Brian Windhorst, The Knicks Are 2 Wins Away From A Title, The Stanley Cup Final Has Been Insane + Who's Back Of The Week

Summary

Pardon My Take — Episode Summary

Brian Windhorst, The Knicks Are 2 Wins Away From a Title, The Stanley Cup Final Has Been Insane + Who's Back Of The Week

Date: June 8, 2026
Hosts: Big Cat & PFT Commenter (Barstool Sports)
Guest: Brian Windhorst (ESPN)

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Episode Overview

This episode of Pardon My Take is pure sports euphoria: Big Cat, PFT, and the crew dive deep into the New York Knicks being two wins away from an NBA championship, recap the first wild games of an utterly chaotic Stanley Cup Final, and welcome ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (“Wendy”) for the most insightful, insider analysis on all things NBA Finals and league rumors. The hosts mix passionate sports talk, inside jokes, and classic Pardon My Take chaos—with a healthy dose of listener engagement, memorable hypotheticals, and their much-loved segments.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Knicks Take 2–0 NBA Finals Lead

(01:44–24:00, 80:29+)

• The Knicks are up 2–0 against the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.
• Anticipation is off the charts: returning to MSG, “it’s gonna be a scene... a movie... even with no rooting interest, you’re hype for this game.” (Big Cat, 04:12)
• Spurs’ inexperience is showing—major discussion about Victor Wembanyama’s costly late-game mistakes:
  • “The end of game sequence… the moment was too big for the San Antonio Spurs.” (Big Cat, 04:54)
  • “About as bad a last minute as you can have for Wemby... He choked.” (Memes, 05:57)
• Critique of Spurs coach Mitch Johnson for not calling timeout during the crunch.
• Hot debates on “two for one” late-game shot strategy, big calls, and lineup management.
• The Knicks’ team effort is the episode’s refrain:
  • “It’s not just Brunson. KAT’s been sensational. Mikal Bridges, Josh Hart... Landry Shamet just being the greatest shooter ever right now.” (Big Cat, 12:42)
• Knicks are on a 13-game win streak, haven’t lost since April. “The Celtics have lost 3 times more recently than the Knicks.” (Big Cat, 13:53)
• Historic context, fun “11 stats”: Previous Finals with similar off-weekend game schedules either involved the Knicks or Spurs.

Notable Quote:

• “It does look like men vs boys right now.” — Zach (15:00)

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2. Vibes, Superstition, and New York Hype

(15:44–26:10)

• Discussing the vibes of this Knicks team versus past years—the patience in building this roster, Leon Rose’s strategic moves (“smoke and mirrors came out and the Knicks popped out on the other end with enough cap space...” — Windhorst, 126:24).
• Rituals and superstitions: Knicks fans’ “pregame meals,” routines, and refusal to change anything during the streak.
• Watch party restrictions due to presidential attendance and New York’s wild, celebratory energy.
• Extremely high MSG ticket prices—$10,000 to get in.
• Joke segment: What’s more hyped, Game 3 at MSG or a hypothetical Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce wedding at MSG?

Notable Moment:

• “The sense of joy around NYC right now... that is electric, ticker-tape parade if they win...” — Memes (25:14)

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3. Stanley Cup Final: Utter Mayhem

(38:35–44:53)

• A “cracked” Stanley Cup Final—Game 3 includes everything: six goals in a period, fastest hat trick in Finals history, a four-goal comeback, and double overtime.
• “The Knights looked like they’d run away, then the Hurricanes scored three goals in 39 seconds... the fastest in Finals history.” (Memes, 41:00)
• Mitch Marner (“on pace for a Conn Smythe”) reborn after leaving Toronto: “He needed a change of scenery—this is to blame for the good people of Toronto.” (Big Cat, 42:10)
• Vegas Knights win via a funky double-OT goal; the hosts riff about “cranking” traditions and the superstition of owning the ceremonial crank.

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4. Fun and Absurd: NHL Combine Questions Game

(45:13–51:16)

• Hosts play through real/weird questions from the NHL Combine:
  • “Would you kill another person for water on a deserted island?”
  • “How do you describe the color blue?”
  • “List all the things you can do with a brick in 30 seconds.”
  • “Would you rather have a 4-year career with a Cup, or 10 with none?”
• Much laughter about teams overcomplicating interviews—“Everyone wants a stupid edge!” (Big Cat, 50:45)

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5. NFL Stadium Drama: Bears to Indiana?

(57:15–61:16, 136:02+)

• Ongoing tension over Chicago Bears’ stadium deal, potential move to Indiana, and the consequences for city identity and fans.
• “Indiana will have two NFL teams; New York, California only one; Texas, two. Is Indiana the next sports state?” (Memes, 58:06)

Notable Quote:

• “It’s such a mess… it will suck in the moment.” — Big Cat (57:50)

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6. Rumor Mill & Who’s Back of the Week

(65:16–78:36)

• Lightning round: Comebacks and news across sports:
  • Monaco as “richest sports town,” soccer/World Cup fever (“If you let us win soccer, it’s over for the world.” — Big Cat, 71:00)
  • Caitlin Clark coverage/fatigue in WNBA
  • Horse racing—Golden Tempo’s Belmont win lambasted for “load management”

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7. Interview: Brian Windhorst (“Wendy”) on NBA Finals & League Intel

(80:29–135:10)

NBA Finals Deep Dive:

• Wendy brings elite perspective:
  • “No signs of Knicks overconfidence... I am not ready to declare this is put to bed yet.” (BW, 82:38)
  • Spurs are alive—both games, they led under two minutes left.
  • “Wemby hasn’t had the same energy as in the Conference Finals.”
  • Knicks focused: “You can tell—whoever’s in their face about ‘job not done,’ it’s getting through.” (81:49)
• In-game analysis on Spurs’ late-game errors, coaching decisions, and rebounding woes:
  • “If the Spurs just get some rebounds, they win that game.” (BW, 90:49)
  • “Towns is playing amazing... he’s just shoving Victor out of the way for rebounds.” (BW, 113:29)
• Cat’s Redemption: “This is a completely different Karl Towns that I’m seeing... his entire demeanor is different.” (BW, 115:48)
• Knicks’ team-building and culture—the key is “patience,” “franchise alignment,” and “everyone doing their job at the best at the exact same time.”
  • “The city here in New York is absolutely in love with it... people in Jersey can hear the city react.” (BW, 126:21)

NBA League Rumors:

• Giannis/Boston buzz is premature—trade only happens if Giannis would sign long-term.
• Miami is a “strong contender” if Milwaukee moves Giannis; Minnesota was an interested dark horse.
• LeBron’s future (minimum to Cleveland?)—many steps before it’s real, not clear he’ll play at all.
• Ant Edwards & Timberwolves—monitor summer moves; they chased Giannis/KD at past deadlines.

Notable Quotes:

• “Sometimes your franchise comes together and they all get it aligned and they all play their best at the exact same time... In a way, it’s kind of beautiful.” — Brian Windhorst (126:24)
• “Patience is hard... nobody ever wants to steal patience. They want to steal the player.” — Brian Windhorst (125:11)

Light-hearted Moments:

• Wendy’s “Mount Rushmore” of NBA Finals covered: 2016 Cavs-Warriors, 2013 Heat-Spurs, 2025 Pacers-Nuggets seven-gamer, 2022 Warriors-Celtics.
• Hotel reservation strategies, sunglasses debate (“serving looks in San Antonio heat…”).
• Spirited talk about stadiums, cities losing their teams, and the sadness of domed/relocated venues.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “The end of game sequence... the moment was too big for the San Antonio Spurs.” — Big Cat (04:54)
• “About as bad a last minute as you can have for Wemby... He choked.” — Memes (05:57)
• “The Knicks are just the better basketball team... It does look like men versus boys.” —Big Cat (15:00)
• “Patience is hard... nobody ever wants to steal patience.” — Brian Windhorst (125:11)
• “Sometimes your franchise comes together and... it’s kind of beautiful... it’s not something we normally see from the Knicks or a big city.” — Brian Windhorst (129:54)
• “The sense of joy around New York is electric, ticker-tape parade if they win...” — Memes (25:14)
• “No rebounds, no rings.” — Brian Windhorst quoting Pat Riley (90:49)
• “If you let us win soccer, it’s over for the world.” — Big Cat (71:00)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• [01:44] – Knicks/Spurs Game 2, Finals Narrative
• [15:44] – New York City Vibes & Ticket Prices
• [38:35] – Stanley Cup Final Recap
• [45:13] – NHL Combine Hypothetical Game
• [57:15] – NFL Stadium Drama (Bears, Guardians, etc.)
• [65:16] – Who's Back of the Week
• [80:29] – Brian Windhorst (“Wendy”) Interview
• [126:24] – Knicks Culture/Team Building, Interview Highlights
• [135:07] – Windhorst’s Finals “Mount Rushmore,” Hotel Stories, Closing

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Tone, Flow, and Style

True to the PMT form: conversational, funny, full of inside jokes and cheeky hypotheticals ("Would you kill a man for water at the NHL Combine?"). Big Cat and PFT manage sharp sports analysis without ever taking themselves—or their “takes”—too seriously, and Windhorst brings both gravitas and easy rapport. The show (as always) crackles with the tension of diehard fans on the precipice of sports history.

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Episode Takeaway

This episode captures the essence of June sports fever—NBA Finals, the wildest Stanley Cup Final in years, soccer/World Cup anticipation, and NFL “silly season.” The hype for Knicks fans is palpable and infectious, but the crew keeps it real with hard-nosed analysis, Windhorst’s expert breakdowns, and comedic bits that keep even the tensest moments light.

If you missed this one, you missed the pulse of sports culture this week—with the most emotionally invested, clever voices in sports media.

Transcript

[Big Cat]

Hey, pardon my take listeners. You can find every episode on Apple Podcasts and Spotify prime members can listen ad free on Amazon Music.

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[Big Cat]

on today's part of my take presented by DraftKings the New York Knicks are up to nothing in the NBA. NBA Finals. No games over the weekend, which was weird. But we have our good friend Brian Windhorse on the show to tell us what the spurs can do to get out of this hole. Or is it going to be a coronation for the Knicks as early as Wednesday night? We're also going to talk Stanley Cup Final. Probably the craziest first three games to a Stanley Cup Final ever. It's been insane. We had another overtime game with three goals in 39 seconds. It was nuts we're going to do who's Back of the Week, some national sports podcast topics. I also have a fun game for

[Memes]

us, but I'd like to like the fun games.

[Big Cat]

So that's a little teaser. You guys want to play a fun game? You guys are down to play a fun game.

[Hank]

I love fun games.

[Big Cat]

All right, so we'll play a fun game. It's all brought to you by our friends at Experian. It's never too late to improve your credit. With Experian Boost, you can raise your credit scores instantly for free. Get credit for the bills you're already paying. Add your positive rent, utility, and even streaming payments to instantly increase your credit scores. Boost your credit scores instantly. Experian Boost is completely free and can instantly raise your credit scores. Get better credit scores. Get credit for the bills you're already paying. Increase your credit scores instantly for free. Now paying rent could boost your credit scores instantly. Download the app and get started for free today. Results will vary. Not all payments are boost eligible or considered by lenders. See experian.com for details. Okay, let's go. Welcome to part of my take, presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Monday, June 8th, and the New York Knicks are two games away. Oh, you're going to clap. You want me to say I was about to clap? Do you want me to say it?

[Memes]

The New York Knicks are world champions.

[Big Cat]

Congrats to Knicks and all their fans.

[Memes]

Congrats, Memes. Congrats, Zach.

[Big Cat]

Way to go.

[Memes]

2 nothing. Going back to the Mecca. Back to New York.

[Big Cat]

It's going to be a movie Monday night. It's going to be insane. I. I actually do believe that. I. It's rare that there's a game that you're like, hype for when you have no rooting interests. And I am hyped for what the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals are going to look like at msg. I think it's going to be absolutely nuts. The crowd is going to be nuts. The president's going to be there. Which, by the way, that part does suck. That no one can do. I think they canceled the outdoor watch parties. That sucks. Yeah, they should let the have let, let the boys watch.

[Memes]

It does suck. But on the other hand, Mitchell Robinson is going to go nuclear with Trump courtside. That's like, everything he's ever hoped for.

[Big Cat]

It's going to be an absolute scene. So Friday night, to recap Friday night, we had another. Well, the first game, the Knicks ended up winning convincingly. Friday night was A instant classic fourth quarter because we had the Knicks looking like they were going to cruise to a 2o lead. The spurs come all the way back. And then in the last two minutes, I don't know if we should say, and we're going to talk to Brian Windhorse, that the moment was too big for the San Antonio spurs because this is a storyline that they're the youngest team to be in the NBA Finals and you have a core that is all under 25 years old and, and Wemby's first trip, you know, first meaningful first playoffs and he gets all the way to the finals. But the end of game sequence where Victor Wembanyama tries to pass the ball to Steph Castle in transition and throws it off his back for a turnover. For Brunson going to the free throw line, hitting one, and then Wemby, who got a good look, missing the final shot. It was tough.

[Memes]

About as bad last minute as you can possibly have for Wimby. It was I plain. So he choked. That was a big time choke at the end. Like he. You got to look before you throw that pass. It was an ill advised pass to make. And then out of frustration, he just, he commits a bad foul. I, I think Wimby's to blame, obviously for everything that happened at the end this game. I think we should be fair. Mitch Johnson should get some blame for the way these two games have gone. Like, can you imagine Pop losing these two games back to back?

[Big Cat]

Pop did talk to the team after the first two games, so maybe he helped. But yes, I agree. I tweeted it in the moment. I thought Mitch Johnson not calling a time out there was crazy. They have one timeout left. There's seven seconds left or whatever it was. Ten seconds left, it's a tie game. I understand transition is kind of how the spurs got back in the game. They were attacking the hoop, they were getting out fast. But you have, you have, you have 10 seconds left. Call timeout. Call up your best play. If Brunson's on the floor, attack Brunson like the worst. Ha. The thing that happens is you go to overtime instead. I, I just, I just feel like that's a moment where it's like you have, you know, you got to know your personnel, you got to know you got a young team. You call timeout, get your best play, and you get a shot to potentially win without the risk of losing in regulation, which is what ended up happening.

[Memes]

I was talking to our, our good friend Mark Titus about this, but I've I've noticed it more so from the Thunder and. And a little bit from the Spurs. Now, the two for one at the end of the game, it's the right call. Statistically. The nerds have crunched all the numbers. You got to get the two for one, get two shots when you can, but the shots that are being put up in the first half of the two for one can be kind of ridiculous. And, and when you, when you put up a bad shot, it also. I, I want to see what the numbers are, but I would assume that the likelihood of a fast break or getting like, you know, a. A numbers overload off that miss, off a bad miss and a long rebound are higher than if you get a normal shot that you run, like a standard play that's not rushed.

[Big Cat]

I would agree.

[Memes]

And I think that sometimes if you put up, if you. If you try super, super hard and make sure to get that two for one up, no matter what the cost is, that actually ends up hurting you a little bit. I think Wimby's shot that he had the front half of two for one was terrible. It was an awful shot. It was a rush shot, very rushed shot.

[Big Cat]

And Wemby was bad in the first half. Again, like you. You have to. We have. And this is all relative because I understand this is first time in the NBA Finals. He's 22 years old. He's a future fist this league if Scotty Barnes stops playing basketball. But that's part of, like, part of being the future fastest league is that you get the criticism when you are not dominant and this is your team. In the first half, he was not. Can we look? He looked gas. He looked off.

[Memes]

Can he win the big one?

[Big Cat]

I. Did you hear afterwards he said that he, He. He maybe celebrated a little too hard. You know, I don't think he was getting drunk, but like, maybe didn't move on quickly enough from the Western Conference final.

[Memes]

He also said that this is everything that I wished for. Being down to nothing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Having the opportunity to come back from that.

[Big Cat]

I will. When we talk to Wind Horse, I want to. I want to get. Because Wind Horse, I don't know if you guys know, but he is the Wemby whisperer. He's the one who found him. But yeah, I can't tell if part of me, like, I think Wemby is ultra confident. And why wouldn't you be if you're 75 freak. I also did the quote saying, this is everything that I wish for. So there's no reason to really overthink it. I mean this is what I'm built for. When talking about being down oh 2 in the finals, it feels like he's almost like this is what I'm supposed to say if I'm going to be a Kobe MJ type of guy.

[Memes]

I love being down.

[Big Cat]

You know what I mean?

[Memes]

Yeah. To nothing. Most dangerous lead in basketball.

[Big Cat]

You know, it'd be great is that he didn't blow the first two games by not playing up to your standard embrace debate.

[Memes]

Would you rather be up to nothing or down to nothing in the NBA Finals?

[Big Cat]

I would be. Rather be up to nothing. Not me.

[Memes]

See, I'm like mama mentality. So especially I want to be down and I want to be going on the road into Madison Square Garden. That's. That's the ideal spot to be in.

[Big Cat]

I also back to Ms. Mitch Johnson real quick. I, I don't agree with. So the start of the sequence was actually the beginning of the. The possession when the Knicks had the ball and they fouled intentionally. Cause they had a foul to give. I don't like that. I, I think if you're going to foul when you, when like in that situation, I just. I, I don't really understand it because now you then have the, the second situation happen where Jalen Brunson's in the bonus.

[Memes]

Well, I think they, they fou.

[Big Cat]

But it's just like don't even, don't even foul there. Let it play out. You, you actually, it's actually good that you have a foul to give because it isn't automatically at the free throw line if you foul on the floor.

[Memes]

Yeah. If you're going to foul though, you, you got to wait a little bit longer than that. And I. It's not just that one instance at the end and then, you know, not calling a timeout. I, I do think that the way that the spurs have played with Leeds, I feel like you have to put some of that blame on their head coach.

[Big Cat]

Well, I also think the lineups. I mean we've, we've talked about it. We've. We've been talking about Dylan Harper and how awesome. And the Dylan Harper. The Dylan Harper Wemby lineup has been incredible in this series. The. I can't remember. Let me try to find it. Oh yeah, here it is. Oh no. This is. This is just Wemby's step. But I'm pretty sure the Dylan Harper and Wemby on in. On the floor together has been really, really good. Steph Castle, as much as I love him like he was in foul trouble. He plays with an energy that might be. He might be the guy who you want to bring off the bench. I don't know. You're down two. Oh, and you're. You lost the first two games at home. It might be time to switch some things up.

[Memes]

You got to figure something else out.

