Spurs Win Game 7, Knicks and Finals With Mike Breen, SCF With Keith Yandle Plus Who’s Back Of The Week

Summary

Pardon My Take – Spurs Win Game 7, Knicks and Finals With Mike Breen, SCF With Keith Yandle Plus Who’s Back Of The Week

Date: June 1, 2026
Hosts: Big Cat, PFT Commenter (Meme), Hank, Max, Zach
Guests: Mike Breen (voice of NBA Finals/Knicks), Keith Yandle (NHL), Biz

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Episode Theme & Overview

This episode of Pardon My Take dives deep into the San Antonio Spurs’ stunning Game 7 victory, setting up an NBA Finals matchup with the New York Knicks, and covers the Stanley Cup Finals with ex-NHLer Keith Yandle. The crew also brings on the iconic Mike Breen to talk Knicks, his process, and his famed “bang” calls. The show is loaded with sports-centric banter, fresh stats, and signature PMT irreverence as they revel in both basketball and hockey's epic championship showdowns.

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Key Segments and Discussions

1. Spurs Win Game 7, NBA Finals Preview

Timestamps: 03:18 – 31:58

The Arrival of Wemby and the Young Spurs

• Big Cat: "The San Antonio Spurs have arrived... they won Game 7 on Saturday night, and we have an Adam Silver wet dream of an NBA Finals." (03:18)
• The hosts marvel at the young Spurs, led by Victor Wembanyama (“Wemby”), defying the NBA norm that teams need to lose before they win.
• Meme: "You’re supposed to lose before you win in the NBA… and they just imposed their will.” (04:05)
• Praise for the team’s poise, how every starter scored double digits in Game 7, and the game-changing block by Luke Kornet (05:00-06:08):

“You can’t tell the story of the 2025-2026 NBA season without Luke Kornet… That play was the difference between a four point game and then it went up to eight. Incredible.” – Big Cat (05:25)

• “Blocked by Kornet” as a new meme in both basketball and real life (06:06).

Wemby Discussion – Freak Athlete and Emotional Leader

• Lighthearted discussion about how easy Wemby’s height makes basketball – lowering hoops to feel like him (07:45+).
• Meme: “Basketball is really easy when you can just stand up and touch the rim.” (08:14)
• Raves about Stefan Castle’s toughness, always looking ready to fight.
• Dylan Harper praised for his “bear hug” to stop Castle from fighting after a tough Caruso play (09:17).

Thunder Fallout & SGA vs. Wemby

• Compliments for SGA’s performance and postgame accountability, but critique of Chet Holmgren’s Game 7 nerves—felt “emasculated and scared of the moment” (10:31-12:43).
• Big Cat: “Wemby hates Chet’s guts. Truly, truly hates him. Chet never — for one second — felt that way back. That’s the biggest thing for him to figure out.” (12:48)
• Assessment of Lou Dort’s rough game and how OKC’s injuries ultimately hurt their chances, but that doesn’t mean you "blow it up" (13:44-15:28).

Knicks vs. Spurs – Preview & X’s/O’s

• Discussion pivots to the Finals matchup:
  • Knicks’ roster depth vs. the Spurs’ youth.
  • Knicks have history facing dominant bigs: Wilt, Duncan, Hakeem—they know “giants” (25:32).
  • OG Anunoby named top defender vs. Wemby in matchups (24:12).
  • Max: “Half the starters in the NBA Finals played in the Big East.” (29:08)
  • Both sides see it as a toss-up: Knicks’ confidence, but also “the best team will win.” (27:02)

Wemby's Emotions and the NBA’s Next GOAT?

• Love for Wemby's passion and tears after Game 7. “You want your athletes to be authentic... He clearly cares.” – Big Cat (17:52)
• Meme: “He said, I want to win so bad it’s like my life depends on it...He does seem like he's a psychopath.” (18:39)

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2. Mike Breen Interview – Knicks, Language, NBA Finals, and the Infamous “Bang” Call

Timestamps: 70:41 – 108:41

Breen on Language, Swearing, and Live Broadcasts

• Big Cat’s Opening: Jokes about using “incomparable” to introduce Breen. (70:41)
• Breen credits commentator Clyde Frazier for pushing him to expand his vocabulary—plans to use “precocious neophyte” during the Finals. (72:01)
• Never once swore on-air, credits P.J. Carlesimo for streak as “the greatest achievement in sports broadcasting.” (74:43)

Calling the Knicks in the Finals – Remaining Neutral

• Breen, a lifelong die-hard Knicks fan: “I will be neutral in terms of how I call the game…but everyone always thinks I’m biased, no matter who’s playing.” (75:40)
• PMT proposes a “Bang-O-Meter” – counting Breen’s famed “bang!” calls for each team to prove impartiality.
• Big Cat: “If you give the Spurs more bangs, people can’t argue with that.” (78:28)
• Breen: “If the Knicks start getting ahead, I’ll just start saying 'bang' on Spurs free throws.” (79:00)

NBA Finals Storylines

• Discusses magnitude for New York (“never seen it like this,” fans rewarded for decades of hope). (83:17)
• Mike Brown’s collaborative coaching approach – “He’s open to suggestions, even from players.”
• On Jalen Brunson: “Absolutely in the conversation as one of the greats [if the Knicks win]. Changed direction and perception of the franchise.” (81:16)

Spurs as More Than Just Wemby

• "The Spurs are so much more than Victor Wembanyama... Castle and Harper—so tenacious defensively. Knicks haven’t faced defense like this all playoffs.” (86:08)
• Searching for new descriptors for Wemby—considers “force of nature,” loves “great discourager.” (87:01-87:53)

The (In)Famous Sideline Camera Shot

• PMT warns Breen about San Antonio’s notorious "two, four gigantic breasts behind the coach" shot: “Maybe just don’t talk about it.” (88:54)
• Breen laughs, thanks for the heads-up.

Knicks/NY Sports Legacy

• Knicks championship would mean more to New York than any other team, due to city’s “basketball town” identity. (93:09)
• Delves into his near-career-ending scare in 1994: wouldn’t have known if John Starks’ title-clinching shot was a 2 or a 3 (“I’d just keep yelling 'bang!' until the scoreboard updated.”). (94:25)

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3. Stanley Cup Finals Breakdown with Keith Yandle

Timestamps: 110:08 – 143:38

Conference Finals Recap and Carolina's Rise

• Yandle admits to turning on Carolina—formerly “wouldn’t watch if they played in my backyard,” now “I’m kind of in on them.”
• Praises the way they’ve gelled under Rod Brind’Amour—“true old-school hockey team.” (111:03)
• Carolina’s playstyle: “They just stay on your ass… It’s like a full-court press in basketball.” (113:27)

Why NHL Players Used to Hate Carolina

• Bad hotels, chain food capital, wind tunnel by the locker room—“guys want farm-to-table or sushi, not Applebee’s!” (114:26)
• But, “great place to raise a family.”

Golden Knights Organization, Expansion Draft Discourse

• Vegas’ instant success “revisionist history”—people trashed the expansion draft at the time. Now they’re “cutthroat” in the best way: “If you’re not producing, they'll get rid of you.” (124:38)
• Praises teams' win-now mentality, relentless pursuit of upgrades/trades.

Crank Off: Most Important Finals Story?

• Debate over the size, power, and celebrity star-power of each team’s in-arena siren (“crank off”). “Vegas is gonna have more star power cranking off…” (131:07)
• Ric Flair, Petey Pablo, and unexpected local celebrities as potential siren-crankers.

Why the NHL South Dominates Lately

• Yandle: “Guys just want to live in nice weather. Less media attention... The draw of big cities is down, and you don't have to deal with Toronto tabloids.” (133:15)

Series Picks

• Yandle: “Vegas in 6. If you take out [internet legend/fan] Liam Blutman, maybe Vegas in 7.” (137:18)

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4. Soccer, Miscellaneous Sports, and Who's Back of the Week

Timestamps: 40:49 – 69:13, 151:12+

U.S. Men's National Team Friendly Win

• Meme's “Who’s Back”: “USMNT—beat Senegal, best ‘expected goals’ I've ever seen, utter domination.” (56:22)

Champions League/Arsenal Segment

• Discussion over why everyone hates Arsenal, ‘Invincibles’ history, and soccer trophy traditions (41:11–43:30).

Random Stats & PMT Favorites

• “Since 2009, every NBA finalist has featured at least one former member of the Wizards.” (29:19)
• “Harrison Barnes…May 30, 2016 and May 30, 2026–beat the Thunder by eight in Game 7 of the Western finals.” (21:11)

Notable Quotes

• On Chet Holmgren:
  “He’s the dog at the dog park who’s getting growled at and he’s just not giving eye contact because he’s so scared.” – Big Cat (36:22)
• On Wemby’s mentality:
  “For somebody that’s given all the physical tools…For him to care that much about becoming great at basketball is awesome.” – Meme (17:05)
• On playoff emotions:
  “I want my athletes to be authentic and show they care. He (Wemby) clearly cares.” – Big Cat (17:52)

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Episode Highlights & Memorable Moments

• “Bang-o-Meter” proposal: Using data to defend Breen against bias allegations.
• PMT’s classic mix of sharp sports analysis, creative stats, and off-beat humor: E.g., lowering hoops to “feel like Wemby,” the “crank off,” theorizing about the shortest country in the world, and friendly trash talk among the crew.
• Keith Yandle’s NHL stories: Offers player, coach, and team owner insights.
• Mike Breen on discipline and NBA history: Insightful revelations about on-air language and what it takes to call the biggest games in sports.

