Revisiting 'Air Bud' | Film Session

Summary

Podcast Title: No Dunks
Host/Authors: Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD
Episode: Revisiting 'Air Bud' | Film Session
Release Date: July 26, 2025

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Introduction to the Episode

In this special episode of No Dunks, hosted by Skeets, Tas, Trey, and JD, the team dives into a nostalgic review of the beloved 1997 family film, Air Bud. The episode coincides with the exciting announcement of Air Bud Returns, set to release in 2026, marking the 15th installment in the franchise. Skeets introduces the episode by highlighting that the new film will build upon the original’s legacy rather than serve as another sequel or remake.

Notable Quote:

Skeets [01:45]: "To celebrate the big news, we're re-releasing one of our first ever film session podcasts from back in April of 2020 when we watched and reviewed the '90s movie. It was something. It was something."

Revisiting the Original Air Bud

The hosts reminisce about their initial encounter with Air Bud. Skeets notes that none of them had seen the movie during their childhood, setting the stage for a fresh yet critical walkthrough.

Housekeeping and Technical Hiccups: Before delving into the film, Skeets mentions technical difficulties they faced during a live session, causing delays and frustrations.

Notable Quote:

Trey Kirby [04:31]: "We were having some technical difficulties... Instagram can't quite handle the load."

Plot and Character Analysis

Premise of Air Bud: Air Bud centers around a stray golden retriever named Buddy who showcases extraordinary basketball skills, joining his owner Josh's school team and transforming the dynamics of his team.

Key Characters:

• Buddy: The titular dog with an uncanny ability to play basketball.
• Josh: A young boy coping with the loss of his father, finding solace in basketball.
• The Clown: An antagonistic character attempting to reclaim Buddy.

Notable Scenes Discussed:

1. The Abusive Clown: The episode critiques the portrayal of the clown, noting its unrealistic behavior and physical comedy, which left some hosts unimpressed.

   JD [10:02]: "I was angry that we even have to talk about this."

2. Buddy’s Basketball Skills: Hosts debate the plausibility of a dog excelling so effortlessly in basketball, with Skeets questioning Buddy’s limited actual playtime in the film.

   J. Skeets [07:01]: "There is not a lot of basketball really being played by this dog."

3. Emotional Core: The relationship between Josh and Buddy is examined, highlighting mixed emotional responses, especially concerning Josh's interactions with the clown and his own personal struggles.

4. Humorous Critiques: The hosts consistently infuse humor, mocking plot inconsistencies like Josh carrying a basketball in a knapsack and the unrealistic setting near Puget Sound.

   JD [06:25]: "100%, yeah. From the get go... The only thing they did like was when the dog was playing basketball."

Technical and Creative Commentary

The hosts delve into the filmmaking aspects, such as:

• Special Effects: Skeets references Roger Ebert’s remark about the believable portrayal of Buddy’s basketball actions without visible special effects.

  Skeets [65:01]: "The critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. 45%. The audience score based off of like 300,000 plus user ratings. 38%."

• Acting and Casting: Michael Jeter’s performance as the clown is both praised and critiqued for its physical comedy yet unrealistic actions.

Ratings and Final Thoughts

Each host assigns a unique, humorous rating system to Air Bud, collectively expressing a negative reception despite the film's nostalgic charm.

Ratings Given:

• Tas: 1 out of 5 vanilla pudding cups.

  Tas [79:35]: "I've got five vanilla pudding cups out, but four are empty. It's just one vanilla pudding cup out of five."

• Trey: Zero paws out of four.

  Trey Kirby [80:26]: "I'm giving it zero paws out of four. Doesn't even get one paw. It's zero. It's that bad."

• JD: 10 cans of SpaghettiOs out of 10.

  JD [82:14]: "I'm going away from my bobbleheads, and I'm gonna rate this. 10 cans of SpaghettiOs, 10 being the worst..."

• Skeets: Two Arthur Chaney Knicks cards out of five.

  Skeets [81:17]: "So I'm gonna give it two Arthur Chaney Knicks Cards. Out of five..."

Discussion on Sequels and Legacy

The conversation transitions into a light-hearted brainstorming session about potential future Air Bud sequels, suggesting various sports Buddy could master, from cricket to gymnastics, and even imagining Bond-themed or legal (Judge Bud) iterations.

Notable Quote:

Tasmelis [74:53]: "Swimming. No, you think it would be an Olympic swimming."

Engaging the Audience

The hosts encourage listener interaction, inviting fans to share their thoughts on Air Bud via social media and email, fostering a community discussion around the film's lasting impact and the upcoming sequel.

Closing Remarks: Skeets wraps up the episode by reflecting on the enjoyment derived from dissecting a “crappy” movie, emphasizing that humor and camaraderie make the review process entertaining despite the film's shortcomings.

Notable Quote:

Skeets [82:43]: "I listened to that Mad About Movies podcast and these guys were funny guys. I was laughing on my run... So two out of five Arthur Chaney, Knicks Cards. But that's what we think."

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Conclusion

This episode of No Dunks provides a comprehensive and entertaining critique of Air Bud, blending nostalgic appreciation with sharp humor and critical analysis. The hosts’ dynamic discussions underscore both the film’s charm and its flaws, engaging listeners who may share similar sentiments or differing views on this classic family movie.

Stay Tuned: The team hints at future episodes, including a new week of podcasts with diverse topics such as survivor tales and more NBA insights, ensuring that listeners have plenty to look forward to.

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Connect with No Dunks:

• Email: [e-mail]
• Social Media: Follow on Twitter and Instagram at @NoDunksInc

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Note: Timestamps provided correspond to the moments of notable quotes and discussions within the transcript.

Transcript

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[J. Skeets]

What'S up everyone? This is Skeets here from no Dunks. As some of you know, everyone's favorite dunking dog is headed back to the silver screen in 2026. Cineverse and Air Bud Entertainment have announced that the new movie Air Bud Returns will drop next summer. It's going to mark the 15th in the air Bud franchise and we're told that the new film will not be another sequel or remake. In fact, the press release reads it builds upon the legacy of the OG airbud with all the fun, the magic, heartwarming scenes and Buddy playing basketball. End quote. So to celebrate the big news, we're re releasing one of our first ever film session podcasts from back in April of 2020 when we watched and reviewed the 90s movie. It was something. It was something. Quick note before we start here. This podcast was recorded before we started uploading regularly to YouTube so there'll be no visuals of our sexy faces. Instead you'll be looking at a dog dunking or a dog wearing basketball shoes or whatever. Crazy photo JD decides to throw up here. Point is, ain't no rules says a podcast can't re release a classic. So here it is. No Dunks on the original airbud movie. Enjoy. Good morning, sweet world, and welcome to the no Dunks podcast on the Athletic Network. It's Monday, April 6th. This is Film session and today we're breaking down Ear Bud. I'm J. Skeets, and alongside me, thanks to the power of technology, Tasmelis.

[Tasmelis]

Hey, bud.

[J. Skeets]

Hey, bud. We also got the bearded one, Trey. Kirby Ayo.

[Trey Kirby]

Hey, yo.

[J. Skeets]

The international Mana Mystery. Taking it to the Max. Lee Ellis. Friends. Last but not least, making the magic happen. It's JD Hello. There he is. And here we are. Alright, before we dribble and drool, little housekeeping. Email us your NBA questions and comments to no dunks@the athletic.com we'll be beach stepping it up later this week. Follow us on social media, Twitter and Instagram at no Dunks Inc. We attempted to open a pack of basketball cards on Thursday last week. Lily. Wow. We were having some technical difficulties.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, Instagram's fault, not ours. So there was a lot of problems with people going live because everyone's going live right now. So. So I don't think Instagram can quite handle the load. That's really what's happening. But we got there in the end and that's what's important.

[J. Skeets]

We had to restart the thing like four times. I was getting angrier and angrier. But we did get to. We got through the end of the pack. We had some good cards too.

[Trey Kirby]

I had a great pack.

[J. Skeets]

And you know, we're on [e-mail] no Dunks Inc. Well, I guess it's official. We're now on Facebook. All right, our movie today, 1997's Airbuds, directed by the one and only Charles Martin Smith, starring a good boy named Buddy. Really, that's all that matters. We don't need to worry about the humans in this. The IMDb synopsis. An unexpected player joins the school basketball team. A circus dog who escaped from a cruel master. That's the breakdown for this movie. So we clarified before we were heading into watching this over the weekend that nobody had seen Earbud here on no Ducks, which actually blew my mind. I guess that shows our age a little bit. I think when it came out we were, you know, just probably old. We were too old to be watching Ear Bud at the time. We weren't like in that, you know, 8, 9, 10, 11 year old range.

[Lee Ellis]

So I had to wait until we were approaching 40 to get in on.

[J. Skeets]

I was curious if any of you guys with your kids, you know, over the weekend watched it with them or did you go solo watching Ear Bud like I did?

[Lee Ellis]

Oh, I watched it with our kids and our youngest, Ada liked it fine. You know, she was like dying laughing at a dog making basketball shots. And our oldest, Isla, 5 years old, hated it in tears so many times I wish I had never watched this movie with my kids. But then I would have been stuck watching Air Bud by myself as a grown up. So it's a real catch 22. But wow, I don't even know if this is a good movie for children.

[Tasmelis]

Was it do you think? Because the dog wasn't being treated properly?

[Lee Ellis]

100%, yeah. From the get go. You've got this opening scene with the angry clown who hates being a clown, which left me explaining for the rest of the weekend. What Daddy, why doesn't he like being a clown? I'm like, I don't know. He's just an angry old man. That's just how some people are. But yeah, they hated the way the dog was treated at the beginning. They hated when the dog had to go back to the clown. They hated the Harry and the Hendersons homage scene. The only thing they did like was when the dog was playing basketball. And the dog doesn't even play basketball that much in this movie.