[Big Cat]

Right. Because it does feel like the Knicks are just the better team. And the Knicks, I mean, that one possession where they had the ball movement that was just. Are you serious? Computer playing something that was incredible. The ball movement on that one possession. Like, the Knicks are just. And they're doing it with everyone. Jalen Brunson has not been, like, super dumb. I mean, outside the fourth quarter in game one, it's not been like the Jalen Brunson show. It's been the entire Knicks team. Carl Anthony Towns has been sensational. Mikhail Bridge has been awesome. Like, everyone is doing it. Memes. It's been crazy to watch.

[Hank]

That game was also rigged for this.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, that's true. They were really trying the refs. They actually rescinded Mitchell Robinson's flagrant the next day.

[Memes]

And if they didn't.

[Hank]

If the Knicks had used their challenge and they didn't challenge the OG3, like, they wouldn't have had any free throws in the second half.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. But it was. But, like, think about it. You've.

[Memes]

You.

[Big Cat]

If you're the spurs and you went into these NBA Finals and I told you that in game one, Jalen Brunson would have 30 points on 31 shots, and in game two, he'd have 20 points on 25 shots. You would sign up for that every single day of the week. You'd be like, oh, we're probably winning this series.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

But the difference is Kat, Mikhail Bridges, Josh Hart being everywhere. Landry Shamit just being the greatest shooter ever right now. Like, it's the. The whole team. The whole team. Yeah. The whole Knicks team has just been awesome. They've been. They. Everyone has stepped up in big moments.

[Memes]

And Josh Hart's commitment to not really scoring any points at all. Zero points, but getting every single loose ball that's ever existed. Yeah, I. I do. I. They play a very entertaining brand of basketball. And the scary thing for the spurs is you have to imagine that Jalen Brunson is going to have one of these nights he's going to go off. Yeah. And he hasn't done it yet. And you're owing to looking at some subpar play from Jalen Brunson. That's a scary place to be for the Spurs. Congrats though. Congrats, Memes. Congrats, Zach.

[Big Cat]

Let's hear from me and Zach.

[Memes]

You guys are just dominant right now.

[Big Cat]

What do you guys got?

[Memes]

Maybe the best team in the history of the playoffs.

[Zach]

We gotta stop with the congrats.

[Big Cat]

I mean 13 in a row is insane. This is it third. You guys have not lost since April.

[Zach]

I know, but you're still still two more wins away.

[Memes]

What did Shefford say the night of the NFL draft? That was the last time that the Knicks.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that was right. The, the Knicks lost the game. Right as the jets were picking.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Zach]

And and the Mets let up a grand slam to tie the game.

[Memes]

Yeah, that was a bad.

[Big Cat]

I saw someone tweeted a stat that the Celtics have lost three times more recently than the Knicks.

[Zach]

Is that true?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

That's crazy.

[Big Cat]

Celtics got bounced in the first round.

[Zach]

Holy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's, it's, it's an insane run you guys are on. So can we congratulate you?

[Max]

We can't be doing the early selly thing. And so we.

[Big Cat]

Look, there's what makes you scared of dispersy I I and I I know it is a long series. Like there could still be a chance that if the spurs win this game three then, then things get a little tighter. I truly think the Knicks are just a better basketball team all around than the Spurs. That's just and the lines also don't. Are they like one and a half point favorites?

[Zach]

It was two and a half when I last they were.

[Big Cat]

There were six and a half point dogs in game two. There were five and a half point dogs in game one. I don't get it. They're bet they're a better basketball team. Like I two and a half point favorites. I I, I don't know what to say memes. They're the better basketball team. No. Yes. Anything could happen but they're the better basketball.

[Zach]

It does look like men versus boys right now.

[Big Cat]

Right. And it just. Everyone is chipping in like you even I was impressed. I will say dear and Fox like answered he was. He was bad in game one and he was great in game two. And like he, he answered that he was very, very efficient. He was aggressive and, and overall like the spurs hit a lot more shot. You know like they, they shot better and they had more contributions for they had contributions from more guys. But it still doesn't matter because the Knicks they defend. That's the thing is the Knicks defend too at such a high level that it's just, it's so hard. I was shocked that they gave up that lead. And. And then I was. I was not shocked. They won the game, though, because they're the better basketball team.

[Zach]

99 out of 100 times, that shot goes in like the history of the Knicks. The Wemby shot at the end, like, it goes in and the Knicks are dead. And then they, they get reverse. Reverse sweep.

[Memes]

A gentleman sweep.

[Zach]

Gentleman sweep. But like, we're living in that timeline where it's the one shot missed.

[Big Cat]

Do you want to talk some crazy timelines? I got some crazy stats for you.

[Memes]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

This is just. These are, these are perfect PMT stats that are not. If you come to this show looking for, like, on off numbers and, you know, switches and, and no, we're not going to do that. What are you. What are you shaking your head for, Max?

[Shane]

You just don't do that here.

[Big Cat]

You shake your head. So be. But what we do do is. Or I would, I would call it in. We're more aura stats, guys. Whereas vibes and stupid numbers and stupid coincidences. So here's the. Here's the first one memes. There was no NBA Finals game on Saturday or Sunday this weekend. The only other years without a Sunday game in the NBA Finals. So there's no NBA Finals game at all in this series on Sunday. The only other time that there was no NBA Finals game on a Sunday in a series. 1999 spurs beat the Knicks. Also 1970, the Knicks beat the Lakers.

[Memes]

That is crazy.

[Big Cat]

So that's a 11 stat right there.

[Memes]

That's wild.

[Big Cat]

Do you want another 11 stat that we. We don't know? Okay, here's the other 11 stat. 1976 NBA Finals, the Celtics take a 2.0lead and win in six games. 1986 Finals, the Celtics take a 2 0lead and win in six games. 1996 Finals, the Bulls take a 2.0lead and Win in six games. So this is every 10 years, team takes 2 oh lead and wins in six games. 2006 Finals Mavericks blow a 2.0lead in the NBA Finals. 2016 NBA Finals warriors blow a 2o lead in the NBA Finals. Now we're 2026. That's every day, every decade. For the last 50 years, every series started 203 in a row. 20 the way the team that went up 201 and 6. The last 20 team that went up 2.0 blew it.

[Memes]

But the good news is if you guys go up three zero, it's over.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. What do you think about that stat?

[Memes]

It's over.

[Big Cat]

Again, these are dumb stats.

[Shane]

It's already over.

[Zach]

It's not over.

[Big Cat]

What do you think about that stat?

[Zach]

I didn't like that one.

[Big Cat]

That one's not nice. That one's not a nice station.

[Zach]

What, were they at home to start or away?

[Big Cat]

I don't know. No, because the warriors were definitely at home, right?

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

So that helps.

[Zach]

Yeah, I don't like that set.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's not a nice stat.

[Zach]

I think the Knicks having Mikhail Bridges, though, helps. He was on that Suns team that blew the. They won two games at home. Giannis won four straight with the Bucks, and he just keeps reiterating that, the locker room.

[Memes]

So he's, like, just constantly panicked by it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was. That was the NBA Finals. Yeah. The Bucks lost their first two games at home.

[Zach]

Yeah. So McHale's battling demons with that. Mike Brown got swept by the spurs first time. Like, they're all just. It's nice having a team that's just all peaking after battling so many demons throughout the NBA and just being thrown away. Yeah. And now they're just like the perfect team. I just want to watch this team forever.

[Memes]

The perfect team. They are. They are playing like the perfect team. You get. You actually can't disagree with that, the way that they've been going for the last, like, month and a half. No. And it all started with the Hawks.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Which again, thank you to the Hawks. You memes did call it correct. He called it correctly, then. Incorrectly. He called it correctly that the Hawks were a terrible matchup for the Knicks. They have proven so far through. I know we're only halfway through the NBA Finals or, you know, two games in, but they've. They've proven thus far that to be the biggest test to the Knicks this postseason. But also means when he. When the Hawks were up to one, was like, the blowing up. We're trading everyone for. For Giannis. And now we're sitting here, and from that comment, you have not lost the game.

[Zach]

Yeah, but that's just motivation. It's like, you either win some games or you're living in Milwaukee.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's true. You. You basically told the entire Knicks organization, get ready to learn, Milwaukee. Get ready to learn cheese curds.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Because at that point, it just felt like the fans wanted it more, and now it feels like they want it more. They haven't smiled in, like, two months.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Brunson does not smile. Yeah.

[Memes]

You know how I know that the Knicks are probably going to win this whole thing is because we've already Got people coming out of the woodwork, just trying to, like, grasp at the final straws, being like, yeah, well, you guys tampered to get Jalen Brunson, so this shouldn't even count.

[Big Cat]

Is that true?

[Memes]

Yeah, unless the second round pick for it.

[Zach]

Nick's tampered. Yeah, well, Leon Rose's son is Jalen Bronson's agent.

[Memes]

That's where the right theory comes. No, I'm actually taking your side on this. I'm like, it's, it's loser talk. To even bring this up. If, if the punishment was a second round pick, to bring it up, to try to, like, take it away from you before you've already done it. That's how you know that you're winning. This is like the, the last straw that they could possibly grasp at, and it's, it's meaningless. I agree with you.

[Zach]

We just need two more. The spurs are still a really good basketball team. They're really young. They've been playing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but I mean, I think we've got enough, Enough of a sample size to prove that Wemby can't win the big one. Right.

[Memes]

I think he's got a clutch gene problem. Yeah, that's what I think.

[Big Cat]

Through two games, he can't win the big.

[Memes]

Let me ask you this, big cat,

[Big Cat]

that's a fact Memes.

[Memes]

Did Michael Jordan ever throw a pass off of Scottie Pippen's back when they're, when they have a chance to win the game?

[Big Cat]

He never lost an NBA Finals.

[Memes]

No, I, I, Jordan never did it.

[Big Cat]

He never lost an NBA Finals. But Memes, he doesn't have a clutch gene. The moment is too big.

[Zach]

He did say his, his eyes were,

[Memes]

like, blurry after the game.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, the memory of it was blurry. How many people do you think got duped by the AI of him walking down the. Oh, Max put his hand up. He didn't even have to finish it. It was a AI version of Wemby going in the tunnel maybe four steps, and then he, like, collapsed and started crying. You gotta. I mean, come on. It's game two. There's no way that was real.

[Memes]

Head on a swivel.

[Big Cat]

Did you have Embiid flashbacks? Is that what it was?

[Shane]

Yeah, I had a tweet that I was about to. That I was about to rip.

[Memes]

Oh, no.

[Shane]

About. Because someone was like, I want my. If your star player doesn't react like this after a tough loss, I don't want him. And then I was starting to get mad because people absolutely destroyed embiid for that. And then I was like, you know what? Let's not make this about Embiid. And then I. And then I deleted the tweet and then saw the replies that they were all that. It was like, this is AI. This is AI. And I was like, all right, so good win. Good win.

[Memes]

Hank, how are you handling this, knowing that the. The Knicks will soon be in play for the team of the twenties?

[Hank]

I mean, they're.

[Memes]

They're.

[Hank]

And they're gonna. They're gonna sweep the series and probably have a case to be one of the greatest teams of all time. It's. It's tough. I did. I put an absolute nuke on the Knicks because I just knew that, you know, the spurs were gas and. And they. They didn't have what it takes. And I was so. I was kind of rooting for the Knicks in that game because I. I bet a big bet on it, and it was like the game was so rigged for the. So rigged, and somehow the Knicks still won. I mean, the. The. The scene in MSG on. On Monday is going to be insane. And even if they. They can lose the next three games, I still think they win. They're not gonna. They're not gonna lose any of them.

[Big Cat]

Wait, they can lose the next three games and still win?

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

What? Yeah, I think if the. I'll say right now, if the Knicks lose the next three games, they could be in a little bit of trouble. I'm gonna say that I'm just gonna be blatantly, like, that would be a. I'd be. I'd be nervous if I were Knicks fans being like, hey, we just lost three in a row, including two at home. That feels like that would be a pretty bad momentum swing.

[Hank]

But, yeah, I mean, Nick's Knicks fans are. Are insufferable, and they're all coming out of the woodwork, and it's. It's. It's tough, but you have to just accept it is what it is. There's nothing. There's. No. As much as I want to hate, hate, hate, it's like they. This team cannot be stopped.

[Big Cat]

What do you mean? They're all coming out of the woodwork. I feel like Knicks fans now. You could. You could not like the Knicks fan base.

[Hank]

I'm just happy we're not in New York.

[Big Cat]

But. But in terms of, like, die hard fan bases that have been through, I think the Knicks are high up there, like did Nicks are. You have some crazy.

[Memes]

You don't think that Knicks fans keep their phantom close to the Vest?

[Big Cat]

I don't think so. No.

[Memes]

Yeah, I mean, I guess.

[Hank]

I mean, I guess this is what happens when teams make championship run is like, you know, not saying, like, anyone here, but there's just people I see on social media and stuff. Like when we were in New York where it's like all of a sudden they're like going to the bars and like, that's what you're.

[Shane]

The New York transplants.

[Memes]

It also. Hank's right. It's like, how come, oh, you're such big Knicks fans. I don't remember you guys tweeting so much about the NBA Finals when the Knicks weren't playing in them. Like, of course they're going to be more locked in when their team is in the finals.

[Big Cat]

Also, New York's got to be electric right now.

[Hank]

Like, oh, it looks disgusting.

[Big Cat]

Oh, my God.

[Hank]

You can't come hot trash on the street.

[Memes]

It has to be mystery water hitting you when you walk down the sidewalk. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

There's got to be like a sense of just joy around New York City right now. That is.

[Memes]

That is electric ticker tape parade. If they win, can you.

[Big Cat]

The heroes.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Hank]

I looked it up the other day, but I didn't even realize that the, like, we're going down. Like, their, Their parade route is Broadway.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. It's right by our office.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Because you should go.

[Big Cat]

No, did you. Did you see the.

[Memes]

You and me should go together to parade you.

[Big Cat]

You videotape means.

[Hank]

Yeah, I'm busy.

[Big Cat]

Did you see the get in price now is what, $10,000 crazy.

[Memes]

Sheesh.

[Zach]

I thought about buying a ticket.

[Memes]

Did you?

[Zach]

Yeah, that's. That's just.

[Memes]

I would throw up if they lost.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I know.

[Memes]

That's the thing.

[Big Cat]

It's like, I get it for game four or six with game three. Like, that is election, but $10,000, a lot of money. That's. It's crazy.

[Memes]

It's so much.

[Big Cat]

It's crazy.

[Memes]

What do you think is the most hyped event at MSG Game 3 or the Taylor Swift Travis Kelsey wedding?

[Hank]

Yeah, I was going to talk about this.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I mean, it's.

[Hank]

How tacky is that?

[Big Cat]

Well, I think you believe it.

[Hank]

It's real.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Oh, I don't.

[Memes]

They're gonna invite a thousand people to msg.

[Big Cat]

I feel like this is. I feel like they're. They're, they're pulling a fast one. Well, I think there's two scenarios going on, and I, I could be very, very wrong because I. You know what? I am hoping that I am right because I Don't. I agree. Tacky as hell. If they actually do this, I think either one, they sent out a bunch of dummy invites being like, we know we have a rat somewhere in our group and let's wait to see it get reported to. They actually have so much money. They did rent out MSG and all the people that are not really like the closest to them will be there and then there'll be a video screen being like we're actually in a private. Like we're in an island somewhere far away having our real wedding. Sorry you couldn't make it, but we really didn't want the paparazzi to blow it up, so we told everyone that we're doing it in Madison Square Garden

[Memes]

or they're doing theirs in the Hulu Theater. Yeah, just downstairs.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

And everyone else can watch upstairs.

[Big Cat]

That was my initial. I don't know if it happened.

[Memes]

It could be smoking out of rat because like, it sounds like there was one source that talked to the press about this. If they do it and it's going to be tacky, you should just go full on tack. You should sell tickets. Like, you should sell that place out. Have it be like 30, 000 people there to watch you get married.

[Hank]

I mean the get in for that might be more than three.

[Memes]

How much do you think ticket prices would be if. If they like sold the entire stadium for their wedding?

[Hank]

Like 10 grand?

[Big Cat]

Probably more. Yeah. Swifties.

[Memes]

You think they're more Taylor Swift fans or New York Nick fans out there?

[Big Cat]

I was gonna make a joke, but I don't want to get the Swifties upset at me.

[Hank]

I mean, it's probably Swifties.

[Big Cat]

Someone, someone could make the joke. Like what?

[Shane]

I knew you were gonna make the joke.

[Big Cat]

I'm not gonna make the joke. But like, what is it? Someone could say like woods, well, they gotta save up for their, their cats, college education.

[Memes]

You could say that.

[Big Cat]

I, I could, but I didn't. I did not say that. And I wouldn't say that. That would be wrong of me to make that joke.

[Shane]

Good thing you didn't make the joke.

[Memes]

You'd also just be like, they don't have jobs. Is posting online on a fandom account. Is that a job?

[Big Cat]

I'm not. We're not making anything. We're not making any of these jokes. I, I think this is a dummy wedding they're putting. Putting out. I think they're getting everyone off the scent.

[Memes]

It could be.

[Big Cat]

You're looking right now. Oh, the, oh, the get in prices come down a little. You know what Five grand.

[Zach]

It.

[Memes]

It make a billion dollars off this wedding. If you're them, sell tickets. Also put it on pay per view.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Live it up. Pay per view.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Why not?

[Memes]

Go for it. Do. Do the whole nine yards. You'll never have to work a day in your life. You. You could retire off of your wedding. That's a pretty sweet gig.

[Big Cat]

I'm pretty sure they're good right now.

[Memes]

I know, but you could, like. You could probably make a billion dollars.

[Big Cat]

Double retire.

[Memes]

You can make a billion dollars on your wedding.

[Big Cat]

They should just make it like a. Like, just televise it and pay per view. That's really what it is. Pay per view it.

[Memes]

Well, they're also smart because they're only having one wedding, unlike Max. So if Max tried to do this, it would be like, oh, just catch night three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

If you want to get back with the swifties, you could buy this, the courtside seat, and then, like, do tour.

[Big Cat]

That was gonna be my. Who's back? Because I was gonna. I was. I was gonna throw out to the group. Is that creepy if I bought the seat that Taylor Swift sat in? It is. Auction is being auctioned off.

[Memes]

I mean, it's a little creepy, but

[Big Cat]

it also would be cool if we just had it in the office.

[Memes]

It would be cool.

[Big Cat]

That would be cool.

[Shane]

That would be. That would be the least cool of all. We've gotten a lot of cool things.

[Big Cat]

You're telling me if there was a seat just sitting in the middle of the court and I was like, hey, that's the seat that Taylor Swift sat in to watch James Harden blow another playoff game, you wouldn't feel a little bit of goosebumps?

