorman's catchphrase that I remember growing up was, bing, bang, boom. Barrows.

[Mark McDonough]

Tommy just, like, got confused.

[Will]

Anyway, Tommy's old age was showing early in the 90s already. I like that. I like that. We needed some more information on Dino, so I like that a lot. All right, let me go to my second pick here, and I think now, unless there's some guys I'm missing, I'm mostly just. I'll be honest. I'm picking my team out of guys that. That I just think either I had a good time with or I think they're funny for one reason or another. So I'm gonna go. It's actually. I'm gonna go with a guy that's actually in the news just yesterday, got suspended for three games for trying to fight Luka Doncic after their game. Give me Germany's own Dennis Schroeder. I'm still a Dennis Schroeder fan. Everyone in Boston hates Dennis Schroeder. That season gets put on him way too much, in my opinion. It was way more IME misusing him. He should have never been on the court in the last four or five minutes. Greg and I would always joke about Jalen and Jay and Tatum would just get sent to the corners and Marcus Smart and Dennis Schroeder would run the offense for the last three minutes. Like, that's a little bit on coaching. Like, maybe don't have both of those guys out there, but I thought Schroeder got a kind of a bad. A bad rap here in. In Boston. I've always liked Dennis Schroeder's game. I don't think he's, you know, game changing, but unbelievable international player in the theme of what we're doing here. I think he's a great pick. I like Dennis Schroeder. Dennis Schroeder is my number two pick.

[Mark McDonough]

The German Rajon Rondo.

[Will]

That's right. Exactly. If you can't draft Rondo, draft the German version.

[Mark McDonough]

Well, I was just gonna say Kevin Garnett said Rondo is African, so does that count?

[Will]

But anyways, what do you say? Keep that. Yo, Danny H. Keep that little African kid when you're making that trip.

[Mark McDonough]

Okay. I like the pick well, but I think you're missing somebody major. But I do like the Schroeder pick.

[Will]

All right.

[Greg Manakis]

Oh, man, that's a lot of. That's a lot of pressure on me, but, I mean, it's back to me. I'm gonna go with a front court that proved they could win a championship. Chris Saps Porzingis. Yeah. So Chris Staps and Al Horford literally won a championship in Boston. So I'm gonna pick Chris Staps. Even though it didn't end well for Chris Staps, the peak of him is better than anybody else that's on the board. So I have Al Horford and Chris Taps Rosingis as my front. Feeling pretty good about winning this game at 5 on 5.

[Mark McDonough]

That's what I was talking about. Well, I thought you were gonna go present us all day there, but.

[Will]

All right, I'm going. I'm going for my own. I'm. I'm picking my team from my soul. These are. These. These are my guys that I'm picking.

[Mark McDonough]

All right, well, I think in terms of, like, the top tier guys, if Dennis Schroeder counts as a top tier guy, I think all the top tier guys are gone right now. That Greg has had with Horford and Porzingis.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, probably.

[Mark McDonough]

I have a slightly weird one. Not weird, but recent. Evan Fournier is who I'm picking. And because he's like, he plays in the modern NBA, you know what I mean? It's not like some guy from Transylvania we got come over and play for like a week.

[Will]

It's us.

[Mark McDonough]

He's a good player. And I actually thought he brought a lot of fight to our team when he was here. Like, remember, he was getting, like, arguments in the playoffs and stuff, and that's when we felt like we just had nothing going on. I was like, yeah, might as well fight somebody, buddy. So, yeah, I'm picking Evan Fournier. I actually like him. I know he didn't work out for him here or since, but he's a baller.

[Greg Manakis]

No, he was good. He was averaging 20 points a game for a solid, like, five year stretch. So I think that's a pretty good pick. And he definitely had some moments in Boston where I was like, 1140 is better than I thought he was, but he inevitably just didn't work out. One thing that always stood out to me about Evan Fournier, besides the terrible hair, is he was much bigger than I remember, than I thought I thought he was like a 6, 3, 6, 4 guard and he came over, right? Yeah, he's like 6, 6, 6, 7. So you got a little bit of size there. You don't have much defense though, so far. Yeah, but I think.

[Mark McDonough]

But I'm gonna work on that little.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, you get another pick though, because it's, it's.

[Mark McDonough]

Oh, yeah.

[Will]

All right.

[Mark McDonough]

I, I need a big. Of some sort, I think. Or I could just, you know. Actually, no, I'm gonna skip that. I'm gonna go a little bit smaller in between size. The best actor I think available in the draft, Rick Fox. Okay. So when you're naming 90s Bass, 90s Celtics basketball, Rick Fox is a huge deal. If, if anybody at home is listening that's younger than us probably does not remember that, but Rick Fox was like a star in the 90s and good looking guy and.

[Will]

Yeah, so. Okay, Mark, I have to pause you because I. Greg, I think we talked about this off air. I don't think we talked about this on the podcast, but when you mentioned that you wanted to do the international players draft, I think Greg and I were talking about one of the times that you came on very early in the early days of, of green with envy and we drafted something. We couldn't remember what it was. In my mind we drafted who are the best looking Celtics players of all time, which is a wild draft that we definitely did not do. But I do think, think at some.

[Mark McDonough]

Point we drew to that, by the way. No, it was, I'll tell you what it was. Well, it was.

[Greg Manakis]

I tell you, it's Sheldon Williams, but Luke Iron Cody.

[Mark McDonough]

No, we drafted just quickly. We drafted best Celtics never to make an all star team. So you had to make a team out of Celtics that never made an all star team.

[Will]

That's what it was. Okay. Because some, because we started talking about Rick Fox and then we got on to a tangent about how good looking he was and I think we talked about is there anyone else as good looking? And in my mind that took over everything with that, that draft and we're talking about.

[Mark McDonough]

And I've talked about good looking Rick Foxes twice. Fair enough.

[Will]

There's a theme.

[Greg Manakis]

Here's, here's my question about Rick Fox. He was a pretty successful basketball player, right? Played on the, on championship teams for the Lakers. Is he so good looking that he's more known for being good looking than he is for his basketball career?

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, I would say so.

[Will]

Yeah, probably. I mean that's like. I think he's one of those people that, like. Like, yeah, like, guys like us who. Who follow the NBA like, really, like, inside and out. We know, but there's probably a lot of people. It's kind of like people that discovered the Rock only from acting, and they're like, oh, that guy was a wrestler. Like, I think it's kind of like that type of vibe.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah.

[Mark McDonough]

And he's just as famous as the Rock.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, well, he did have that one great cameo on One Tree Hill where he was, like, a sneaky, like, disgusting college recruiter who's trying to steal Nathan to his college. Okay, so I'm gonna have my front court all set out.

[Mark McDonough]

You guys hear my cat? I'm so sorry. Can you hear my cat whining?

[Greg Manakis]

No, you're good. You're good.

[Mark McDonough]

All right.

[Greg Manakis]

I need someone who can run a good pick and roll with Porzingis and. And Horford. I'm gonna let you guys guess who I'm gonna pick. Can we do that?

[Will]

Well, no, because I'm not gonna guess anybody that I want to pick. I don't want to give you any ideas.

[Greg Manakis]

He didn't fall for my trap.

[Will]

Off.

[Greg Manakis]

I was. I was thinking about Carlos kicking in.

[Will]

Over here, too, buddy.

[Greg Manakis]

I was thinking about Carlos Arroyo because he did run a pretty good pick and roll back in the day. But I'm gonna go with the Brazilian blur, Leandro Barbosa.

[Will]

Son of a.