[J. Skeets]

No, there is not a lot of basketball really being played by this dog. I agree with you. What about you, Lee? Did you watch with your boys? No, no, no.

[Trey Kirby]

I watched it by myself because I just wanted to get through it as quick as possible. I didn't want to have to do any pausing and answering questions.

[J. Skeets]

Nice. Fire the punch.

[Trey Kirby]

Two things that stood out for me because on the, on the COVID of the video it shows him dunking. So I was, I thought we were just going to go completely crazy and it was going to be a dog just throwing down dunks and alley oops and things like that. But it was actually kind of just a trained dog who could use his snout to put the ball in the basket a few times and he walked pretty well in, in the, in the basketball shoes there too. But what I actually, it was the, I think, you know, pretty much the very first scene of the movie where the clown opens the door to the kid's birthday party and the kid kicks him in the shins. I thought instantly of our friend and former colleague Rick the cameraman who was the first goofy, and he said that that's all kids used to do, was, in fact, kicking in the shins wasn't too bad, but he was always getting punched in the nuts. And I thought that's exactly what happens. Kids see a clown or someone dressed up, and they just go straight to try to hurt them.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. It was driving me nuts who the actor was playing the clown. And then it hit me that he was one of the inmates in the Green Mile. Yeah, right. Like, I think the guy with, like. Did he have, like, a little, like. Was not a hamster. Was it just a rodent or something? I don't know, that he became friends with?

[JD]

Yeah. It was a mouse, wasn't it?

[J. Skeets]

Mouse. Yeah, it was. You're right. You're right.

[Tasmelis]

I thought that was Lanny McDonald. Talk about old.

[J. Skeets]

What a reference.

[Tasmelis]

You want an old mustache callback? There's one. I had no idea this was based on a true story. Loosely based on a true story, basically, is like, we would base something on a true story. Like, okay, there's.

[JD]

There's.

[Tasmelis]

There's this. I had no idea, though, that Stephen J. Nesbitt was the guy who broke it down to me. In 1989, a waiter found a stray golden retriever in the woods in Yosemite Valley. The dog carried a pine cone and dropped it at the man's feet. The man threw the pine cone and the dog brought it back. The man kept the dog. He named him Buddy. Then he showed up on David Letterman because he was taught to shoot hoops. Yep, he could shoot hoops. And then he. He was a halftime act. Dennis Rodman pulled him off the court once because he came back onto the court. On the Detroit Free Press, there's a photo of Dennis Rodman holding the dog. He replaced Comet once on Full House. His buddy was making buckets. Bob Saget tossed the ball up and Buddy banged. At home, Dave Coulier and John Stamos went nuts while Dave Coulier did. John Stamos was too cool for school. And then 1997, he became the movie star.

[J. Skeets]

It is crazy.

[JD]

And then he died in 1998.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Then we had a bunch of other buddies playing the role of Air Bud. Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

So he wasn't three or four years old, as it was said in the final scene.

[JD]

Clearly not three years old. If you've ever spent any time with a dog, like, is that dog was older than time.

[J. Skeets]

J.D. you seem angry that we even have to talk about this.

[JD]

It was such a chore to sit through this thing, man. My 11 year old son walked out of it. I am not watching this garbage.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Okay, so I did want to sort of like chronologically go through this movie. We're not gonna go every scene, but you guys are talking about that first one, like the Clown and the Hound. I, you know, so we got the clown at the birthday party. At one point I thought he was throwing snooker balls at Buddy. Did anybody else think those things looked heavy to me? But he was whipping them, he was chucking them at Buddy, who was catching him like a good boy. No problem. The part that drove me nuts though is like this guy's driving around in like a beat up pickup truck. But he had a car phone.

[JD]

Yeah, in 1997, car phones were like.

[J. Skeets]

A couple grand if I'm not mistaken. Like way back then. Like his, his pickup truck later in the movie is legit falling apart and this guy has a car phone in it. So he is putting, you know, his money into the wrong thing that you asked me.

[Lee Ellis]

But I'm also a little upset with the mom who threw this birthday party. First of all, what kind of mom hires a clown like that for her birthday party? Look at his truck. It's got an angry face clown on the top of it. You know, that's a bad sign. Second of all, when Buddy botches like the big ball toss and the clown goes flying, there's no problems at that point. He just falls down, could have been fine, but then the mom just starts howling at this clown and that's when everything goes haywire.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, it's.

[JD]

Can I just say about the clown, I mean, he's supposed to be an angry, you know, unhappy, bad clown. You cast Michael Jeter, who is one of the greatest physical actors of all time. And by the way, as a clown, he's awesome. Yeah, yeah, like hilarious. Like if kids sitting there watching him doing that, like messing up the way he was, they would be howling with laughter. Like the fact that he's bombing and is just so unrealistic to me. And then he's throwing balls at a dog who's lying down and catching it and the kids are going wild. I've seen every dog that I've ever met do that. Like, it's not cool. It's not great. It's nothing.

[J. Skeets]

You've never thrown a ball that hard at a dog.

[JD]

Not a billiard ball. No, you're right.

[Trey Kirby]

So.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah, but that. Doesn't that speak to how bad the clown is? And that's why he can't maintain a job. Maybe he's just not a good clown.

[JD]

Hey, yeah, no, there's no doubt he sucks at the tricks, but my point is that Michael Jeter is one of the great comic actors. He was on Sesame street as a clown. They only hire the best. And if you've ever seen the Fisher King, he steals the show with his physical comedy from Robin Williams.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Of all people. Yeah. Wow. Okay, so you didn't. You didn't like that he was cast as a bad clown?

[JD]

No, get a. Get a big, you know, whatever. An old fat guy who's actually, you know, bad at being a clown.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah, I hear you. I hear you. Well, we. Okay, so he's upset with Buddy because he feels like he ruined the whole birthday party. So he's on his way in his beat up pickup truck. He's gonna, I guess, drop him at the pound, Right? That's what he's using the car phone to call. Yeah. 20 minutes away. So Buddy falls out the back. Then we get this, like, quick little scene where somehow an 18 wheeler avoids hitting the dog crate, but the mom slams right into it. That drove me nuts. And then, if you notice, she hits it again while she's pulling away. Holy crap. Mom. Okay, so then the family, Josh and his mom.

[JD]

Well, hold on. Yeah, she hits. She hits the crate, which releases Buddy, who's in a clown suit. Fine. She's distracted with the daughter in the back. But Josh doesn't say anything. He just looks at him. It's like, hey, there's a dog dressed as a clown that just climbed out of that box. Mom.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, he's lovely.

[Tasmelis]

He's an introspective kid. He's always thinking. He's always one step ahead with his brain. He's thinking, where did this clown come from? Where did he. How did he get that outfit on? That's a weird choice of red and white on his body.

[J. Skeets]

So the family moves to Fernfield, I think the place is called. Right. Where. Where everything is possible.

[JD]

Noted, Director noted.

[J. Skeets]

Nice little tell there. Yes. Where everything is possible in beautiful Fernfield.

[Tasmelis]

We watched Kevin Garnett last week. Anything is possible now. Everything is possible.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I was wondering if that's where KG was inspired from. Maybe he had just watched Air Bud. Who knows? So the mom casually brags about working at the third largest natural factory in North America.

[JD]

That's my favorite piece of ADR in the whole movie.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, that was fantastic. We learned that Josh loves, you know, he loves the aba, he loves basketball, and that his dad died in a crash. Right?

[Trey Kirby]

Plane crash, yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Like he was a pilot.

[Tasmelis]

That was strange. He was unpacking his own stuff, and he's got a photo of the article from last year.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

About his dad dying. Would he have an article?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

Then he. Then he pulls out like that. That was how the director decided to tell the story. I guess it's just a mistake. Then he pulls out a photo of him and dad. That makes sense. The article. Strange one. That should have came out of mom's napkin box, I think.

[JD]

Yeah. I mean, this, like the worst exposition. I mean, this. This whole movie is lazy exposition. But he unpacks. The first thing he unpacks is a basketball. The second thing is the article. Shout out to the prop department, by the way, because the article. I freeze the article and I read it. Yeah, the best line. Captain Fram is best known for being the first man to break the sound barrier with a banana and a long sports sock. No line from. From the. The article.

[Lee Ellis]

He's a legend.

[JD]

Third thing he takes out of the box is the framed picture, as you said, Tas, of himself on his dead dad's shoulders dunking the basketball he had just unpacked. Okay, we get it.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, you got to tell the story of Josh, Fran.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah. First of all, I actually thought about pausing it and reading that article. JD Kudos. Kudos to you for doing it. It shows how. How into these podcasts you are. What a change from the basketball shows we did on a daily basis to these shows.

[J. Skeets]

So then, you know, then we sort of are at the school. Mom is meeting the principal of the school that Josh is going to be attending. Is it a middle school? It's not high school, is it? Can. Can anybody confirm that it's got to.

[JD]

Be a middle school?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay. Because he's like, 10.

[Lee Ellis]

Yeah, I thought he was about 10. Fifth grade. 10, 11, something like that.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, so Josh tries his hand at the trombone, which I would like to point out an excellent instrument. That is. That is the instrument that I picked up. I was in high school, and I only took one music class. The trombone is just a hilarious instrument to play.

[JD]

It's the funniest instrument.

[J. Skeets]

It's by far the funniest instrument. I was garbage at it. You gotta be a.

[Lee Ellis]

One of my good buddies from college played trombone all throughout high school. So he just kept his trombone in the trunk of his car, and anytime it would be like, two in the morning, there's a party and everybody's going crazy. He'd snap. Sneak out to his car, come back in and Start playing.

[Trey Kirby]

Bom bom bom bom bom bom bom bom.

[Lee Ellis]

That's all he knew of Louie Louie, but it always brought the house down.

[J. Skeets]

That is brilliant.

[JD]

So as an experienced trombone player, is it possible to blow so hard that the slide flies off of the end of it?