[Shane]

No. No, sir.

[Big Cat]

Okay. I guess you're not a swifty like me.

[Brian Windhorst]

Cats.

[Big Cat]

I did. No one made that joke. No one made that joke.

[Memes]

Okay, so if there's one person out here that knows about putting cats through college.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Be me, my good friend, me. Think about it.

[Big Cat]

Memes. What are you saying?

[Shane]

Memes wants to sniff the chair?

[Zach]

No, I said, I bet you somebody would sniff the chair.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Would you sniff the chair?

[Big Cat]

I would not. I would not.

[Zach]

Crazy famous.

[Big Cat]

I'd buy the chair. I also wouldn't judge if anyone sniffed it, but I would buy it.

[Memes]

That would actually.

[Shane]

Memes is gonna sniff this chair.

[Memes]

That would probably be. We would have to hire extra security if that chair was here. Yeah. Like, that chair would need a full time guard.

[Big Cat]

Or we just have, like. Dana, what is this first?

[Memes]

If you smell the chair, you get shot.

[Big Cat]

I think. I think you Just have Dana beer sitting at first. Like, go ahead and sniff it, dude.

[Shane]

I would just fart in that chair.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think I'm. I'm guessing that this auction is going to get out of my price range. I think there's seven days left. I saw it at two grand. I think I'm going to be tapped out at. I don't know. I. You can't. I think two grand might be the. My limit for this chair because it's gonna.

[Memes]

It's gonna attract a lot of freaks. That's the thing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but it is a very funny thing that they're auctioning off this chair. I don't really know who. Who benefits from this.

[Shane]

Where did you find this auction?

[Big Cat]

It was on. We click on the ESPN article that was there. You just had it. Oh, okay. Now click on the other thing. Another thing, it says right there. There's hyperlinks. You know what a hyperlink is, dude?

[Memes]

Hyperlink.

[Big Cat]

Dude, Come on, dude. Have you ever hyperlinked? Current bid, six grand. I'm out. I'm out. Yeah, I'm out.

[Memes]

That's going to get up to, like, 50. I think I'm out.

[Big Cat]

That is officially. I've recused myself and all. Taylor Swift chair. All right, so Memes and Zach, are you guys going to watch the game together on Monday night?

[Zach]

I'm. I'm currently doing the same thing every

[Memes]

single game day, which is being mad at everyone.

[Zach]

Yeah. Come in, get into a fight with Hank.

[Memes]

Being too nervous to talk.

[Zach]

Being too nervous to talk.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Anyone who says, like, anything to you, you just immediately talk about the Knicks and nothing else.

[Zach]

Yes, that too.

[Big Cat]

Possibly punch someone.

[Memes]

Do you have the same pregame meal?

[Zach]

Yeah, same pregame meal, which is. I fucked up. I. I got cheese curds and some chicken. Only at the cheese curds. So now I have to eat cheese curds every single time.

[Memes]

Okay.

[Zach]

I wear my Knicks sweatshirt. I sat on the same spot on the couch. It was like 100 degrees in my apartment. I refused to put on the AC, so I was just soaking.

[Memes]

Why?

[Zach]

I just. I just couldn't. I couldn't turn on.

[Memes]

That's part of the. That's part of the vibe. Part of the vibe. You can't have your air conditioner.

[Big Cat]

You also, you got to make sure that I alert security and be like, hey, just keep an eye on him this week.

[Zach]

Yeah, that too.

[Memes]

Zach, what's your pregame meal been like?

[Shane]

Wait, do you forgive Zach yet?

[Big Cat]

You have to. Yeah, no, that was the most ever.

[Zach]

Yeah, all is forgiven, actually.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right.

[Shane]

Tomorrow.

[Big Cat]

Tomorrow.

[Shane]

We're golfing tomorrow. You guys. You guys have to ride together.

[Zach]

Sure.

[Brian Windhorst]

Good.

[Max]

Yeah, sure.

[Big Cat]

Knicks lose the next four games, you forgive them?

[Shane]

No.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Memes]

Zach, what does the pregame meal look like for you?

[Max]

I just been ripping chicken thighs and mashed potatoes.

[Memes]

Chicken thighs?

[Max]

Yeah.

[Memes]

How are you cooking those?

[Max]

They're a little fat. Just be getting them down the street.

[Memes]

So.

[Max]

I'm not cooking them. I'm just getting them sent to the house. But a little fatty, but still good.

[Memes]

Okay. Pretty healthy meal.

[Shane]

Watch it from bed.

[Big Cat]

Hank, what's your pregame meal? You're on your. This has been the worst NBA player.

[Hank]

I've not been doing, like, a superstitious. I've been eating different meals on different days every.

[Big Cat]

Ever since. You said this is your favorite two weeks.

[Hank]

Well, no, that was the first round of the playoff.

[Big Cat]

I know, but it's like everything's gone bad since then.

[Hank]

Yeah. Yeah, it's been tough. It's been. It's been tough. At least the hockey's been entertaining to watch.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

So, hankery back to your team of the 20s nightmare scenario that you have. I would say.

[Hank]

Nightmare scenario that I have.

[Memes]

Yeah. I would say that if the Knicks win this finals, I. I think that they're already ahead of the Celtics because they beat you in the playoffs last year.

[Big Cat]

And also if they. I mean, if they end up. If they don't lose again.

[Hank]

Yeah, if they. If they don't lose again, and then they probably. They probably have an argument. Celtics, I think, have more conference finals and more finals appearances, so. Yeah, they lost one head to head to the Knicks, but I still think the Celtics have it. But that's.

[Memes]

That's.

[Hank]

That's. There's a lot of. A lot of years left this decade, so.

[Big Cat]

Well, not a lot.

[Memes]

Yeah, it's 2026.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

There's enough years where it's like the. There's three years, whatever the standings are after the season. Don't mean a lot.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

But they're at least tied it up. You can't claim your 20s were better than the Knicks if they win this.

[Hank]

No, but the 20s aren't over.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Hank]

We'll be. We'll be neck and neck.

[Big Cat]

Right. But this is like, also just like juju for, like, all of New York City. This is the longest, you know, this is the last.

[Hank]

Yeah. I said on the show a long time how it was crazy how he lived there for so long and they never won. And it's like, now they're actually.

[Big Cat]

Who is. Who? Like, you know, obviously, it Was, you know, Red Sox and Cubs and then I think the Knicks. I think it's like other than the Knicks, the Bills, maybe Lions, Browns. Browns. But like even. Yeah.

[Zach]

All of Minnesota.

[Big Cat]

All of Minnesota. Okay. But like in terms of like great stories, there's not. There's only a handful left of like, you know, long suffering fan bases. Finally. Yeah. Guardians. Guardians. Guardians.

[Zach]

The Jets.

[Memes]

Yeah. So that's my fear is like, what if this just knocks the lid off for New York and. And then they can't stop winning.

[Big Cat]

Would you take this if it knocks the lid off but for the wrong teams? Memes.

[Zach]

All. All except one, The Rangers.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. What if the Yankees, Rangers and Giants all go on?

[Zach]

Who cares?

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Rangers. They suck.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay. Anything else for the game? I'm excited for game three.

[Memes]

There should have been a game on Sunday. I don't know why there wasn't a game on Sunday.

[Big Cat]

There should have been a game.

[Memes]

Figure it out. There should be there. The fact that there was no Stanley cup and no NBA finals game today is just, it's a disaster of the highest order. We need sports on weekends.

[Big Cat]

I'd agree.

[Memes]

Figure it out.

[Big Cat]

I'd agree. Okay. Before, we're going to talk more NBA Finals with Wendy, who's actually on site in New York now. So you can give us a little vibe check before we talk some more sports Reese's. Nothing beat summer break. When you were a kid, it was time off from school and sad school lunches. But you don't get summer break as a grownup and that's a huge bummer. But the good news is you can at least take a break from sad work lunches this summer with Reese's limited edition cups and the return of The Reese's Strawberry, P.B. and J. Plus the all new Reese's marshmallow cup. Both taste just like your childhood. So grab one before they're gone because they're fleeting, just like your youth. Reese is the official candy partner of Barstool Sports. Get [e-mail] Reese's. We also just debuted our new Reese's Lounge incredible dream come true. I brought my kids on Friday because their, their school ended on Thursday. I, it was, it was like the best feeling I've ever had. They walked in, just, just amazement. I was like, grab a bag. We're going to go shopping in the Reese's Lounge. They finally, they finally stopped talking about, dude, perfect. Having a better office. So thank you, Reese's. You did that for me. So go get a Reese's today. They've got the return of The Reese's Strawberry PB&J, plus the all new Reese's Marshmallow cup, the official candy partner of Barstool Sports. We're also brought to you by our friends at DraftKings. The NBA Finals are in full swing and the intensity isn't letting up. Every game delivers high stakes drama, clutch performances and unforgettable moments you'll be talking about for years. And with DraftKings Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner the NBA. Your winnings get a boost every single day all Finals long. The biggest stars turn it up when the title's on the line and DraftKings turns it up with them with a profit boost available every single game of the Finals. Bet Player props bet live from the opening tip to the final possession. Every bucket, every dime, every clutch takeover matters. And only DraftKings sportsbook keeps boosting you all the way through. All DraftKings customers can enjoy a profit boost every single day throughout the finals. Download the DraftKings sportsbook app now. Use code TAKE to claim your profit boost. That's code TAKE to get a boost every day of the NBA Finals in partnership with DraftKings. The Crown is yours. Gambling problem.

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[Big Cat]

877-8-HOPE-WOOD or text HOPE- WHY. CONNECTICUT. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. Wager tax pass through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over in most states. Void in Ontario. Restrictions apply. One profit boost per customer per day. NBA Playoffs bets only. Bet restrictions apply and vary when offered. Max bet and boost vary. Boost only applies to winnings and expires at the end of the last NBA game each day. See terms@sportsbook. DraftKings do okay, boys. The Stanley Cup Final. Unbelievable. So Game three, we had the Mitch Marner hat trick in the second period alone. The Knights scored six goals in the second period. Two of them were dislodged correct calls, including one where I had the theory that Anderson, the goalie for the Hurricanes, got concussed because he got his head whipped around. And then he gave up four goals like that. So it was four. Not looked like it was like, hey, Vegas is just this is going to be the easiest win ever. They're probably going to win the Stanley Cup Final. And then in a matter of 39 seconds in the third period, with 12:13 minutes left, the Hurricane scored three goals. Three goals in 39 seconds score fourth to tie it up to take it to overtime, go to double overtime. And then the Knights win the game in double overtime off a ricochet shot at like the Chipotle sign.

[Memes]

I think it was tech. It was kind of an own goal. But they credited to a guy from the, from the Knights for being last to touch it. But that was, it was a soft goal. It's a weird goal, weird way to end it. The Knights needed that in this game. Like you said Mitch Mart, I think that's the fastest hat trick in terms of time elapsed on the clock from goal number one to goal number three in Stanley cup finals history. Then it was a four goal comeback, which I believe is the first four goal comeback in Stanley cup final history. And then like you said, the 39 seconds to score those three goals was the fastest scoring burst I believe in Stanley cup final history as well. Crazy game and then it goes to overtime and nobody scores.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Memes]

And, and then everyone's butthole super tight watching. It's just like crazy, crazy tense hockey. Again, a weird way to end it. But if the Knights don't get that luck, they're. I think I, there's, I don't think that they can give up that comeback and then go on to win the, the cup final afterwards.

[Big Cat]

I would have been very hard.

[Memes]

That would have made him crumble. And I think that if the, the team that wins that game, I believe it's about 80% of the time goes on to win the Stanley Cup.

[Big Cat]

This, this series has just been, it's been on crack. I mean we had like every, every single game has been just a big lead, blown comebacks, two overtime games. It's just been such fun, fun hockey. And Mitch Marner is the story right now. He is obviously the guy who's probably on pace to win the Con Smythe if the finals ended today. He is, he's just changed the entire narrative. He needed to get changes scenery. He was this, this is all to blame for, for the good people of Toronto. But Mitch Marner, in 70 games, playoff games before this year, he had 13 goals. In 19 playoff games this year he's got 10 goals. So a little bit of a difference. He's been on fire. He's been incredible. I asked the guys, I asked Biz and Wit and Yan's and I was like, not to troll but like is this literally just a, like blame Toronto? And they said it's a little more nuanced specifically that the Knights are just a way better team overall. So he's benefiting from playing on a better team. But yes, part of it is that there was a lot of pressure in Toronto and he's from Toronto and being away from that probably has loosened his game up.

[Memes]

Yeah, he's played. He's the best player on the ice. It was. It was close to being a disaster for the Golden Knights. Now everything is sunshine and rainbows because they were able to lock their way into a win. It's crazy how quickly that can happen. Like, they would be so down on themselves if they didn't happen to. To squeak that one out. Now. I think they're probably gonna. I. I'm gonna bet on them next game and I'm gonna bet on them game afterwards. Love the nights.

[Big Cat]

Love these nights. Yeah. And we also had with Mendoza. Did Mendoza get in on the crank off? Was he a cranker? I believe he was, yeah.

[Shane]

He was cranking that shit.

[Big Cat]

He was cranking the fuck out of it. So I don't know. Number one pick, Heisman winner, national champion. I feel like. I feel like this is just. We said it before the series started. Whoever wins the crank off is probably going to win the series.

[Memes]

They got to break up Mark Davis. They have to let Mark crank.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that Mark Davis. It's over.

[Memes]

If Mark. David, you want to win right now, have him crank it.

[Big Cat]

What are you going to. What are you going to counter with David Tepper?

[Memes]

Can't do it.

[Big Cat]

Can't do it.

[Memes]

Can't do it.

[Big Cat]

Oh, David Tepper would be funny because I just. I don't know, just something about him cranking.

[Memes]

You can't overcome Mark Davis crank.

[Shane]

No, we should get a crank.

[Big Cat]

We should.

[Memes]

Yeah, you're right.

[Big Cat]

We should get a crank.

[Shane]

The pause in your sentence there he was.

[Big Cat]

Listen, any minor league team, any team that is trying to sell upgrade their crank, let me know. I would love to buy the crank, Vegas, if you win at all. I would. I'd buy that crank in a second. You should upgrade to a newer crank. I don't think you can sell the Stanley cup crank. It's just basically fishing. That's just what they're doing. Reeling in a big shark.

[Memes]

Oh, these are. Listen, Big Cat, these are cheap.

[Big Cat]

Really?

[Memes]

Yeah, cranks are cheap.

[Big Cat]

Okay?

[Memes]

We can get. We can get probably the best.

[Big Cat]

Can you buy one on Amazon?

[Memes]

Yeah, you can get a. You can get probably the best crank ever made for about. For less than 300 bucks.

[Big Cat]

Okay. But we do need a game. Use crank. I think that would be. And it would be fun to do it like before NFL Sundays.

[Memes]

Yeah, we'd have to get soldier boy in here. Who's cranking to the first one.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that would be fun.

[Shane]

We should bring in guests to crank before.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we should. It's. It pretty much will just be our UberEats delivery driver. Like, hey, man, you want to hit the crank? Who's.

[Memes]

Yeah, who's going to be the celeb crank at the gambling cave this week?

[Big Cat]

Okay. Do you guys want to play the fun game I was talking about?

[Memes]

Yeah. Sweeping the nation?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So I didn't realize this. We often talk about it with the NFL combine, but the NHL combine, they might have weirder questions in the NFL combine. Did you guys see any of these go? They weren't viral, but there were some questions that were being thrown.

[Hank]

I did.

[Big Cat]

So apparently the Canadiens are like, the king of these questions. And they also do weird thought experiments where they. They'll, like, hand you a puck and they'll say, shoot this puck. Like, throw this puck into the trash can. And they'll basically base it on, like, how deep are you going to go? What's your confidence level at? But the question that was asked it is prospect Caleb Malhot Malhotra, who's going to be a top pick, said that the Canadiens or someone asked one of his buddies, if you are on a deserted island with no water for a day's walk, and you had someone beside you with a water bottle, would you kill them to take the water? So a day to get more water, or would you kill that person?

[Memes]

This, to me, sounds like when Dwight Schrute tried to establish a peak corner in the elevator after like 10 seconds being in there.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

You. You just walk. You can just walk and not. Not murder somebody.

[Big Cat]

Okay. The other one, to the Canadians, I think this is an iterate. So they've done this a couple times. The other one, they asked a couple years ago, if you're stranded, a deserted island with someone and only a bottle of water and a baseball bat, and you can't share the water, and the other person takes the water first, what do you do with the bat?

[Memes]

So you're essentially saying you're gonna die. Yeah, if it's desert island, I don't. Okay, here's what you do. You have to play the hand game on the bat, and then whoever wins gets the water.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Memes]

You go hand over hand, or you

[Big Cat]

say, hey, let's play a game of baseball. Throw me that water bottle. I'll try to hit it, and then you grab it.

[Shane]

Why can't you share the water?

[Big Cat]

I don't know. You can't.

[Memes]

The thing is, if it's a desert island, one bottle of water, you're both gonna die. Just one person is gonna survive, like, two days longer.

[Shane]

Why can't you share the wall? I don't like you can't share the water.

[Big Cat]

Max kiss in the water. You gonna kill someone?

[Shane]

In what world would you not be able to share the water?

[Big Cat]

And when you're getting interviewed by the Montreal Canadiens for the NFL combine, then you can't. You want another one? How do you describe the color? Blue.

[Memes]

That's a good one.

[Big Cat]

These are so stupid.

[Memes]

Sky.

[Big Cat]

Oh, sky. Ocean. That's good. Apparently, they also hand. Hand someone a brick and they say, list all the things you can do with it in the next 30 seconds.

[Memes]

A brick. Okay. Go, Hank.

[Hank]

Bicep curls.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

Throw it through a car window.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Hank]

Throw it through a house window.

[Memes]

Why would you do these things?

[Shane]

You asked what he could do.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Hank]

He can't. You can do.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I know, I know.

[Memes]

It's follow up question.

[Big Cat]

Why stand on it and dunk.

[Hank]

Yep. Kick it.

[Shane]

You can throw it at a person.

[Big Cat]

Build a house.

[Hank]

Nope, not with one brick.

[Big Cat]

We could start to build a house.

[Memes]

You can start to build a lot of.

[Big Cat]

Start the process of building a house.

[Hank]

What else could you do with a brick?

[Memes]

A brick of doorstop.

[Big Cat]

My question would be doorstop. Good one. Yep.

[Memes]

A brick.

[Shane]

Paperweight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Paperweight.