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Important Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |----------------------------------------------------|-----------------| | Spurs Game 7 Win, NBA Finals Preview | 03:18–31:58 | | Special Stats, Notable Playoff Facts | 21:11, 29:19 | | Mike Breen full interview | 70:41–108:41 | | Stanley Cup Finals with Keith Yandle | 110:08–143:38 | | Who’s Back of the Week (US Soccer et al) | 51:12, 56:22 | | Mike Breen: How to avoid bias (Bang-o-meter) | 78:28–79:06 | | Wemby talk: Emotion, rivalries, and athleticism | 17:05–18:41 | | Stanley Cup “crank off” | 130:29–131:07 |

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Tone and Final Thoughts

Pardon My Take is at its best when oscillating between diehard sports banter, creative nonsense, and satirical, self-referential commentary. This episode blends all three, weaving together in-depth breakdowns of the NBA and NHL’s biggest games, passionate debates about player mentality, and an endless stream of statistics—both meaningful and bizarre. From theorizing about “banning huge people from basketball” to running a “Bang-o-meter” for the Finals, this installment is a comprehensive and entertaining primer for any NBA/NHL fan, especially those looking for both insight and laughs.

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. Okay, guys, it's grit week. This is the part of the football calendar where nobody's watching, but everything gets built. Early mornings, pads back on conditioning, film reps. Spring training in football is all about putting in the work when nobody's cheering yet. And and honestly, that's the same mindset behind the Chevy Silverado. This is a truck that is the definition of grit. Long days, dirty work, and showing up day after day, no matter the conditions. Strong, dependable, and built for the grind. Because grit isn't about being flashy. It's about being ready when it's time to go. Check out the current offers and build your [e-mail] that's Silverado. All grit, no quit. And you can build your [e-mail] today on today's part of my take presented by DraftKings. We've got a twofer for the people. We're getting ready for the finals in both hockey and basketball. We have Mike Breen, voice of the NBA Finals, voice of the Knicks, recurring guest. Great interview with him talking about the Knicks incredible run. What he's looking forward to most, this NBA Finals plea by us for or an idea by us for him to stay impartial. And then we also have our good friend Keith Yandel. On the show, Yan's talks about the Vegas Knights versus the Carolina Hurricane. Starting on Tuesday night, we're gonna talk game seven. We got who's back of the week, A great Monday show for you. And it's all brought to you by our friends at Mountain Dew. Summer's coming and I can't wait to get in the backyard, do some grilling with some Mountain Dew. Because nothing goes better with some hamburgers, some hot dogs, some sausages, everything on the grill and hanging with your friends. And the refreshing citrus kick of Mountain Dew. Mountain Dew was proudly born in the foothills of Tennessee. And enjoy the refreshing citrus kick of Mountain Dew and American original. So much so I'm holding the new can right now. American Dew. It is such an awesome can. I'm going to crack it open. Oh, look at this.

[Meme]

It's going to red, white, blue. So good at Camp Barstool this year.

[Big Cat]

American Dew. That is delicious.

[Meme]

After day playing kickball out in the sun, maybe doing that volleyball or like jumping off that float you remember? You remember that giant float that they had?

[Big Cat]

You say kickball.

[Meme]

We did not play kickball.

[Big Cat]

We did not play kickball. And I never want to play kickball.

[Hank]

I'll play some kickball.

[Mike Breen]

Yeah.

[Meme]

What's wrong with. Nothing's wrong with kickball.

[Big Cat]

Kick softball better than kickball.

[Meme]

Agreed.

[Big Cat]

But do it all with Mountain Dew. American Dew. Grab a Dew. Tasting great since 48 with Mountain Dew. Okay, let's go. Hey, football guy.

[Meme]

Patino, Awm.

[Big Cat]

Martin, Mike. Yeah.

[Meme]

Martin, Mike Tay. Yeah. Martin, Mike Tay.

[Big Cat]

Welcome to part of my take presented by DraftKings. The crown is yours. Today is Monday, June 1st, and the San Antonio spurs have arrived. They won game seven on Saturday night and we have an Adam Silver wet dream of an NBA finals.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

The New York Knicks going up against Wemby and the future face of this league. It's gonna be incredible.

[Meme]

Wimby is the future.

[Big Cat]

He is the future, I think the

[Meme]

current, maybe even current face of this.

[Big Cat]

He's everything.

[Meme]

I feel like this is viral marketing for the Age of Disclosure movie that's coming out. Having Wimby in the finals in New York. I, I was again. I love watching the spurs play. That was a fun game seven.

[Big Cat]

It was.

[Meme]

I wanted that series to keep going on because I love the bad blood. I love the back and forth fighting. I love how it seemed to be personal for both teams and both fan bases. That's what you like to see. But now we get to see like the spurs kind of. They break convention. They're so young. They haven't lost in the playoffs really before. They a team, they haven't been in the playoffs. They won't be, they won't be able to build teams like the spurs in the same way anymore because the rules have changed in terms of like getting top picks in the NBA draft. So it's kind of crazy that they, they are so young to like buck all the convention and get it done against a battle tested team returning champion like the Thunder in game seven. Like nobody expects that and they just, they just impose their will.

[Big Cat]

No, they, it was, it was incredible to watch. It does not happen. This team. You're supposed to lose before you win in the NBA. And I, going into game seven, I thought Thunder would win. You thought the Thunder were going to win by a lot.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

And what happened was the spurs just didn't blink. They were unafraid. The shot, the shots they hit in that fourth quarter, I think they had all starters in, in double 10 points or more. They, they just like every time they needed a big shot, they got it. The Luke Cornett block. You can't tell the story of the 2025, 2026 NBA season without Luke Cornett because he had two of the biggest blocks of the year. One, when he blocked all of the young kids being able to see strippers in Atlanta for Magic City Night. And two, when he blocked Isaiah Hartenstein, which was like, I, obviously it doesn't come come down to one play, but it kind of came down to one play because it was, I think, the difference between a four point game and then it went up to eight. And it was incredible.

[Meme]

It was a four point swing. So he blocks it, then looks down court. I think he found Castle for an easy shot.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Or the ball made its way to Castle for an easy shot. What a block that was, though. That was. I think Wimy called it a winning play. At the end of it, I think

[Hank]

it's safe to say that kids, from now until the end of time, when they're doing blocked, it'll be like blocked by Cornette.

[Meme]

I think I'd say, like, that is, that is.

[Big Cat]

Or when there's like one loser in the group that call, hey, no, we shouldn't go to the strip club tonight. Block by Cor, remember? Yeah.

[Meme]

I think it's like when you're talking about chase down blocks in the playoffs, it's Luke Cornette, then it's everybody else I gotta take. He just saw that basketball like a giant titty and he was like, no, no, no, no, no, not in front of the kids.

[Big Cat]

That's a foul. Oh, there we go. On the body talking.

[Meme]

Look at his, look at his, his

[Max]

midsection goes right into his dick.

[Meme]

Max, that's, that's maybe, maybe technically accurate, but also like, that's a foul on the body. No, that's a cop take. You sound like a cop.

[Big Cat]

I think it's Max, you want me to save your, your, your bad take with the worst take that I was thinking about during the game? Yeah, this is, I don't actually think this, but it popped in my head and I have to share it. There was a moment during the game when they were talking about Wemby's wingspan and standing reach that I had the dumbest take ever that I now will say out loud. I'm not that impressed by Wemby because he's the one guy in the NBA who, if I, if Wemby had my athleticism, he could still dunk. Yeah, no, I, I, I'm not that impressed.

[Meme]

I think that we're all better at playing nerf basketball maybe than Wimby is at playing real basketball.

[Big Cat]

It's like, I was just thinking about it, like My exact athleticism in Wemby's body.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

No problem. Doug.

[Meme]

Can I, can I tell you guys something?

[Big Cat]

I, I, I looked it up. It's like four inches. You gotta jump four inches.

[Meme]

Can I confess something?

[Big Cat]

No problem.

[Meme]

It's kind of a sad confession.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

I lowered my basketball hoop down to seven feet a couple days ago just to feel like, just to feel like wimby.

[Max]

That's a very normal.

[Big Cat]

I think.

[Meme]

But then I left it down there because I was like, next time I come out and play, I just want to, I want to go back onto my WIMBY simulator.

[Big Cat]

Wouldn't you have to lure it a little lower than that to feel like one.

[Meme]

I feel like it's the right height.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Meme]

Because I can, if I get on my tiptoes, I can like graze the, I can touch the bottom of the rim. So I feel like that's Wimby his.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Max]

You're gonna have to do some measurements.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

I thought it felt like it was the WIMBY simulator. Let me tell you what. Basketball is really easy when you can just stand up and touch the rim

[Big Cat]

when you shoot down.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

It's right. It's really easy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So it was, it was incredible game. Yeah. The spurs are so much fun. They're. They are. I, I have, I have, I have two man crushes in the NBA Finals. One is a pre existing man crush on Cat just because of his zestiness. And I just love the fact that he can just, he can go nuclear from three at any point. And then he can also just score zero points. And I just, I kind of like a guy like that where it's like he's, you just don't know what you're going to get out of him. And then Stefan Castle is, he's just Danny Hurley in basketball, like player form right now. He. I've never seen anyone who just, he, his face never changes from. I'm ready to fight, like fist fight at all times. And I know that there was moments where Caruso was like, either following him or like he hit the ball out of his hands after a timeout. He just wants to fight all the time.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Dylan Harper made an incredible play to basically bear hug him after Caruso took him down.

[Meme]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

To be like, please don't get in a fight, but you need one of those guys. And he plays like that. He, like, he, his defense, his defensive intensity, just the way he holds himself and his demeanor. I just love it. He's just so much fun to watch. And he's just permanently, permanently angry.

[Meme]

He's a dog.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Permanently has everyone on his team being like, please don't fight.