[J. Skeets]

No, maybe I just. Yeah, I don't think so. Maybe I just didn't have, you know, the wind power within this frame of mind. But no, I never experienced anything like that. And that's all I was trying to do was just like, blow as hard as I could on the trombone. And no, it never slid off like that. That was just a hilarious little addition to the movie.

[JD]

Hey, man, it's Fairfield. Anything can happen.

[J. Skeets]

Fernfield.

[JD]

Fernfield. At Fairfield, everything is possible. That's what it was.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So then, okay, so then Josh goes. He finds, like, I guess, an abandoned church. And he finds behind the abandoned church, I think, this court that's like just, you know, littered with leaves and vines and everything. He's been carrying a ball around the whole time, though. That's in his knapsack. It's not easy to put a basketball in a knapsack, by the way.

[Trey Kirby]

No, it's.

[J. Skeets]

It's not, it's not. I mean, you know, you always are carrying around. It's not easy, right?

[Trey Kirby]

No, no, no. But why would you want it in the knapsack anyway? You got to carry it with you. Do, you know, just show people you've got a ball, you're ready to play. You know, you don't put it in there.

[J. Skeets]

It's just right.

[Trey Kirby]

It doesn't fit.

[J. Skeets]

So he bricks two shots. I mean, this guy. This kid stinks. The second one is not. The first one sort of close. The second one's not even close. And then he has sort of the first little encounter with the idea that Buddy's back there, right? Like back in the bushes, because the ball gets kicked back out. How many days do you guys think has passed since he saw Buddy on the side of the road to that moment? Is it a day? Is it a weekend? That's a great question, cuz, like, Buddy was pretty. He's pretty gnarly looking. When we eventually see him, like, it looks like he'd been out in the.

[JD]

Wild for a bit, maybe a week.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, I think that's about right. Something like that. Then we go to the basketball truck.

[JD]

What was with the mystical sort of era of the church in the courtyard? I mean, it was like he was stepping into middle earth or something.

[Lee Ellis]

I just assumed that was trying to tell us that Buddy is an angel dog. You know his dad was who he learned to play basketball with. So he finally encounters this, the only other thing he can play basketball with a dog at a church. So perhaps Air Bud is angel Bud. I don't know. I had no real explanation for that as well. But yeah, a lot of, a lot of magical things are happening in that back that backyard court that the church has. I'm thinking this kid needs an Instagram. He is finding the coolest hidden hoops in all of Fernfield.

[J. Skeets]

Make sure you tag basketball court.

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[J. Skeets]

This show is sponsored by Liquid IV. It's hot in Atlanta right now. 95 plus sunny. Mad humidity. But ball is life. So you know I still gotta get my shots up at the local outdoor basketball park. Thank goodness for my Liquid iv. No matter how hot your summer gets, Liquid IV helps keep you hydrated. Helps keep me hydrated whether I'm shooting hoops or I'm out on an adventure. And the summer heat means it's the perfect time to try their new Arctic raspberry flavor, which has jumped to the top of my power rankings. Plus, Liquid IV has sugar free solutions powered by Liv Hydra Science for smart hydration. And I got the hookup for you. Visit liquidiv.com and use the code no Dunks at checkout for 20% off your first order. I've recently started throwing a packet or two in my suitcase when I travel. And I'm going to Vegas where it's even hotter because not only does it hit after a workout, I like the boost Liquid IV gives you after a long night out or after a long flight. White, peach, green grape, lemon, lime. This new one, Arctic raspberry. They're all great flavors and I'm always switching them up. Just one stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. Powered by Liv Hydra Science, you're getting an optimized ratio of electrolytes, essential vitamins and clinically tested nutrients that turn ordinary water into extract extraordinary hydration. We're talking three times the electrolytes of the leading sports drink. Come on. So squeeze the most out of your summer with Liquid IV. Tear. Pour live more bars. Go to LiquidIV.com and get 20% off your first order with code no dunks at checkout. Thank goodness for my Liquid IV. LiquidIV.com and get 20% off your first order with code no Dunks at checkout. Yeah. So then we'll be back at the abandoned church in a second, but we have the basketball tryout scene. This scene straight up killed me. I loved it. The coach's first words to the team was, you're here today to try out for the school's finest tradition. Basketball. What? That's the school's finest tradition? And then Josh just sits there the whole practice. Okay, a little weird. You're just there. Why are you there? I guess he's obviously nervous, doesn't want to get out there. But after tryouts, the coach sees him, and instead of asking Josh, like, hey, kid, you know, why didn't you play? Right? I think that would have been a natural thing to ask the kid if you were a coach of a team. Like, hey, what was going on? Why didn't you get out there? Instead, he just goes, hey, you're new here, right? Cool. We need a manager. You got to work twice as hard.

[JD]

See, on practice thing ever.

[J. Skeets]

What the hell? This coach is the worst. And he gets even worse later on in the movie. He's very abusive, as we learn.

[JD]

Well, it's sort of. It's pretty much if you're a middle school coach in a Disney film and you're focused. That focused on winning, it's like being a teenage girl and it's having sex in a slasher film, like, you're dead. Like, you're a goner, man.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. I just couldn't believe him. He just so. It's not that he was even really mean. He was just like, come on, that kid's been sitting there the whole practice. Like, why wouldn't you at least just start asking him why he didn't want to try out or play or address.

[Lee Ellis]

Him at all during the tryout. He's just sitting there watching.

[J. Skeets]

And then also, if you're gonna try and sell the kid on being the manager, don't start with, hey, you got to work twice as hard. Like, maybe, like, hey, be cool. If you're around the team, you're sort of one of us, you know? Like, he just comes in hot. And I guess it worked on Josh. He was it. He was gonna be the manager. We go back to the abandoned church. This is the first real encounter with Buddy. And I want to know who. Who of the group here was a big snack packs guy, you know, who liked that? Who liked those little pudding cups?

[Tasmelis]

I gotta say, I love those puddings.

[J. Skeets]

Did you?

[Tasmelis]

Oh, yeah. Those are so good. I can see why Air Bud was into it. Definitely.

[JD]

What was that, a vanilla?

[Tasmelis]

That was a vanilla 100.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

Lock it.

[J. Skeets]

I don't.

[Trey Kirby]

I don't think. I didn't think dogs were into those sort of sweets, though. You know, I thought they were. You want to give them some sort of. You know, I don't Know. Well, he didn't have. He didn't have much.

[J. Skeets]

He's been out there for a week.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah, I'm starving.

[Lee Ellis]

When you're out on the streets, you're loving the sweets.

[Tasmelis]

He should, he should have turned away from that pudding. Oh, God, no. I haven't eaten for four weeks.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, just. I don't know, I thought he would have had like a half eaten sandwich or something like that and said, here, you want this? You know, rather than give up the goods straight away. I mean, he doesn't know the dog. He doesn't know him at all. And he's giving him the good stuff, you know?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. It actually made. They should have made the mom instead of working at the napkin factory that she worked at, like the pudding factory, because he has a lot of these to give a dog. And it would have made a little more sense there. She gets a discount. She's an employee, you know, but he's got a ton of these. He's always coming through with these pudding cups for the dog. Also, question with this scene, why in hell would you knock down a fence that is two feet away from the water? If you're fixing up a basketball court, like you're gonna hoop on this court and now you've just opened up this, you know, 10 foot wide opening that goes into the water. He should have thought that through. I know it's a beautiful setting.

[JD]

But more importantly, who would put up a fence two feet from the water on the most picturesque spot, literally on earth? Maybe Ye.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah.

[JD]

I mean, how is. How is there a basketball court next to the most expensive real estate in British Columbia? I mean, it's just, it's so implausible. And why, why do they even show the water? Like, I don't understand. It's. I guess it's part of the mystical element of this basketball court. Right? I mean.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah. It's also his reaction to it. Like, whoa, I've never seen the water in the mountains before. You live there, man.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, how's.

[Tasmelis]

How is it possible? I guess part of the. The mystical nature of the scene also is depicted on the sign out front of the church that isn't quite filled in. There's a lot of letters missing in. But it says, welcome, seek and ye shall find.

[JD]

Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

So I. I guess he did some seeking, but then the. The ball is so deflated.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Tasmelis]

And then all of a sudden, Buddy's popping it up like it's over inflated. Like he can just pop it 500ft into the air.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. This is when they first play basketball. It took about 20 minutes, but we finally had a dog playing basketball sort of with Josh there. And Josh, as we said, was, like, had never hit a shot. It appeared before that dog showed up. And there's something magical about that dog being around and that he's suddenly pretty solid. I do love that he, like, doesn't he just chuck the ball over his head? Like, he just guns, like, throws it over his head, and it's, like, suddenly turns into a sick alley OOP to the dog. I'm pretty sure that's.

[Trey Kirby]

That's the very first basket. Yeah. Yeah, that's the first basket because. Because he. He turns around and he looks and he's. You know. Because he couldn't believe it went in. And then I think from there, they just start playing. Basically pick up immediately. It was quite a quick transition.

[JD]

He didn't start getting baskets till later on. Right. I mean, he was playing with them. Josh is getting baskets, but the dog isn't. Right.

[Trey Kirby]

Right. Yeah. I guess they're just running around playing with it, but.

[JD]

Right.

[Trey Kirby]

You know, it's a pretty quick sort of connection that he's like, all right, I can now play with this dog. This dog is mine.

[JD]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[JD]

This dog is making me good at basketball.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's right. And so then we go back to the house. This is where we get the bath scene. This one had to be had. This scene was a huge hit. I imagine with the kids.

[Lee Ellis]

This was a banger. They couldn't believe specifically how many bubbles there were in the tub. They're like, why do they have so many bubbles? I was like, you guys are right. This would be terrible to clean up. If this were an actual dub dog, Everybody would be slipping all over their tile floors. There's no way Buddy would be able to traverse his way from the bathroom to the rest of the house without destroying everything. But, yeah, it was a great scene.