[Greg Manakis]

Go ahead and grab him right now because he.

[Mark McDonough]

Was that allowed. You took the Brazilian from Will? I don't know if this is allowed.

[Will]

I'm so mad. I'm so mad right now. Just sit. I. 100. Yeah. I have two picks in a row. I was taking them. Yeah, it's. Go ahead, talk, talk, whatever.

[Greg Manakis]

I mean, Barbosa, he didn't. I don't even know if he lasted more than a year in Boston, but I loved him when he was 40 games.

[Will]

I looked at this last night. 40 games.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah.

[Greg Manakis]

And I. You know, he was great for the. The Brazilian team, the Brazilian national team, and I just really like his game. And I actually think if we're talking about putting a team together, he's a little bit of a defensive liability. But when you have Al Horford and Kristaps in the back line, I think that's a pretty good offensive tack.

[Mark McDonough]

I'm gonna let my cat and.

[Will]

Hold on. Go for it. We've got cats, we've got hosts that are running out in the middle of this episode. This episode's going haywire. I love it. All right. You took the Brazilian Blur pretty. Pretty mad. At Greg, you've stolen two of my guys here, so I feel like your team is just an assault on. On my basketball.

[Greg Manakis]

I've mind.

[Will]

Yeah, the mind flayer is coming for you. You. Yeah, we'll talk about it. We got still. Have you finished Stranger Things yet? We're not gonna talk about it right now, but I do.

[Greg Manakis]

I did.

[Will]

Yeah, at some point. Okay, we'll talk about it at some point. All right. Coming to me now for two picks. So Barbosa was one of the guys that I'm gonna go with. I'm gonna go with an underrated favorite that goes back to the kg. Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, Celtic days. He was only here for a year, but I thought he was the closest we ever got to filling that James Posey voice played. Give me Mikhail Petras. I think. I think he's my guy. Yeah. I mean, listen, I. I feel like he really just kind of meshed with those guys and there's a really. There's. I'm gonna say really famous. I think only die hard Celtics can remember this. There was an interview he was given at the end of the game where I, him and KG were just up to semantics and basically I. I think. I can't remember if it was him or KG told Boo Boo to go to bed. I don't know. It sticks out in my head. I don't even remember the full thing. But Mikhail PH was a guy that I always really liked and I. I kind of wish he was around for. For more than just that year. If we had him for a little bit more in his prime. He's like I said, closest we got to filling that James Posey void after, after that first championship.

[Greg Manakis]

Was he the one that was referred to as the French Jordan?

[Will]

So. Dude, actually it's funny, I. I don't. Not French Jordan, but Air France. That was. I'm looking at Basketball Reference and I didn't know that was his nickname until just a second ago. But yeah, Air France is his nickname name.

[Greg Manakis]

I was always a huge Mikhail Petras fan. Did he last two seasons in Boston or just.

[Will]

Just one. Just. Yeah.

[Mark McDonough]

11:12 stint with the Magic, didn't he?

[Will]

Yeah, he was on the Magic quite a bit. I'm pretty sure he was. Actually he was only on the Magic for a little bit, but I think he was on. Was he on that championship team? He was not. But yeah, I remember him from the. The Magic a bit. He was on the. No, he's on the Magic for a couple years actually. Yeah. So he was on that Magic Champion NBA finals team.

[Greg Manakis]

Not the. What year was he with us?

[Will]

11:12. So that. I'm pretty sure that would have been the year we lost in seven to the. To the Heat, I think.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay.

[Will]

Yeah. So, yeah, so he played 42 games that year, only 6.9 points again, but felt like a. Like a real solid, Real solid glue guy. So I'm happy with taking Mikhail Pietric. Now I get another pick here, and, like, I kind of want to go funny. Now you guys are taking your team serious, and now I feel like I gotta compete. Give me Nemia. Let's go. Oh, Nem. Nem's making a run here. He's. He's. He's on the board here. We. He's. I'm curious to get your thoughts on him, Mark, because I. I think even last night I saw his stats where it was like 10 points, eight rebounds. I think like a block and a half, basically. And he's playing, you know, roughly 25 minutes a night. And those were kind of the numbers that we laid out. Like, hey, this is.

[Greg Manakis]

Is.

[Will]

This is the best case scenario for Nemi Esqueda. And we feel like he's a real dude, like, not just, like, filling in, but, like, hey, Tatum comes back and whether or not we do need another player in the front court, even though Luca Garza has been really good, like, it's not going to get it done against the top competition as we're seeing, like, Neemi, whether he's your starter or if you find a guy that's like, equal value, you know, as a player or just below, like, he's. He's part the of. Of it. He can be somebody that I think the Celtics should look at, like, locking up on some type of nice deal this off season to keep him in the fold. But how have you. You know, you love the big men. What have been your thoughts on. On Nemias?

[Mark McDonough]

I think sometimes he looks unbelievable, and then sometimes I'm like, does he have bad dexterity in his hands? Because, like, we'll go for a rebound, and it's like, he doesn't have fingers sometimes. Grab it. And he's so big that, like, sometimes he will have, like, 13 rebounds or whatever it is, and then sometimes he has, like, five. And so I'm like, I don't know if that's not, like, I don't know how to fix that, really.

[Will]

Like, I know.

[Mark McDonough]

I think Joe wants him to, like, be the guy that gets the boards. So I don't know if it's, like, him locking in or not locking in. But to be fair, I do. I like you said in terms of expectations, he's far exceeding them. And now I'm like, now I want more. So I'm getting greedy, I guess. But he's been great. I'm being unfair to Big Nemi.

[Will]

Me.

[Greg Manakis]

Well, he, he gets a lot of me bounds. We talk about this a lot on, on the pod where he just like gets his own offensive rebound. The, the me bound. So yeah, the games where he has 13 rebounds, like five of those are. And I think that has to do with like his touch around the basket. Right. It's like you'll see sometimes like when the ball is actually in his hand, he has really nice touch. But the problem is getting the ball. So that, that's the issue.

[Will]

Okay.

[Greg Manakis]

I think that's a pretty good pickle. So who do you have so far?

[Will]

Far, so, so far. I've got Dino Raja, Dennis Schroeder, Mikhail Pietric and Nemi Esqueda for your team. Greg, you've got Al Horford, Christapsingis and Leandro Barbosa. And Mark, you've got Kyrie, Evan Fournier and Rick Box. It is your pick, Greg.

[Greg Manakis]

All right, let's stick with current Celtics. I'm gonna go Ugo. I think that really gives my team a nice role player, a nice connective tissue. Interested to get Mark's thoughts on Ugo as well. But this kid is going to be a career long Celtic unless he's like somehow thrown into a trade that completely alters the Celtics chances this year. If Tatum's coming back, which he's, he's the piece, right, that you would throw in Because I think teams around the league would probably, if you're doing a redraft, he's probably a top 10 pick. Ugo's just awesome and I think he would make my team really good competitive in a 5 on 5 game. Thoughts on Hugo, Mark?

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, I think he's awesome and you pronouncing his name correctly actually confused me for a moment. It's very much Hugo when I hear it. But no, he's awesome and it's cool to have like a young like good player from Europe. Like we never get to have that. He's what, still 19 years old or whatever and he looks awesome. So like in four years he's probably going to be incredible. But he's great right now and he's just fun to watch. And he's another guy that's just like a dog. Like, like, I mean it's, I know that's an oversimplification. But you want guys that like are a little bit crazy. And he seems a little bit crazy to me.