[Meme]

Permanent, don't fight. And credit to Dylan Harper on that play. When I watch that, I thought because Castle, like, shoved Caruso's foot off him and was ready to chase him down and start something. Dylan Harper assumes bobsled technique with him and just gets behind him, wraps his arms like a back hug. It's like you're not getting up. And at first I was like, he. A man should be able to fight his way out of getting bobsled by another man. But then I thought more about it, and the center of gravity that Harper's got, that's actually the perfect defense against something. Yeah, they should teach that in. In jiu jitsu. He dropped his hips, just bobsled somebody, and there's nothing they can do because you're, like, just a little kid in their lap.

[Big Cat]

Yep. All right. Should we talk about the Thunder? Can it. So there's one big thing I want to talk about before we do that. Am I allowed to say without being called a Thunder Glazer, that SGA was the best player in game 7? The spurs were the best team. SGH tried. He was phenomenal. He did everything he could possibly do.

[Meme]

I think he's usually the best player.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, well, not this. I mean, Wemby was better than him in game one by far. And I think game four. Four, I think, too. Like, he.

[Meme]

He.

[Big Cat]

He didn't have the best series, but he was.

[Biz]

He.

[Big Cat]

He elevated his game in a game seven and did everything he could possibly do. His. They just didn't have enough guys around him because when you lose your second and third best scoring option, it's going to be hard. And then it leads me so that. That. I just want to say that. And I also think that sga, like, if you saw his quotes afterwards, both after the game and today, no excuses, just was like, yeah, we didn't meet our goal, didn't throw anyone under the bus, was like, I got to play better. I didn't play my best throughout the whole series. I like that Chet Holmgren. He looked like he didn't know how to play basketball. It was. There was a moment where I actually felt bad for him because it was like, multiple possessions where they would pass it to him. He would barely catch the ball. He would do, like, one fake move to show that he's trying something and then immediately kick it out. I've never seen anyone get more, like, emasculated and Scared of the moment than Chad Holmgren in this series and specifically in game seven. I. What do you guys think he says after the game in the locker room? Do you think he's like. Like, does he try to crack a joke, being like, man, he really is 7 5?

[Meme]

Like, that one's on me. Yeah, I do.

[Big Cat]

I do. That guy Wemby is tall. You guys are right. He is tall.

[Meme]

I do sometimes think about what it would be like to be Chet Holgern, because you're seven feet tall, and your entire life, you've been by far the biggest kid. Like, it's never really been close. Even when you were in probably eighth grade, you were taller than most high school seniors. You go to college, you're like the tallest kid in. In NCAA basketball. You go to the NBA, you're a seven footer. The game seems pretty easy. You get a massive contract. And then there's a guy that's 4 or 5 inches taller than you, that's also more athletic. From halfway around the world that shows up. That's kind of been buzzing around you your entire career. Now he's in your backyard, and now you have to go through him every single year. That's got to kind of suck mentally, but also, like, he looked like he turtled away from the moment in Game seven.

[Big Cat]

Not just buzzing around him. Wemby hates Chet's guts.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Like, truly, truly hates him. I think if Chad could go back in time, he would give back that under 17 World cup gold medal, because that was the start of the Wemby being like, I am going to destroy Chad Holgren's life. And it's just not reciprocated by Chet whatsoever. Like, that's the biggest thing he's going to have to figure out. Like, hey, that guy across from you despises you and wants to end your career. You have to feel the same way. And I never for one second felt that Chet felt that way. And it was just that, like, you needed. Given the. The. The injuries the Thunder were dealing with, you needed Chet Holmgren to be like, there's no excuses, because Chet Holmgren gets paid a lot of money. He's supposed to be a centerpiece there. He's supposed to be part of their big Three. He needed to step up to the moment, and he was nowhere to be found. I also regret to inform everyone because he is my guy. Lou Dort was brutal. He was brutal.

[Meme]

Really tough.

[Big Cat]

I actually think that the Thunder might have won this game if they didn't play Lou Dort because He. The spurs could essentially just not play defense on him. And, and like every Lou Dort shot is. Even if it was wide open, they're like, we'll take that. And they could do whatever they. That like, SGA was getting doubled constantly. And it's because you had non shooters on the court like Lou Dort. Yeah.

[Meme]

You had all the, all the worst parts of Lou Dort's game and none of the good parts.

[Big Cat]

Oh, brutal. And he basically got bench. So did Chet Chat. Basically got bench.

[Meme]

How much of this do you think Thunder fans can look at and be like, we were injured this postseason?

[Biz]

A lot.

[Meme]

Are they allowed to say that? Hank says, oh, a lot.

[Big Cat]

Injuries happen. No, no injuries happen. But I, I, When I say a lot, I mean, anyone who's like, you gotta lose this game because of injuries.

[Hank]

They lost this game because of Chad Holmgren.

[Big Cat]

Well, they lost the series because game what? They blew game one. That. That's a game they should have won. And they, they let Wemby, you know, like, that, that was a game they basically. Chad Holmgren. But if they had their full roster, I think the spurs probably would have been a year away. But it doesn't matter, because that's part of winning the NBA title is that you have to deal with injuries. Like, every team has to deal with this shit. And you, like, there's. It's shitty to say, but luck comes into. To play when it, when you're trying to win a title. And a lot of times it's like, hey, we had our guys. They were 100%.

[Keith Yandel]

They didn't.

[Big Cat]

So I'm more saying for the future of the Thunder, like, blow it up. I. I don't think you can't. You. You just, you just won the title. Then you went to game seven against the Spurs. You're right there. You got to figure out how to stop Wemby. But I, I wouldn't. I wouldn't be like, freaking out if I was a Thunder fan, being like, this team can never beat the Spurs.

[Meme]

No, it was game. It was seven games.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. You do have to be a little concerned that this was probably the worst the spurs will ever be.

[Meme]

And that's what we said last year about the Thunder. Are we going to get, like, an even taller guy?

[Big Cat]

Well, here's the thing. And I don't know when we're gonna have our guy Caruso back on, but with the way he played. Game 7 wasn't his best game, but he played great in the series. I think. I think taking the spurs and Wemby maybe the future goat to seven. I might give Crusoe a half a ring for that. So he's now up to two full rings.

[Meme]

So, like, the more. The more championships that Wimby ends up winning, the more impressive going to seven games in this postseason becomes. Like, this could actually be more impressive than beating. It was the Pacers. Yeah, they beat the Pacers in the NBA Finals last year.

[Big Cat]

Tyrese Halbert. That's luck. That goes the other way. You can't. If you're a Thunder fan, you can't be like, oh, it's bullshit that we're injured. Tyrese Halberton gets injured to start game seven. Like, that's just what happens in sports.

[Meme]

So this is actually circling back on our old take. We were right when that was the word. This Thunder team better than last year, 100%. And losing to the spurs in seven is way more impressive than beating the Pacers and seven in the NBA Finals.

[Big Cat]

I would be a little. Yeah, I. If I were a Thunder fan sitting there today, I'd be like, the one thing that's got to make you a little nervous is that is the young. Like, the spurs again, what we said at the beginning, no team should be doing, like, teams don't do this on their first crack at it. So you just. You just lost to the first crack. The spurs are going to get better. Savvier more like, you know, ready for the big moments, even though they were so ready for Game seven.

[Meme]

I love how much Wimby cares, too. I. I love how much this means to him, that he was crying after the game, that he was so emotional. Like, some people would say, hey, Wimpy, you got an entire. Another series that you have to compete in. I love it. We want our athletes to care this much about it. And for somebody that's given all the physical tools that. That Wimby has been blessed with since birth, for him to then go on and care that much about becoming great at basketball is awesome. That's everything that we should want from a superstar.

[Max]

And.

[Meme]

And it's. It's fun to watch his intensity. He. He's still, like, figuring it out a little bit, like, he'll make some missteps. We didn't talk to the media the other night. We clown him for that. But overall, like, he's a guy to be. Yeah. This is what we want our guys to be. What's up, Hank?

[Big Cat]

Texas Tech just hit a home run. That's. Oh. Mia Williams. Shout out. Jason.

[Meme]

Another. Another Dinger.

[Big Cat]

So good. I completely agree. I that, that moment where Wemby is, is, you know, teary. And his entire team gives him a big hug. And the emotion, the outpouring of emotion. Love every second of it. And I know that we live in a cynical world where people like, oh, it's lame. They haven't won the title. I don't care. I. That was cool. I want my. I want your. You want your athletes to be authentic and show the. To everyone. They care. He clearly cares. He said, I want to win so bad. It's like my life depends on it. And you can feel that from it.

[Meme]

And he did say, like, I might be addicted now to going to the finals. Chris Paul, he kind of stole that from careful. Yeah. But he's like, maybe I, I'll have to be careful. But I actually believe it when he says it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Because he does seem like he's a psychopath.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. He said he was addicted to the, the, the feeling, the. The adrenaline rush when the final buzzer,

[Meme]

you know, sounded also kind of a cool little side tangent. Mitch Johnson, the coach of, of the spurs, his dad was Seattle Sonic and NBA champion. Seattle Sonic. He's from Seattle. I saw a picture of him rocking a. It was like a T shirt with Jimi Hendrix wearing a Sonic's jersey on it. So like this guy could not be any more Seattle than he is. And then to beat the Thunder to then go to the finals.

[Big Cat]

Awesome.

[Meme]

That's kind of cool. On behalf of the city of Seattle,

[Big Cat]

also on the spurs coaching staff, I think he's their shooting coach. Do you know who it is, Hank? Jimmy Barron, brother of Billy Baron.

[Hank]

Wow.

[Big Cat]

Circle of trust.

[Hank]

Wow.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Jimmy Barron. You want some crazy stats?