[J. Skeets]

I mean, what do you think about the song selection, too?

[JD]

Oh, it's the most okay Boomer thing of all time, even back in 1997. That song is ancient. Like, corny, to the point again. Hair standing on end is like, please, off with this already.

[J. Skeets]

You're a bath guy, too, so that's good for you to say. Yeah. Wow. Splish splash. Lee, did you freak out when the leaf blower showed up?

[Trey Kirby]

It was great timing, wasn't it, really?

[J. Skeets]

I just imagined you watching this freaking out on this leaf blower with him putting on the dog. You're just screaming, no, no.

[Trey Kirby]

I was okay with that. It was fine, really.

[JD]

It's a gas powered leaf blower inside the house.

[J. Skeets]

He's trying to keep quiet too. Yeah, yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Not doing a good job. I'm just on the lookout for this leaf blower here this morning, but so far I haven't seen him. But I'll let you know if he's here. You'll hear him anyway.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, we'll hear your F bombs going left and right. So then buddy trashes the place. You know, not a smart decision to leave open cans of paint just lying around. There's like two or three of them up on a ladder because they're renovating this place. This place is also a baller house. I know. She's working two jobs. Mom's doing a lot. This is a nice place in Fernfield. I don't know, it's. I guess everything is possible.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah, they probably got a lot of insurance money after husband's death.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah, I hadn't thought about that. And then, so, yeah, so the dog screws up and then the mom's like, oh, this is bad, you know, and there's the whole like, can I keep them? Can I not?

[Tasmelis]

I, I, I found all this slapstick comedy so jarring, didn't you guys? It was just.

[J. Skeets]

Why do you say that?

[Tasmelis]

Well, the, I mean, it started with the clown in the opening scene where the clown gets the ball off the head and, and does the, the real Curly. The Three Stooges. And it didn't stop. Like the baths, the paint falling. Later on when the referee takes the ball in the head and he has to go into concussion protocol, it didn't stop. One of those scenes every single time. I guess they do. I guess, I guess it was a blast. I guess if they, if the girls were laughing. Trey. I guess the director was right.

[J. Skeets]

Then we find out the janitor is an old Knicks player, Arthur Chaney. So Josh, like approaches Arthur the janitor, and does he not tell, tell Josh, nah, kid, that guy's dead. Yeah, that's what Arthur Chaney says to him when he shows him his basketball card. And he's like, no, that's not me. That guy's dead. Damn.

[Lee Ellis]

Yeah, but I guess Josh couldn't really call him on it because he had been snooping through his belongings. That's how he saw the Knicks jersey. So he can't be like, actually, I was in your office looking through everything. You're alive, sir. But I don't know, maybe Arthur Chaney was just trying to say, I'm metaphorically dead. I used to want to take every single shot. Now I passed the ball.

[J. Skeets]

I think you're right. I think you're right. And then Josh spies on him playing hoops by himself and Arthur Chaney blows a dunk right away. So he definitely played for the Knicks. That, that, that fact checks. I also, at this part, we get the whole. And I tweeted this yesterday that Air Bud. Is it a Christmas movie?

[JD]

Because I panicked for a second when that happened.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. I didn't know this happened. Of course, I'd never seen this movie. But, you know, they pretty, they lean. They lean into the Christmas break. And what's the story? She's reading.

[JD]

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So I don't know. You're trying to tell me Die Hards a Christmas movie. Maybe air buds a Christmas movie.

[JD]

No.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, then Josh gets the invitation. Lee, you played on a lot of sort of, you know, high school, middle school basketball teams. Did you ever get an invitation in your locker left for you attention, you're invited to a private tryout?

[Trey Kirby]

No, never got it like that. But what we did get, what I did relate to was your name written down on the piece of paper. Like it was, I think it was, you know, every second Friday or whatever, whenever the team was announced, you had to go and check to see if you were on there. And that was like as soon as you, you know, as soon as you knew the PE teacher had put that up there, you were like, you're running over to see if your name was on there. So I could relate to him with that feeling of that joy when he saw his name there. And he was very excited. So, yeah, that was, that was it. But no, no actual invitations into the locker room? No. Into or into the, into your locker.

[J. Skeets]

Right. And then. And this is, of course the janitor's doing. He slipped this into. Into Josh's locker. He wasn't supposed to get this tryout from the coach.

[Trey Kirby]

That's right. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

What a. What a weird way to go about in middle school of having a private tryout. Hey, janitor, do you know their lockers? Can you please slip this in? That is. That was fascinating. But then, yeah, this is when we go back to the church and this is where I should correct myself. This is where Josh throws that. No, look alley oop. That buddy straight swishes. And this is 45 minutes into the movie. And now we are really playing some basketball. And I think buddy goes 12 for 12. I don't think Buddy misses in. In this particular little warm up session.

[JD]

I don't think he misses in the entire movie. Does he?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. No, I don't think Buddy does, so I think he's perfect. You're right. So I guess. Yeah. So now he's sort of practicing with Josh, and then we get the. We get the tryout. The coach, by the way, reminds me of George W. Bush so much. Anybody else pick. Pick up on that? Sure.

[Lee Ellis]

He's got, like, the thin, tight lips and kind of, like sweet, squinty eyes. A similar look, for sure.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. And he's, like, throwing on a weird accent, too. So this is weird because Josh hits one layup. That's it. He hits one right hand layup, and he's like, boom, you're on the team. He's on the Timberwolves team. And I know a couple. What do they say? Like, a couple. The twins or something.

[Lee Ellis]

Oh, the Simmons twins. Simmons twins moved out of town. Unexpected.

[J. Skeets]

To Canada. They moved to Canada, so he's on the team. And. And. And then we get the thing with the kid with the funny haircut. I guess his name's. His full name is Tom Stewart. Yeah. I was so confused because at one point he was called Stuart. Early on, I'm like, okay, his name's Stuart. And then later somebody called him Tom, and I'm like, what is this kid's name? Are they screwing up here in the movie? But I. You know, there's a lot of calling guys by their last names.

[Lee Ellis]

How does Tom Stewart get so many minutes? Is a question I would have for both coaches. This guy can barely catch a ball. Both coaches have to teach him how to catch the ball. But I think it's kind of, you know, he's one of the taller kids around for fourth through sixth grader, so automatically you're getting the start.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. And. And Tom's like, what? He's got Scottie Pippen's orange peel. Right. For good luck. And then he's. He's got. There's other.

[Lee Ellis]

Sean Kemp's apple core.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. And then Rodman's gum later on in the movie. Guy's a real creep. Tom's new strange.

[Tasmelis]

The real actor's name has also got a real great name. Shane S H, Y N Solberg.

[J. Skeets]

Wow. That is.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah. And he's. And he's 36 years old right now. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Okay.

[Lee Ellis]

Well, he's still playing ball.

[J. Skeets]

Can he catch a pass?

[Tasmelis]

Yeah, he was. He's Canadian, so he probably doesn't play basketball.

[J. Skeets]

Hmm. So buddy heads to the gym while this is going on because he can't get into Josh's bedroom. Because they have that whole thing where, you know, Josh leaves the window open and Buddy makes his way up to the roof. Pretty incredible. Yeah. How he gets up there, that was pretty. Pretty amazing. But I was confused by this. Why. Why Buddy is like, oh, no, the window's not open. Like, didn't we just have a scene prior where the family had Buddy in the house for Christmas?

[JD]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

He comes down and, like, they got a bow on him, and they're like. It feels at that point, like, okay, Buddy's a part of the family. And then, I don't know. Then, like, right after I know they got to get. Find a way to get the dog at the gym. So this is what they do. Like, oh, I can't get in the window. Let me just track him down. But that was. That was odd because, like, it just feels like he's part of the family now.

[Lee Ellis]

Like, what, Just let him in?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, exactly. So we get the first basketball game. Pure pandemonium. Buddy slip sliding around that court because he's there. We got this number three. What's number three's name? That guy is hacking left and right. He fells out twice in this movie. That kid.

[Lee Ellis]

Was that Michaels? There was Michaels, who at one point, he got benched after yelling at the ref. I loved that kid. I had a lot of respect for that kid. If you talk to a ref when you're that young, you're instantly hitting the bench, no matter who the coach is. I love that part.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So everybody's trying to catch Buddy. This is quite the scene. I mean, this is, again, speaks to what you were talking about. Tasks. Like, just this slapstick hilarity. Everybody trying to catch a dog. Not easy to catch a dog. No doubt. Ref gets clocked in the head. Buddy scores, you know, throughout all this, and people are going nuts. The principal. This is the weirdest line in the movie. The principal goes. He's a regular Michael Wolf Jordan. What the hell does that mean?

[Lee Ellis]

Can't believe that nickname never caught on Jordan during his final season with the Bulls.

[J. Skeets]

Like, why wouldn't you just go Charles Barkley, you know, like, at least pun it up? And she instead just says, woof. You know? Yeah, because they just want to say Michael Jordan. You're right. So that was. That's odd. Then right after that, we get the weird scene of Coach Joe abusing Tom by chucking balls at him, and I guess he's immediately fired. Right. This is a. Like a really weird scene to me. Like, that Buddy leads them up there and Then the principal and everybody sees Coach Joe just chucking balls at Tom Stewart.

[Trey Kirby]

You never see him again after that, do you? Yeah, because the other guy takes over and. And it's like, so, okay, I guess. I guess he was out. But there was no sort of incident or no actual firing to get rid of him. So it was just assumed, like, you'd be like, that. You're out of. You're out of the school, basically.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

Which is fair.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. No, for sure. Yeah. You shouldn't be after the game chucking balls at a student at a kid.

[JD]

Like clown chucking billiard balls at a dog.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, right. We get Coach Cheney, he takes over his. His playbook is right from Shep, from above the rim. He encourages playing without a basketball.

[JD]

Doesn't Coach Carter do that as well?