[Will]

So he fits the Boston Mo. We talked about this a couple episodes ago where just like being able to do all like he like the, the skills are there and like I talked about how his shot doesn't look broken. It's not great right now, but it doesn't look broken. So I like, I have a lot of confidence that that's going to come along. But like the fact that he just plays with, with with this give a attitude. Like Boston fans love that. Like sometimes I do think like except for when we have obviously the teams that are like crazy talented, we just love these teams that are like in the middle that like are just like on the edge of like starting a fight. We almost love those teams more than a team that's like more talented but can't really win a championship but is like closer to that. We prefer the scrappy team that might almost fight people every night.

[Mark McDonough]

Okay, hand up. This team of like miscellaneous outcasts that are like just trying their hardest is funner to watch than last year Celtics team, I think where it was just like is poisonous. Dying is holiday washed. Is like every week, like every night. It was stressful with this time. It's just like we're not expected to win. So when we win, it's awesome.

[Greg Manakis]

I don't know.

[Mark McDonough]

I'm having more fun this year, so I think you're 100%. My brain is broken. Will and I like like the underdog Celtics more than and we haven't got the chance to be that in a while, so it's been a lot of fun. That's my cat, by the way.

[Will]

Hey, cat. All right, Mark, let's go to you here for your next pick.

[Mark McDonough]

Okay. I. I'd be remiss if I didn't take all of Australia.

[Greg Manakis]

Nice pick.

[Will]

That's a great one.

[Mark McDonough]

So for. I mean I'm sure anybody listening to this podcast, you hardy knows this, but Tommy Hindson on here said that he saw Aaron Baines in the shower and that he was all of Australia. So shout out to Aaron Baines. He was also just a guy that was a blast to have while he was here. Hard worker. He could kind of shoot the three balls sometimes. Am I making that up? I think he could a little bit, right?

[Will]

No, dude, I'm looking it up right now because it's the. It's one of the greatest rope a dopes in NBA history. Where there I'M trying to figure out which season it was right now on the fly where he didn't really shoot any threes and then all of a sudden the playoffs he was just letting it rip and he hit like several dudes. I'm trying to figure out which year that was.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, that's kind of my this year. By the way, Nemi has taken a couple threes this year and doesn't look horrible. So I'm just hoping that like the last month of the season we start seeing an uptick in Nemi's K to three pointers that we might see in.

[Mark McDonough]

A big moment in playoffs is our mains okay. By the way, wasn't he like hurt or didn't he.

[Will]

I did have something going on. I don't remember.

[Greg Manakis]

It was pretty serious where he was. I think he was like unable to walk for a significant.

[Mark McDonough]

Oh, that's nice. But anyways, well, shout out Aaron Baines. He was a huge fan favorite while he was here and obviously well endowed. So good on him.

[Greg Manakis]

Gotta look at pains in the shower and I'll tell you real quick, he's all brilliant.

[Will]

Maybe one of the best top five Tommy Hindson clips for. From. From his time, which is an illustrious time. But I did find the stats I was looking for here. So. In 1718 during the regular season he played 81 games and shot 21 threes. In that playoffs, he played 19 games and shot 23 threes and made 11 of them at a 47.8 clip. Unreal. Rope a dope. And it wasn't like, like it's eight playing 81 degrees. Yeah, just un. Unreal. Maneuver by Aaron Baines and Brad Stevens.

[Greg Manakis]

All right, back to me. Yes.

[Will]

Oh no. Yeah, One more, one more for Mark. My bad, my bad. One more.

[Mark McDonough]

So this will be my fifth and final pick.

[Will]

This rounds it out.

[Mark McDonough]

I'm like trying to decide who do.

[Greg Manakis]

You have so far, Mark?

[Mark McDonough]

I have Kyrie, Evan Forney, Rick Fox, Aaron Baines. Okay, you know what? We sat next to his lovely family at a Celtics game one time and I've always liked him. So I'm going to take Daniel Teese. He was also on the same team as Aaron Baines for a little bit as far as I can remember. That could be statistically incorrect, but I'll take T. So I'll have Tees, Baines, Fournier, Fox and Kyrie.

[Greg Manakis]

Is this the princ. Wow, correct pronunciation, by the way. I saw, I saw this video the other day of like, like people mis, like mispronouncing words and it was like, the funniest clip I've ever seen, but it was like how I. How I just, like, transpose the. The different parts of the words. It was like five of the biggest fails in, like, streaming history. And it was literally. It had me, like, double over in laughter. I'll send it to you guys later.

[Mark McDonough]

I don't know, actually. Is it dice or te. I don't know.

[Will]

I thought it was.

[Greg Manakis]

I've only heard it pronounced Tice.

[Will]

Yeah, this is the first. I'll be honest. I was like, I've. I've never heard it pronounced this way. And it's. It's making me rethink a lot of things because I've never heard that before ever.

[Mark McDonough]

Trust my word on anything. So I don't know if that's how it's pronounced, but I always liked him, and I think he's a. I mean, he randomly got great games out of him. And to also, to be honest, I'm looking at the list of who's left, and I think he's one of the best available options.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, they're slim pickings for sure. All right, I'm gonna go to. I need a small forward going back to the underdog Celtics. I'm gonna pick Jonas Jarebcoholic myself. Yep. So we have my team. Leandro Barbosa, Hugo Gonzalez, Jonas Jerebco, Al Horford, Kristaps Brzingis. Pretty nice team. Pretty nice five. Got some shooting, got some size. I think I probably have the biggest team out of everybody with Ugo, Jonas Horford, and Porzingis. That's some really good size there. So Drepko was part of that Brad Stevens team. He overperformed while he was. While he was in Boston. And if we're sticking to the exercise, it's like their time in Boston. This was the peak of Jonas Jrepko's career as well.

[Bob Evans Advertiser]

Refresh your bathroom with big savings at Lowe's. Reimagine your bathroom with up to 40% off select faucets during our bath set savings event. Need it today. Order by 2pm for same day delivery by 8pm Shop for your bathroom refresh at Lowe's. We help you save while supplies last election varies by location. Same day delivery on eligible in stock items subject to availability. Fees vary. Visit lowe's.com SameDay Delivery for full terms.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

New year same extra value meals at McDonald's now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and pretty participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery.

[Will]

Yeah, that's a good pick. I like that. Jonas was a perfect Brad Stevens guy that just, he just got more out of him than any any other coach ever had to that point or after. And it feels like there's like six or seven of those guys that played for those Brad Stevens era Celtics.

[Mark McDonough]

I also think Jerebco is like one of those guys that's like a huge Celtics guy still. Do you know what I mean? Like, he's like very proud to have been on.

[Will]

I saw something, I was trying to rack my brain for it where I don't know if he was shouting out JB or there was and he was his favorite teammate. I think that's right. That's what it was. That's what it was. So Jonas leaving, leaving a lasting impact here all the way through JB's breakout season. Okay, I got one last pick here. So real quick for the audience, let me just run through both of your teams here and then I will make my final pick and maybe make a couple honorable mentions here. So Mark, you have Kyrie Irving, Evan Fournier, Rick Fox, Aaron Baines and Daniel T.S. and Ortiz Ice Greg, you have Al Horford, Christingas Leandro Barbosa, Ugo Gonzalez and Jonas Jerepco. Currently on my roster we have Dino Raja, Dennis Schroeder, Mikhail Pietras, Nevius K. And rounding it out here, I think I'm just gonna go with a personal favorite. I've got a few other guys that we can talk about, some honorable mentions. This guy was 0% chance he's on either of your radars. But in my mind, this is the guy that Mark, when you brought up like, like people that I thought were on this team for way longer and they played one season and this guy is so irrelevant. I wonder if most people are even going to know who he is. Give me Yuri Welsh.