[Memes]

Put that brick in your face.

[Hank]

Yeah. To put in the streets.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Cut it.

[Shane]

Mm.

[Big Cat]

Step on it.

[Hank]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Yep. Zach, what would you do? The brick.

[Max]

Well, yeah, you could make two bricks. And then you could also take that break. And then you try to. You ask the guy next to you how he would sell this break.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Memes]

Oh, I got another one. You can take it to the NHL combine and ask prospects what they would do with it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

That would fuck them up mentally. They'd be like, damn.

[Big Cat]

Or got us. I. You know what? If I were sitting in that meeting, I'd be like, I could smash it over your face so you stop asking me all these dumb questions. Knock you out through a practice. My slap shot with a brick. Yeah. Okay.

[Hank]

A little weighted. Little weight.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Or your golf swing.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right, here's another one. Hockey. These are mostly from the Canadiens. I think It's World War II. And you're the captain of a boat.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

And you have to bomb an enemy boat, but your teammates are swimming in the ocean in between you and the enemy boat.

[Memes]

Yeah. What's the question?

[Big Cat]

What do you do?

[Shane]

Memes keep saying kill Max for all

[Hank]

of these hypotheticals, put the bomb in

[Big Cat]

the air, the past three bomb or whatever. One of those.

[Memes]

Wait, wait, we're talking about a torpedo? I don't know about a bomber. I don't know.

[Big Cat]

I'm just reading off of what they said.

[Memes]

Are we talking about an aircraft carrier?

[Big Cat]

I shouldn't ask this question because I should have known you guys were going to get bomb.

[Memes]

A lot of questions.

[Big Cat]

Details on the bombs.

[Memes]

A lot of questions I would need to know first.

[Big Cat]

All right, how about this one?

[Hank]

Would you rather avoid the teammates? Be accurate.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Accuracy is one of my favorite things.

[Memes]

Hit your spot.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Would you rather have a four year career in the NHL and win a Cup?

[Memes]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Or a 10 year career in the NHL with no Cup?

[Memes]

Okay, 10 year. The honest answer is tenure. Easily.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

But the answer I would give in this interview is four years.

[Big Cat]

Apparently the team.

[Hank]

I think the answer is 10 years. Yeah, you want to give.

[Big Cat]

Apparently the answer was 10 years because they wanted to see how much you love the game.

[Memes]

Yeah, I, I would never want.

[Hank]

I never want to stop playing.

[Memes]

Think about me is I love winning.

[Hank]

But you can't control your teammates. You can't control where you end up.

[Big Cat]

If you, if you play for the

[Hank]

Canadians, you're never going to win.

[Memes]

So that sounds like loser talk to me.

[Hank]

You'd rather play for 10 years.

[Big Cat]

Oh, by the way, the brick was actually from the Islanders. That's right. You like that now?

[Memes]

I love it.

[Big Cat]

All right, last one of this very fun game of. I had no idea that, that this was. We'll have to ask the boys when they come back on. But like, I thought that the NFL was the king of weird combine questions.

[Memes]

Everyone's always trying to get a stupid edge.

[Big Cat]

Right? But here, here's the last one. The last one is if you were at a restaurant and you ordered a BLT with cheese and the sandwich came without any cheese on it, what would you do?

[Shane]

Absolutely nothing. I'm eating the blt.

[Big Cat]

Same. I look at it like absolutely nothing.

[Memes]

Accidental diet. Okay. They did me a favor by leaving the cheese off.

[Hank]

I had, I had just a bltc.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I had this moment this morning. I took my kids to the diner and they like their bacon crispy. And I said, I asked the waitress to make it very crispy. And they came back and it was borderline burnt. And I just was like, kids, you're eating this bacon, not going to complain. But I said the word very. So that was on me, I think. Yeah. I think saying very changes everything. Yeah.

[Memes]

We were Just talking about. We're not going to say who, but one member of par. My take is very, very picky about some of their orders that they put in.

[Big Cat]

Shane.

[Memes]

I would say like 75 of the time his order arrives and there's something off about it compared to what he ordered. And he. I don't think he ever eats it. He just sits there and like looks at it sadly. It's like if you had. If you're going to be a picky eater, you have to learn to accept defeat because most of the time they're going to something up. And you know what a real man does when their order is a little bit up? They sit there and they take it in silence and they eat.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Shane]

My order could be all the way up and I sit down, take it and eat like it's. It is what it is.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Shane]

When you order something, it's in God's hands.

[Brian Windhorst]

It's.

[Shane]

Yeah. You're not in control of what. Of what you're actually getting.

[Memes]

Yeah. You've. You've thrown yourself into a very dangerous game.

[Shane]

If you want something exactly. Particular of how you want it, you make it yourself.

[Memes]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I can't remember the last time I've ever sent something back.

[Shane]

Never. I can tell you. Never.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I know. Like, there's not. There's not a world. I. Maybe I've like, if you get.

[Hank]

It's medium rare, not medium rare plus.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

If you get a steak. But it has to be like so off. You know what I mean? And it can't be off.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Overcooked. It has to be so undercooked that you can just say, hey, can you just put this back on there for like a minute?

[Memes]

So we went to the. The outback, I believe it was in Baton Rouge when pop punk was playing a show there. I had the rarest steak ever, sir. To the point where it was like kind of gray on the outside. And then just read the entire way through and I just sat. I took one bite. I was just like, I'm just gonna. I'm just gonna take it. I'm just not gonna eat my steak.

[Big Cat]

I had. I had one in West Virginia for rough and rowdy. That was like. I. I cut into it. I was like, this is actually disgusting. Ate the whole thing. And it was disgusting. But listen, that's. Men don't complain. They don't complain about that.

[Memes]

Man does.

[Big Cat]

We don't complain about that.

[Hank]

Never.

[Shane]

You complain about it to the people at your table. And then the way the waiter comes over and he's like, hey, how was everything? Oh, delicious.

[Big Cat]

What about, oh, yeah, when your plate's, like, half eaten and they're like, oh, you didn't like that? I'm like, no, no, I loved it. I. I'm just saving for later. Or you move stuff. I. That's what I do. If I hate something, if it's, like, comes out, it's not what I wanted. I'll move around strategically, look like I ate it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Hank]

What about returning clothes?

[Shane]

No, never.

[Memes]

No, never.

[Big Cat]

No, that was just a mist. Well, I assume you're talking about buying online. Yeah, yeah, that's just. That's just part of the game. There's just a part of the game where you're like, hey, you know what? Maybe I shouldn't buy these things that are, I don't know, the fit of them because the Instagram swipe up ad was targeted towards me.

[Shane]

I bought a pair of pants a couple weeks ago that just, like, same size. I always, always get. Wasn't even close was. I could barely even, like, get it around my waist. Yeah, Sometimes,

[Brian Windhorst]

yeah.

[Shane]

Sizes just aren't the same ever.

[Big Cat]

I bought a sweatshirt that was just a tummy shirt. Yeah, it was XL.

[Shane]

Yeah. Zach and I always say, fake 2X. It's a fake 2X. Yeah.

[Max]

There are a lot of crop tops now. Way too many crop tops. I don't know what's happened, but we gotta stop that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

My mom. My mom, for my birthday, like three years ago, got me a shirt from L.L. bean. It arrived. It was, I believe, a triple XL. I don't know how she clicked on that to order that for me. And I did send it back, and I sent it back to get a large size. Then I got a bill from LLB and saying I owed him. I believe it was like a dollar forty. Just decide not. I'm not going to pay that. And so, like, a year later, they were still hounding me down, being like, sir, we need the $40 for return postage. I finally called him up and I fought city hall. I won.

[Big Cat]

Hell yeah.

[Memes]

They finally waived it. They said, all right, we can see we're not getting the $40 from you. Good job. Tip of the cap, sir. Well played.

[Big Cat]

Hell yeah.

[Shane]

Shane has. Has entered the chat.

[Big Cat]

Oh, what'd he say?

[Shane]

He said, they got. They got me the completely wrong order.

[Big Cat]

Oh, okay.

[Memes]

It was a burger.

[Big Cat]

It was a soft pretzel and a burger. I'd eat that. I'd eat that. So that's actually.

[Memes]

You've been blessed, dude.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

You've been Blessed with a burger.

[Hank]

I got sent a box of flour the other day.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Memes]

And you ate it like a man.

[Big Cat]

It was insane. What do you mean?

[Hank]

I ordered. They were here. They ordered. I won't say the place because I, I, I, like, posted.

[Brian Windhorst]

And they.

[Hank]

They reached out and they were like, oh, we'll give you credit. I still wasn't like, I'm not even going to. I'm not going to. I don't even need a reorder. It was, like, comically. I ordered just, like, a lunch, and they up the orders, and they sent me. I guess this place sells flour in bulk. They just sent me, like, a pound of flour.

[Big Cat]

That's crazy.

[Hank]

Yeah. Didn't complain.

[Big Cat]

Should have made bread. Yeah. Yeah. Should have done something about that. Okay, any other stories before we do who's back? We did. Is Brandon Ayuk wearing commander's gear?

[Memes]

Yeah. I keep going back and forth between, like, it's good to have one kind of crazy wide receiver on your team. And also, like, I think he just might be actually crazy. Yeah. So we'll see. There is a conspiracy theory out there that the niners canceled their OTAs so that he wouldn't show up so they could continue to recoup money and not have to pay him.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Memes]

It's kind of like the. The episode of Seinfeld where Costanza keeps having to, like, break into the office because they're trying to get him to quit.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

I think that there's some people that are saying that that's what he's doing, but he's. Yeah, he's taking pictures with, like, commander's hats on. He's very good friends with Jaden Daniel still. So I don't know. I don't know. It's. There's, like, every red flag possible going up right now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

But he might still really be really good. And what do you say? It's like, I'm gonna put my belt to their ass. Or they're running from the belt.

[Big Cat]

They're running.

[Memes]

He said the 49ers are running from the belt right now.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Yeah. So.

[Zach]

I don't know.

[Big Cat]

I was very confused.

[Memes]

Any more developments with the Bears stadium?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we're doing Indiana as of right now. But still, maybe not. It's such a mess. Yeah, it's. It was so perfect. On Friday, it came out that the Bears board of directors voted to go forward with the Indiana site. And then almost instantly after that, there was people commenting, being like, but there's still a chance Arlington Heights, because they could call A special meeting. I. It's just so fucking stupid, man. And it's going to be. It. It will suck that they. Like, I think in 20 years, we'll. If they're in Indiana, will anyone be like, oh, man, this is crazy. No, but it will suck in the moment. Like, it's going to suck that they're. They're doing this and then.

[Memes]

Yeah. Indiana will have two NFL teams.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Memes]

New York will have one NFL team. Texas will have two NFL teams. California will have two NFL stadiums. Kind of crazy that Indiana would be in that short list that has two. And then when the commanders did this and they moved to Maryland, they renamed the city form.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Are they going to rename the city?

[Big Cat]

I don't think so.

[Memes]

They should. That should be part of the demands is like, call.

[Big Cat]

You're.

[Memes]

You're now entering the bear den.

[Big Cat]

I will say that there's been some, like, slander towards northwest Indiana residents, which I think is unfair because first of all, they didn't ask for this and like, but I mean, they're. They. They live like 30 minutes from Chicago. They rooting for the Bears. And I would like to say there's some been some very nice people. Like, for instance, Zach, you should actually go maybe do a research project. There's a nice strip club called the Landing Strip that has already welcomed Bears fans.

[Memes]

Oh, that's nice.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I was big of them. Yeah, that's unity.

[Memes]

Check out dream girls nearby, too.

[Max]

I can put those in the short list.

[Memes]

And I think knockouts.

[Big Cat]

The thing is a little aggressive. The thing is, is it also was crazy because we had the World cup friendly at Soldier Field on Saturday, and Soldier Field looked incredible. And again, I. I think there's blame. The blame pie for this is so vast because it all starts. I've seen a lot of people been like, why do the Bears even need to move a stadium? Well, one, they don't own it. They want to own a team. And two, it's the NFL that's pressuring them. The NFL wants the Bears to have their own stadium so that all the. The prices go up for everyone's franchise. That's where the pressure is starting from.

[Memes]

Kevin Warren was brought in to do this job. Correct. Like, this is what Kevin Warren wants to maximize the value of the Bears for the Bears ownership group. That is his only job.

[Big Cat]

And in terms of job is not

[Memes]

to make sure you have fun at games.

[Big Cat]

Correct.

[Memes]

His job is not to make sure that free agents will want to sign with the Bears in the. His job is to do One thing, that's to get the most money in the pockets of his bosses. And if he does, if he gets a sweetheart package from Indiana, then he's going to take that. Because at the end of the day, it's about the, the, the plus minus that he can bring to the ownership group based on the, the new stadium and the retail around it compared to whatever Arlington Heights is offering. And if it's not close, they're going to go to Indiana, right?

[Big Cat]

I, I, I still, I still think they're going to end up with our own. It still doesn't make sense. They bought a fucking parcel of land that is enormous for $200 million. That's what I was saying also on Friday. They have to, if the Bears go to Indiana, they have to at least rebuild. They should make them rebuild the horse racing track, Arlington park, which was great because that's bullshit that we lost that and then nothing is being used that land.

[Memes]

What would happen to Soldier Field when the Bears leave?

[Big Cat]

I don't know. I think, I don't know. The fire getting a new stadium. I think the, the White Sox are getting a new stadium. I don't know. Probably nothing. Yeah, like, it'll probably just sit there for concerts and stuff.

[Memes]

It is weird that's going to Indiana.

[Big Cat]

I know. It's stupid. The whole thing is stupid. Just stay. Part of me thinks that they might just, they might just. This is just gonna be like, they're gonna put their hands up and be like, you know what? We'll try again. And when our lease is up at Soldier Field in like, I think it's six years, seven years, and like, we'll

[Zach]

just run this out.

[Memes]

I do. I, I love the idea though, of Indiana just going all in on sports. We're going to be the sports state.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Any, any team that wants to build, we will have.

[Big Cat]

You should go after the Bengals.

[Memes]

Go after the Bengals? Yeah. Go off the Bengals and they'll be like the Eastern Indiana Bengals. You could go after, let's see, the Chiefs. I don't know. Is the ink dried on this?

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Why not come in at the last minute?

[Big Cat]

Indiana.

[Memes]

Yeah. The Titans maybe get the Grizzlies to, to build their new stadium.

[Big Cat]

They should. You're right.

[Memes]

They should. Southern Indiana.

[Big Cat]

You're right. They should rename. They should wait until the Bears start building and then we should just. Illinois should just annex Indiana.

[Memes]

Do they have. I, you know what? I was actually thinking about this the other day in terms of the Upper Peninsula, of Michigan. Does Wisconsin and Michigan, like, does, does the state of Michigan have active duty National Guard members on that border stop. Because what's to stop Wisconsin from just taking it? Like, just sending troops in overnight? Like they, they should think about doing that. Yeah. If, if Detroit, if, if Michigan's not going to defend the Upper Peninsula.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, go take it.

[Memes]

Go take it.

[Big Cat]

Go take it. Right, Hank. Yeah, yeah.

[Memes]

Listen, I'm, I, I'm always, always in favor of good little land grab.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, back and forth. Just take him and. Yeah, real quick. Okay. Oh, did anything happen in golf?

[Hank]

Megacorp Back who? JT Poston.

[Big Cat]

He's a megacorp.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Who's back, buddy? I love that.

[Memes]

Love that. Yeah, good for him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

U.S. open champ.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Shout out, Nelly. I should also mention there's tragic passing of Stacy King today. I.

[Memes]

There's.

[Big Cat]

So people don't know he's the color commentary guy for the Bulls. He's been, he's been doing it for 20ish years, I think. 20 years. He's one of those guys, every city has this where you have someone on the hometown broadcast where they are. They make you want to watch the game even if the product is bad. And that was Stacy King. He was the guy who was, he knew ball, but he also made it entertaining. You know, the, the too big, too strong, too fast, too good. Derrick Rose, the Heart Hustle and Muscle Joe Kim Noah, even recently the little boozy vert for Modus. Like, he had the nicknames. He had.

[Brian Windhorst]

He.

[Big Cat]

It's, it's like the, like the Dicky Vs and, and the Chris Berman. How we talk about these guys. They make sports more fun and they welcome people in. And that was Stacy King. He also was just a great guy. He would, he would stay at the games and stand there for like 45 minutes to an hour to take pictures with fans after the. Every single game. Like literally every game, he'd be like, if you want to take a picture with me, come. Come down courtside after the game. I'll be here and I'll make sure I take care of the fans. I, yeah, it's weird whenever, like a celebrity passes away, you, you don't really feel anything. But this one was like a sucker punch. It was like he was tweeting yesterday about the NBA Finals. I don't know what happened, but I feel awful for his family. I feel awful for everyone who worked with him. And it will be very weird to have Bulls broadcast without Stacy King involved because he was that type of guy. And so, yeah, really, really sad. Okay, should we do who's Back of The week. Okay, who's back of the week is brought to you by Twisted Tea. Summer's here and twisted tea is coming in clutch. To turn our day drinking up a notch, their new summer party pack has a brand new twisted lemonade made with real lemons and 5% alcohol. It's got that refrigerant refreshing taste with a little kick. No carbonation. Goes down smooth. Whether it's hitting the course for a round pre gaming a ball game, or inviting the guys over some backyard grilling, the new twisted tea summer party pack is perfect to keep the good times rolling. Grab a refreshing twisted tea today. Twisted tea. We love twisted tea. It's a summer twisted tea. Go get it today. Twisted lemonade made with real lemons. 5% alcohol. Grab a refreshing twisted tea today. All right, who's back of the week?

[Hank]

Henry, I had Megacorp Nelly Corda love at msg, which we already talked about.

[Big Cat]

Did you see the fan who's saying Jalen Brunson's name a hundred thousand times on stream?

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

That's crazy.

[Hank]

That's insane.

[Zach]

That's all.

[Hank]

How long has he been going?

[Big Cat]

I don't know, but that's.

[Memes]

He's still doing right now?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think so.

[Memes]

What is it just gonna like after he gets to a hundred thousand? He's gonna be like, all right, thanks for tuning in.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, pretty much.

[Memes]

That rocks. Good.

[Hank]

Monaco.

[Memes]

Monaco.

[Big Cat]

Monaco's going viral.

[Memes]

Monaco.

[Hank]

Monaco's back.

[Big Cat]

Monaco's going viral.

[Hank]

One was in Monaco.

[Big Cat]

Yep.