[J. Skeets]

Were they playing at the basketball? I don't think.

[Lee Ellis]

I do love a no balls basketball scene, though. You got to learn the fundamentals.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. This is a funny scene.

[Tasmelis]

If Coach Carter asked me, what are you afraid of? I would answer, playing basketball without basketballs. That's not fun.

[J. Skeets]

You don't like it?

[Tasmelis]

No. I don't think you're learning all that much.

[JD]

No, I love it. I'd be so good at it.

[J. Skeets]

It's true.

[JD]

You wouldn't be good at it as an audio nerd. That scene where he. He reveals the invisible ball, all I could hear was the swishing of his windbreaker. Like, I could not hear what he was saying. It was just driving me insane. Why. Why have him wear that jacket? The audio person should have said something. Hey, we can't have him wear this. He's wearing a shirt underneath. Just tell him to take it off.

[J. Skeets]

Like you're talking about Josh wearing.

[JD]

No, no, Coach Cheney. Oh, Coach Cheney is like, hey, we're gonna. Here's an invisible ball. I guess he was saying that because all I could hear was swish, swish, swish. Every move he made, it was inferior.

[J. Skeets]

Also because Josh, when he shows up for that practice, the one time I think is wearing a full blown, you know, tracksuit. Did you guys have tearaway pants?

[Lee Ellis]

Oh, absolutely.

[J. Skeets]

Of course. Oh, those are. What a. Those are weird when you think back to them. Like how? Like, sort of. I don't know. Were they comfortable? The material inside was a little odd, but, man, was it fun to.

[Tasmelis]

They're super comfortable. I would love to have a pair right now. This weather's perfect for them. You need. You need to layer up here in Atlanta. It's cool in the mornings, but it gets nice and warm. It'd be perfect. Those starter pads, we didn't really get starter jackets when we were named the starter, so it's highly unlikely we would ever have gotten starter pants. But I would have adored it if we were sent some of those starter pants.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

I much prefer a tearaway pant to like a swish pant that they were wearing here because that's like just wearing a sauna around on your legs.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. You're so hot. Oh, my God, you sweat so much in those things.

[Tasmelis]

And you're right. And the jackets weren't even surf style jackets, like, back in the. In the 90s. Those were the ish.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. So we get the air Bud halftime act. Lee, do you prefer an AirBud halftime show or Christian and Scooby?

[Trey Kirby]

I've got to go with Christian and Scooby. I mean, having. Having seen them perform in person a couple of times, it's much better. I mean, Scooby, he's balancing on a ball by himself. I didn't see Bud doing that.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Do you think maybe Scooby should consider wearing, like, little miniature shoes and a jersey?

[Trey Kirby]

No, I don't think so. I don't think they need that, the dogs. You know, I think. I think their paws are strong enough. They don't need the shoes. I mean, put the jersey on, maybe. Sure.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

But I. I don't think you need to go all the way because he looked like he was walking in high heels. Bud, when he had. Whenever he had basketball shoes on.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

Every time he sprinted onto the court at full speed, those paws and claws are slip sliding away.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. I gave him a lot of grip once he had the shoes on.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

And I'm sure Arthur Chaney, as a former janitor, would have hated to have his court all scratched up like that.

[Trey Kirby]

He's all angry.

[J. Skeets]

He takes the dog.

[Tasmelis]

Christian and Scooby also doing some telethon performances for the. The city of Cleveland as well. Check out his Instagram page. Oh, cool. I. I really enjoyed it.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, cool. I didn't know that. I think, I think a canine jersey, though. A Timberwolves canine jersey would be the only ultimate Coachella Jersey in, like, 2030 to wear. Have you ever seen it, Trey? I mean, we should make a K9.

[Lee Ellis]

That's a good question. I don't think I've ever seen an airbud jersey. I know they have a lot of those websites that make like a Teen Wolf jersey or something. I don't think I've seen them. Seen anybody go for the full Canine. But they should sell it as a two pack. You get a Josh Fram and you get a canine for your dog as well. It's a great Halloween costume.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, it is pretty good also. Is this an American thing, Trey, or did middle schools, like legit have your name on the back of the jersey?

[Lee Ellis]

Never.

[JD]

That's.

[Lee Ellis]

That's a name. That's a note I had as well. Because for us it was like our middle school jerseys were the hand me downs that the high school varsity handed down to the junior varsity that then eventually made it to the eighth grade, that made it to the seventh grade. So we were wearing 30 year old uniforms. I didn't really necessarily believe it that Larry Willingham transferred mid season and then still got another jersey from the Warriors. They just must be loaded at wherever the school district is. But I guess they're probably. It seemed to me like they were in Seattle or at least somewhere close to that. So maybe they got that Amazon money.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, they mentioned the Sonics a couple of times. And he had that Sonic's like thing on the end of his bed too. I noticed that too, because I was trying to figure out exactly where they were. So.

[J. Skeets]

Well, yeah. Doesn't he have a giant. What is it?

[JD]

It's Puget Sound.

[J. Skeets]

Puget Sound map. You know, like a normal kid would have in their bedroom. Just loves geography. Just love. Just moved in.

[Lee Ellis]

Gotta learn the lay of the land.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it's definitely in the Seattle area of some sort. So, yeah, Buddy hits a basket. The place goes nuts during this halftime act. Like they love it after, you know, I guess. Is this the scene where Buddy, he's not. He's a little hesitant, right?

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, he gets dunked on the first one.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

He doesn't react at all. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. He would have been in weekend whoopsies for sure. Second half of the game. So coach takes out Larry because he's a ball hog, and he is. There's no doubt. I mean, Larry's the best player, but he's. He doesn't trust his teammates. Wolves are down 3, 15 seconds ago. Ball finds its way to Josh. He lets it fly and like he's back out at the abandoned church court. He misses it by about 5, 5ft, though. We get one of my favorite lines from the movie after the game from Coach who says, that dog couldn't give a rat's behind about his point average or if it's mvp, he just loves to play the game. So true. That dog couldn't give a rat's behind about his point Average is such an amazing line. I think Coach has the best lines in this movie, so. Yeah, so they lose. That's the classic. Like, oh, you were gonna be the hero. And then you think you might hit it, but nope, nope. We gotta save that for later. So because of all this, like, this dog is such big news in Fernfield that it's, like, on the net, on the. You know, the new. The nightly news. It's in every newspaper. And I guess the clown. That's how the clown tracks Buddy down. Right? He sees him on tv.

[JD]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And he gets to him real quick. And then we get the emotional scene here, J.D. we get, you know, him showing up to take back Buddy, and Josh yelling to the clown, he hates you. He hates you. This didn't tug at your heartstrings?

[JD]

No, no, not one bit.

[Lee Ellis]

You think the dog should have went back to the clown because he had the papers?

[JD]

Well, I mean, he was his rightful owner.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but he abandoned.

[Lee Ellis]

This is a stolen dog.

[Trey Kirby]

He was on his way, though. No, because he was on his way to take him to the pound. He'd given up on him.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

So he. Those. Those papers didn't make account for anything because he. He'd quit on his dog. So bad luck. You miss out. Clown can't come back now just because he's famous.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, exactly. He's like, oh, my God, the dog I had can hit the odd basket. Also, you were throwing 95 mile per hour fastballs at the dog's face from, like, three feet away. And he was catching them.

[Tasmelis]

No problem.

[J. Skeets]

You had something there. If you had just focused on it, like, a little bit more. So Josh. Then he tracks down the clown's residence because the clown gave him a business card. Bad move by the clown there. That was his worst mistake. He did. But he's trying to get business. I get it. And we get, like, a scene where he's, like, talking on the phone. I don't want my dog doing beer commercials while he's. While he's saying this. He's, like, standing in front of an empty windowsill with, like, 30 Budweisers lined up in it.

[JD]

What was the point of him pushing back on the beer commercials? I don't understand that he has ethics, but he doesn't have ethics. He's basically. Well, hold on. How much are we talking about here? I mean, what are you talking. What are you doing, clown? What are you doing?

[J. Skeets]

I laughed out loud when he signed something in the comically sized pen, though. That was pretty fun. So then Josh breaks Buddy out of the backyard. And we get that pickup truck chasing scene where the car is just falling apart. Couldn't help but think of the focus group scene from. I think you should leave a good steering wheel that doesn't fly up while you're driving. Oh, my God. The steering wheel literally falls off. I think that's where they got the idea from. Oh, yeah.

[JD]

This. This scene is actually the best scene in the movie.

[J. Skeets]

I think it's the drive, the driving scene, the.

[JD]

Yeah. The chase, the. The. The buddy rescue scene. It's very well crafted in terms of, you know, you always know where everyone is. Like the. The slapstick of. He throws the. The truck that's constantly on fire into, like, forward instead of reverse, and they're just like. It's completely bonkers. Like, the. As you say, the truck's falling apart and he, you know, he's a menace to society, really. J.D.

[Tasmelis]

Sorry to interrupt. Did you time that line perfectly with something backing up? You said you didn't know what you knew. Whether the thing was in forward or reverse. There's literally.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

Someone backing up at the exact same time.

[JD]

Did you edit that in? I didn't. It's not on my end.

[Tasmelis]

Oh, wow.

[J. Skeets]

Amazing.

[JD]

My favorite part of that was the picnic. The couple having the picnic.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[JD]

Just another shout out to the props department on this movie. The picnic basket. I freeze framed this as well. This is what was in it. Sticking. It is the biggest picnic basket of all time. And there was. Sitting next to it is a massive salad. Right. And a humongous sandwich. This isn't even in the basket. And then sticking out of the top of the largest picnic basket they could find is a full bunch of grapes and a bunch of, like, many, many bananas, apples, a humongous loaf of bread, and a pineapple.

[J. Skeets]

For two people.

[Lee Ellis]

Sounds like a feast.