[Greg Manakis]

Oh, of course he's on my. He was literally the first person on my list.

[Will]

Okay, I underestimated maybe. I mean, he's the last pick of the draft. He's Mr. Irrelevant here. So I, I didn't know if he was. If he was at the top of minds, but Yuri Welsh in my mind was an absolute sniper. That was like one of the first guys that I recognized as the, like, oh, this is kind of like one of those microwave players, right, that just all of a sudden can get hot for some reason. And I. This can't be true. But in my Head. I learned the term, like, heat check shot from watching Yuri Welsh. I don't know why that sticks out in my head. Greg, we're at your house, we're watching a game, and Yuri Welsh just hit, like, three shots in a row and then took some wild shot. And they're like, well, that's the definition of a heat check. And I was like, ah, that makes sense. You get, like, free reign when you're on fire, just to take whatever you throw up there.

[Greg Manakis]

What years was he in Boston with Will?

[Mark McDonough]

Early 2000?

[Will]

Yeah, it was 03. So 03.04, and then part of 04.05 before he got traded to Cleveland. So about a year and a half that he was there and 0304 was. He only played four years total in the NBA, so he wasn't around for very long.

[Mark McDonough]

In my mind, he was on the team from, like, oh, 2000, 2005 or something.

[Will]

That's. That's how I felt, man. Looked it up. And I mean, listen, to be fair, fair, in the 0304 season, he played 81 games. He started 68. It's by far his best year in the NBA. He averaged nine points, shot 38 from three, which at that time, you know, on two and a half attempts, that's high volume at that time. So, you know, it probably felt a lot more. And that team outside of Pierce didn't really have a lot to offer, so we were probably making more out of his contribution. And we're just like, oh, maybe this is the next thing.

[Greg Manakis]

But also, at that time, just. Just for the audience, we're all born in, like, like, 89. Everyone here is born 89, right? Yeah. So, yep, we're 14 years old at the time. And when you're 14 years old, like, one year is the equivalent to, like, five years as an adult, right? Like, it's just like one year is 14 years old. It's like, feels like so long. And Yuri Welsh, obviously, he came in with, like, a lot of hype, too. I don't know if that was just, like, the broadcast trying to hype him up or if there was actually hype behind Yuri Welsh, but it seemed like, like, Tommy Hines and Mike Gorman, like, really thought he had potential, and then it just didn't work out.

[Mark McDonough]

So just quickly, Yuri Walsh is what I would like. So you guys listening at home are aware of the Wahlberg family, but we know Brandon, who's part of the Wahlbergs, and whenever I see Brandon, he'll mention old Celtics players, and they're Usually somebody like, he'll be like, ah, Yeri Welsh. Like with no context. And I think Will might have, might mention this person and the honorable mention. But like, Vitali Potempico is another.

[Will]

I just like, literally the first guy I have pulled up from Basketball Reference, I have two, I have two tabs still left open from guys that I just like randomly pulled up so I could, could go to them. Vitaly Patapinko and Vinnie Sex Pants are the two guys.

[Greg Manakis]

Can we do something right now? Will, can you call Wahlberg on, on your phone and just add, tell him we're doing this draft right now and just say, hey, list the first five international Celtics players to come to mind.

[Will]

Mind.

[Greg Manakis]

Put him on speakerphone.

[Will]

First of all, do you think I saved that maniac's number? Mark. Mark has just called me three way in before with Wahlberg and just left me to, left me out to dry on some random calls. I don't have his number saying, okay.

[Greg Manakis]

Mark, will you do it? I actually want to do this right now.

[Mark McDonough]

All right, if he answers, he answers.

[Greg Manakis]

Put him on speakerphone.

[Mark McDonough]

He's gonna think somebody died if I'm calling him. But hold on.

[Will]

11:00Am on a Sunday, running to church.

[Mark McDonough]

He actually might be a church. All right, we'll see you turn it.

[Greg Manakis]

Up by any chance?

[Will]

I'm trying to think of who he's gonna guess or who's correct. Let's see if we can think of real quick someone who he might say.

[Mark McDonough]

Okay, I don't think he's gonna answer. If he calls back while we're recording, I'll put him on one.

[Will]

Okay. Okay, I like that. I like that. We'll leave that hanging out there in case we do get Brandon. Brandon to give us a call back and see who we can drop into the chat. But all right, let's just recap this real quick. So the final international, all time international Celtics teams that we have, Mark, you have Kyrie Irving, Evan Fournier, Rick Fox, Aaron Baines and Daniel T. Slash T Tice Greg, Al Horford, Christapsingis, Leandro Barboso, Ugo Gonzalez and Jonas Jarebco. And for myself, I've got Dino Raja, Dennis Schroeder, Mikhail Pietric, Nemius Kada and Yuri Welsh. If you're listening to this, if you're in the chat, let us know who you think won. I. I'm gonna be honest. I think Greg's team probably wins this game. I don't know how, how close it's going to be, although Kyrie will give Mark, a chance in this one, but I like the exercise. It's. It's like we said, slim pickings once you get past the first kind of two rounds when it comes to the Celtics and Internationals. But Ugo. So we'll see. This is going to be a fun one.

[Greg Manakis]

I was actually surprised at how good all of our teams were, to be honest with you.

[Will]

They came out better than. Than I expected. But that was fun. Mark, thank you for suggesting this be the gimmick that we do with you on the podcast. But it's not the only reason we have you on the podcast here today. We've mentioned this before on past episodes, but we wanted to talk about our good friend here and his new book, the Dead Know Nothing. You can see it here. I've got the book for those of you listening and watching on YouTube. And you can also see Mark's got the merch out. Mark, are we going to be able to get this merch somewhere? I've got, I've got a link in the description wherever you listen to this for people to go ahead and buy the book. Do we, do we have a merch website or what's coming next?

[Mark McDonough]

I don't have a merch website. My wife. I do not use governments. I know you guys use governments. I saw. Just refer to her as. My wife made this for me for this podcast. And look, it's. It's Facebook. We did it backwards so it looks on zoom prepared. We actually did that by accident, but we just put it on backs and put it backwards. But no, the book is for sale though. No merch yet. I've got my Twitter handle there, which is at aging Ranch hand. And as you can see under my name it says we're selling author. So if you guys could make me not the worst song author, that would be great.

[Greg Manakis]

So, Mark, this. You drew the, the COVID art, right?

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, I did. Yeah.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, I, I recognize your. Your kind of like.

[Mark McDonough]

Well, the thing is I don't have any money, so I don't. I can sell this book to do it. So it's it for anybody listening that doesn't know me. Everything involved with this book is all me, for better or worse. So yeah, I am the COVID artist, the publisher, the editor, the writer. Yeah, well, now the advertiser, I guess.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, I do like, just like the general premise of the book. And I also thought that you posted something that was, that really hit home with me as I'm like trying to still be creative in my mid-30s in a hip hop band. Doesn't really lend itself to much success monetarily. But I think that you said, I would rather succeed as a human than fail as a robot, and I really like that because so many people use an AI these days. We talked about Pluribus on our last podcast. It was commentary on AI and whatnot. But I. I do like that you just approach this as, this is me, take it or leave it.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah.

[Greg Manakis]

And.