[Hank]

The worst race they have by far. But the city itself is going viral. People are talking about how rich it is, and. And, you know, it's basically like a. A Florida Nashville on steroids for rich people. Wait, like, athletes want to go to Florida or Nashville because it's like an entire country. Monaco just has no taxes. Like, I might be come. I. I probably need to, you know, work a little bit longer, but I

[Memes]

don't have an NFL game there. Soon enough, I would.

[Hank]

Monaco sounds awesome.

[Big Cat]

Monaco is so small.

[Hank]

How. How small?

[Memes]

It's pretty small. It's like the size of a small city.

[Big Cat]

Tiny. The whole Monaco is just one tiny little city, and they.

[Hank]

So it's basically just like the.

[Zach]

It's.

[Hank]

The rich people just figure out a

[Memes]

place to just to hunt poor people.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Memes]

They show up and it's like Most Dangerous game.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Yeah. No, it's one of those places that you go and the size of the yachts that are parked in the harbor, you think that they're huge. And then you see that actually some of those yachts are just like the small yacht that then goes out and travels to the bigger yacht. It's like the emotional support yacht that a. A billionaire has, and then that's the one that you bring ashore so that you can then drive your car off that yacht.

[Shane]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Everyone was in Monaco. A lot of parties, a lot of. A lot of events. I don't think anyone. I mean, we. We got into F.1 a little bit on this.

[Big Cat]

On this podcast, but Monaco is a bad race.

[Hank]

Are, like, not interesting to watch. Like, no one that's at. In Monaco watch the race.

[Memes]

No.

[Big Cat]

It's a party.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Bad sports town.

[Big Cat]

Monaco's definitely bad sports town.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

100.

[Hank]

Great party town, though.

[Memes]

But Hank you.

[Zach]

You.

[Memes]

What about growing the game?

[Hank]

F1?

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Hank]

I mean, F1.

[Brian Windhorst]

That.

[Hank]

That's the. That's their mecca. That's. I like growing the game when they do more u. S. Events.

[Memes]

Yeah. Okay.

[Hank]

Like, F.1 doing U. S. Events is F1 fans versions of NFL going to Europe, they're like, this is right.

[Memes]

But you like it because it's growing the game in the states.

[Big Cat]

And it grew the game so hard that it worked on you that you're a lifelong fan. No, no. So you're proving that what we've been complaining about, we're actually right.

[Memes]

Can you name two drivers?

[Hank]

Lewis Hamilton.

[Big Cat]

George. You're about to say St. Pierre, but it's.

[Memes]

No.

[Hank]

Nope, nope, nope.

[Memes]

The twin Thomases.

[Big Cat]

Oh, Max. Yeah.

[Memes]

There we go. There you go.

[Hank]

Charles leclerc.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Memes]

That was the album.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Alex Albin.

[Memes]

What the is George.

[Big Cat]

George Russell. Georgie boy. That's what we call him. Yeah. I. The Monaco race makes no sense.

[Memes]

There's no overtaking.

[Big Cat]

They just. Whoever gets the fastest qualifying time, you've won the race. As long as you don't crash.

[Memes]

I did like the Indy 500, though. The Indy 500.

[Big Cat]

Rock.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay, good. Who's back? Thanks.

[Memes]

He's back.

[Big Cat]

My.

[Memes]

Who's back? The week is soccer.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

World cup this week.

[Hank]

Yeah, I was gonna do that, but then I. I wrote it down. I was like, I can't even pretend to care.

[Memes]

Yeah, that's okay. You don't have to pretend to care. He's got it. But you're. You might. You might come down with world cup fever. The first half was awesome. Against Germany. It was one of those goals where it's like, you watch that goal, and you're like, oh, yeah, it got me hard. I. I got an erection when he hit that volley. It was the coolest goal, maybe the best goal. Since 2014. In the world Cup.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Wait, but this isn't the World cup.

[Memes]

No, it's not right, but it's a great. It's the best US Goal. Yeah.

[Hank]

Also the, the. A lot of pitch talk.

[Memes]

A lot of pitch talk.

[Big Cat]

All right, well, that was going to be my respect. But this is related to, To Harry Kane's complaining.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

All year, everyone in Europe is complaining. They don't like the heat. They don't like that, like, shut the up.

[Memes]

It's mandatory hydration. Listen, I get England, Scotland, you guys got sent down to Florida. I, I understand that that's probably not a good combination for your fair skin. Deal with it. Yeah, deal with it. Okay. Florida's not that bad this time of year.

[Hank]

Florida's not great.

[Big Cat]

No, definitely not. But I also don't care. They, they, they, they complain. This is, this happens in Europe every single year because they don't have air conditioning. There's a day where it's like 80 degrees and they're like, every old person died. You can't handle it.

[Hank]

What is the opening ceremony?

[Memes]

I believe it's Thursday is the first game, and then US Plays on Friday night. And, and this. We got a secret little U. S. Men's national team group chat at barstool sports. For the people.

[Big Cat]

No. Why not?

[Memes]

For the people who care about the team. They're only involved.

[Big Cat]

I want the US to do well. This would be awesome if the US did well and I want us to win.

[Memes]

They, they, they let me know about some news that happened over the weekend in Paraguay. So in their friendly, their best player. I hate, I hate that this happened, but he got injured.

[Big Cat]

Oh, no.

[Memes]

So he's probably not going to play against the United States, and it sucks because you want to beat teams, run at their best. Listen, and this guy's hurt, and I'm just, I'm so mad about. I wish he was playing.

[Big Cat]

I want to win this thing bad because you, if you let us win soccer, it's over.

[Memes]

You can't tell us over for the world.

[Big Cat]

Don't let us win this tournament or any world cup for that matter.

[Memes]

Can't tell us if we win the.

[Big Cat]

We're not the cockiest ever.

[Memes]

We won't win, but we should. I'm excited now. I've seen enough in that first half against Germany. We look good. And Germany's like, you know, top five team in the world.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I'm definitely excited. I mean, the world cup rocks. Like, we lost.

[Memes]

Yeah, we lost. Yeah, we lost. But in the first half is when

[Big Cat]

it's a friendly, Hank.

[Memes]

It was a friendly. It was a send off match.

[Shane]

And the goal, it's really the goal.

[Big Cat]

The goal was awesome.

[Memes]

The goal is a Jedi name.

[Hank]

Jedi is.

[Big Cat]

But if you can't get excited for the world cup, you got to dump in your pants.

[Memes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Hank]

Call me Dumpy McD.

[Memes]

Okay. You got to dump in your pants.

[Big Cat]

Like, I get upset about U.S. soccer not being told every year that this is the year. U.S. soccer aside, the world cup is an awesome, awesome event. I'm going to watch as much world cup as I possibly can.

[Memes]

We're not. We're not. I'm not telling you that the US Is going to win the world cup because we're not. But we should compete in our group to win. We should get out, and then we should win. If we win.

[Big Cat]

All.

[Memes]

Here's all I want. I want there to be two mornings where I wake up feeling nervous and excited that it's all on the line for u. S. Soccer. So two elimination games. That's all I want. If I wake up in those mornings and the only thing I'm worried about is what's going to happen in the U. S. Soccer game that day. I will consider that a win for this world cup. We should play in two elimination games.

[Big Cat]

My other.

[Hank]

Plus 140 to win group D. Okay.

[Memes]

We should win that group. The Socceroos from Australia.

[Big Cat]

The. My other part of the world cup weekend, because you get all these, like, teams coming, coming stateside and all this, you know, it's. We're gonna, we're gonna get ramped up. What do you guys think that Messi's gonna do with the signed Marcel Reed jersey he got?

[Memes]

He's probably pumped for that. You kidding me?

[Big Cat]

It's gotta be the largest discrepancy in terms of talent, notoriety, accomplishments, signed jersey to another guy. Yeah, I, I like, I, I know. No offense. Marcel Reed, he, he has, he did have some electric games last year, but you're talking about the goat in one sport and Marcel Reed.

[Memes]

Yeah. So getting to see the different teams staying in the United States and the places that they're at and just imagining the scenarios that like the Argentinian national team is finding themselves in, in the Kansas City area. Yeah, it's very funny to me. Or like Brazil is just staying out in New Jersey somewhere.

[Big Cat]

If you're Texas A and M. I think you have to give Messi the dog. You have to give him revelry. That would be a comparable thing. Like, here's a dog, not here's A jersey.

[Memes]

That would be nice.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Very weird. But yeah, the, the, the Europeans complaining. Get the fuck out of here.

[Memes]

Yeah, Harry Kane's upset because he says, too hot in Florida or. No, he said, he said the pitch, the pitch wasn't in great condition.

[Big Cat]

Wasn't that not even a World cup site?

[Memes]

It was him and Friendly site. Yeah, and New Zealand. They got together afterwards and they were like, yeah, we want to stand as one and complain about the pitch together and just, Just whine.

[Brian Windhorst]

So.

[Big Cat]

Shut up, dude.

[Memes]

Yeah, shut up.

[Big Cat]

It's not even a fucking. It's not even a site where you're gonna have to play a real game. Yeah, Harry, Kate, listen, friendly.

[Memes]

How much of the pitch do you need to see? Harry, you only stay inside the six yard line.

[Max]

The pitch talk is just cope. That's all they're doing.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, because they're going after your team.

[Max]

That's all it is. They're just scared. Yeah, we're just soft. They're grown men and we're talking about heat. What are we doing?

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right. My other. Who's back was Caitlin Clark. Because now people are saying she's washed.

[Memes]

There's been so much Caitlin Clark discourse this year. So much.

[Big Cat]

It's crazy.

[Memes]

I can't even keep up with it anymore. Like, is she a problem? Is she coach killer?

[Big Cat]

They're saying that her new coach is not playing to her strengths. And I think she's been in a shooting slump, but that happens. But yeah, it's nuts also people being like, oh, you know, they're not talking about it the same way. I mean, the NBA finals are still going on, I would imagine, and we have the World cup. Like WNBA does shine when other sports aren't happening.

[Memes]

Where is the fever? Are they in the playoffs?

[Big Cat]

Fever are. Oh, I didn't know.

[Memes]

Wait, are they the eighth seed right now? If the playoffs started today.

[Big Cat]

The Portland Fire. When did.

[Memes]

Is that a team?

[Hank]

Name five WNBA teams.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Portland Fire, Las Vegas Aces, Los Angeles Sparks, Mystics, the Links, the sun, the Chicago Sky.

[Shane]

I just did something so.

[Zach]

Just so everyone knows. So when Hank said name five teams, Max covered up our computer screen back

[Shane]

here

[Memes]

so that we couldn't see.

[Shane]

Yeah,

[Big Cat]

Stupid, stupid Portland Fire I didn't know existed. But good, good for them. Was that new? That's got to be new, right? Dallas Wings, Atlanta Dream. We could go on and on. New York Liberty, the Golden State Valkyries, Toronto Tempo. Is that a new one?

[Memes]

They. They sound new.

[Big Cat]

They look new.

[Memes]

So Dallas Wings, that's the discourse. I. I told you that Paige Buckets would be better than Caitlin Clark when she got drafted. I think there's a lot of stuff that Caitlin Clark has had to deal with that I think some of it's outside of her control. But now, like, you're starting to see the edits of Caitlin Clark, like yelling at coaches.

[Zach]

It's.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

It's me becoming a problem time.

[Big Cat]

It's getting me out there.

[Memes]

Yep. She's getting the other side of the Internet right now.

[Big Cat]

It's getting mean. It's getting mean. Yeah. So good for. Well, actually, no, not good for anyone. I don't even know.

[Memes]

Yeah. No, it's. I don't think it's healthy for anybody to think about this.

[Big Cat]

No. Oh, also, who's back? Golden Tempo won the. The Belmont.

[Memes]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Really sucks. Really sucks that we didn't get a chance at a Triple Crown. Good horse. Good horse, Mike. Francesca Francesa approves.

[Memes]

Should we horse? Yeah. Should we be blaming the horse, though, for not competing for the Triple Crown?

[Big Cat]

Yes.

[Memes]

Off like load management. Yeah. He's come to horse racing now, and it's sad.

[Big Cat]

Adam Silver needs to get involved. Yeah. You got to run at least. You got to run at least 75 of the Three Horse Triple Crown.

[Memes]

Yeah. To be eligible for horse of the Year. Yeah. Now, how did. How did this horse do in terms of expected horse links versus actual horse links?

[Big Cat]

Very, very nicely.

[Memes]

Okay, so it did actually win too.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay. Zach finishes off, then we'll get to Brian Windhorse.

[Hank]

My.

[Max]

Who's back of the week this week, gentlemen, is going to be Xbox because we had the 2026 Xbox showcase today. Anybody see any clips?

[Big Cat]

No.

[Max]

Pretty exciting stuff. We got, look, we got new Spyro, we got new Gears of War. We got new, obviously, the Call d Modern Warfare 4. And then also maybe we get a new Halo. Like the what a launch event today. A lot of games on Horizon. Super excited to play them. Playing by yourself. Playing with your friends. Call a friend. Get him in your party. It's that time, boys.

[Big Cat]

Are they. Aren't they done making. Are they done making PS5? No. No.

[Max]

There's a lot of shortages right now because all these data farms are taking all the ram.

[Memes]

Okay, now what about the data centers are ruining fun. What about the new Call of Duty? Where's that locate. Like, where are the maps?

[Max]

A lot of it's gonna be in Korea.

[Memes]

Oh, okay, wait. Now, what are people saying about that? Are they excited?

[Max]

Yeah. I see a lot of good talking points online. It's a lot more colorful. Not as gray people. Pretty Pumped. We're also getting. They're doing a 25th anniversary launch console. We're getting back to the translucent plastics. Do you guys remember any of that? From the early consoles with, like, the different colors you could see through, see all the hardware on the inside? Super exciting.

[Memes]

Apple computers used to have that too. Yeah. They're gonna.

[Max]

So they're bringing it. They're bringing it back.

[Memes]

Okay.

[Max]

Which is just like. That's I porn.

[Memes]

They should think about doing Call of Duty, but you're on the border of the Michigan Upper peninsula and you're trying to take it over as Wisconsin.

[Big Cat]

I love that.

[Memes]

I would play that.

[Zach]

I love that.

[Memes]

Calling a drone strike on Mackinac island. That rock.

[Big Cat]

I love that.

[Max]

Drone strikes. Terrifying but effective battle use, I guess.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay, good. Who's back, boys? Let's get to Brian Windhorse.

[Memes]

We'll get to Brian Windhorse in a second. He's brought to you by our great friends over at Better Help. For some, summer is their favorite season. Travel picks up, kids are out of school, adventure is the focus. But for others, juggling it all can be tough, can lead to overwhelm, and counting down the minutes until the kids are back in school. And many worry they're wasting the days of the Sunshine. With over 30,000 therapists, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform, having served over 6 million people globally. You have to take care of yourself during the summer. I like to wake up a little bit early in the summer, stay out a little bit later, get as much sun as possible. With Better Help, it works. It's an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 for a live session based on over 1.7 million client reviews. Quality therapists where Better Help therapists work according to a strict code of conduct, and they're fully licensed in the United States. Better Help does the initial matching work for you so you can focus on your therapy goals and you don't have to say yes to everything. This summer, find support and therapy. Sign up, get 10% [e-mail] PMT that's better. H E L P.com PMT and Brian Windhorse is also brought to you by Chevy Rawls. Know that Chevy Silverado is the official truck of part of my take. That's because the Silverado is the truck with grit. It shows up every time. It's built to haul, built to tow, built to take a beating. But it's smart where it counts. It's got modern tech that makes life easier. Big screens, camera views that'll help with towing and with parking. And it's got a cabin that feels right. Whether you're road tripping, heading to practice, if you're loading up for the weekend. And during the seasons, the MVP of the tailgate. After the season, it turns into your training camp. Truck hauling gear, tackling home projects, doing the work that never stops. The grind doesn't take breaks. Neither do Silverado. Check out the current offers. Build your [e-mail]. and now, here's Brian Windhorst.

[Big Cat]

Okay. We now welcome on a very, very, very, very, very, very special guest. It is our guy, Brian Windhorse. You can see him on espn. You can listen to the Hoop Collective. He's got a live show coming up on Tuesday night, Gotham Comedy Club in New York City. There's still a couple tickets left. Go buy it and see the Hoop Collective live. Wendy, you're the absolute best, but I have one hard question for you. You ready for it?

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay.

[Zach]

Wow.

[Brian Windhorst]

God, you were just buttering me up.

[Big Cat]

I was.

[Brian Windhorst]

Go ahead. All right. Go ahead.

[Big Cat]

You're the one who found Victor Wembanyama.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yes. Okay. He had, literally no one had heard of him.

[Big Cat]

I do love when, when you're, when your co hosts on Hoop Collective bust your balls about that. But you know Wemby very well. You, or at least you covered him. Are the spurs screwed? Is Wemby. Is Wemby screwed? Because this has been a bad first two games in the NBA finals for him.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, I mean, his stats are okay. And he, you know, he, you know, he had a pretty good second half in, in game two. And, you know, most of it was he started making jumpers, but he doesn't have the same energy level, I don't think, as he had in the conference finals. And look, here's what I'm going to say. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna. Before you accuse me of, of hedging, I'm gonna announce that I'm hedging.

[Memes]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

Okay. Does that. I don't know if that does anything for you, but I'm going to announce this as a hedgehog. The Knicks look very. I was with the Knicks at their practice today in their media session. I watched some of their practice. They look very focused. There is no. You definitely can tell. I don't know if it's Brunson who set the tone or if it's the. All the Villanova guys, but you can tell who's ever in their face about, you know, jobs not done, etc. It's getting through because I don't pick up a hint of drop off at all. I'm seeing the, I'm seeing a very, very focused team. Okay, now here's the other side of the fence. I don't think this series is over and I'm seeing a lot of my colleagues and, and, and you know, saying that this series isn't going back to San Antonio.

[Memes]

We would never say something like that.

[Brian Windhorst]

And I just don't think it's over. Like, and you know, if the Knicks play another great game on Monday night and they go 3 0, obviously no one's coming back from that. But I, the Spurs are still alive. It is a two games, both games with the spurs had the lead with less than two minutes to go and they lost them. And you know, I have, I have seen playoff series in this situation where the team goes back home and the home team's like, you know, we've broken you and we're going to win by 30 now. But I have seen the opposite. And so all I will say is I see no signs of the Knicks being overconfident, but I am not ready to declare that this is, is that this is put to bed yet. So that's, that's, that's my viewpoint. Sorry if it's not more hot Takey,

[Memes]

how much of the, of the blame would you assign to Mitch Johnson for the first two losses?