[JD]

Yeah. For two people who are, like, clearly stunt people. Right. They didn't even bother putting them in, like, in costumes or anything. And they're obviously not together because they go in for this awkward kiss with a jalopy speeding towards them, and then they dive out of the way. But, oh, my God, it's like, you know, preposterous. But again, Fairfield, anything can happen. What's it called? Fairfield?

[J. Skeets]

Fernfield.

[Trey Kirby]

Fernfield. Yeah.

[JD]

Everything is possible.

[Lee Ellis]

My favorite part of this was the captain of the water taxi or the driver or whatever is. This kid breaks a dog out. We see an old truck drive into Puget Sound. Then the captain of the water taxi takes this kid away and says nothing to him. Literally nothing. He's like, just another day on the boats.

[J. Skeets]

He sees this every. Every day. He sees a pickup truck on the loose go into that sound every day.

[Tasmelis]

Was that Mark McGrath's first acting role? It sure looked like Sugar Ray.

[J. Skeets]

I think if you rewatch that scene, too, I do think the guy driving the water taxi looks directly at the camera. I'm almost positive he makes eye contact with the camera lens. Yeah. And he drops off Josh and Buddy somewhere, you know, some. I don't know, some other island or some other part.

[JD]

Abandoned grassy island. Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

And Josh, like, slips him, like, a 20 because the guy waits for him, so he must have paid him pretty well.

[JD]

I never. Never thought of that.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. He waits for him because we get. Okay, this is where we get the emotional goodbye scene. Trey, you said it. Very reminiscent. Very reminiscent of John Lithgow yelling at Harry from Harry and the Hendersons. Get out of here. Can't you see we don't want you anymore? I wish Josh punched Buddy right in the face. So much like that scene from Harry and the Hendersons. I rewatched that. I was in tears. I'm talking about Harry and the Hendersons. When John Lethko punches.

[JD]

Crying or tears.

[Trey Kirby]

Laughing.

[J. Skeets]

Laughing my ass off. It is. They put in a great sound effect, too, with John punching Harry in the face. Anyway, Josh doesn't punch. He doesn't punch Buddy. He does the old. You know, he's like. Yeah, same idea. Like, get out of here. I don't want you. Don't you understand?

[JD]

How many times does this happen in a movie?

[J. Skeets]

I mean, it's tons.

[JD]

I mean, it happened in Game of Thrones. It happened in. In Harry and the Hendersons, White Fang. Anything else? I mean, I feel like I've seen it a hundred times.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, the. The. I love you so much. I have to be angry with you to save you. I guess. He also. Josh chucks the ball into the fours. Damn good throw. I think he's playing the wrong sport. I think he definitely should be playing baseball because he guns that thing. And I. And I went back to make sure it wasn't like a quick, you know, stunt double there. Like, did it flash to, like a man chucking that? It was. It appeared to be Josh or the actor that played Josh. Yeah, he guns that thing. So. Yeah. So he's gone, but he's gone. And then we get to the state. Only a couple more scenes left. We get these championship before we move on.

[JD]

Here's a tip. If you're going to abandon a Labrador, don't do it on an island. Like, they're the best swimmer dogs there is. Like, there's no better swimmer than a lab.

[J. Skeets]

That's not a lab. It's a golden retriever.

[JD]

Golden retriever.

[Tasmelis]

Whatever.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, you're saying he's a good swimmer.

[Trey Kirby]

He tried to swim, but it was too far.

[JD]

Yeah. You know why? Because he's ten years old, man. He's not a three year old dog.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, we're lucky we didn't lose him in that scene, to be honest.

[J. Skeets]

So, well, what would you have done then, J.D. what's the best way to get rid of a golden retriever that you truly love but can't have around because you don't want the clown to come back and abduct them?

[JD]

Well, you have to do it on land, and you have to do it in a car. You have to just throw the basketball out and then jump in a car and drive away very, very fast. Because that slow little water taxi. I mean, I've tried to leave a lab or a retriever or any kind of dog just on a cottage, at a cottage and speed off in a speedboat or. Or like, you know, or a canoe or something. You're not getting rid of that dog. Like, that dog is with you. And for the sake of the dog, you have to go back to the dog and. All right, take the dog upstairs to the cottage. Come on. Like, because he's gonna follow you no matter what.

[J. Skeets]

Right. He would drown himself to follow you. Right, right, right. Okay, I see you're saying. So maybe. Yeah, he should have at least. Well, I guess he didn't want to put a chain on. He didn't want to put a leash on him because then he's stuck there.

[JD]

Okay, just drown the dog. Why not just drown the dog? And then you're releasing him from. You know, you can't keep the dog, and you don't want the. The clown to have the dog. So just drown him.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, my God. I thought I was bad for saying punch the dog in the face like John Liske. This guy wants to drown the dog.

[JD]

You do him a favor.

[J. Skeets]

All right, well, we get to the state championship game. Yeah. Larry plays for the. For the warriors now. The Sex Warriors, I like to imagine they're actually called. That's a little throwback shout out there. So the wolves are down like 16 with seven minutes to go. Number three fouls out. Again, as I said, he's gone. This guy just hacks. He can't play defense to save his life. Then we lose two more wolves players because they go down fighting for a rebound. And the coach drops another awesome line. He said dog's a registered member of the team. Can't argue that.

[Lee Ellis]

He practices.

[J. Skeets]

He practices. It's right there, you know, there's nothing where the dog can't play basketball. And then Buddy's a game changer. I mean, yeah, he scores. I think he scores. I don't know, like, is it something like 10 points or something like that? I know he gets a couple at the free throw line, but he really brings it defensively. Oh, yeah, yeah. Like he is popping that ball out left and right. I think there's like four or five steals that he racks up here. And then he's quite the assist man too. He sort of does it all. I was shocked by how good Buddy is on the defensive end of the floor.

[JD]

Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

Not dissimilar to a rim. Running center in that he only has one shot. He's doing that little pop up shot when Josh tosses him in alley oop. But he's playing defense. He's taking up space. I like that they get him on the court for a sideline, out of bounds and he makes a play right away.

[J. Skeets]

Josh.

[Tasmelis]

I think that's where the problem is though. Trey. Trey. That's the problem though. The first play is him guarding the inbounder sort of. He's sort of by the end, the inbound or just kind of gives him the ball like it was his dog, right?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's right.

[JD]

Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

So he's like, okay, yeah, this dog can play. He just gave it bud confidence.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

Warriors are falling apart there.

[J. Skeets]

Good.

[Lee Ellis]

Their leader, Larry Willingham, the guy switched teams mid, mid season. You can't trust him to show up in a big moment like that. But a guy that did show up in the big moment, Air Bud, because we. Like I said, Isla was in tears at the part where he's telling him to leave. Just, just bawling. And that's maybe, you know, five or ten minutes before air bud shows up. And even my five year old through tears, bawling.

[Tasmelis]

How did he get there?

[J. Skeets]

Like, well, you ask a good question.

[Lee Ellis]

I don't know. He couldn't get off the island before, but apparently he somehow got off and made his way back in time for the game.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Trey Kirby]

And he didn't take the rejection to heart either. He's like, ah, that's all fine. I'm back. Don't worry. You can leave me, you can abandon me. I'll keep on coming back. I mean, I guess that's what dogs are though, aren't they? They just love it. They love any sort of affection and attention. He turns up and he goes straight in the court.

[J. Skeets]

It would have been great if like they panned over to the, to the door corner of the gym. And we see the water taxi guy just like arms crossed, like, you know, nodding like, I did it. I got this dog back for you. We get the, the, the, the other team's coach and so not Coach Chaney just continuing to yell, could someone cover the dog? He yells that like four or five times. Team is not taking, you know, directions very well. I legit gasped out loud when Larry hip checks the dog. Did anyone else, like, react to that? He nails the dog.

[Tasmelis]

I wanted him to. I thought he was gonna yell out, willingham rules. His family is a real o' Doyle rules family.

[J. Skeets]

He's got the vibe for sure. Yeah. The dad and him. And then we get Josh with the final shot again, throws it up. I, I was shocked. It was very Kawhi Leonard like versus the Sixers, game seven. That thing hit the rim four times and then it drops. They win on the three pointer. But did you notice there's a second remaining on the clock?

[JD]

Did not bother me.

[J. Skeets]

That bothered me for sure. I mean, they should have had a chance. Draw something up for Larry, see what happens, you know, but they don't even. It's just game, game over.

[JD]

So this is what bothers me about that scene. Because flashback, it's exactly like shot for shot, frame for frame. The exact same situation as the previous game where there's four seconds left. Josh shoots the ball, he misses. Right. Then he gets lectured by coach. When you play for yourself, you lose, Right?

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[JD]

We're in the final game, there's four seconds left. He's pretty much in the same spot on the court. And then what does he do? He just, he takes the shot.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[JD]

And there's a buzzer beater and he wins a game.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, but in the game before though, there was a couple of guys open on the court as well.

[JD]

And guess who was open? Buddy was open.

[J. Skeets]

No, wide open.

[Trey Kirby]

I think in the game before though, I thought I saw that and I thought the coach was saying, you know, you should have passed it to one of the other guys who was like, open.

[JD]

Yeah, but he was open and on his team.

[Trey Kirby]

And he hasn't missed a three point line though.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, but he can't shoot a three. That's the problem. He doesn't, he can't, he can't tip it up from old school.

[JD]

Anyway, my point My point is, what is the lesson that. That Josh learned? Like, I don't understand. I don't understand.

[J. Skeets]

Just have your dog by your side. You have magic powers.

[JD]

I guess that time was for the love of the game.

[Tasmelis]

Oh, yeah, right.

[Lee Ellis]

First love of the fame, right?