[Mark McDonough]

And I'm not going to go like an anti AI rant, but, like, I think the point of art is, like, to make an connection with other humans. And if a computer program is completely responsible for the art that you're consuming, like, there's going to be something missing there. Like, I. I mean, I. I don't know how exactly how to describe it, but, like, the. There's. The connection's not going to be the same. So I would rather, like I said, like you said, I would rather somebody read my book and not like it, but know that it was entirely me that made it, rather than, like, I had ChatGPT write a book and people loved it. Like, it wouldn't. I would. I wouldn't get any enjoyment out of that.

[Will]

Yeah. And on the note of the artwork of the book here, which, once again, I'm holding up to the camera for everyone to see, the original logo for this podcast, AKA Brown Boy Lucky, also dates back to the work of Mark McDonough. So there's a long lineage here of your artwork on our show that is coming full circle.

[Mark McDonough]

Okay. This has happened multiple times where either you and Greg, or Greg or whatever, I will send you an idea of something and say, get somebody better at this to fix this. Basically, you're like, we'll just use the version box. I'm basically giving you an outline of what it could look like. And then you're just like, this is fine. But I do think somebody at one point updated that one.

[Will]

Yeah, we did have it updated at one point when. I can't remember whatever podcast that we first signed with. I think they helped us to. To. To update the logo.

[Mark McDonough]

I didn't know that.

[Will]

Yeah, Brown Boy Lucky. That's what we always called him. So that's our original guy. I used to have. I don't think I have it up anymore. No, I think it's in my closet. I have the. I have the Brown Boy Lucky logo that I used to have hanging in.

[Mark McDonough]

My famous as Mickey Mouse.

[Will]

That was always our goal. But, Mark, back to your. Back to your book here. The Dead Know Nothing. I want to give people you Know, kind of an idea. So we don't want to spoil the book. We want people to go buy the book book and read the book. But you know, maybe give us just like, like what are some of the themes that you can look for in this book? I know, obviously I haven't finished yet. I've started it. It take, you know, it's gonna have a backdrop of, you know, your Boston background. Our shared Boston background. You said the stories are not based on anybody. Although that first story, first line feels like I know a person that, that may have had some trouble lighting a, a cigar on a stove. But, but you know, tell us a little bit about, you know, what people can expect from, you know, themes where this takes place and you know, why they might want to, to dive into this book.

[Mark McDonough]

Yes. The opening line is based on Greg. He tried to light a cigar and he lit his hair on fire. And then his mom yelled at him and we were like 28. It wasn't when he was like 14, but in terms of themes. Okay, so the general plot is a Catholic priest is left on the hook for attempted murder. And he's kind of like, he's a well meaning guy, kind of like goofy. And he basically is trying to prove that he did not do this. And then it goes from there, I think for people that don't know me.

[Will]

Or.

[Mark McDonough]

Even people that do, I guess because it's dealing with themes of religion. If you're very anti religion, you might not want to read this book because you're like, oh, I have no interest in Catholicism. Or if you're very Catholic, maybe the book will annoy you at some points because of the subject matter, which I did intentionally to help make no money so that nobody would want to read this. No, I think because it's basically about a guy confronting like his relationship with God and maybe realizing that he went down the wrong path in terms of like what he should have done with his life. Like he's a good person, but maybe he shouldn't have become a priest. But. And then I think the larger theme is maybe just starting over again. So he's like in his 50s and is starting to think maybe he shouldn't have become a priest when he was younger. And perhaps he gets to choose to new to live in a new life. You'll have to see what happens at the end. Or maybe he stays a priest, I don't know. But there's a lot of murder and stuff to do that I'm just skipping over right now. So it can be violent. At times, but I think it's just about choosing to be who you were meant to be. Even though that sounds stupid. I'm sorry.

[Will]

Sorry.

[Greg Manakis]

No, I like it. I, I also think you're, you're missing out on like, the underlying sexual longing and like fire in his loins that you, that you feel like almost immediately in the first chapter when, when the mom and her and her son come to the church because he's spray painted graffiti on the church and he's just like, damn, this mom is fine. And she reminds me of this other girl that was fine when I was younger. And then it like flashes back and like you just feel the, the origins of his story as told through this flashback as a kid just like going through puberty, kind of discovering his own sexuality and whatnot, and just like seeing his, his girl best friend in a bikini.

[Will]

Right.

[Greg Manakis]

And then you just like it. The nostalgia that that brings I think is actually really poignant and I think it, it does, it sets a good, um, foundation for the rest of the book as he's struggling with his relationship with God and his relationship with himself.

[Mark McDonough]

Well, thank you. Yeah. And I mean, I think we, there are a lot of stories about bad priests. Right. But there are also normal priests and I was lucky to have normal priests when I was younger. And like, like, even Jesus says right now I'm not actually a religious person. But Jesus was human even though he was God.

[Will]

Right.

[Mark McDonough]

So he had like carnal desires or whatever. The same as anybody else does in Priests do too. I mean, they are, they're devoted to God, but they're also human beings. And part of being a human being is being attracted to other human beings. So yeah, I wanted to deal with that and I'm not the first person to ever deal with it. I think what I'm spinning it as is like maybe in a more in a slightly comedic way, but also in a very Boston centric way way where I, it just, I've now lived in other places and this. I don't think there's any place as crazy as Boston, so I hope that comes out in the book as well.

[Will]

So something that in. Greg, it's funny you brought up that part because I've only. I'm only at the, the beginning of the book, but, but that part did really connect to me because. And I'm curious if this happened to you guys as well, because we do have. Again, we all grew up in the same area of Dorchester. You know, you mentioned like, I know Father Coin is who you're referencing. With, you know, the priest you're talking about, like, from, from when you were a kid. My mom was in the church, both St. Anne's and St. Brendan's so I was very familiar with, with a lot.

[Greg Manakis]

Of the characters that your mom used to vacation with. Father Wally, we used to use his.

[Will]

His Cape house. Yeah, he wasn't there, but we, we did used to use his Cape House. That was, that was my exposure to, like, people having a cape house was using a priest Cape house, which, I look back, it's kind of weird, but, you know, it is what it is. But what I was thinking of is like. And I'm curious if anyone, whether it was like grandparents or your parents ever did. Ever had said this, but I feel like it was never going to be a thing. But I do feel like many times my grandmother or my mom would be like, you know, just always as you talk to a kid, like, about, like, what their future could be, and they're like, yeah, you could be a priest. Go to the. You know, and. And like, you know, I think back on it and there was never a chance that was ever happening with me. But they, like, did bring it up, like, way too many times. Like, just like, even casually. Like, first it was just like, hey, don't forget, this is an option. Then it became like they would just always kind of throw that in along with, like, yeah, Dr. Scientist. What about priest? Like, it just was always there. So I didn't know. Did that always. Did that happen to you guys? Or was that just like my super religious grandmother and mom that did that?

[Mark McDonough]

So my dad used to tell me, like, I would say legitimately, maybe once a week, he was like, if you become a priest and I get to go to heaven no matter what I do, and hello, Bowie, that's my cat again. But he literally, I don't know if somebody must have told him this when he was young, but he said, he claimed that if your son was a priest, that you got automatically got into heaven. So he used to encourage me all the time to be a priest for selfish reasons.

[Will]

But no, that's a great premise to just live your life to the fullest. Not give a. But only concentrate on getting your son to become a priest, because then it's all good.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, exactly. That was his plan. And then I think, because I was like, like a nerdy kid that got, like, good grades in school, I do think, like, older people in my life were like, well, yeah, he could be a priest. You know, I mean, there's not many options of like, what he could do. So, yeah, people suggested to me all the time, but I did not have any interest in becoming a priest.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, I don't. I don't remember too many times in which it was suggested to me.