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay. 23 year old Tim Duncan, second playoff run. Beat the Blazers, beat the T Wolves. Vanquished the biggest big man rival Shaq won a championship over New York. 22 year old Victor Wembanyama's first playoff run beat the Blazers, beat the T Wolves Vanquishes biggest big man rival Chat now plays the Knicks. That's a pretty wild one. Here's another one. This one's real. Whoa. Harrison Barnes. Who he? Harrison Barnes, consummate. Like you know the. If you look at the spurs season, Mitch Johnson making the move to put champagne into the starting lineup. Who? He was incredible in this series in game seven. Where did he come? He came from where?

[Meme]

Where? Philly.

[Big Cat]

Oh yeah.

[Meme]

So when they brought Mac McLung up, because you remember Mac McLung, he. He had to be on the phil on the 76. We've told this dude there's some people

[Big Cat]

who are listening to the first ever episode of Par.

[Meme]

So this for them. And we're also in the educational program, so we want. We want to make sure that they learned their history well.

[Big Cat]

You.

[Max]

We can't.

[Big Cat]

Called setting.

[Max]

We can't confirm that you remember things that are set on passion.

[Big Cat]

That's true. He might have a little bit of dimension, so I'm.

[Meme]

I'm running it back so that I can prove that I still got it.

[Max]

I'm just making sure this is actually him doing.

[Meme]

Making sure he actually exercises. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

We started a new program for him. He's got to repeat something so you can remember.

[Meme]

It's called CTE commentary. Okay. So in this case, Mac McClung, he got brought up to the 76ers because he was going to compete in the dunk contest. He's a really good dunker. And to make room for him, they had to send champagne. They had to release him.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

And so then the spurs get him, and he also, I. I believe identical twin to a guy on the Wizards named as well.

[Big Cat]

And he went 6 for 10 from 3.

[Meme]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

In game 7 was awesome. Every big moment. But I brought up Harrison Barnes because here's. Here's your wow. Stat of the day. Harrison Barnes. May 30th is his birthday. May 30th, 2016, Harrison Barnes beats the Thunder by eight in game seven of the Western Conference final. When he was on the Warriors. May 30, 2026, Harrison Barnes beats the Thunder by eight in Game 7 of the Western Conference Final. Ten years.

[Meme]

That's wild.

[Big Cat]

Eight, literally the same exact. Harrison Barnes on different teams beats the Thunder by eight in both of them.

[Meme]

That's magical.

[Big Cat]

That's wild.

[Meme]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

That's wild.

[Meme]

Wild stuff.

[Big Cat]

Wild.

[Meme]

Great stats.

[Big Cat]

Also, the Spurs. I did like that they threw in that last dunk.

[Meme]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

It's. It's true. Bad blood. I want them to play every year. They really.

[Meme]

There's also a good dunk. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

The best thing that happened in this series, outside of all the discourse and all the bullshit, is that we basically put two teams in a microwave of hate, and they feel like they have played each other for a million years, which is something that usually takes years and years to naturally get to. They did it in seven games. Yeah.

[Meme]

You get all the side narratives that go with it, all the mini rivalries that go along with rivalry. I. I do. I. I enjoy this matchup. I hope that. Chet, like, if you're Chad in this off season, what do you do to try to step. I, I feel like maybe just try to put on weight.

[Big Cat]

Isn't there the, the, the, the surgery you can get where you can make

[Meme]

yourself taller, break your legs. I looked into that. The recovery time's probably too long.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Yeah. I don't know. I, again, I, I wonder what he said in the locker room.

[Meme]

I would, I would work out if I were him. Check come back 30 pounds heavier, maybe even 40.

[Big Cat]

Good fat, good season guys.

[Hank]

Is there like alternative monk thing?

[Meme]

Oh, like what is it? What would the rival to be? Like become a samurai.

[Big Cat]

I don't know.

[Hank]

Because that's what he's got to look into.

[Meme]

Maybe go on an ayahuasca journey, like the South American version of it.

[Big Cat]

He needs to do something because I've never seen someone so scared. It was, it was shocking to watch that he just, he did not want any piece of that game whatsoever.

[Meme]

No memes. How do you feel about the spurs facing off against the Knicks? I know that you said that you got the, you've got the, the Wimby stopper in Mitch Robinson and he's going to be okay with his finger and

[Big Cat]

he hurt his finger. How?

[Biz]

We don't know.

[Meme]

But I did see, I saw an interesting stat. I did not fact check it, but memes, maybe you can tell me this sounds true. This is from Caitlin Cooper. Since Wimby was drafted, there are 20 players who have defended him for at least 100 half court matchups. The player who he has tallied the fewest points per 100 matchups against as his primary assignment is OG Anunoby. So historically, I don't know how many minutes they've played, I don't know how many times they've, they've battled in a half court matchup. But according to this tweet that I saw, OG Anunoby is the most effective defender against him. Have you seen that memes?

[Biz]

I did see that this morning.

[Meme]

Okay. Do we think that's true?

[Biz]

I do think it's true.

[Big Cat]

I think that OG Yes.

[Biz]

Defender in the league.

[Meme]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I think that's going to be what you're going to see a lot of. You're going to see OG maybe funneling into Mitch when he's on there on the court.

[Biz]

Yeah, it's going to be a lot of OG on him. Josh Hart's going to be on him. They're just going to, they're just going to cycle through.

[Big Cat]

How are you guys feeling overall? It's, it's actually, I'll say this, I'm getting more and More confident the Knicks are going to win this series. I don't know if that's crazy, but I was thinking about it. What? Well, you guys, you guys are talking, right?

[Biz]

Max is saying the unanimous.

[Max]

I mean, he's just, we just let him say that OG is the best defender in the league when he, When Wemby is also on this.

[Meme]

That's. Yeah, no, that's. We just say that. Yeah, Wimby is, He is.

[Big Cat]

Wemby doesn't have to guard Wemby.

[Max]

Correct.

[Biz]

But if all that size, we'd be the best.

[Big Cat]

Right. Right. So OG does.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Meme]

So you're saying, like, pound for pound, OG's the best.

[Biz]

Yeah.

[Max]

That's fair.

[Big Cat]

If Wemby had to guard Wemby, we don't know what would happen.

[Meme]

Or maybe like, arm for arm.

[Biz]

Yeah. Over seven feet excluded.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Okay.

[Meme]

They should. You know what? We might want to think about banning huge people from playing basketball.

[Zach]

Limit is minutes.

[Meme]

It's not really fair.

[Big Cat]

He did during the regular season.

[Meme]

Yeah. Like, you know how they, they banned Kareem Abdul Jabbar from dunking in college. We gotta, we gotta take a look at what the hell is going on in San Antonio, because 75 and playing like that is, it's kind of ridiculous.

[Big Cat]

Oh, I did see this. This doesn't. For the Knicks. The Knicks, in their history, they had to play. So in the finals, they've played wy. David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Wilt. Wilt, Wilt. George Mikin. George Mikin.

[Meme]

Mm.

[Big Cat]

Literally the biggest big guys of all time. Just like. Yeah, that's it. It's the Mike intro. They named a drill after him. But I, So I'm, I think the Knicks are gonna win this series. I really do. I, I, I was thinking about it last night, like, the Thunder. The Knicks are maybe like, they haven't done it. Like, the Thunder have sga. Mvp. Back to back to mvp. But the Thunder, at the end of that game and in game seven, in most of the series, they just didn't have a ton of scoring options. You know what I mean? It was, it was a limited. Whereas the Knicks are completely different in the fact that it feels like everyone can score with the Knicks right now as they're going. They can put out a lineup where everyone can shoot to some extent. There's no Lou Dort. Josh Hart has. I mean, you're feeling good about Josh Hart. Like, everyone could shoot. So I think the Knicks caused some problems for the spurs in that respect. Like, you can't just say, hey, we're going to ignore this one guy and let Wemby play free safety unless Mitch Robinson is in the game. Yeah.

[Biz]

I'm way too fired up about this because every single thing in the playoffs has broken the Knicks way. And this also broke the Knicks way.

[Big Cat]

You wanted to play the Spurs.

[Biz]

Yes. If you just after watching last night, I kept coming back to like, who do I want to play? And SGA is just so good right now. That and the foul baiting stuff like Cap. Cap's the most important player in the

[Big Cat]

finals that he could beat him.

[Biz]

He would have fouled out every single game.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Biz]

So annoying to watch now. Now it just feels like we just have two really good teams and the best team. And we'll see who the best team will win.

[Meme]

I think it's a coin flip.

[Hank]

Wow.

[Big Cat]

I really well said.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Biz]

I just did. That wasn't even.

[Big Cat]

You didn't really. You were doing well. You're doing great. And then you just. We have two really good teams and the best team will win. Sick dude. Unless it's the Cavs because the Cavs did say they were better than the Knicks.

[Biz]

Yeah. Every, every team says that that loses. The Knicks.

[Meme]

Yeah. Are you, are you worried about say that. Are you worried about coming out flat in game one? You've had a lot of time to rest

[Biz]

slightly. But I, they'll be fine.

[Meme]

Have you allowed yourself to think like, what if New York sports never loses?

[Biz]

About that. Just don't.

[Big Cat]

Have you looked at the Mets season so far?

[Meme]

What if, what if the Mets come back? I did bet on the Mets memes. You reminded me to do that.

[Big Cat]

The Yankees did score 13 runs in an inning today.

[Biz]

The Mets play really good when the Knicks close out of series.

[Meme]

What if the jets just keep winning? Start winning and then keep winning. That would be so sick.

[Biz]

You'd like that if the jets kept winning or if the jets won in general.

[Meme]

How many Super Bowls would you trade?

[Big Cat]

Yes, I know you'd like that.