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, he, he's touching buttons that aren't really working and he's, he's also playing a key player who's playing through an injury. Darren Fox playing through an injury. And he's your franchise point guard. He's making a max contract. And you know, because I know there's a lot of like, well, you know, you got to play Dylan Harper more. They used a three guard rotation throughout the year. They won 62 games and got to the finals. So it's very hard to tell a young coach. Sit, sit your point guard down. Sit him down. And then he played great in game two. But he's, he's, he's doing some rotations and touching some buttons that, that aren't, that aren't really working. Whereas Mike Brown, everybody he puts on the court was like playing awesome. Landry Shamets having the best two weeks of his career right now. This guy's a minimum player.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he's been incredible. Do you, was there any. So after game two and, and, and the situation where Wemby throws it off, Steph Castle's back. I said in the moment and we just taped some of our Show. But that was a moment to me that Mitch Johnson should have called the timeout before that even happened. And I know, like, you want a transition bucket, you can maybe get one easy. But it's like, hey, the worst that happens, you go to overtime, you call timeout, you get your best play, you hunt your best matchup. You're a young team, get everyone settled. Like, hey, guys, this is a moment. We got to just, you know, find our. But instead, you see what happens, and it's, you know, there's a miscommunication and then a quick foul of Jalen Brunson. That. That was also the unfortunate part that Wemby just immediately fouled him in a tie game. It just kind of all fell apart there.

[Brian Windhorst]

I was in shock that when that play went down, I had a hard time processing it in real time, that not only did they turn it over, but they turned it over with a, you know, just boneheaded play and that Victor immediately fouled. I mean, so. Problem is that I think Mitch kind of liked the lineup that he had on the court.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And, you know, Cat, you're right. Of course you're right. You know, there's a. There's a strong case we made with a young team like that. In a situation where they've been shaky, you call timeout, you get your personnel in, you set up your play. You're absolutely correct, but I don't think it's like a catastrophic decision. Right, right. You know, it looks bad, obviously, but, you know, I will listen to philosophies of coaches who talk about being able to start on. On a break. And, you know, the spurs might even have. Dad, I know the spurs really like it. The offense that they can run when Wembanyama's trailing, they. I mean, it's one of the things they. They want their guys to go out and run after Wembanyama, rebound and they go and they have, like, offensive triggers that they can go into, and then, like, they can downshift and toss to Wembanyama when he's trailing. And there is a whole bunch of highlights that you've seen this year, or when Benyama will hit a trail three or drive. Just go coast to coast, you know, give and go and go coast to coast and go down slam. In fact, the shot in game one of the west finals when he hit that 30 footer.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

That was a similar type play where they ran off of a miss when Minyama is trailing the play and he hits the walks into the three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. It's a good point. It's a good point that you're right. Like there's. That. That is an offense and that's kind of how they got back in the game, too. You know, running transition and, and not. Because the Knicks are really good defensively. I think that's the part of this series that is kind of getting underrated is that they're just, they're able to. To defend everything the spurs kind of thrown at him. And Cat has been just phenomenal in that respect.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, so looking at the game. So Cat was. Was dominating, right? Was dominating the game. There was actually a pretty interesting moment in the, in the press conference today. Cat was up there. And so the NBA, every year they have, they bring in, you know, three or four rookies, guys who were at the end of their rookie season actually in, in San Antonio was draft picks. Let's see there. Caleb Wilson was there and Kingston Flemings, but, oh, Derek Queen was there. But they brought in Jeremiah Fierce today from the Pelicans. And they do this thing where they have them ask questions in the press conference, and sometimes it's, you know, kind of hokey and, you know, whatever. But over the years, sometimes there's. The players who are on the podium will get to give a good answer, you know, and that happened today. Fears asked Carl Towns kind of a basic question, which was like, you know, how did you become the best shooting big man, you know, in the NBA? And Carl Towns gave kind of like a beat your chest answer. He was like, you know, and I'm. I'm summarizing it. Please don't take this exact word for word, but he was something like, you know, a lot of people when I was younger told me that I shouldn't play this way, I shouldn't shoot threes. And none of those people are around now, and some of them are going to be around and, and think that they're congratulating me, but they weren't really a part of this. It was kind of like, you know, wow. Like, you know, take that critics, right? You know, only. Only he knows who he was talking about, you know, but I think he was thinking about a couple of people and I was just like, wow. Like, Carl, he's. He's screaming, you know, whatever. I can't remember what he yelled when he was going off the court. They can't effing guard me or whatever he said. And I was like, wow. Carl Townes is like, you know, as, as LeBron used to say when a player was on a hot streak on the court LeBron White would yell from the bench, he feel himself. And, you know, Carl Towns was feeling himself. But I'm going to tell you that that game got sideways, that game two got sideways when Towns got two fouls called on him in like 30 seconds.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Both by the same official. And one of the calls was shaky. Maybe the Knicks fans would argue both the calls were shaky. Towns goes out of the game in that spot and he was never quite the same when, you know, he ruined his rhythm. And that's when Benyama started making shots that he was. You could argue he was making jumpers and that, like, it wouldn't matter whether Towns was out there or not. He just started getting hot from the outside. But, like, you can go back and look when Towns goes out of the game with those two fouls in the, in the, like, late third, early fourth, something like that, the whole game changed. And so Towns is playing amazing. But I'm going to tell you what really made a difference, I feel, was the fact, and this sounds like such a, you know, bottom, you know, level baseline analysis to just say this. The. The spurs couldn't get any freaking rebounds.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And. And I think three different times in the second half of game two, I think three different times the Knicks got an offensive rebound, hit a three.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

I mean, that is just backbreaking. And in a one point game. And, and that's why, like today, like the spurs, after game one, the spurs players were saying, we're not worried we're going to play our game. We just have to play normal and we're going to be fine. Today they were saying we're playing better and we're not getting anything out of it. And I know, because they're getting stops and they're giving up three pointers and I just think of, like, Pat Riley, you know, the older I get, the more I see, the more I appreciate what David Stern and Pat Riley and Phil Jackson would say. Pat Riley has this statement. It's a, it's a. Again, it's a elementary evaluation of basketball. No rebounds, no rings. If the spurs just get some rebounds, they win that game.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And so, yeah, all of those things are contributing here.

[Memes]

Yeah, I, I heard a rumor. Wendy, maybe you can confirm or deny. You are the Wimby whisperer that Victor Weimanyama is working on a sky hook and he hasn't unveiled it yet. Is that true?

[Brian Windhorst]

I haven't seen that. When. Why would he need it?

[Memes]

It'd be unblockable.

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, he's unblockable.

[Big Cat]

Post moves it does feel like this is a part of the. And this is not a knock on him because, again, he's in the NBA Finals. He's 22 years old. You could see that there is part of. We. As much as we want him to be a finished product, there's parts of his game where it's like, once this gets better, then you're talking about a different. Different level.

[Brian Windhorst]

Pft. You could be right. I haven't seen it.

[Memes]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

Wouldn't it be amazing?

[Memes]

He's not letting anybody see it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right.

[Memes]

It's like the Manhattan Project.

[Brian Windhorst]

Right? Like, you think like, in the movie about women, Yama's career, like, you know, in 10 years that, like, he's with the monks.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And, like, he's had, like, a hard day with the monks. And he's like, you know, he goes out back of the. The. You know, the monastery. I don't know what you call it in China. And he sees, like, this, you know, this monk or this, like, you know, this old Chinese guy shooting skyhooks. Can't you just see the framing?

[Big Cat]

Oh, I know. I'm gonna write it differently. I'm gonna have it be that you went. When you first met him, he was, you know, you were just. Let's just say you're standing. You're doing an interview in his house, and his mom makes you something. And then you roll up a paper towel, and you go windy and do a sky hook. And he says. Did he just say Wemby or Wendy? And then he learns the sky hook.

[Brian Windhorst]

It's becoming a major problem at espn. Like, everybody and their brother is stumbling over it. Like, I can give you a list

[Memes]

in the last 10 days, guys, all the time.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, it's true.

[Memes]

I thought we were having the guy from the spurs on part of my take today.

[Brian Windhorst]

The first week that I met Victor, I ended up in a car with him. We were riding to an Italian restaurant. He loves. Very French of him. He loves truffles. And there's this one Italian restaurant really close to where he was living at the time, where you could. Where you could get truffled pizza and truffled pasta. And I don't know if there was a. Some truffle in season, but he's like, we got to go there. And his agent was driving, and I was sitting in the back. We're in a. We're in a Range Rover. Okay. And I felt so bad for Victor because you should have seen, even sitting in a Range Rover, like, what his. What he had to do to get his legs in that car. Yeah. You know, and I mean, obviously I've been in cars with very top people before, but this was an extreme situation.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And I remember saying, Victor, when you get to the U.S. you know, you've got to discover, you know, an Escalade.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

A navigator like you know, we can do. I know, I know the Range Rover is a beautiful car, but I'm like, we, we have the power. We have the ability to get you with your legs out a little bit more, buddy. I mean, you know, because he had barely been to the United States at that point.

[Big Cat]

We do cars big. All right, so I got a question about Wemby, because you know him a little bit. So when he says something like, you know, I'm not worried at all, or I, you know, I'm embracing this moment down, you know. Oh, two. Is he. Is that sincere Wemby or is it. He is so smart and studied the game for so long that he almost knows, like that's what you're supposed to say if you're going to be a Kobe, a LeBron, MJ, one of these killers. Cause I can't fully understand which one is which.

[Brian Windhorst]

I think it's both.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

I think he knows we're supposed to say, but I also think he's pretty honest. I mean, it's one of the things about Victor. The more people are going to see he's pretty honest. I mean, he says pretty borderline arrogant to full blown arrogant stuff in press conferences all the time. I mean, when he first came to the US he gives his first press conference and I'm talking about when he played that game, when he was, you know, in his sort of gap year when he was waiting to get drafted. And he played against Scoot Henderson with the G League at night, he came over with his team and they played in Vegas, remember that? And they're, they're like in the lead up to the first game and he's like, yeah, Scoot Henderson would have been the number one pick. But he if, but unfortunately he was born the same year as me and I was and like he does, he says stuff like that where you don't necessarily. It doesn't come off as smack talk. And you think about and you're like, damn, he just really said some trash. So he's not afraid to be like super honest. So I take what he says mostly for the truth.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

So I do think he feels that way. And I do think like he says I should be the mvp, you know, all these Things like he says how he feels. So I'm gonna take it at face value.

[Memes]

Okay, can we switch gears real quick and talk a little Giannis? Because I saw that you had some, some comments about Giannis and the rumor out there that maybe the Celtics might be interested him. And you don't think that that's the case right now, correct?

[Brian Windhorst]

Well, I just. When it comes to this is the same thing with LeBron. I see a lot of people jumping to step four. Okay. And I get it. Like, that's, that's what's fun about being a fan. Like, I'm not saying don't do it, but, like, people are jumping to, like, LeBron taking the minimum from somebody. And I'm like, okay, that. I guess it's under the realm of possibility LeBron could do it, but, like, steps one, two and three have to happen. And when it comes to, you know, the idea that the Celtics would be interested in Giannis, before there's any Giannis. Boston conversation, you got to know that Giannis wants to resign with the Celtics. He's got one year on his contract. You are not paying. Like, let's forget about the concept of whether the Celtics would be better if they traded Jalen Brown for Giannis. Let's. Let's put that debate aside. Giannis has to say, I want to be a Celtic because he's got one year on his contract. Jalen Brown's under contract for, like three more years. You're not going to take a player who's won you a championship, was under contract three more years and trade him, plus potentially other stuff for a player who's not committed. So first things first. Does Giannis want to be with your team? Okay. If that's a yes, then you proceed on to the idea of like, well, you know. But by the way, I'm not zooming past that. A team is ready, every team in the league is ready to sign giannis to a four year, 280 million dollar extension. Probably there are a lot of them. If he gets traded, probably the team that trades for him is prepared to do that. But this guy's been really injured a lot in the last three years and he's in his 30s. I would probably do it, but I'm just saying, like, I'm not 100 certain that the Celtics feel that way.

[Memes]

If we're. Gun to your head. Gun your head. So you have to answer this question.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Memes]

Where's he playing next year?

[Brian Windhorst]

I think, I think Miami is a strong contender to trade for him at this moment. I think there are some other teams that are, can and will make compelling offers leading up to the draft, but I think Giannis, That's a place where. I think Giannis wants to play, and I think that's a place where they would sign them so they satisfy, you know, and they want to trade for him. Like, these are three checkbook, check marks that I can put in the Miami ledger, Okay? I think there's some other teams that would like to get there to that point. I don't think Miami can make the best offer, you know, and, you know, the people in the folks. Some of the folks in Miami think that they can make the best offer. You know, that's a debate. And nobody will know all the offers except for the people in the Bucks front office. But I'll say this. Look at the. Jimmy Haslam owns the Cleveland Browns, okay? I don't know anything about the player. I don't know. I don't know anything about football. I don't know anything about the player that he just traded for with Miles Garrett, but I know that they traded for draft compensation and a player who can help them immediately, who's under contract. It would seem to me that he would have the same standard for a Giannis trade. And, and, and it. And he. And it's. It's not clean because he's only a part owner. You know, you have the general manager. You have what Giannis potentially would want. You have the other owner, Wes Edens, who technically has the governorship right now. But like that trade that he made, okay, with Miles Garrett, you think about this. They got nine years out of him, okay? The team is no longer a contender with him. Okay? He is still in his prime. They flip him for a guy who is younger, under control, and significant draft compensation.

[Memes]

Right?

[Brian Windhorst]

Giannis is in his 30s. He's. I think he and Miles Garrett there may be, like, almost the same age. They may be by a year off. Right? That is, I think, the kind of return that he would want the same type of package. So. And I think the fact that Jimmy has made that trade with the Browns kind of gives you an idea of what he thinks about where a franchise could be. Because I don't think the Browns are contenders next year. This I do know, because I'm a Browns fan, and I don't think the Bucks are contenders next year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

And so trim to the Niners for Brock Purdy.

[Brian Windhorst]

I don't know enough about. I don't. That may be a great comparison. I don't know enough about who's you could be joking. It goes over my head.

[Big Cat]

Who's the. Sean Watson? This. Would this be like the buck signing Terry Rozier?

[Brian Windhorst]

Hey, I am being told that Deshaun Watson is ready for a comeback.

[Big Cat]

You have two quarterbacks. Careful with the phrase you have two quarterbacks. Todd Monkinstead, you got to guess which two, but you have two. He said that. Wait, you said something there though, that was interesting. You. So you don't think LeBron is going to sign a vet minimum with Cleveland?

[Brian Windhorst]

I mean, it's not impossible, but the idea that that is where he's at right now, you know, it could happen. I still have not heard definitively LeBron's playing next year. Now is he probably going to play? Like, if you said to me you have to make a projection right now, I would say I think he's going to play. But like people have got him in a minimum with the Cavs and starting opening night and I, I'm not even sure he's playing. Okay, let's say he decides to play. Fine. Now, is he going to sign with the Lakers? All right, can they work out a deal? Can the Lakers work out a deal where they retain LeBron but they also get him into a salary that is, you know, because the thing about LeBron is the Lakers to some extent will be bidding against themselves, right? Because the teams that have salary cap space, you know, Chicago, Brooklyn, you know, you know Detroit, I guess Detroit, it doesn't make sense for those teams, right? So that if, if the Lakers are like bidding like way up 25, 30 million, they are in fact bidding against themselves. I don't think anybody, they're not like trying to be the competing offer. At the same time, LeBron was an All NBA player this year and he's also an all time legend and Jerry Buss set the standard for the Lakers that you treat your legendary players well so that you can get more legendary players. This is a cornerstone of the Lakers business operations and Jeanie Buss has picked that up. So do you really want LeBron to walk out the door disgruntled because you're trying to get the best deal and not bid against yourself? Because let's say you do let him walk. What's your plan in free agency? Like there isn't, you know, LeBron 2010 isn't there? You know, you're not trading out LeBron 2026 for LeBron 2010. Right? Like, you know, so I believe that LeBron and the Lakers can probably come to terms on an agreement that will Help them. That will get them both in a good place. But it could get a little bit rocky because the Lakers would essentially probably be bidding against themselves. Okay, let's say you get past that. Let's say you get LeBron's going to play. Okay, check that box. And you get to the point where LeBron and the Lakers can't come to terms. And I'm not ready, I'm not ready for that yet. I am not ready to say that that was going to happen. I still think that that is most likely 51% or whatever, not guaranteed, but most likely. Okay, now let's say you've now checked that box and I see people setting land speed records, running past that like it's no, like it's no big deal. Then you have to say, okay, if LeBron's going to leave in free agency and he's going to take a pay cut, how much pay cut is he willing to, is he willing to take? Because he's making 55 million and made all NBA, okay. And you know, the minimum is 3 million. And people say, well, the guy's a billionaire. Like what's the difference to him whether he takes 3 million or 55 million? Cool. If you want to spend 50 million of his dollars, you can do that. And we may get to, to June 10th or you know, June 18th, and I might be told LeBron is in fact willing to play for the minimum. And if that's the case, then we're going to have a different conversation. I have not been told that. Maybe he's made that decision. Maybe other reporters, maybe Shams knows right now that LeBron's willing to play for the Mim. I haven't heard that. I'm not going to tell you that. I know everything. I haven't heard it. But that's a big gap to make. And by the way, in between that is, well, what if he would play for another amount of money, like 15 million, which is what the mid level exception is, which a team like, you know, a team like Golden State could potentially get there. If they do some things, if they make some decisions, they could potentially get there. There's a, just a ton of check of places to check, Mark. But if you ask me on the stand, could LeBron play for the, for the Cavs for, for the minimum? Sure. It's not against the law. It could, it could happen. But there's a lot of things that have to, that have to fall into place first.

[Memes]

Yeah, I would play for free. For the record, what have you heard regarding Anthony Edwards, after. After these playoffs, is he. He's still in a good space with Minnesota.