[Mark McDonough]

Because you were a good athlete.

[Greg Manakis]

Maybe. Maybe that could be the case. But I do remember this one time where Will was an altar boy. And there's one time where my mom was trying to get me to become an altar boy. And then just because Will was my best friend, like, we were, like, trying to do stuff together, and I was told, okay, you're gonna be an altar boy. So I was like, all right, it. I'll be an altar boy with Will. And we go up on the altar, and we're just, like, goofing off the whole time, and I, like, can't stop laughing. And my mom's just in the crowd, mortified as she's watching us from church. And then finally, like, I tell Will, like, stop with me. Like, I gotta focus here. I'm gonna get in trouble. And there's this one part in the mass where, like, as the. The priest is blessing the communion, you're supposed to ring a little bell as the altar boy. And it was my job to ring the bell. But Will was with me during the mass, so I didn't want to pay attention to him. But I missed the cue for the bell. And he was, like, knocking me on. On the arm, like, dude, like, you gotta ring the bell. You gotta ring the bell. I'm hitting him like, get it, dude. I'm gonna get in trouble. Get away from here. Just completely missed the. The. The bell. And I. Making eye contact with me, like, ring the bell, kid. And finally Will just reaches over and rings the bell. That was the one and only time I was an altar boy.

[Mark McDonough]

I was an altar boy. But then the priest at the time was. I also actually mentioned him at the beginning of the book. His name is Father Freitas. But he. I was, like, bigger than him because I was. I'm huge. You can't. If. For those that don't know me, I'm sitting down right now. But I.

[Will]

Six three and stacked. But.

[Mark McDonough]

But no, I was, like, either taller or the same size as him, so it looked like there was just two priests. Like, when I was. I looked like a young priest.

[Will]

Wait, why?

[Greg Manakis]

You're tall than six three?

[Mark McDonough]

I'm like six three, six four.

[Will]

I don't know.

[Mark McDonough]

I haven't been measured in a while.

[Will]

But as.

[Mark McDonough]

As. As older people in my life get smaller, I become bigger. If that makes sense.

[Greg Manakis]

That's fair.

[Will]

Yeah. All right, Mark. So before we go to Mediocre Life Update, which we're going to going to bring you into America's favorite segment, Mediocre Life Update. Leave the audience here with your. What's the number one reason somebody should go and buy this book, which, by the way, you can use the link below and you can use it for your Kindle. You can also buy the physical copy that I have been showing off here today as well, depending on which type of medium you want to. You want to use. But leave one lasting thought here on why. One last statement on why people should go ahead and give this book a shot.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, I think, like, have there been books like this in the past? Yeah, like a million. But like, nowadays, I think that at least the books that people like recommend or get published, they're like a very specific type of book. I would say this is more of like a throwback in turn. It's like a mystery thriller. It's crime fiction. Is, is, is what I would describe it as. But I would also say if like you like crime movies or if like anything like where detective or, or private detective, that type of thing leading the story that you would like this. I'm. In terms of is this literature? I'm not exactly sure, but I would say it's a good story. And because I'm not like, I'm never going to win like the Pulitzer Prize or whatever, I would say it reads like a movie. Right? So if like you like movies, like, let's say you haven't read a book in 20 years where I have friends, where that's literally the case Will. And then shout to Chris. Chris has read two books in the last 20 years. And the books I read, I wrote. Excuse me. So he doesn't really have a frame of reference, but he liked them. But I would say if you haven't read any in a while, I would say this is a great entry point back into reading because simple prosecution, like, it's easy to read. I would say it's a quick read and I would say it's almost more similar to a movie than it would be to your traditional novel. So, Greg, would you agree? I don't know.

[Greg Manakis]

No, I would agree. I think you do a really good job of just like using imagery to paint a picture in people's mind. Especially if, if, if your goal for this book was to get all of your friends who stopped reading in sixth grade to read again, I think you accomplished it.

[Mark McDonough]

It something else.

[Will]

Yeah, yeah. Little. Little differences turn into big differences. So you're. You're bringing reading back to the community, Mark.

[Greg Manakis]

That's.

[Will]

That's what you're doing. Again, you guys can find the link here. Whether you listen to it on Spotify, Apple. If you guys listen on YouTube, the link is in the description. Make sure that you go check that out. Now let's get to America's favorite seg.

[Greg Manakis]

Don't play the music too long or.

[Will]

I'll kill you, you Mediocre Life Update. All right, that'll do it for that. We still. Mark. We still. It's. It's the worst intro music maybe in. In history. But again, this is called Mediocre Life Update, so we're looking for mediocre intro music, and we don't have it clipped. So it's just me estimating how long I want to play it every time, and it's a different length every single time.

[Greg Manakis]

Drives me crazy.

[Will]

So, Mark, as the guest, I. I want to allow you to go first. But if you want to make sure that your Mediocre Life Update works, we can have Greg go first. I'm gonna. I'm gonna allow you to. To make the choice here. If you want to kick us off or if you want me or Greg to.

[Mark McDonough]

To get the ball rolling, I can go first.

[Greg Manakis]

Go for it.

[Will]

Let it.

[Mark McDonough]

Let it rip, my friend. Okay, so. So I don't know if you've seen the horror movie Weapons, but there was a horror movie Weapons this year.

[Will]

Yes.

[Mark McDonough]

And without ruining anything, it's. It revolves a witch, and she. She has a very distinct look. So for Halloween. For Halloween, I went as the witch at work, and so it's a female witch. So I had lipstick on, full makeup, the wig, like a necklace. And when I got to work, yes, I did wear that on the train as well. So people just thought I was a crazy person. There was literally teenage girls pointing and laughing at me, which was great. But when I got to work, I was in costume, and just. People just didn't know what I was, so they were just, like, either scared or concerned or whatever. Some people didn't realize it was Halloween until they saw me, and they were like, oh, I love your costume. I don't know what it is. And I kept hearing that over and over again. So we had a costume contest, and I was like, okay, other people that. That are dressing up, maybe they'll know, like, what I am. I mean, it was a movie that was in theaters, but I. It became increasingly weird. I became increasingly aware that. That this Was not going over well. And so I went to the costume contest and people like, oh, that's great, but what are you. And so I'm like trying to say, like, oh, this is movie about a witch, and I'm the witch in the movie. And this girl who I've never met before at my work came over and was like, he's Weapons. Like, which is the name of the movie. And then she just like, stood by me. I don't even know her name. And so anytime somebody would come over to ask who I was, I'd go. She'd go, he's weapons. And they'd be like, oh, okay. So they were more confused because I was a weapon. The plural of weapons. That's exactly what I was.

[Will]

Was.

[Mark McDonough]

I look like that. And there's a girl next to me just like. As my like, assistant manager, just going, oh, he's weapons. So anyways, people. People just say, said your weapons. I won the costume contest partially because not many people dressed off of the costume contest. But now when that lady sees me in the hallway, she's like, oh, there's weapons. And so that's my name now. That's my mediocre life update.

[Greg Manakis]

I love it.

[Mark McDonough]

It.

[Will]

That's fantastic.

[Greg Manakis]

That's great. I would say, you know, it. It is January 11th, so I don't know this is a life update because this is from Halloween, you know, that's.

[Mark McDonough]

Like, I'm still Weapons is the thing.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay, okay, okay, okay. So that's. That's your name. Do you. And you have yet to learn her name?

[Mark McDonough]

No, I don't know what I mean. I know I would say her name probably isn't Weapons if I was to guess, but.