[Meme]

How many NBA championships for the Knicks would you trade for one Jet Super Bowl? What's the conversion rate?

[Biz]

Oh, I don't have either. So we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Biz]

I, I, I don't know. I just want to win one. Bfd.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Max, you want to stat that you'll like?

[Max]

Sure.

[Big Cat]

He's worried.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Half the starters in the NBA Finals played in the Big East.

[Max]

Great stat.

[Big Cat]

It's pretty good stat.

[Meme]

Very good.

[Big Cat]

And not even counting Tyler Colic. You never know where he.

[Max]

True.

[Big Cat]

He might, might hear memes.

[Max]

Love Tyler Kohlik.

[Biz]

Yeah, he balled out in the NBA cup championship.

[Meme]

Big cat, you want to hear a wild stat? You like this one? Did you know that since 2009, that's 18 years, every single NBA finalist has featured at least one former member of the Washington Wizards. Whoa.

[Big Cat]

How wild.

[Hank]

I feel like you didn't say that in the correct voice.

[Meme]

How crazy is that?

[Big Cat]

You got to do the.

[Meme]

Hey, what's up?

[Big Cat]

2009 is 18 years. Am I just bad at adding years?

[Meme]

I guess. I think if you include 2009 and 20. 26.

[Big Cat]

Got it.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

I'm so bad. I think that whenever someone says that, I'm like, I don't know if that was nine years, 10 years, 11 years ago.

[Meme]

I think that stat was a lot cooler maybe until last year, because you could say it was like 10 or 12 years that a team that. That won the NBA Finals had a former member of the Wizards. Now it's just like, okay, yeah, a lot of teams have a lot of players from a lot of. A lot of teams.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. I'm so excited for these. I'm. This might be the most excited for Finals, probably since, like, maybe Cavs, Warriors.

[Meme]

It's really good.

[Big Cat]

Like, this 2016.

[Meme]

It is really good.

[Big Cat]

Didn't go well. But it's so. I mean, Wemby's the best. The Knicks are a fun team. You get rid of, like, the. The sga, like, they would have been just exhausting the two weeks of it, and we just get to watch some ball. Wemby is the best. Did you guys also see that SGA said that there's no place in the country he'd rather be than with Thunder.

[Meme]

That's cool.

[Big Cat]

Huh?

[Meme]

What do you mean? What do you mean by that?

[Big Cat]

He said there's no place in the country he'd rather be

[Max]

outside the country.

[Big Cat]

He's from Canada. Oh. Huh. So he'd write he'd like to be traded to the Raptors. He could easily have said world. Said country.

[Meme]

That's interesting.

[Big Cat]

It's only one team outside the country in the NBA.

[Meme]

Well, maybe in LeBron's new basketball league that he's going to start up.

[Big Cat]

Just interesting. Just thought that was. Thought that was a little interesting. Could easily say world, right?

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Ah, man. This can be fun. This is going to be fun. This is going to be fun. I hope it goes. I hope it goes.

[Keith Yandel]

Seven.

[Big Cat]

We need seven. I need to really just milk every last second out of this. Zach, you don't want seven. I understand why you wouldn't want Seven. You're scared of seven?

[Zach]

I mean, why do seven if you don't have to do seven?

[Meme]

Zach, what are you thinking about? Like, where's your head at with this matchup?

[Zach]

My confidence sliders are uncomfortably slid in the direction of confident.

[Meme]

Okay. That's what I was asking.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. That's a totally normal way.

[Mike Breen]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

That's.

[Keith Yandel]

They're.

[Zach]

They're kind of maxed out right now, which isn't good. Which is never good.

[Big Cat]

All right.

[Zach]

Because I'm not entirely a high confidence guy, but I feel good about it. I like us going up against the Spurs. Now that it's over, I can. I will say that I was terrified of sga just because, like, it feels like he play. He plays uncontested basketball even when he's the most contested. Doesn't really make much sense.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he had like, guys just all over him. He was still making shots.

[Zach]

It's unbelievable.

[Meme]

But that, that one shot that he jumped into was. That was a little much even for him.

[Big Cat]

I don't have. Like, that's been happening forever.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Guys get. If you get. If you pump fake a guy in the air.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Like Dwyane Wade made a living like a career off of it. Like there's. I just. That doesn't bother me as much.

[Meme]

Flopping I get when he jumps sideways on a. On a three point shot. I just feel like this one that

[Big Cat]

happens in every, every NBA player does that. I know that the. I'm not talking about the flopping, but like the. When you get a guy in the air and you, you basically like, I'm going to go to the free throw line. It feels like that's just what guys do.

[Meme]

Oh yeah, it's. It's a smart play.

[Big Cat]

I just didn't. I. When I see that, I'm not like, God damn it, I can't believe this guy.

[Meme]

But this, where he jumps to the side. I know that a lot of players do it. He does it more than most, but a lot of players do it. And he's very good.

[Big Cat]

He's out of the playoffs. We don't even need to talk about it anymore.

[Meme]

I just didn't like it.

[Big Cat]

Noted.

[Meme]

I didn't like it. And the beautiful thing about this country and the first amendment, as a member of the press, I get to say that's maybe not in Canada, sga, but in the United States of America. We don't play soccer. All right, buddy?

[Big Cat]

We play basketball. Did you have anything to say about Wemby's flops? He did learn in this series. In the course of this series, it

[Meme]

was actually like un American was.

[Big Cat]

It was almost like he got infected.

[Meme]

It's the most French thing that he does. I don't like it. You just can't make me think that a man Wimby's size is getting knocked off his feet ever.

[Big Cat]

What he had over the middle. Yeah, but that one again, I don't really. It's. Again, it all goes back to. My take has been the same from the beginning. It's the ref's faults. The refs have to do better. The refs have to get it out of the league. Players are going to do it if they think they can get an advantage. The refs, Adam Silver fix it. Refs fix it. That's how we have to fix it.

[Meme]

We did ask. I think it was the first time Adam Silver came on pmt. I asked him, why don't you make it so that flops. You can review them between games and you can assess technicals and fines after a game's over. And he's like, well, it is reviewable during a game. And they just kind of moved on from it.

[Big Cat]

Just stop calling all the. Like, don't call as many fouls and guys will stop flopping because it's a disadvantage when you fall on the ground. I don't know why we're doing this right now. Now we don't need to do this.

[Meme]

It's a conversation. I.

[Big Cat]

But it's been like, not by us, I'm saying, but like by the entire NBA ecosystem has been just.

[Max]

I was just trying to look. SGA had some sick plays in that game yesterday. You can't. You can't find a highlight of his on. On Twitter right now.

[Big Cat]

That's what I'm saying. That was just. That's my original point all the way back to a week and a half ago that got me pegged as a Thunder Glazer. It was.

[Max]

I was just scrolling for like two minutes.

[Big Cat]

It literally.

[Max]

I was like, it's just all about him. Flop.

[Big Cat]

It became like a bot farm thing where people were like, I, I'm going to get my Twitter paycheck this week by just posting the SGA clips. He was awesome in the game in game seven. But yeah, you can't find. You just. It's just all that. You know who the. The winner of that is? Chat anytime. We're not talking about Chad. What do you think he's. What do you think he's doing right this second?

[Meme]

Probably gaming.

[Big Cat]

You think so? Is he a gamer?

[Meme]

He's Probably. He strikes me as a gamer.

[Big Cat]

I would agree with that.

[Meme]

He just got the gamer vibe to him.

[Big Cat]

Like, do you think he's sitting there, like, practicing a move in. In. In the mirror, being like, I should have hit him with this.

[Meme]

I looked it up. If. If he's going to train in the off season to try to counteract wimby, I looked up the biggest enemies of Tibetan monks.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Meme]

It's really all from within. Ignorance, craving, and hatred.

[Big Cat]

That's what I'm saying. He needs to.

[Meme]

He needs to become way more ignorant.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. There's that famous tweet that's like. What was it? It's something about, like, screw, you know, vertical and shop making. I'm drafting a team with just all guys who aren't gonna be. And like, that was. That was said afterwards because he. He just. It was not. It was not good for him at all. And yeah, he's gotta. He's gotta. He's gotta hate WBY as much as Wemby hates him right now. He's the dog at the dog park who's getting growled at. And he's just not giving eye contact because he's so scared.

[Meme]

He's hiding under his owner's legs. Yeah, yeah.

[Big Cat]

You got. We gotta. We gotta get out there.

[Meme]

Chad, you're big. Chad doesn't know how big he is. That's his problem.

[Big Cat]

That's true. You know what you need to do? We chat. Like, maybe hang out with me. No. Go. Or. I was gonna say go to, like, a South American country.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Like, go to Peru. Right. Is that. I feel like it's the higher you

[Meme]

get up or the altitude.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Well, that's the ayahuasca thing. You can. You can elect to become an ayahuasca savant.

[Big Cat]

And what's the shortest country in the world?

[Meme]

There's a lot of, like. I think I. This is going to sound ignorant if I'm wrong. I feel like Honduras might have a lot of short people.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying.

[Mike Breen]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

South America, maybe some parts of Asia. What's max? You find us the shortest country in the world. That's. You're right. You're exactly right. Chet needs to remind himself, you're not a Chihuahua, dude.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

You're a Great Dane.

[Meme]

Right.

[Big Cat]

Go out there and be a great day.

[Meme]

Leroy had this problem for a long time when he would get. He would get bullied by small dogs because he didn't know. And so every now and again, you got to gas your boy up and be like, dude, Chat. You're big, man. You're seven feet so big.

[Big Cat]

Like, oh, you know what?

[Meme]

I want to blindfold him and then walk him through a lot of doors and have him hit his head on stuff.