[Brian Windhorst]

I think we have to see what Minnesota wants to do, what they do with their roster. You know, Minnesota was trying to trade for Giannis at the deadline, okay? So they ended up having a pretty good playoff run. You know, they've won five playoff series the last three years. I don't think. You know, I think. I think Ant misses Cat because the double teams that now come his way, they really annoy him. You can tell. It really gets under his skin with the double teams. And those double teams didn't come as frequently when he was playing with a guy who could kill you from the outside like that. And so the. You know, if I were Ann Edwards, I'd be like. Because, you know, one of the reasons they trade and not. Not one of the main reason they traded him was to get out of the second apron. It wasn't even so much. I mean, they saved money, absolutely, but they had to get out of the second apron. And if I was Ann Edwards, I'd be like, well, Jalen Brunson has Carl Townes and Vane in the second apron, you know, and, you know, Brunson and Towns are thriving together. And, I mean, ants like, you know what's going on here, but they want. They were trying to get Giants at the deadline, and last year at the deadline, they were trying to get Kevin Durant. So we know that the Timberwolves are trying to get superstar players. You know, they're trying. That's what their actions are telling us. So they haven't gotten them yet. And they've done a good job with the talent they have considering their injuries. So I. So let's see what happens this summer. I. You know, Ant has multiple years left on his contract. He's not at the place, and I have not heard. You know, I know maybe other people have heard something. Again, I'm not. I don't have the market corner on all intelligence. I have not heard that Ann is anything but dedicated to the Timberwolves, But I do know the Timberwolves feel a level of pressure to improve their roster. I know this because they tried to trade for Durant and they tried to trade for Giannis, and they may be trying to trade for Giannis again. So let's see where the Wolves are at the end of the summer.

[Big Cat]

Wendy, we didn't have you on before the playoffs. How did the hotel reservations go? What were the. What were the ones you made? Did you get them? Right?

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So I canceled 10 hotel reservations I had in Boston. I took a photo. I took a photo of my inbox when I canceled all because, you know, you don't know whether you have to have them for the different dates.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

You know, like, you don't just make one for two weeks. The finals can be all kinds of different dates. They could be the home team, they could be the road team. The finals could move a little bit. I had to cancel 10 because I had it for the conference finals and finals.

[Big Cat]

Okay?

[Brian Windhorst]

So I had egg all over my face on Boston. I made. I made reservations in Oklahoma City and San Antonio. I made Oklahoma City reservations, like, in November. And, guys, I had such a crazy rate in Oklahoma City. I literally was gonna pay like, $107 an I. I mean, ESPN pays, but, yeah, I was gonna bring down our whole average as a company. I had this hotel for $107 a night. I mean, like, if you went and booked it, like, during the Western Conference finals, It was like 350.

[Memes]

Yeah, look at that.

[Brian Windhorst]

I scored this incredible deal that was, you know, gonna make a significant difference on ESPN's bottom line, which they were never gonna say anything, but it broke my heart to cancel those great reservations. But I also made reservations in San Antonio.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

And I made them, like, in. There was some moment in January or February where I said, victor's. Victor's ready. And I. And I swear. So those were the three that I had going into the playoffs.

[Big Cat]

Oh, so you didn't have the Knicks?

[Brian Windhorst]

I did not have the Knicks.

[Big Cat]

Wow.

[Brian Windhorst]

And I. And I never made them in Cleveland, even though I was in Cleveland, my hometown.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

For the conference finals. You know, I never made them in Cleveland. I'm sorry to say to the Cavs fans.

[Memes]

Wait, what kind of rate did you get for the Knicks?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you gotta be squeezed.

[Brian Windhorst]

It's bad. It's really bad. And, you know, there's the World Cup. If there is a game six.

[Big Cat]

You're sleeping on the streets.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah, it's. It's. I mean, it's going to be bad. We're going to be sleeping in Jersey, and I think I might have to walk through the tunnel.

[Big Cat]

You know what I'll say right now?

[Brian Windhorst]

Letting. They're not letting cars in.

[Big Cat]

The barstool New York office is on. Is literally like a stone's throw from Madison Square Garden. You can sleep on a couch.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let's.

[Big Cat]

There's a shower in there, too.

[Brian Windhorst]

Let's negotiate.

[Big Cat]

That one's on the house.

[Brian Windhorst]

Amazing. You know, like, all you have to

[Memes]

do is just be on Pick Central before you go over to msg, just do one live show and then go get over.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, get on over.

[Brian Windhorst]

No, I made reservations in New York after. After I saw them demolish Philly. And I mean, so I, you know, I admit I was not on the. The Knicks. I did not see the Knicks making this run.

[Big Cat]

That. That's the craziest part about this is, like, I. I think everyone thought the east was, you know. Well, everyone knew the east was weaker than the west going into the playoffs just in terms of the talent at the top. But there weren't a lot of people who were like, this Knicks team is going to just steamroll everyone. And they have steamrolled everyone. It is one of the greatest runs we've seen in, like, NBA. If they finish this job, especially if they finish it in the next two games, it will be one of the greatest runs we've ever seen in terms of team basketball.

[Brian Windhorst]

Is there a person on this planet who. If 45 days ago, when they were down 2:1 to the Hawks, and I'm talking about Karl Towns, his father, or Carl Towns himself, or the biggest Carl Towns fan in the Northeast, if I told them 45 days ago that, number one, the Knicks would not lose for 45 days, they would be like, oh, did they lose the next. You know, did they get. That's a forfeit this year? Like, you know, are they out? Is that why they haven't lost? Right. That the Knicks would not lose for 45 days and that Carl Towns would dominate Victor Wembanyama to such a degree that he was saying, they can't do any. Any effing thing with me or whatever he said coming off the court. And he was a strong candidate to be the Finals MVP two games into the Finals. Was there anybody who would have genuinely believed that that was true?

[Memes]

No, I don't think so.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm, you know, like. Like, you know, in their heart of hearts, if anybody would have said that.

[Memes]

It's just.

[Brian Windhorst]

It's unpredictable.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's.

[Memes]

What do you think it. What's the biggest change that you've noticed with Kat's defense? Because he is playing defense now. What. Was there a moment where you said, oh, he's figured something out?

[Brian Windhorst]

So, first off, this is the thing. And this, again, sounds like elementary analysis. Cat is very big.

[Memes]

Yes.

[Brian Windhorst]

You know, and when you have size, you know, it makes a difference. You know, there's so, you know, there's the Thunder, and other teams have tried to use smaller players on women. Yama, when I watched him Play in France when he was 18. That's what the teams, by the second time around, you know, they played, you know, round robin in the French league. By the second time around the league, that's what they had gone to. They had started playing their strongest big, their strongest forward. They gave up trying to play centers on him and they just put like the strong power forward on him. And that's happened in the NBA. Teams are just trying to put like their strongest, you know, forward on him, whether that's Julius Randall or Alex Caruso. And and so when this, when the series started, we're like, okay, is it going to, are they going to go with an anoby out of the gate? Are they going to try Josh Hart? And here comes Carl Towns from the first possession. Not like, okay, Anunoby has two fouls, Josh Hart's exhausted, Mitchell Robinson, you know, it's hack a Mitch time. Get him out of the court. Nope. He was on the game plan because the Knicks coaching staff believed that he could do it because they watched him and they studied him and they said, hey, listen, in the games he's played against Cat, against Town or against Victor, he's held his own. And part of it is he's just got really good size and he can move his feet a little bit. I mean, he's not going to confuse you for like a defensive player of the year. He's not out there like go Bear. But he can move his feet a little bit and he's long and Victor can't get past him and he's avoided stupid fouls. He got the two fouls real quick. But I'm going to give him a pass on that in game two because I'm feel like one of them was really questionable. But he's avoided stupid fouls. He's been fine with physical play and he's just, at times he's just shoving Victor out of the way like there's a rebound coming. He's like, no, you're not getting it.

[Memes]

Yeah. And he won the tip the other night against, against Victor, the Nick.

[Brian Windhorst]

I know that's crazy.

[Memes]

It's like this is a level of effort that we haven't even thought about seeing from, from Cat over the entire course.

[Brian Windhorst]

And the coaches knew it and believed in him and put him in that position.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

So he sounds like a different guy. His entire demeanor is different and like the confidence that he was talking about today when he was talking to Jeremiah Fears, he was basically like, all the people that bad mouth me or whatever, like they don't get to celebrate this chapter with me. He was like, talking about, like somebody who truly had arrived. Well, I was like, I'm like, I'm like, wow. Like Carl. Because, I mean, I've followed Carl's career for a long time. I remember, you know, the day he was drafted, I did an interview with him for espn, like a sit down interview in Minneapolis. And I've, you know, I've done feature stories on him and stuff and I've covered him at the World cup when he's played for the Dominican. And he talked about all that stuff. Like, this is a completely different Carl Towns that I'm seeing on the court and I'm hearing talk about the game.

[Big Cat]

I'm very happy for him.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Because he is someone who gets maligned for stupid reasons. A lot of times he becomes, you know, Internet joke. And it's. It's really cool that he's having these moments in the way he's talking about the game and his mom after the game. It's cool. It just ain't like these are why we watch sports, like these type of redemption arcs.

[Brian Windhorst]

Can I just say, I don't mean to interrupt you, Cat.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

In game one, he was doing this interview. The game had just ended, and he's talking about like this real deep philosophical stuff about, you know, how his mother was looking down on him and like, literally he's still sweating.

[Big Cat]

He's not.

[Brian Windhorst]

He didn't say this two days later. Like, he's like, he's like. His mental space is very aligned too. I don't know, it's. You know, sometimes you hear the phrase, put it all together. Maybe that's what we're seeing here.

[Big Cat]

It feels that way. Wendy, what. What type of sunglasses you wear?

[Brian Windhorst]

I had Maui gyms for a couple years and I recently broke them.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

In a stupid way, I slam. I slammed my car door on them. So I bought two or three very cheap pairs off of Amazon. I think they're $20. I don't even know the brand you're

[Big Cat]

serving looks in the San Antonio heat. The hair was going to. The glasses were going. You were like. I think a lot of guys look at you. You're like, damn, that guy's. He's got everything.

[Memes]

Give my man some shady rays.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we'll get you some.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So listen, we. I know you guys have done a lot of shows, like out in the, you know, when you go on the road during football season and it's like still hot. So, like, I don't know what kind of Stuff you got taken care of. But, like, the crew that we had in San Antonio was prepared. We had. You couldn't see it. We had air conditioning, ducks.

[Big Cat]

Oh, we don't get that. No, we don't get that.

[Brian Windhorst]

That was shooting. I mean, it wasn't like cold air, but it was like, chill there up at us. You couldn't even see. I wasn't even sweating.

[Big Cat]

Oh, wow.

[Memes]

I was like, you've gone soft as women. This sounds like, you know, some A list type stuff here.

[Brian Windhorst]

I know. This is. I got the. The McAfee treatment. I got the Stephen A. Treatment. Like, we had the. We had, like, what Chris Berman would have. Like, we got the Berman treatment.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

I never had such effort been done to make sure I was comfortable. And so I was up. I mean, it was hot as hell, and we had great fans there. Out of all the outdoor shows we've ever done during the Finals over the years, the fans in San Antonio were the best fans. And there were Knicks fans there, too. And the sides were getting along. Maybe because it was early in the series, but, man, I. I was fine. Like, you know. You know, Perk was up there sweating. I don't know, maybe. Maybe the. Maybe they didn't hook him up. Maybe he wasn't getting it blowing on his head like I was. I. I had a cool drink. I could have sat there all day.

[Memes]

Perk runs hot. Yeah. What do you think Stephen A. Has in store for us with the series going back to New York? Is he. Is this good? Is he going to be humble? Is he keeping his head down? Is he just like one game at a time, or do you think he's. He's ready to start the parade?

[Brian Windhorst]

He's trying to maintain his composure because what you. If you're on Stephen A. At all, you will see that when the cameras turn off, he's still very much like the guy you see on TV now. Obviously, turns up a little bit. And I'm not saying if you wake him up at 3 in the morning, he's going to be like that, but he. After game one, he did Scott Van Pelt. And I could see him holding it in on Van Pelt. He did not want to go crazy. He did Van Pelt and he got off the air and he saw, you know, no one was seeing this, and he just came to me and he grabbed my jacket and he goes, three more. He was almost like vibrating. He was like, three more. Like, it is his Knicks fandom is not an act. Like, he may amplify it. Obviously To a certain extent, for a television audience to be entertaining. But his core fandom is there. I've watched it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And so he is, he is trying to maintain his composure. I don't know what's going to happen if they win two more games.

[Big Cat]

It's, it's, it's going to be a scene I'm excited for. For tonight watching at msg. All right, Wendy, you're the best. I got one last question for you. Roback question. Rho, B, A, C, K.com promo code. Take 20% off your first purchase. Q, zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code, take again. Listen to the Hoop Collective. Watch Wendy on ESPN. They're going to have, you know, draft coverage coming up after the NBA Finals, free agency, everything. He's going to have us tuned in for all that. Zach, do you have a question for Wendy? We have two massive Knicks fans in our booth, Zach and Memes. Memes. If you had a question, too. You can throw one out there, you guys. You boys got a question for Wendy.

[Max]

How are we doing today, sir?

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm doing great. You don't have to call me sir.

[Big Cat]

My guy, he calls. He calls us sir, too. Every day. It's crazy.

[Max]

I was curious a little bit earlier in the interview you spoke to, being around this Knicks team here recently, just as a viewer from home watching the games. I've never really seen a team across any sports or any sport play with such unity that I'm seeing on the court with the Knicks, like, the togetherness that you can feel when they're out there playing, like when one guy's kind of down, not doing the best, they're right there picking them back up and vice versa. And I was just wondering if you could speak to kind of how that's been to see up close.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah. So I spent a week with the Knicks in Abu Dhabi back in October. I went there, they had, like, you know, they played two games there. Philly was there, too, and I spent that week with them, and they were, they were very confident about this season. They, like, I think they genuinely believe they could do this from, from day one. And so did. They're like. So did Jim Dolan. Like, Jim Dolan. Like, whatever level the Giannis trade was offered, I know there's all this playing with language, and I know that the, the Bucks have had like, one foot in and one foot out, and Giannis is the same, whatever. But the phone call was made, a conversation was had, and they were like, no, we're good. We're good. Okay. And they didn't change their roster at all from last year. I mean, you know, you know, they added, like, some guys to the edge, like, Like Shaman or whatever, but it's the same team because they. Because, like, I think I see these teams lose in the. In the. In the playoffs, and then you inevitably get like, well, they've got to make big changes. And, like, the Knicks were like, no, we believe in this team. And so, number one, how many playoff series is this core played together? They've played, like, I don't know, probably, you know, over the last two years, it's been seven playoff series. Like, the year before maybe was too. Like, they've had, like, nine or 10 playoff series of this core together. You. That's. That's your 10,000 hours. You go through, like, three or four seasons and, like, nine playoff series, highs and lows. And the organization, like, spoke to them and was basically like, we trust all of you. We believe in all of you. This team. And, like, from day one, like, they didn't care what seed they were. Like, obviously, if they were this fighting for the six seed, we'd have had a problem. But, like, they didn't care. They were the three seed. All they cared about was, like, getting healthy and getting their games to where they wanted to go. And the other thing is this crowd, this Garden crowd, they love this team. Like, the Garden crowd is obviously typically boisterous, but typically very cynical. This crowd loves this team. They love this team like they're the 94 Knicks. Regardless what happens in this series, 20 years from now, you're going to be seeing Josh Hart, Mikhail Bridges, Jalen Brunson, Mitchell Robinson sit in courtside because the fans love this team. And there's a real. There's a. There's a real unity that comes along with that. Now, you watch them play. There's a discipline when they drive the ball five times in the same possession and keep kicking it out. I mean, that's coaching. That's, you know, togetherness. That's discipline. But, like, it didn't just happen overnight. Like, this is a thing that, you know, people try to steal things from other teams. They never. Nobody ever wants to steal patience. They want to steal the player. They want to steal a coach, they want to steal executive. Nobody ever wants to steal patience because patience is hard.

[Big Cat]

It's.

[Brian Windhorst]

It's slow. Well, that's what this team's had. They've had patience. And you know what? You look under the hood a little bit. You look at Leon Rose. And I'm just telling you, I'm not close to Leon Rose in case, like anybody thinks I'm carpenter. I'm like, he used to be LeBron's agent. I would see him all year long. He doesn't. He kept the media at arm's length. Maybe he talked to some media members. I mean, we have a cordial relationship. You know, he, you know, he sort of works in silence. Leon Rose put together the big three in Miami. Now, I know Pat Riley played a role, and obviously LeBron, Dwayne and Bosch had to get together and do it. But Leon Rose organize that. He, he was with CIA. He got all of them to agree to contracts that were the same length. He got them all on the same page. He like set all that up. Like, that was like. Like he was. His hand was on the steering wheel of that move. And now look at this. He's on the steering wheel. His hands on the steering wheel of potentially breaking this long. I mean, obviously the players have to do it and Brunson has to be great. I'm not saying, but like, look at this badass.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, it's pretty crazy.

[Brian Windhorst]

And like this other guy that you know and Wes, Wesley, Leon and Wes are pretty much side by side. There's this other guy who works in the Knicks front office. His name is Brock Ahler. Nobody knows what he looks like. He doesn't want anybody to know what he looks like. Okay? Brock Ahler was in the Cavs. He was the Cavs head of strategy and cap management when they put the team together that built that championship. Now, Obviously I know LeBron James was the one who won that championship. And LeBron called Kevin Love and said, kevin, please come to. Come with me. And that, that was like, I don't want to make it sound like it wasn't, but they did like 10 different creative, weird ass, revolutionary moves to put that team together. And he helped break the 53 or 54 year drought in Cleveland without a championship. Now he's here, okay? And Leon Rose hired him because he was LeBron's agent and he saw how he worked. He was like, this guy's a killer that nobody knows about. He hired him here. And all these Knicks maneuvers, like, the Knicks made like three or four underground, like, stealth moves to get the cap space to sign Jalen Brunson. The Mavericks didn't even think that he was going to New York because they didn't have the cap space. Right? They're like, they're like they can't get him. And if they want to get him, they got to call us to do a sign and trade. We're not doing it. All of a sudden smoke and mirrors came out and the Knicks popped out on the other end with enough cap space. Space. And the Mavericks, look, whoa, how'd they do that? And the Carl Towns trade, go look at it. That was some wild ass wizardry to do the Carl Towns trade and keep them under the second apron. Anyway, what I'm saying to you is all of these guys on the Knicks are deeply, deeply invested in like a five year plan. And all of them have, like done a great job. Whether it's Josh Hart, whether it's Bridges, whether it's Brunson, all of them have done a great job. So there's this really incredible franchise alignment that's coming together and they get two more wins and they all get rings. Sometimes your franchise comes together and, and you don't get rings and you all get fired. That. That happens more often than not. But you talk about togetherness, it's because all of these guys are masters at what they do. Whether it's Josh Hart getting rebounds or Mitchell Robinson being the, you know, the goon off the bench, whether it's Jalen Brunson as the clutch guy, whether it's the stretch five of Karl Towns, whether it's the coach, whether it's the gm, whether it's the strategy guy. They're all really good at what they do. They've all been. They've all got years combined into them. I know I'm filibustering here. And they all get it aligned and they all play their. They all do their best at the exact same time. In a way, it's kind of beautiful. And the city here in New York is absolutely in love with it. And people are saying to me, like, don't you think it's going to be crazy inside the Garden Monday night? It's going to be crazy in the city. When I saw the videos when the game ended, like people who were over in Jersey and they could hear the city reacting to the Knicks winning. Like, you see videos like in, you know, Buenos Aires or Paris when like PSG scores or Argentina scores and you hear the city react, that is how New York is being right now. The special thing happening in New York isn't just in the Garden, it's in the city. And they all love these guys and they're all playing and they're doing their jobs in the best. It's kind of beautiful in a way, and it's not something that we normally see from the Knicks. And it's not something we normally see from like a. A big city normally. This is a small town thing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

So that's what's all happening right now.