[Will]

Yeah. This reminds me of a time when I was in. In sixth grade when Greg. When we went to the Rogers in high park, which actually don't think exists anymore.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, closed down.

[Will]

Yeah, closed down. But I think. I'm pretty sure you were on the bus for this. But there was kind of like this hierarchy, right? Like the 8th graders ran the bus because it was 6th. 7th, 8th grade. 8th graders ran the bus. And you know, kind of like what you were saying earlier, like, when you're in sixth grade, eighth graders are like, dude, they're so old. They're like basically adults. Like, is how you're. You're feeling, especially when you're new to the school. And. And there was this one chick on the bus who, in my mind, she looked like the brat, like the rapper. That's kind of how I still remember her. And. But she used to, like, pick on everybody. And, like, I just in my head was like, yeah, just don't come to me. Don't come to me. And, like, she was just calling people virgins and. Which was, like, the biggest insult. Like, oh, no, she's gonna call me a virgin. And so she's, like, making her way around. And I remember she came over to me. I'm just listening to my CD player to try and keep to myself. And she was like, hey, yo, little. Little N word. Which I'm not, but little N word, like, what you listening to? And so I like, you know, very, like, sheepishly, like, hand her my CD to show her what I'm listening to. And she was like, oh, little N word. Listening to Nelly. Then she saw it was the edited version, but so she made fun of me for that for a little bit. But from that day forward, all she did was like, kind of like your story, Mark. She would see me in the hall, and she's like, hey, yo, what up, little Nelly? Yo, what up, Nelly? Every single time. So I was like, listen, if she's just gonna call me Nelly and not bully me, and she thinks that's, like, good enough. I'm. I'm totally on board with. With being Nelly for the rest of my sixth grade life.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, that's a win.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah, you either that at that point it was like you were Nelly or you were little Bow Wow. It's like, those were the two people that everybody at the Rogers were looking. That's hysterical. Okay, I'll go next. I'm gonna go cleaning. So I texted Will before the pod, and I was like, hey, have I talked about my Swiffer on the pod yet? And he goes, no, I don't think you have. So this is also. You know, about a month ago, my mom came to visit, and Danielle was out of town for, I think for work or to visit family or something like that. And it was just me. So, like, my house wasn't that clean. It wasn't dirty, but it wasn't like, that clean. And my mom decided at the end of the trip that we needed a Swiffer. So when Danielle, there's a Swiffer waiting at the door for. For us. Like, my mom sent it. She didn't say that she was going to order. So sweat for. She just ordered us a Swiffer. Right? So subtle.

[Will]

I like it.

[Greg Manakis]

In Danielle's mind, this is like the biggest insult ever. It's like, she's like, does your mom know that we have two mops. I was like, we've used those mops maybe once in the four years that we've lived here. But, yes, my mom knows that we have. We have two mops. And she was, like, spiraling for, like, a week about how she's, like, a bad, bad partner or whatever. My mom thinks keep the house clean, or we don't keep the house clean, but I have a Swiffer. Now, the issue with the Swiffer is that there's, like, a battery insert in the back. And for whatever reason, this Swiffer did not come with the battery insert. And for a while, I was just like, I don't know how to use this because there's no battery. So what I started to do is just take regular cleaning spray and spray it on the floor and then just use the Swiffer mop to clean it up. So if you can imagine, I'm walking around with the Swiffer in one hand and cleaning spray on the other, and I'm spraying the floor and then mopping. But then I was like, you know what? I actually have the solution that comes with the Swiffer, but I just don't have the thing to make it come out of the Swiffer. So I, like, punctured it with a knife. And what I'm doing is now I'm spraying it on the floor from that cleaning solution. But the issue is the Swiffer works better when it's actually inside of the insert because there's an extra amount of wood weight in there that allows you to clean the floor properly. But Danielle, it drives Danielle absolutely crazy because she watches me and she's like, we can just get a new Swiffer or use the mops that we have. I'm like, no. Like, my mom bought this for me. I'm going to utilize it. And I think she prefers this to how I typically would clean the floor, which is with a spray bottle on my hands and knees with the roll of paper towels, because that's how my mom cleaned the floor growing up. And I just thought everybody cleaned the floor that way on their hands and knees. But apparently that's just not the case. And she never believed me that this is how my family would. Would clean the floor until she visited my home, and she literally witnessed my mom on her hands and knees with a roll, paper towels, and cleaning solution. But, yeah, that's my mediocre life update. My mom did text me and say she would send us a new Swiffer with batteries, but I told her I think that might Cause more problems.

[Will]

Couldn't you just buy the battery pack separately? Is that not an option? Option?

[Greg Manakis]

Probably.

[Will]

I was gonna say, I feel like that's the easiest solution to all of this is like you have everything else, but the one part that this company I'm sure makes DUP replicates of that you can purchase because they break or you need to update it at some point.

[Greg Manakis]

But I'm already committed to it.

[Mark McDonough]

But I would say if you don't have a battery, you just gotta get the battery.

[Will]

But yeah, this is why we do mediocre life. Update these things that we can. We can, we can have help solve problems. But I gotta be honest, that's. That's kind of a bold move by your mom, if I'm gonna be honest. I like. It's. It's super subtle. Well, not though it's not super subtle, but like the fact that she did it after she visited left and then like on the plane. It's just like, I gotta get them a Swiffer and then just sends it to your.

[Greg Manakis]

I think she. She thought she was being helpful, right? She thought she was being helpful. And I told her straight up. I was like, I don't use these mops. Like, I. I'm just. We. We weren't a mop family. So, like, when I see that, when I see the mop in the garage, I'm like, that is something I'm not familiar with. I don't want to utilize that. It's just like, it just.

[Will]

I never use them. I use the Swiffer every once in a while, but I don't even do that enough. But I guess I get yelled at for that. But like, I definitely never use the mop.

[Greg Manakis]

The mops are for when Danielle's mom comes to visit and she decides our floor doors are too dirty and mops the lobsters.

[Will]

I like it. I like it. That's a. That's a good update. So, so where. So where, as of today, where are we at with. With Swiffergate? Are you. Is. Has it been decided you're getting another Swiffer? You're. You're going to use the mops your mom's buying? Getting you a battery pack that you guys can order yourself. Where we at?

[Greg Manakis]

I'm the one cleaning the floors, so I'm gonna keep doing. Doing it how I do it, which is exactly how I describe grabbed full.

[Will]

Full metal jacket style. Just get the. The toothbrush out and just start going around, going around the floors. Okay. I like it. All right, I will round us out with my mediocre life update. This is going to be a little bit of. I think I know the answer already, but I just want you guys to kind of hold me accountable here, and I'll see what you. What you guys say. So obviously, you know, we're recording this here. What is it? January 11th. So, you know, I. I don't know if you guys are. Margaret, you've done it before. You do in dry January right now.

[Mark McDonough]

Yeah, I am doing dry January.