[Big Cat]

Maybe we need to just have a bunch of people like old grandmothers, just being like, you're a growing boy. Just keep saying that to him. He's like, you know what? I am growing. How is it this hard to find the. The shortest country?

[Hank]

It's Timor Leste.

[Max]

I got it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, for us. Give us a real country. Laos, Guatemala.

[Max]

You said that when I. I. This has been up for, like, 45 seconds.

[Hank]

Madagascar, Guatemala, Philippines, Nepal, Yemen.

[Big Cat]

We kind of nailed it. Bangladesh, South America. Little Asia.

[Meme]

Guatemala's four.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Meme]

Madagascar, India, Vietnam. I kind of want to go hang out in these places now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Go chat. Five, two.

[Hank]

You'd be a come back normal.

[Big Cat]

Go to. Go to Mata. Go to Madagascar and put all the rims at seven feet.

[Meme]

I'm gonna start the Madagascar in the NBA.

[Big Cat]

That would be so sick.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Okay, let's. What. What are you gonna say?

[Meme]

Never mind.

[Big Cat]

What. Say you found East Timor?

[Max]

No, I just want to go up to chaps and ask him this question tomorrow so that he knows how. How it feels when he asks us these stupid geography questions that nobody knows.

[Meme]

No, you're getting.

[Big Cat]

You're getting mad.

[Meme]

You're getting mad because. Because you got stumped before because you

[Big Cat]

didn't know what Missouri looked like.

[Max]

That's not it. No.

[Meme]

He asked like, there are tough ones.

[Big Cat]

There are tough ones.

[Max]

It's like. It was like, which country grows the most corn in the world? And it's like, how am I supposed to know that?

[Big Cat]

Iowa, he loves. Secondly, Nebraska country. Yeah.

[Meme]

It's got the United States.

[Big Cat]

We're bigger than everyone.

[Max]

I just made that. Yeah. I don't know why that was the first thing that came to my head.

[Meme]

We're. Yeah, but, like, what country has the most swimming pools?

[Max]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Also us.

[Mike Breen]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Florida.

[Meme]

I think it was Iceland. Per capita.

[Big Cat]

Oh. Because they got, like, no people.

[Zach]

That's where it gets the per capita at the end. All these questions where he just throws you for the biggest loop, and it's

[Big Cat]

like, yeah, you can't.

[Zach]

Per capita's every time.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Wait, what was the. What was the corn one? Who has the most.

[Max]

It was us.

[Big Cat]

Okay, there we go. We could still do something, right? All right. DraftKings. The final round of the basketball season is here. Two teams left, one trophy on the line. And only DraftKings has you covered every step of the way the DraftKings sportsbook app is now available in all 50 states and includes all markets, bringing each game straight to your fingertips wherever you are. From New York to San Antonio to la, you're in on the excitement at the speed of sports. Follow every possession, every fourth quarter swing, every clutch shot that decides the series. Sweat the whole run in real time with a seamless experience built for championship basketball. No matter where you're watching, you're always connected in the game with one app. New DraftKings customers sign up with code TAKE. Spend five bucks to get 200 in rewards within 21 days. That's code TAKE in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Bet with DK Sportsbook. Gambling problem. Call 1-800- GAMBLER 1-800- Myreset New York. Call 877-8-HOPE and WHY or text hope and why connecticut. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org on behalf of Boothill Casino in Kansas. VetText pass through. May apply in Illinois. 21 and over. Void in Ontario. Event contract trading with DraftKings predictions involves risk of loss. Sportsbook bonus bets expire in seven days. $50 in predictions. Dollars issued weekly for three weeks. Expire in one year. Redeem one non withdrawable reward. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Ends June 28. Terms at D. Did you guys watch any of the Champions League?

[Meme]

I saw the shootout.

[Big Cat]

I watched it. I had no idea. And maybe an awl can explain this to me. I had no idea how much everyone hates Arsenal. Yeah, like it is. Zach, you're a little bit of a soccer guy. Why does everyone. And also is the champions of Europe. You'll never sing that. Is that only for Arsenal?

[Zach]

I don't have the backstory on why everyone hates him, but I'm happy to say Arsenal.

[Big Cat]

Okay, but everyone hates them.

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah. Majority. Majority hated.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Like they had a guy on the broadcast who flew from Kenya to Budapest. He was a Chelsea fan. He was just coming to hate watch. He's like, I came just to watch Arsenal lose.

[Zach]

Guy's a hero.

[Big Cat]

So why. Why does everyone hate Arsenal so much?

[Keith Yandel]

Them.

[Meme]

Okay, that's fine.

[Big Cat]

Okay. But is there any specific reason?

[Hank]

Do they win a lot?

[Big Cat]

I.

[Meme]

Well, no, not a lot.

[Big Cat]

No. Champions. They were all chanting that. Champions of Europe. You'll never sing that. You'll never sing that. I think never won it. Not of Europe. Imagine having that be a chant that

[Meme]

just everyone sings and knows they won the epl. And then the last time they won it was what, like 25, 30 years ago. Yeah, something like that. So they don't win a lot. They're just all. I think every year they have the perfect season. Every year they think that they're going to win the.

[Big Cat]

What was the name of them?

[Meme]

They're the Gooners.

[Big Cat]

No, no, no. There was a name for their perfect season. I can't remember it.

[Meme]

Oh, well, you know who's a Gooner is Joel Embiid. Really big gunner.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they. Did you guys also see that? Oh, the Invincibles. It's a Pretty cool name. 26 games. Drew 12. 126. Drew 12. Because of the World cup, starting in like a week and a half or whatever it is. Two weeks and Champions League, the schedule and everything. Arsenal went to Budapest. They lost in the Champions League, the biggest trophy for any club in the world. And then they went back to England. Where's Arsenal? Manchester.

[Meme]

They're Birmingham.

[Big Cat]

Birmingham. They went back to Birmingham and they did a parade for their EPL victory. Right. 12 hours after losing the Champions League.

[Meme]

Yeah, it was tough.

[Big Cat]

That is as brutal as brutal gets.

[Meme]

I do like the EPL trophy.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

EPL trophy is pretty cool. You can put, like, your own ribbons on it and. And decorate it the way that you want it to, but. Yeah, then having to go out play in what many would call a much more important tournament or like a. A. A bigger tournament, and then losing that and then having to go back home, be like, remember, we're still good, though.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Remember how happy you guys were with us just 48 hours ago?

[Big Cat]

That was sick.

[Meme]

Yeah. Please just remember that.

[Big Cat]

So Meme said that his buddy who watches a lot of soccer says they play terrorist ball. They did. It was brutal to watch because they scored too fast. They scored six minutes into the game, and then they just played like absolute cowards.

[Meme]

The rest of the parked the bus.

[Biz]

And the guy who missed the penalty kick is apparently the worst person. Oh, and everyone hates him.

[Big Cat]

Dude, I would never have missed like that. I would have just shot it on goal.

[Biz]

And he just hit a moon ball into the car.

[Meme]

Crowd. What's the guy's name? You got to put that on frame.

[Biz]

Gabriel.

[Meme]

Gabriel.

[Big Cat]

Is that just his full name?

[Biz]

Yeah, it's like Oprah.

[Big Cat]

It's like a Brazilian.

[Meme]

Put it on frame, Gabriel.

[Big Cat]

Dude, they hate. Oh, man. But, yeah, look at Max. You see that? They. They did a parade today. That's so brutal.

[Meme]

So psg, Paris Sangerma. They won. Back to back, Back to back. First time it's been done in a long time. I read it's a big thing.

[Big Cat]

Big deal.

[Meme]

It's a whole.

[Big Cat]

I. I can't definitively fact check that.

[Meme]

I think that there's only like two other teams that have ever won back to back. I think

[Big Cat]

I'm gonna look it up. Yeah.

[Meme]

I want to say real.

[Big Cat]

They were so much back to back league champions. You know who's not gonna be on the list?

[Zach]

Real Madrid's a three peak. 16, 17, and 18. Who did. Real Madrid has a three, Pete. So 2016, 2017, 2018.

[Big Cat]

Okay, Rumager. Real Madrid.

[Zach]

Real Madrid. My bad.

[Big Cat]

Real Madrid. So somewhat re. Well, back to back for the first time in five or six years. It was PSG yesterday. Hey, listen, just a little warm up. Little warm up for. For the World Cup.

[Meme]

Just seeing some grass.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, just seeing some grass.

[Meme]

Seeing a pitch.

[Big Cat]

Okay, what else we got? Do we got other sports stuff? We have Kitiano coming up, talking some Stanley Cup Final and Mike Breen. Hank, did you see. I don't want to take your who's back, but are you going to use AI in your golf game? Oh, yeah, that's your who's back.

[Hank]

It was gonna be my who's back.

[Big Cat]

I did this. What is this? I just saw Bryson being like, yeah, talk to AI.

[Hank]

I mean, it's like, it's, it's. It's truly like if, you know, it's relatable in the fact that. And it makes probably bad golfers feel better in the fact that Bryson said he wasn't feeling good about his swing. He was mad on the range. And then when he went back, he was just, you know, uploading his pictures and videos of his swing to AI to try and figure out the issues, which is when, you know, well, he finished in third. Like, he, he got hot Sunday.

[Meme]

So.

[Hank]

AI, Saturday night swing tip.

[Meme]

Huh?

[Hank]

Fixed on Sunday.

[Meme]

I think it's just about thinking anything different. Like if you're. If your game feels broken, just watch any video. It doesn't have to be like an AI breakdown of your own swing. It could be any, any golf video that you see online. And just think about what you saw in that one video and things will change.

[Big Cat]

Bryce is going to try to marry a computer, right?

[Meme]

Yeah. Oh, he's going to be.