[Big Cat]

It is beautiful. It's not kind of beautiful. It's why we watch sports, like, you know, the community and everyone coming together. It's awesome. Memes, do you have a question?

[Zach]

You just fired me up by saying that.

[Memes]

Can you hear how fired up memes is right now?

[Zach]

I have a question about your career. What is the Mount Rushmore finals that you've covered?

[Big Cat]

Oh, great question, Great question.

[Brian Windhorst]

Memes, man, why didn't I do this on my own podcast?

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right, well, 2016, 2016 was the most amazing year of my career because you have to understand, Kobe is retiring and he goes on that tour where like every stop, the players are, you know, are washing his feet, you know, and like, it's just amazing. And he has the 60 point game to end it. You know, Mamba out. Iconic moment. The warriors win 73. And we see them do that chase during the year. Conference finals, Game six, Clay warriors are down three one, come back and win Finals. Cavs are down three one, come back, win Cleveland. This is for you. Even though of those seven games, like, five of them were not close. And like, I have like no recollection of anything that actually happened in like game three, 2016. Definitely on Mount Rushmore. Yeah. Heat Spurs 2013, the Ray Allen shot. And then really an under. You know, people all remember the game six comeback in Miami. Ray Allen, because of that shot and everything was amazing. But game seven was a tremendously highly contested, well played game where LeBron hit a couple of enormous shots down the stretch of that game to seal that championship.

[Big Cat]

Is that the one that. Was that the game that Duncan missed the. The hook shot?

[Brian Windhorst]

Bunny. Yeah, Duncan misses the bunny and LeBron comes down with one second on the shot clock, hits the shot that puts him, goes from two to four to basically ice it. You know, one of the biggest shots LeBron's career that, you know, when people say what are the highest LeBron's career? They never mentioned. I was like, oh, well, he just made like a. A gigantic clutch jumper to win a championship. Like, why would that be on your list? But so that was. And that was a little bit different. That was a 2, 3, 2 series. The situation was different. You know, San Antonio came back to Miami up 3 2, and Miami won the last two games. So I think it was like the sort of convinced them to change it quite frankly. So that's, that's there. I guess I would put last year's up there. I mean a seven game finals last year where Indiana like steals game one and you know, has a master of full performance in game six to force a game seven, you know, any, any seven game finals, you know, is, is up there. And then let me think the fourth one. I enjoy, you know, the, the finals with the Celtics and the Warriors. The warriors were down in that series two one and the Celtics were looking very strong. And in TD Garden in game four, Steph puts up 40, which is my second favorite Steph moment after the Olympics which will, you know, is on my Mount Rushmore. The two great experiences I've ever had covering a game where 2016, game seven where nobody could score for 15 minutes and the block in the, in the shot and what have you. Then the second one was watching Curry throw in four threes or whatever in that fourth quarter in Paris and literally break the French heart. And you know, seeing him run down the court and give the night night while Carmela was jumping 15ft in the air, you know, he ran past the, you know, the American players, you know, that's up there too. I mean I don't know if I can put sneak that on my Mount Rushmore. But that series where the, because that warriors team, he obviously had won the three titles and then they crashed their team all the way down, rebuilt it and came back up with sort of a differently structured team and be the team in Boston that was a championship level team. They obviously came back later and won, you know, 12 years later. But to see Steph score 40 in the Garden and then come back and close them out there, the you know, the cream of the crop moment, I really think that was the, you know, the real jewel of the, of the warriors run. They obviously, you know, had three other championships, but that one in 2022 just meant so much more to them. So I would think I would sneak that on there. But I reserve the right to say that I forgot a certain series and I could could just say that you creatively edited it out and you screwed me.

[Big Cat]

No, this is great answer. Wendy, you're the best. Also, next time you come to Chicago, please tell us you were here for a couple of days for the draft lottery.

[Brian Windhorst]

I would love to do. I was there for like 20 hours.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Brian Windhorst]

I love Chicago, especially in the spring. I have great memories of covering calves bulls and heat Bulls playoff series as you guys know. It is amazing in the spring and early summer. It's like Toronto, like being in Chicago and Toronto in June is unbelievable. But the Bulls have to keep up their end of the bargain.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

I haven't been there for Bulls for a while, but yeah, next time I'm in Chicago, I'll let you know I'm coming.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Memes]

Love it.

[Big Cat]

Wendy, you're the best. Enjoy game three. Enjoy your live show on Tuesday night. I feel like Knicks fans are no longer going to be mad at you. They're too happy. So you're, you're on the good side.

[Brian Windhorst]

They're mad at me because I said that I thought that the Celtics would beat them last year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. And you shouldn't have. That was.

[Brian Windhorst]

How could you? I have a question for you before I go.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

What do you. When I say the words Hammond, Indiana, what do you say?

[Big Cat]

Okay, we already, we already talked about this.

[Brian Windhorst]

Oh, I'm sorry.

[Big Cat]

No, no, no, it's fine. I've tied. It's. It's just ridiculous. Well, actually, my first, my first reaction would be Horseshoe casino. Great casino. Great casino in Hammond, Indiana. Spent. Had some actually incredible blackjack runs at Hammond, Indiana. It's just a joke. The whole thing's a joke. It's insane that we're here because I'm

[Brian Windhorst]

from their way to Cleveland. Okay.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And they're building the stadium and new stadium in Cleveland at the airport.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Brian Windhorst]

And let me just tell you, when I was in my early 20s and I. And I bought my first condo for $95,000, I bought it in Brook Park, Ohio, where they're building the stadium. And I think it's insane.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Literally nobody ever in their lives has ever said, let's do something cool. What are we going to do? Let's go to the Cleveland airport.

[Big Cat]

Airport. Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

So I'm saying that as a former resident of this city.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

And a Cleveland Browns fan. And they're going to move it off of the lakefront and they're taking it to the airport. Okay. And when I say take it to the airport, I'm not saying like it's. It's, you know, it's five miles from the airport. The Runway is here. And like Patrick Mahomes bomb, the football stadium is there. It's across the street. Nobody. They said, well, that's what they're. Where the land was. Well, no kidding.

[Memes]

Yeah.

[Brian Windhorst]

Now as insane as it is to build a football stadium in Cleveland at the airport that the bears are. Two options are next. You know, a suburb of Madison, Wisconsin and Hammond, Indiana.

[Big Cat]

It's crazy.

[Brian Windhorst]

How's going on?

[Big Cat]

It's it sucks. It sucks. I think all the new stadiums. I think we're going to get to a point. We've talked about this before. The Browns, perfect example. The Bears. We're going to get to a point in like 20, 25 years where we're going to look back and be like, why did we put all of our football stadiums indoors? What? Like, what. What. Why did we do that? We just took. We took this element of it and we. And we moved them all out of their cities. And the Chiefs are moving and the Broncos are moving indoors. The Browns are going indoors. Going to the airport. The Bears might be going to him. I think it's going to be a big regret. I think we're look back and be like, why did we do that?

[Brian Windhorst]

Let's put an indoor stadium at the airport. Why is Soldier Field need replaced?

[Big Cat]

It doesn't need replaced. It's. The Bears don't own Soldier Field, so they lease it from the city of Chicago. The city of Chicago, which is actually a great thing that they've. They've done forever, is that no private company can own anything east of Lakeshore Drive. So basically the entire stretch of the lake is for the public, which is great because you don't want it to be the entire. All the lakefront is just private condos for the richest people. So the Bears can't own a stadium there. The. The. The city owns the stadium. They lease it from the city. And the pressure is coming from the NFL basically saying, build the new stadium so that the Bears now can be worth $8 billion instead of $7 billion. It all sucks. Like anything in these situations, the biggest loser, whether it be the Browns, the Chiefs, the Bears, the Bronx, the biggest loser is always going to be the fans and the taxpayers. So.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right. Yeah, sorry.

[Big Cat]

No, it sucks. I'm still holding out hope that they just are like, this whole thing's stupid. We'll just stay at Soldier Field. I know it's probably not going to happen.

[Brian Windhorst]

All right.

[Big Cat]

All right.

[Brian Windhorst]

The Redskins are building a beautiful stadium in the middle of the town. Right. Pft. Like, it's no problem.

[Memes]

They're moving back.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

So that's. That's where they were.

[Brian Windhorst]

Would be the leaders.

[Big Cat]

I want one.

[Memes]

What happened was.

[Brian Windhorst]

I'm sorry. The commanders. I'm sorry.

[Memes]

Commanders. Yeah. Yeah. Well, the football team, you can call them whatever you want, but yeah, they did. What the Bears are doing right now is exactly what they did back in the early to mid-90s, which was a terrible mistake. Terrible mistake. They moved to a soulless dump in the middle of nowhere. The. The one thing they had the foresight to do, they made the town change the name when the Redskins moved up there. Now they changed it to something stupid called Ralph on Maryland, which was the first names of Jack K. Cook's sons, Ralph and John. So they called it Ral John Maryland. I was telling Big Cat that, that Hammond, they should change the name of the town or at least where the stadium is and just call it like Bear country. Yeah, like you're in Bear country, Indiana. You're in Bear country, Indiana. Like, welcome to the cave.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Memes]

You know, like that would, that would at least be a nice bone.

[Brian Windhorst]

This is why you're a marketing genius.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, but this is what I'm looking forward to in 40 years when we're still hopefully doing, pardon my take, we'll be going back to the city of Chicago.

[Memes]

Big Cat's gonna be looking at the, the, like architecture renderings of what the stadium is going to look like on Lakeshore Drive and be like, oh, this is going to be.

[Brian Windhorst]

So you'll just be recording it at 4:00pm?

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Special.

[Brian Windhorst]

You guys will be like Tony and Mike and you'll do your show at 4pm Like Tony and Mike.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, exactly. All right, Wendy, you're the best. We love having you on and enjoy Monday night.

[Brian Windhorst]

Have a great week.

[Memes]

Wendy was brought to you by Noble. This episode is brought to you by Noble, Barcelona's favorite footwear brand. Noble is a brand known for their best in class footwear. They're everywhere right now. Walking around city to city, at the airport, grabbing coffee. Wherever I go, I see Noble. They've got so many great styles and colors for every activity. They're about to drop their newest strength training shoe, the Outwork Flex. It's durable, it's flexible, it's comfortable right out of the box. Cushion where you want, structure where you need. Get the newest no nonsense lifting shoe from Noble, the Outwork Flex. When it releases on Thursday, June 11, exclusively for PMT listeners, Noble is offering 35 off your first order. Visit nobleproject.com use code PMT 35 off your entire first order. That's www.nobleproject.com and use code PMT. Get 35 off. And when he's also brought to you by Jose Cuervo. Keep it Cuervo. And Cuervo enters. Every moment just gets better. You find yourself in the center of the dance floor. You can't help but stand up and high five those around you at the game. If you're a Knicks fan, You've got a lot of Cuervo moments. The Cuervo effect is all around you. This June, you're probably having the best time ever. Friends, family, everyone's hanging out. You stop checking the time, and small talk escalates to laughing so hard that you can barely catch your breath. That is the Cuervo effect. It's a signal that everybody understands. A moment that anyone can join and a good time that just grows. All you have to do is keep it Cuervo.

[Big Cat]

All right, boys. I'm pissed. By the way, did you guys see this fake lazy river?

[Memes]

Yeah, it's. Yeah, the Costco one.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I mean, well, Dante tweeted, being like, hey, we should buy this. I just said, I'm in, and then I find out it's fake. That thing would have been awesome.

[Memes]

Yeah, why don't we.

[Big Cat]

Why don't.

[Memes]

They should. We should have a lazy river.

[Big Cat]

That. That's one of those ones where, like, it's too. Costco does have deals like that where they're like, hey, here's a lazy river for 9.99.

[Memes]

That might have radicalized me against AI, like, fully. Like, I'm done with AI.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like, that's so spot on that I'm pissed, because that should exist, and it should be as cheap as 999. Yeah. Max just pulled one up. That's 10 grand. I want my. Because, you know the one that you.

[Memes]

If.

[Big Cat]

If Costco ever did this for under a thousand dollars, you'd buy it. It worked for, like, a week, and then it would break, but it would be the greatest week of your life.

[Memes]

The funniest part was that Dante saw lazy red for $999. He was like, do I know anyone that can afford this? Like, yeah, I would. I would see that. If it was 9.99, I would buy it first, ask questions later.

[Big Cat]

Dude, it's 9.99. That's not $1,000.

[Memes]

Yeah, that's. That's how they get you, 99.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's how they get you.

[Memes]

I may or may not be having a. Having conversation somebody about a flight simulator. Full size flight simulator.

[Big Cat]

Don't we have one?

[Memes]

No, Like, I'm talking, like, cockpit. I'm talking, like, it moves.

[Hank]

Didn't we buy, like, a whole computer and set up? We never used a stream.

[Memes]

I did.

[Hank]

And then we never use it again.

[Big Cat]

No.

[Memes]

So I bought it. That's in Zach.

[Zach]

That's Zach's stream corner.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Zach]

Is it.

[Big Cat]

Do we have the Simulator still.

[Memes]

I have it.

[Brian Windhorst]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Is it your house?

[Memes]

Yeah, it's at my house. But we've got the VR, like, the headset right there and the. The joystick right there. But I'm talking like an actual, like, F18 cockpit.

[Big Cat]

Are you talking. You're talking Otta. And then you said it moves and it moves.

[Memes]

It goes, like, up. You're talking Muhammad F18.

[Big Cat]

Well, no, just saying, like the flight simulator that moves.

[Memes]

No, that's a. That's a different one. Okay, that was a different one because

[Big Cat]

we don't want that.

[Memes]

I only work on takeoff and landing.

[Max]

They announced updates to Microsoft flight Sim today.

[Memes]

Did they?

[Max]

At the showcase. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Oh, the showcase. Did you watch this showcase live?

[Max]

Not live, but I did.

[Hank]

You would have actually had them interested if you submission that part. Zach.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, Zach, you gotta. You gotta hit us with what we like.

[Zach]

They.

[Max]

Okay, so Microsoft Flight Sim 2024. They announced updates.

[Memes]

What are the updates? Can you. Do they have military aircraft now? Can you fire. Can you fire up missiles?

[Max]

I didn't have the exact spark notes on what they're putting into it. I just know they're revamping a little bit, which is exciting.

[Memes]

That is exciting.

[Max]

Maybe upgrade your weapons.

[Memes]

Yeah. Hey, it's birthday week for Hank. How about that? Yeah.

[Hank]

Oh, you said Wednesday on. On the Friday show.

[Memes]

Your birthday's Saturday. Yeah, I got my dates confused. Yeah, your birthday Saturday. I know your birthday. It's June. It's June 13th.

[Hank]

So shout out to my grandfather. Birthday today.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah.

[Memes]

Happy birthday, Hank's grandfather.

[Big Cat]

All right, numbers. Two.

[Zach]

No, that's what I was gonna go.

[Memes]

I'll go with 11.

[Brian Windhorst]

4.

[Big Cat]

You guys just. You. You never guessed 2.

[Zach]

No, but 2 more wins.

[Big Cat]

25. Oh, I didn't even put that together.

[Zach]

Yeah, I have. I have one with two, but that was for 21.

[Big Cat]

What's your guess?

[Hank]

What's up, dude?

[Zach]

All right, what numbers have been guessed?

[Big Cat]

You should guess four memes.

[Zach]

What? Not what numbers have been picked?

[Big Cat]

Two.

[Memes]

I guessed 11.

[Shane]

I did 25.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Max]

I had 98.

[Hank]

I did four.

[Zach]

21. I'll do three.

[Big Cat]

Shane.

[Shane]

Joshua.

[Big Cat]

Shane. What's up, dude? Shane.

[Memes]

What's up?

[Brian Windhorst]

What's up, guys?

[Big Cat]

You mad at us?

[Brian Windhorst]

No.

[Memes]

Shane, what did you order?

[Shane]

BLT 91.

[Brian Windhorst]

91.

[Big Cat]

All right, one more.

[Memes]

So you ordered the BLT and it came with cheese?

[Big Cat]

No.

[Zach]

What?

[Memes]

No, no.

[Big Cat]

They gave me a. They gave me a jalapeno burger with extra onions. Oh, eat a dick.

[Shane]

There was definitely just normal amount of onions on there.

[Zach]

Any onions?

[Hank]

Extra onions?

[Brian Windhorst]

That.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Oh, oh, eight. Eight.

[Zach]

Guess that the other day.

[Big Cat]

OG you guessed that the other day.

[Memes]

It's all good.

[Big Cat]

And you didn't get it?

[Zach]

No, I didn't get it.

[Memes]

Seven.

[Big Cat]

Remember?

[Shane]

Have you ever gotten it on this machine?

[Zach]

I have. One time.

[Big Cat]

You've never gotten it on this machine. No, you haven't.

[Zach]

Yes, I did.

[Memes]

Happy birthday to Mike Florio.

[Zach]

We don't even know if that's true.

[Brian Windhorst]

True.

[Memes]

Mike Florio and Kanye West. Happy birthday, buddies.

[Big Cat]

Oh, nice.

[Memes]

Very happy for you guys. Big two.

[Big Cat]

The big two.

[Memes]

Big two birthdays. And then Tuesday, it's Johnny Depp's birthday. Natalie Portman. Shout out. Michael j. Fox. Shout out. Josh cribs. Shout out. You down at saslam. Shout out.

[Big Cat]

I don't care about any of these people.

[Memes]

What about Florio?

[Big Cat]

Florio?

[Hank]

I care about Kanye Portman.

[Big Cat]

Natalie Portis. Yeah, a little bit.

[Memes]

Ashley Biden. Happy birthday.

[Big Cat]

Shout out.

[Memes]

Shout out. Love you guys.

[Big Cat]

Sa. Sam.