[Will]

Okay. And, Greg, I know you usually do it up until your. Your birthday, typically. We decided, you know, what, with a new baby in the house, like, we don't drink that much anyways. And when we do, it's like, I kind of need a drink right now. Like, I'm not gonna, like, you know, what's it gonna do? Cutting out the one or two times that we do it socially, like, over the next couple of, you know, weeks. So we decided we weren't really doing that, and then we didn't really have anything. But we came back from. We were in El Paso for Christmas, and New Year's came back, and then we had. We had no food in the house. So then we had to go and food shop, like, Saturday or Sunday last week. And then, like, Monday or Tuesday, me and both my wife, Lorena, like, we both get kind of like a sweet tooth after. After dinner. And so usually for her, it's like ice cream. For me, it's like, is there cookies or is there, like, some candy that I put in the fridge? Like, that's really just. And it's become. It's become a bit of a problem for being real. It's become a bit of a problem. It's like, it just happens every single time. And so we didn't get anything. Anything really kind of on accident. And so I thought about it. You know what? This would probably actually be a good challenge for us. Not like dry January, like, but actually not having sweets would be. Would be good. So we were like, all right, let's do that for the month of January. No sweets. However, one thing I forgot before I did this was my work sent me this, like, thing called Sugar Wish, which is, like, you can, like, get. You can pick your own gifts. And so I picked a whole bunch of, like, cookies and brownies for us that just showed up at our door yesterday, and they literally look bomb. And so now I'm in this position where we really want to stick to it, obviously. But now there. There's this temptation in the house that we didn't have before, which was accidental, but now there's this temptation. And so here's the, here's the thing and I want you guys to, I want to see what you guys think. We could either cave just for the gift because, you know, this is a gift. I don't like wasting food. I get, I get really annoyed with like wasting because I don't want to waste it. Two, we can just kind of hope that they hold like, you know, these are, these are treats that they, they could make it another three weeks, I think. I don't really know. Haven't looked into it. But it could be a nice little reward once we get to the end of the month. Or I don't go into an office, but Lorena does, so I can send her like, hey, just put these in your office and, and give them away. What's the move? Do, do we cave and still move forward with the rest of the challenge? Do we leave them in the house as temptation and, you know, kind of use it as like a build up our, our battle against sweets, but we don't touch them and then we try to use it as a reward or do we just get them the hell.

[Greg Manakis]

Out of the house? Go ahead.

[Mark McDonough]

I, this would be like if I went and got a 30 pack above light and just put it in the refrigerator. But this is not helpful for you at all.

[Will]

But it's an extra level to the challenge.

[Mark McDonough]

I, I think Greg is going to tell you to stay strong.

[Will]

Wrong.

[Mark McDonough]

What I might suggest as an alternative is we. Everybody gets in the head that, like, has to be January 1st to January 30th. But this is like, this is a limit we're putting on ourselves. So you could have them and then just start the month afterwards. It's not as clean as saying, try January.

[Will]

I think if it was January 2nd, I'd be in that. But where it's January 11th, I'm like, cool. We did it for like six days.

[Mark McDonough]

Well, you can Valentine's Day, the end date and then, then celebrate our Valentine.

[Will]

That's a good point. That's a good point.

[Greg Manakis]

I do like that. But I, I think there is something to momentum when you're doing these challenges. Right. And if you've already built up the momentum where it's January 11th and you haven't had any sweets, I think you just got to keep going with it and you got to donate this to the office. I think that that's the move that I would do. You know what's crazy, Will, did we talk about this? Because this is Literally what I'm doing.

[Will]

I think you did inspire this. I think you mentioned this to me. I didn't know to, to like what extent you guys were doing it, but, like, I know that. I think you mentioned to me and then I was like, oh, you know what? We actually did, like, usually we do get some type of ice cream or sweet that we have, like after dinner. And just we had so much. The house was so empty. It was just something we forgot to get. Like, it wasn't top of mind. And so then, like the first couple nights we made dinner, I was like, I really want something. But then I think your idea kind of, or you mentioned it kind of clicked. Checked in.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah. We're doing the same thing where, like, typically I would go until February 23rd without drinking. I barely drink anymore, so if I have a drink here or there, it's not that big a deal. Like next weekend we're going to be in North Carolina and her uncle makes his own beer, so I'll probably have a beer or two. But we're also not doing sweets. What I have substituted instead of sweets is Honey Nut Cheerios. Just have a bowl of cereal with, with a banana.

[Will]

Literally had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios last night.

[Greg Manakis]

There you go. Right? That's all you got to do. If you don't want sweets. Just substitute it with, with like a somewhat ostensibly healthy cereal and then you're good.

[Mark McDonough]

And you eating chairs at the movies.

[Greg Manakis]

Sneak it in your jacket.

[Will]

Plastic bag.

[Greg Manakis]

Plastic bag of Cheerios.

[Will]

Yeah. Bring your own milk. Yeah. Okay. So, yeah, I gotta, I'm gonna figure. I think, I think. Greg, I think you're right. I think I might just donate it because the momentum thing is the big piece, right? Yeah.

[Greg Manakis]

If, if, if I were in your position and I had that, like. How many, how many suites do you have on hand right. Right now?

[Will]

I mean, there's like three of them, but they're like huge. They're. They're like, you know, they, they come from those, these companies that, that work with different corporations.

[Greg Manakis]

Yeah.

[Will]

So it's like. I mean, it's like a cookie, but it's like the size of my face is this cookie, you know, either.

[Greg Manakis]

Okay, the other option is just have a cheat day tonight and eat it all. Eat it all in one day and then it's, it's out of your house.

[Will]

I, yeah, we'll see. I, I think I'm gonna go the donate route or I'm gonna look it up and see if on the website. If it's like, oh, yeah, these are good for like up to two months. And it's like, okay, we can. Or, yeah, throw them in the freezer or something. So it's like out of sight, out of mind, but yeah, okay, Wanted to bring that up.

[Greg Manakis]

Throw them in the freezer. They'll keep in the freezer for a month.

[Will]

Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

[Mark McDonough]

All right.

[Will]

I need some accountability. I need to put this out into the world, though, because I needed. I needed accountability. I'm. I'm like George Costanza. I'm. I'm. I'm weak. So I needed. I needed to put this out there for everyone to hear. And that's gonna do it. For another rousing edition of Mediocre Life update, we've been, we've been taking some of these shout out to our guy Alex here. He's been taking some of these and putting them on their own segment so they'll live within the podcast. But if you are looking for just Mediocre Life updates, we do have several of those up on our YouTube page if you guys want to go and check it out.

[Mark McDonough]

Loves Mediocre Life updates.

[Will]

Hey, listen, it happens sometimes. Sometimes our. Our. Sometimes our best content has nothing to do with basketball. So that's why when I tell people I do a podcast, I'm like, hey, listen, you might not like the Celtics, you may not like basketball, but we talk about other too. So come, come hang out with us. We try to have a good time. Mark, appreciate you joining us, man. Here. I'm excited to continue reading this book. Right now you're bringing. Bringing reading back to the community. You're doing the Lord's work and so we're trying to help spread that message. But yeah, again, the link to buy the book is in the description here. Mark, thank you for joining us.

[Mark McDonough]

Thanks for having me.

[Will]

We'll be, we'll be back this week. I don't know what to sell the schedule. Stop my head here. But we'll be back probably Wednesday. I think there's a game on Wednesday. So we'll be back probably Wednesday night or so.

[Greg Manakis]

Well, remember, I'm in. I'm in Charlotte, so I can't record until Thursday.

[Will]

So Thursday. There it is, folks. Thursday. We'll have a podcast for you here. So appreciate you guys checking in with us here. We'll catch you guys later this week.

[Mark McDonough]

Peace. Thanks, guys.

[Greg Manakis]

Until I hit the floor.

[Will]

Every time I hit this it don't take much no more Until I met.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

New Year, same extra value meals at McDonald's. Now get a savory sausage McMuffin with egg plus hash browns and a small coffee for just $5 for a limited time only. Prices and participation may vary. Prices may be higher in Hawaii, Alaska and California. And for delivery.