[Hank]

He's going to be early, early, early chip inside of him. Whenever. Whenever they roll that out. Whenever they roll that out in the next couple years, he will be maybe the first person.

[Big Cat]

Okay. And then he's going to be like, why am I not allowed to play in the ma.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah.

[Meme]

My prediction is he's going to have neuralink implanted into his brain somewhere. He'll be like in the first. He'll. He'll volunteer himself to be like a. A guinea pig for that. Or he might get like the contacts that when you. You can read a green and you can see like.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Where the downhills are.

[Big Cat]

He's going to get neuralink and then he's going to play the Masters. The first ever Masters in your brain. Yeah, like he's not actually going to play in the Masters.

[Meme]

He's.

[Big Cat]

He's just going to do a live stream of his brain playing the master.

[Meme]

His eyes are going to glaze over.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Like when that guy from Game of Thrones looked into the future Bran. He's gonna be Bryson the broken. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Hank, do you pay for the full live pass video pass?

[Hank]

Don't every shot.

[Big Cat]

Never did.

[Hank]

Every now. I never did.

[Meme]

I see you're part of the problem.

[Big Cat]

Damn.

[Meme]

So you're. You're just a. You're. You're pirating streams.

[Big Cat]

I found a guy who's watch on.

[Hank]

Watch on fox watch on YouTube.

[Big Cat]

I found a guy who's a bigger live fan than you, who's also a cuck for Liv because he pro golf critic said he got the message that LIV Golf was suspending the any shot anytime group feed that people paid $27 for. And he said, dear Live Golf, I appreciate the offer, but I don't want a refund. I believe in the product so much. Consider this my investment in the league. It's not much money and it's negligible to the bottom line, but symbolism matters. I'll. I call on all live golf fans to do the same.

[Zach]

That's respect.

[Big Cat]

So are you.

[Hank]

I mean, I might. I might buy it now.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Although I probably can't buy it now.

[Big Cat]

No, but you gotta buy it.

[Meme]

You should try.

[Big Cat]

I'm trying to buy it right now.

[Hank]

I do have the live Golf app.

[Big Cat]

Try to buy it right now.

[Meme]

Considering pro golf critics lead, considering all the free entertainment that you've gotten from Liv, it's the least you could do would be to pay for a service that no longer exists.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Hank]

Shout out to the Range Goats. By the way, sent me a great care package.

[Big Cat]

Symbolism matters.

[Meme]

Hank, who's on the Range Goats?

[Max]

You can no longer purchase. Purchase this service on the Live Golf app.

[Big Cat]

Hank, donate $27 to Saudi Arabia right now.

[Meme]

Can you?

[Big Cat]

I love this guy, though, making like a bold proclamation. Hey, listen, I'm not going to ask for the refund.

[Meme]

Can you name the Range Goats?

[Hank]

Yes. Bubba Watson.

[Meme]

He's that's one.

[Big Cat]

He's looking it up right now. He's literally got it. He just pulled it up. Who else? Why he.

[Hank]

Bubba Watson.

[Meme]

Yep.

[Hank]

And, I mean, I'm a lefty guy, so he's the only lefty on the team. You know, you don't. You know how I operate.

[Meme]

I. I know at least one of the other guys on the team because He's a former four ace.

[Big Cat]

Is it?

[Meme]

There's actually no former four aces. It's once a four ace, always a 4s.

[Big Cat]

Like the Marines.

[Meme]

Yeah. The brotherhood.

[Big Cat]

He's looking.

[Meme]

Duke basketball.

[Hank]

I am looking it up.

[Meme]

Peter Uline.

[Hank]

Oh, right.

[Big Cat]

It's right in front of your face.

[Max]

It's also. I pulled it up.

[Hank]

Matthew Wolf. Great swing. Ben Campbell. Never heard of him. Great guy.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Hank]

Shout out to the goats.

[Meme]

Great guy. Never heard of him.

[Big Cat]

Great.

[Max]

How many people do you think out there actually think that we get paid by live for the amount that we talk about it?

[Meme]

I mean, I don't think Liv's paying anybody now. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

They don't have we talk. Well, no. They got 27 extra bucks.

[Meme]

Sure. We'll take that.

[Big Cat]

Golf critic. Thanks, bro. Yeah, they probably. They probably think that we're.

[Hank]

It's a national sports podcast, Max.

[Big Cat]

Shut up. Yeah, shut up, Max.

[Max]

Talking about Ben Campbell.

[Meme]

Go get married again, Max.

[Max]

I'm going to.

[Meme]

He's. He's an.

[Big Cat]

He's.

[Meme]

Honestly, that's.

[Hank]

He's an international sports guy.

[Keith Yandel]

Who?

[Hank]

Ben Campbell.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah, big time.

[Hank]

He won the Hong Kong Open. Dude.

[Big Cat]

That's one of the biggest opens they've got. Got, I would assume, right?

[Hank]

Yeah. And 2024. He won the International Series. Morocco.

[Meme]

Wow.

[Big Cat]

This guy is crazy.

[Meme]

Shut me up.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right, let's do who's Back of the Week. Okay. Who's Back of the Week's brought to you by our friends at Twisted Tea. Summer's right around the corner, 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. And I want to go on the record saying this will be the drink of the summer. It's got a refreshing taste with a little kick and no carbonation. Grit Week is the official kickoff of preseason football that we've all been waiting for. And we know that Twisted Tea is a staple during football season. I'm excited about getting on the grill, maybe by a pool, maybe on a beach, maybe go to some ball games. It's summer, but I'm going to be on that grill with a Twisted Tea in my hand. So I'm ready. And I'm going to get that twisted lemonade. So grab a refreshing twisted tea today and get involved in the summer. Okay, Hank, your who's back of the week.

[Hank]

My who's back was.

[Keith Yandel]

AI.

[Hank]

I. I guess it's also. I don't know if it's Mike Greenberg's dumb rul. Mike Greenberg's dumb Mike. Mike Greenberg's dumb rearrangements. But this John Calari. Did you see this?

[Meme]

No.

[Mike Breen]

No.

[Big Cat]

You hear about this one?

[Hank]

He wants to do the SEC basketball tournament in. To start the year.

[Meme]

Okay.

[Hank]

And then you don't. That way you don't have a serious tournament leading into the NCAA tournament.

[Meme]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Which with.

[Hank]

We've talked about the. The NCAA tournament. I mean, basically gonna be ruined from here on out. 70, 72 teams or whatever it is, and it's just gonna keep getting more and more.

[Big Cat]

By the way, the conference. You can't say that.

[Hank]

The conference tournaments.

[Mike Breen]

Why not?

[Meme]

What if it was played, like, overseas?

[Hank]

Why can't I say that? Why can't I say that?

[Big Cat]

Because I feel like you're gonna use that as an excuse, being like this. This week doesn't matter. It's golf season already. The. They ruined the tournament. You can't say that.

[Hank]

No, it's usually the weather's not nice.

[Big Cat]

You can't say that. I could say, you can't say that. I mean, it's true.

[Hank]

I can speak the truth.

[Big Cat]

Yes, but I know what you're gonna end up doing. You're like, oh, it's ruined anyway. What do we care?

[Hank]

No, I want it. I. I would much rather it be 64 teams. Like, that's crazy. I'm not.

[Big Cat]

I don't want it to be the

[Hank]

way it is, but I'm not gonna say that. It's like. No, it is as good as it was.

[Big Cat]

It is. So he wants this before the season.

[Hank]

It makes sense now where it's like, there's going to be. Everyone's basically going to get in. Why not have the tournament start the year? Could be fun.

[Big Cat]

I don't hate the idea.

[Meme]

So the. The winner would get an automatic bid, and then for the rest of the season, they'd know that, like any team that didn't win that tournament, they have to prove themselves. See, I. I like it. I like the idea better with football, where you have, like, week zero as the bowl games. That, to me, makes more sense.

[Big Cat]

They've kind of ruined everything now that I'm thinking about it.

[Meme]

There was one coach that. That I think it was new. Heisel floated that out last year to, to start the season with some of these crazy like out of conference matchups.

[Hank]

But what if you win the bowl game?

[Meme]

You just doesn't mean anything. It's just like it makes the bowl games mean a little bit where now the bowl games don't mean anything unless.

[Hank]

How do you qualify for the bowl games?

[Big Cat]

I don't know.

[Biz]

They.

[Meme]

They do the invites. I'm not sure. I'm not sure how that part would work. Would work out, but it's kind of like it's similar to what Calipari is promoting, except I just. I don't know. I. I don't like it because I feel like the teams, what you see at the end of the season, they're so much different than what they would be at the very start of the year.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I can't wrap my head around this. One part of me is like, that would be awesome, but nah, you need it at the end of the year.

[Meme]

It wouldn't feel the same at all.

[Big Cat]

No, no, it definitely wouldn't feel the same. I'm just thinking about like the fact Hank. Hank was right. Like they have already ruined the tournament,

[Meme]

so why not just let's ruin everything else?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, just throw. Throw the. Throw the beginning. The conference tournament at the beginning of the season. We would say, Max, wouldn't it be

[Max]

weird if a team won it? Won it and then you're just already in it, the rest of it?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean it would.

[Hank]

It.

[Big Cat]

I'll say this. It would give teams.

[Hank]

It's an incentive to win it though.

[Big Cat]

It would definitely flatten like it would give bad teams a better chance because there's no tape on you. And it's like, you know, the beginning of the year, we always have that where a team will just be hot in the beginning of the year and non conference, then they'll get to conference play and they suck. Would be interesting.

[Meme]

Yeah, I don't like it. I'm out on it.

[Big Cat]

No, I don't like it.

[Meme]

I'm just.

[Big Cat]

I like that he's.