[Trey Kirby]

Right.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Well, you would think the movie might end there, but no, we get this final scene at the courtroom fighting over the custody of Buddy, you know? You know, first the clown in his professional gear. Bold move, showing up like that at the courthouse, and they're battling, and, like, we've got this judge, like, he's tired and barking going on. Coach Cheney barges in, and he said, hey, we should let the dog decide because he's of legal age. Right? Because that's where he points out this dog's, like, three or four years old. Dog years. That means he's of age. He can decide for himself in. In human years. We take it outside the courtroom, and we get. We. We do get one little payoff here. Because I was wondering this whole movie, why Buddy kept stealing those papers.

[JD]

Mm.

[J. Skeets]

I really was, like, legit confused by that. Every time they showed Buddy going out there, he steals the paper. You don't know what he does with it. The mom's always out there looking for it. By the way, she goes outside one time in her socks. Doesn't even put on ducky boots or slippers. Just straight up white socks. Like, just completely ruins those socks. But we get the payoff here, I guess, right? Because, you know, everybody. Buddy, come here. And the clown's like, come here, Buddy. And then he decides to pull out a newspaper and, you know, starts doing the old slapping in his hand. And so what, we're led to believe that he was beating the dog with newspapers, right? Which is why Buddy was hiding them.

[JD]

That's exactly right.

[J. Skeets]

Right.

[JD]

You. Actually, there is a scene at the very beginning of the movie before he takes him out of the crate to go into the birthday party. Where or no is it afterwards? Anyway, he does hit the crate with a newspaper, but didn't notice that. I only noticed until I went back. Or basically, it sort of dawned on me. When she finds 800 newspapers in her backyard, it's like, oh, that's why they're doing this ridiculous gag. And by the way, I love how she walks out to the curb every single time for weeks on end, every single day, looking for her paper. It's like, when are you gonna finally just say, it's not coming today? I don't get a paper anyway anymore.

[J. Skeets]

But, yeah, she does. Yeah. That. I guess she finds them right before the clown shows up to take Buddy back. Right. Is she taken away? She's got a cool hat on.

[JD]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

She's digging away in the garden. That's where she finds them all. Because that's where Buddy's been hiding them. Yeah. Because he's worried about. Worried about, I guess, you know, getting hit with the newspaper, even with his new family. I. I was a little confused why Buddy took so damn long to decide where he wanted to go, though. Like, he was considering the clown. Why?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, he just won the championship and he was still considering going back to the clown. Like, that's crazy. You know?

[Lee Ellis]

I mean, and it doesn't really track with anything that has happened earlier in the movie. The man ditches him on the side of the road, but Buddy doesn't go back to where he lives.

[JD]

Right.

[Lee Ellis]

But when Josh ditches him on an island, he shows up at the gym. Come on.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah. And that's how it ends. I mean, that's our. Really, our ending shot. Before we roll the credits, are there any. We're going to get into all the sequel talk, and I've got a sort of almost a fun top five slash sort of trivia for you guys in a weird way, but is there any other random observations, questions that you had about good old earbud?

[Tasmelis]

Well, you said the credits there, Skeets. And one thing that was listed in the credits was no special effects were used in the make in the making of the basketball scenes. So, yeah, bud. A professional. And as this wrapped up, as those credits were rolling, it reminded me of. Took me back to the beginning of the movie. It was such a drastically different feeling from watching Uncut Gems starting last week. Watching Uncut Gems, there was that feeling of, wow, this is a movie. I don't know what's going to happen exactly. I'm really looking forward to this. And then this week, those 90 minutes, I.

[J. Skeets]

It was.

[Tasmelis]

It was rough. It was rough.

[J. Skeets]

I stopped after 30 minutes. Like, I just stopped and went outside for a bit. I was like, man, we're barely even playing basketball in this movie. We got another hour to go. I know exactly how this is gonna end. I'll circle back to this, but, by God, I'm happy I did just one thing off your credits there. That note, Tas. I saw that the late, great Roger Ebert, he once wrote in his review of this movie, and I don't think he was being funny, but maybe he was. He wrote, I don't want to know what kind of trickery was used to create the dog's game scenes. Whatever it was, it worked. So he was all in on that dog, you know, playing basketball. And they did shoot it. I will give him credit that they shot it enough to make it, you know, to appear that, yeah, he is, you know, using his schnoz to knock down these shots. Like, who knows how many takes it took. I'm sure it took a lot. But yeah, it wasn't like the classic cutaway too often of, like, he hits it and then right close up of the rim and the thing goes in there. Wasn't that meant that many shots of that?

[JD]

No, I agree. It was. It was all. It not believable, but it seemed it. I was never taken out of the basketball scenes, really. I guess.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah, yeah, Come on.

[J. Skeets]

Come on. Letterman believed it.

[Tasmelis]

Bob Saget believed it. Dave Coulier had to say, cut it out.

[JD]

Get out of here.

[Tasmelis]

That's unbelievable what you're doing there.

[J. Skeets]

Come on.

[Tasmelis]

He's a legend.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, it's pretty, pretty amazing. I listened to a podcast called Mad About Movies. They reviewed Air Bud recently. Actually, I listened to them on a run yesterday. And I think one or two of the guys maybe also had something to do with that article that you mentioned, Tassa, on the Athletic, about the, like, an oral history of Air Bud with all of these clips that you're sort of pointing out, stuff like that. I think they're. They're connected somehow. But he had a great point. One of the guys, one of the hosts of this Mad About Movies podcast. How did Nike, like, not sue the pants off of Air Budget, like, just naming it Air Bud off of. Of course, like the Air Jordan craze. They just. They were just totally fine. They're like, ah, we're not. We're not gonna be selling shoes to dogs in the immediate future, so go ahead and have some fun with it.

[JD]

That's a great question, right?

[J. Skeets]

Although, while I was running too, I saw two golden retrievers and I got super excited while listening to this podcast review. And I think I yelled something, something at them, like, do you know Air.

[Lee Ellis]

Bud the basketball out of your knapsack and gave him a toss?

[J. Skeets]

They had it in them. Yeah, maybe they were, because I think they. With the original Air Buddy. Buddy OG they saved his semen because. Oh, yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

Is that what they used in that water or wallpaper paste scene when the mom is just covered in paste?

[J. Skeets]

I hope not. Anything else? Any other. Any other random question that you bring.

[Lee Ellis]

Up the name Air Bud? Because do they even call him Air Bud? In the movie once.

[J. Skeets]

No, I don't think so. I don't think so because I did either. Maybe it was in that article or on that podcast. Yeah, they talk. I think it was on the podcast they talked about. It probably should have just been called. It was going to be called maybe just Buddy. Yeah, but I think there was a previous movie about a chimpanzee named Buddy and they were like, well, we got to name it something else. And then they probably again off of like the Jordan Bulls craze went with Air Bud. Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

Yeah. Well, that's very weird then that the line where the principal says a regular Michael Wolf Jordan. How is it not the NBA has Air Jordan. We've got Air Bud.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

There's so many ways you could have just slipped it in there if you know you're gonna have to name the movie. But apparently they recorded it all and then hopped on Google be like, oh man, there's already a movie called Buddy.

[J. Skeets]

This sucks. What are we gonna call it?

[Lee Ellis]

Air Bud. Fine. He doesn't even jump. Who cares?

[J. Skeets]

Air Bud is a good name. It is better for some reason than Air Buddy too, right?

[Lee Ellis]

Definitely.

[J. Skeets]

It just maybe it's like the three letter, three letter thing there. I don't know. It just works. Air Bud. Even though they, you're right. They never call him Bud and never call him Air Bud. Just Buddy.

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[J. Skeets]

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[JD]

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[J. Skeets]

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[J. Skeets]

It's on Prime. Okay, so there are a million sequels to this thing. Has anyone watched any of the other airbud movies? Was anyone so into the original airbud that they had to fire up Air Bud Golden Receiver after?

[Trey Kirby]

Not me. No, I know.

[J. Skeets]

No, because it is crazy. Airbud 97. Airbud Golden Receiver 98. That is where he's playing American Football. Airbud World Pup 2000. That's where he's playing soccer. Of course. World Cup. World Cup. Air Bud, seventh inning. Fetch. Great name. He makes the baseball team, becomes a star. Airbuds spikes back. Buddy tackles volleyball. That's 2003. And then just like all these other like, I guess they're called Air Buddies. And they're like, considered spin offs of the original series because they're focused on Buddies puppies. They were all direct to video, but there's Air Buddies, Snow Buddies, Space Buddies, Santa Buddies, Spooky Buddies, Treasure Buddies, and then Super Buddies. JD you might be interested in Super Buddies. They. They find rings that grant them superpowers.

[JD]

Okay.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[JD]

All right.

[J. Skeets]

No idea if it's DC or mcu, though. And then there was even prequels to the Santa Buddies. There's like these other two movies. So there's just. They made so many of these things, but I thought I would hit you guys with sort of a fun top five. Again, a little trivia based. Because I'm gonna give you potential idea for another Air Bud sequel. And I want you to tell me what sport Air Bud or Buddy has mastered. Okay? Top five, top five, top five.

[Trey Kirby]

Top five,.

[J. Skeets]

Top five, top five at number five. Air bud rollover. Lee.

[Trey Kirby]

Wrestlemania. Wrestlemania something.

[J. Skeets]

No. Lee, you should really get that. This one.

[Tasmelis]

Afl.

[J. Skeets]

What Rhymes with roll over in a sport. This one's the toughest one. Probably I shouldn't have started.

[Trey Kirby]

Oh, cricket bowl over.

[J. Skeets]

That's right. Lily. Buddy takes up cricket. Now, you could have also called this Air Bud the Barksman instead of batsman. I don't know. I guess it's more reasonable that a dog would be able to bat in cricket than throw in cricket that far.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, you got it. You've got to put on all the pads in the helmet, then hold a bat. So I think probably bowling. He could just throw it out of his mouth. You know how?

[J. Skeets]

What, we just spit it out?

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah. Spit it out. Yeah, it could be. Yeah. I mean, that's kind of what Shane Warne does with one of his deliveries. It's a flipper. So, you know.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, Shaggy, Warren. Okay. All right, next one at number four. You tell me the sport. Airbud. Doggy paddle.

[Tasmelis]

Swimming.

[J. Skeets]

Swimming. No, you think it would be an Olympic swimming.

[Tasmelis]

Ping pong.

[J. Skeets]

Ping pong. Ding, ding, ding. That's right. That one throws you for a loop. Maybe he is both in this movie. Air Bud Doggy paddle. All right, next one. Air Bud. Parallel bark.

[Tasmelis]

Gymnastics.

[J. Skeets]

That's right, the parallel bars. Yeah. He does all gymnastics now.

[Trey Kirby]

He could. Yeah, I can see a dog actually excelling in that where he doesn't need to actually hold on to anything else. He can just use his athletics to his advantage. You know, dogs are pretty athletic. Athletic. So, yeah, that one would work.

[J. Skeets]

Well, yeah, hold on. Maybe the floor exercise. I can't see a dog doing the parallel bars.

[Trey Kirby]

Easy. He jumps up there. They just have to, you know, have to adjust them for his height. But I think you can see him, you know, hooking his paws underneath and doing a couple of backflips, for sure.

[JD]

You need opposable thumbs for that, don't you?

[J. Skeets]

No.

[Trey Kirby]

Well, no, no. He would just have to, you know, go under his armpit areas, you know, and flip himself around like that.

[Lee Ellis]

He could only get one flip in. Come on. You're crazy. No flips there.

[Trey Kirby]

I think he could do a couple of flips once he works up that momentum, you know, you see him. They don't just go in there straight into it. They do a couple to warm up, and then they. Especially when they dismount, they do two or three flips then. So, you know, I think. I think there's something there for that one.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, you're into airbud. Parallel bark at number two. Airbud. Deuce.

[JD]

Tennis.

[Trey Kirby]

Tennis.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, that's right.

[Lee Ellis]

Oh, nice.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

No way. This Guy can throw a curveball.

[Tasmelis]

I thought he was given maybe giving the signal to his spike volleyball or his beach volleyball partner. We're running the deuce.

[J. Skeets]

Throwing it up the twos. Yeah.

[Tasmelis]

Yeah.

[J. Skeets]

My favorite, though also, I guess a little dirty, like deuce, airbud, dump and chase hockey.

[Tasmelis]

McDonald, he could be the coach.

[J. Skeets]

Playing that devil style of hockey. Dump and chase. That's good for a dog. And maybe he takes a little dump on the ice, it turns into the puck, and then they like play chase. Like they throw it in skates or no skates. Ooh, I guess he'd have to wear skates. Yeah.

[Lee Ellis]

He appears to like footwear.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. He's actually all right with the shoes. You're right. And tried. I mean, you remember, I mean, jd, you had a lot of dogs. Like, dogs don't like things on their feet.

[JD]

No dog I've ever had a well behaved dog.

[J. Skeets]

Also, just off of this, the mom at one point says to Josh, I swear you're gonna grow up to be a lawyer one day. And that, like, that stuck with me. Cause I kept thinking, if they're. And there are rumors that they're gonna be doing another earbud, like it's coming back. But I was like, if Josh did grow up to be a lawyer and maybe we get away from the sports world, like, what would you call, like, what would you call Air Bud? Like the lawyer version? You know, like that he becomes like a defendant or something like that. Is there any. Any good dog puns in the lawyering world?

[Lee Ellis]

This is when we need Matt Austin.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, yeah. Just. I mean, think it over. Think it over.

[Tasmelis]

But I think he's a good. He's. He's a good paws secutor.

[J. Skeets]

Okay, okay. A bit of a stretch, but that's not bad.

[JD]

What about collar? I guess he's more of a cop. In that instance.

[Narrator]

You're collared Judge Bud.

[J. Skeets]

Judge Bud is fun to say. Yeah, that makes sense actually, because it's a whole different series where he's just doing more. Yeah, he's doing legal work.

[Lee Ellis]

I think this is a great idea. We've already seen Buddy in a courtroom. He's able to handle him himself in there. He keeps it under control even when the fate of where he's going to be living is under consideration.

[J. Skeets]

I would actually say that was. That scene was when Buddy was. Well, no, I guess he's also went nuts at the birthday party and he went crazy in the house with the paint, but he was barking up a storm. That gavel.

[Lee Ellis]

True, true.

[J. Skeets]

He really triggered him. Yeah, he was. That's the loudest we had heard. Buddy. I don't remember Buddy having barked at all in the rest of the movie.

[JD]

Did he not a bark, a whimper and a yelp here and there.

[J. Skeets]

But he was going nuts in the courtroom. Yeah, but. Yeah, okay, so there's something there. If you have better ideas for what we could potentially name the Air Bud Legal series, maybe Judge Bud it is, but I think Josh has to be a lawyer. I think that just makes sense in the canon of it all. All right, let's. Let's give our grades. Let's score this thing before we do. The critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. 45%. The. The audience score based off of like 300,000 plus user ratings. 38%. So the critics liked it a little bit more, but most people hated this movie. Cass, what do you. What's your grading scale? What are you giving this?

[Tasmelis]

I've got five vanilla pudding cups out, but four are empty. It's just one vanilla pudding cup out of five.

[J. Skeets]

Tough. Tough. Trey. That's.

[Lee Ellis]

That's crazy. My rating system was snack packs as well. I'm one out of six.

[J. Skeets]

I hated this movie.

[Lee Ellis]

This was a terrible movie for kids. I can see exactly why user scores are so low. If you're a parent, you're putting this on, you're thinking, oh, this will be nice for my kids. And you start with an abusive clown. You've got an abusive coach. You've got a kid who is by himself overnight. Like when he remodeled the court. He tore down something because the kid's like a 25 year old man. Tears down. Tears down a fence all by himself. Paints an entire court all by himself. He's just playing behind a church all by himself for hours and nights at a time. Then it comes back and all you get is a dog playing basketball for about 10 minutes. This movie, it's trash.

[J. Skeets]

Lee, what do you think?

[Trey Kirby]

I'm giving it zero paws out of four. Doesn't even get one paw. It doesn't even get one paw. It's zero. It's that bad.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, we forgot to ask you, Lee, what did you think about Josh's skills at recreating or painting a court? Church. We know you've done it.

[Trey Kirby]

Yeah, pretty. Pretty good, really, wasn't it? I mean, he cleaned it up. All those leaves, he got that. You had to rake all those out of there first. And then, yeah, it looked pretty nice and neat. So he was pretty good at that sort of stuff. Maybe he's got a career in some Sort of art design or, you know, some. Something with the creativity work there, because.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah. Yeah, maybe. Okay, so zero out of four. Pause. You hated this movie.

[Trey Kirby]

I hated it.

[J. Skeets]

J.D. we know you were not a big fan. What are you. What are you giving.

[JD]

Yeah, I mean, there's one scene in the movie that really sort of sums up what a complete and utter mess it is. And it is. It's just a throwaway scene, really. The mom is making deals on the phone, Napkin deals. She's trying to make dinner, right? She's, like, running over to pots and pans that are flying off the stove and stuff. But Josh is already eating. In fact, he's almost done his SpaghettiOs that he has fashioned into the shape of a dog in the bottom of his bowl. And his mother says to him, josh, would you please eat something? It's just a circular trope that doesn't go anywhere and doesn't mean anything. And by the way, the SpaghettiOs that. That Josh fed Air Bud. I mean, I can't imagine the diarrhea that he would have had after the. All of the pudding pot. The puddings and the SpaghettiOs. Anyways, I'm going away from my bobbleheads, and I'm gonna rate this. 10 cans of SpaghettiOs, 10 being the worst because of the explosive diarrhea. Out of 10. Out of 10 SpaghettiO cans.

[J. Skeets]

Oh, my goodness. So, oddly, a perfect score, but in a bad way.

[JD]

I finally know how Lee Ellis felt eating Taco Bell. It's garbage.

[J. Skeets]

Wow. Wow, everybody.

[JD]

Nothing wrong with SpaghettiOs, man.

[J. Skeets]

I love spaghetti.

[JD]

I got nuts. Nothing against SpaghettiOs, but don't feed your dog SpaghettiOs. Multiple cans at once.

[J. Skeets]

That's a good tip, probably. I'm. I like this movie a little bit more than you guys, mainly because I liked how crappy it was and then getting to talk about it, which was, for me at least, and hopefully for the listener, a little enjoyable. I mean, we went through the whole damn movie basically scene by scene. So I'm gonna give it. I'll give it two Arthur Chaney Nick's cards. Out of five, one of them signed, one of them definitely dead. The player on the card, because, like I said, we got to do this one. And then I. I was laughing out loud. This is before I had ever even watched the movie. I listened to that Mad About Movies podcast of them talking about Air Bud, and these guys were funny guys. I was laughing on my run. And again, I never even seen the damn movie. So there's something about breaking down this Air Bud movie in these series that is enjoyable to me. So two out of five Arthur Chaney, Knicks Cards. But that's what we think. Let's hear from you guys. Let us know on Twitter. Hashtag no dunks. No Dunks Inc. Were you a fan of Air bud? Was this a chore for you watching it? Do your kids like it? All that good stuff? That's it for us today. We got a whole new week of podcasts coming for you. We'll be stepping on the beach, of course, on Wednesday. Get your questions in right now. No doubt. Dunks@the athletic.com we got a new squad coming up.

[Lee Ellis]

Hope you're hungry.

[J. Skeets]

Yeah, it's, it's gonna be pretty funny, I think. So that's coming up soon. And a ton more podcasts here that we've got the Survivor podcast everything. So just make sure you subscribe. Clipper Bros. You heard it here first.

[JD]

Have a great time.

[J. Skeets]

Turn up. Love you guys. Awesome.

[Tasmelis]

Thanks for joining us. And remember, ain't no rule saying a dog can't play basketball.

[J. Skeets]

Embrace the day people.

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