[Meme]

He's thinking.

[Big Cat]

I think what Cal is doing here is, is, is saying is basically shining a light on how they're ruining everything else by throwing out a crazy rule. Yeah, because it's. I think a lot of people probably are going to have the same reaction to me of like, that's stupid. And then they take a step back and say, well, they did kind of up the tournament already, so why not up everything? So good job, Cal. You got me. You got me thinking about it. Yeah.

[Meme]

It's like the worse the ideas get, then the less bad the other really bad ideas.

[Big Cat]

Correct. Correct.

[Meme]

Kind of a genius move, right?

[Mike Breen]

We're all.

[Big Cat]

We're just hanging out with all bad ideas.

[Meme]

Kind of the story part of my take.

[Big Cat]

So now they become good ideas.

[Meme]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Big Cat]

All right. It's actually a perfect. What the Bears are doing right now where they're just like, hey, here's a bad idea. We moved to Indiana or we moved to Arlington Heights out of the city, and everyone's like, no, that's crazy. Like, how about we move to Indiana? Like, no, that's a really bad idea. Hey, that. That Arlingtonites thing's a good idea.

[Meme]

That to me, sounds like. That's Chicago.

[Zach]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

That's awesome. I don't even want to.

[Hank]

I don't know where there's Indiana, it's Indiana.

[Big Cat]

There's just meetings going on with Polygon. Anytime we have politicians, like, when I find out the names of politicians, we've gone too far. Yeah. That's when. When I can start picking out people because they're walking out of meetings and talking to the press. You've. You've ruined everything.

[Meme]

Let me tell you. When. When I saw the Bears contingent down at Lost Marsh. Is that the name of the golf course?

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah.

[Meme]

When I saw them there, they were wearing really nice suits, like they were trying to impress the Indiana people, and they looked like they meant business.

[Big Cat]

So I. Kevin.

[Meme]

Word.

[Big Cat]

Such a fucking. Oh, my God. All right, good. Who's back?

[Meme]

Good. Who's back?

[Hank]

Thanks.

[Meme]

My. Who's back of the week is the U.S. men's National Soccer team.

[Big Cat]

Nice.

[Meme]

Because we beat the Africa cup co champions, kind of Senegal today in a friendly, 3 to 2. Based on my own personal expected goals percentage, we actually. It was more like 6.1 to 1.3.

[Big Cat]

Nice.

[Meme]

So, like, utter domination.

[Hank]

I mean, kind of.

[Meme]

What do you mean?

[Hank]

Do we win or not?

[Meme]

No, we did. We won three to two. I. I was referring to Senegal as being kind of the co. Champions of the Africa.

[Big Cat]

They were.

[Meme]

There was a whole thing where they, like, pulled their players off the field and then they got into a fight with, I think, Morocco. So nobody really knows who.

[Big Cat]

Where are they ranked? Tell me what they're.

[Meme]

I think they're ahead of us. I think.

[Big Cat]

Max, give us the rankings.

[Meme]

I want to say Senegal might be top 15 FIFA rank in the world.

[Hank]

Was the field in good enough condition?

[Meme]

Not really. It was the Carolina Panthers field.

[Hank]

Is that a concern for.

[Meme]

No, because there are no games at that stadium Cup.

[Big Cat]

How many more friendlies do we have?

[Meme]

We're playing Germany and friendly in Chicago.

[Big Cat]

It wasn't Portugal.

[Max]

I looked up sen. Oh, this only gives me top 10.

[Big Cat]

No, load more, dude.

[Meme]

Click more.

[Big Cat]

Show full standings. All right, you have 16.

[Meme]

We playing sort of play Germany on, I believe this upcoming Friday.

[Big Cat]

Our team's trying here in Chicago.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Yeah. I mean, it's like experimenting with what your starting lineup's going to be. So in the first half there, it was like 90 of our starting lineup. It's a tune up. And they look.

[Big Cat]

And they look pre season.

[Meme]

They look good. And Pulisic looked awesome in the first half. He scored a goal, had an assist. Our entire offense, like our strikers and attacking midfielders look really, really good. This, this as. As bad as the headlines have been for the U.S. men's National Team for the last, like, couple months, this should make you at least a little bit optimistic about what the team could look like.

[Big Cat]

I'm very optimistic, so.

[Meme]

And then we'll find out more after this game against Germany. Who's a much better team than Senegal. But, yeah, we look. We look pretty good. I would give us a B plus.

[Big Cat]

Why'd you look up Neymar?

[Max]

I. I just don't know any players anymore. I just want to know. Zach's telling me Neymar's old news.

[Meme]

And. Yeah, he's old.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he's very old news.

[Meme]

In fact, I think he might have just, like, faked an injury because he got put on the Brazilian national team this year and he's so old that I think he was kind of like, I kind of shouldn't play, so. Ow. I think my leg hurts. There is one new soccer player that you guys should all know, though. Have you heard about the guy from New Zealand?

[Big Cat]

No.

[Meme]

So a bunch of people, they, like online, they got together and they tried to figure out who the, like, least well known player in the World cup was just to give this guy, like, his own fandom. And they found a guy in New Zealand and his name's Tim Payne. And I think he had like 3, 000 followers online. And then if you look him up now, I want to say he's got like 8 million followers. It's because people decided that Tim Payne, he was going to be the guy for anyone that didn't have a favorite soccer player. Okay, so he's this dude from New Zealand. He plays for the Wellington Phoenix, and he's on the New Zealand national team right now. And I. I think he's about at 3 million followers. Where he was like at 3,000.

[Big Cat]

Hell, yeah.

[Meme]

Four days ago. So shout out Tim Payne. Tim Pain is like the new. This could also go sideways real fast.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah.

[Meme]

Like, if Tim Pain is a jerk and you give him all this power down, like three all over again, like 4 million followers, he might actually just like destroy his team.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

So we'll find out more about Tim Payne. But Tim Pain seems to be the. The people soccer player.

[Big Cat]

Okay, my. Who's back the week is. I'm going to go with PCA because now the. The Cubs are going to lose two out of three. The Cardinals, but that's irrelevant Saturday night. And if you guys saw the clip. But the Cardinals, which is. I'll give the Cardinals fans credit. It looks like a blast out there in right field. They have the tarps off section, which we had in college football as well. So the tarps off section. Bunch of dudes tarps off, going crazy. They were chanting overrated when PCA was up. PCA then hit a nuke into the tarps off section. And after that, a guy, a Cardinals fan, picked up the ball. Everyone told him to throw it back. I don't think that guy had ever thrown a baseball in his life. And that was a brutal look for him.

[Meme]

He's a reverse rookie of the year.

[Big Cat]

He couldn't get it out of the. The. The stands. He hit a Cubs fan in the front row.

[Meme]

I love that.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Instead of getting called up to the big league rookie, that he just gets fired from his normal job.

[Big Cat]

Just brutal. Brutal. Like you can't. You gotta hand that to a friend because you know it deep down that you can't throw that. Yeah, like he. His throwing motion. Max Judge's throwing motion. That guy's. He's.

[Max]

I think he's right handed and he threw lefty.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Max]

It's the only thing that makes sense.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Meme]

So, Hank, you're an expert. What do you think

[Big Cat]

he's got? All right, he's got it.

[Hank]

No, no, dude.

[Big Cat]

He's never played baseball or not.

[Mike Breen]

I think he's left.

[Big Cat]

I think he's right handed.

[Meme]

No, because he just kind of has a natural.

[Hank]

Like he's trying to throw.

[Big Cat]

He's like flicking it.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

He didn't go all the way back.

[Meme]

He also held it up with his left hand.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that.

[Meme]

He's a lefty. That's t. Yeah.

[Max]

You can't.

[Big Cat]

You got to hand that to a friend. Right? You can't. Yep. You can't do that.

[Meme]

So this is the.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, look, the Tarps off right there.

[Meme]

It's the tarps off session.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah. I mean it looks like a good time. I wish. Comes at one on Sunday night, but yeah, you start. Jordan Wicks. He's a tomato can. All right, Zach,

[Zach]

my who's back this week is going to be the Iceman. Caleb Williams, hometown favorite here because the. They leaked the Madden cover for this year. Madden 27. Caleb's on the COVID I guess. Could be, depending on how you look at it. Some guys believe in the Madden curse, some don't. I was curious if you guys did.

[Big Cat]

I thought it was. I thought it was not a thing recently.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Max]

Who broke.

[Big Cat]

It was for a long time.

[Zach]

I know they had Saquon last year.

[Max]

He.

[Zach]

He played. Okay.

[Big Cat]

No, year by year it happened at Gronk. Let's see. I don't believe it's not Almost Retire Peyton Hellis. The. The COVID if that's what it looks like, is sick.

[Zach]

Yeah, the COVID looks fantastic. I mean the snow's coming out and everything. It's a sick cover.

[Big Cat]

It's awesome.

[Meme]

Now how much stock do we put in this being an actual leak?

[Big Cat]

Okay, let's see, let's see. I. It looks pretty real. All right, so it's. Josh Allen won the. Did he win the MVP the year after he was on the COVID there. He won the MVP in 25, correct?

[Meme]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. So that. That would say probably not. John Madden was on the COVID He

[Meme]

died after he died.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. No, it was.

[Max]

It's onto your app.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Mahomes. Mahomes on the COVID He won a couple Super Bowls. He's been on the COVID a couple times. Yeah.

[Hank]

Super Bowls and Brady both won right

[Big Cat]

after Antonio Brown, but that would be it. That's a tough one. That feels like that didn't go well after that. Oh, no, no. He won a Super bowl if he was on the COVID in 19. He won a Super bowl with the Bucks, right?

[Meme]

Did he?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, didn't he?

[Zach]

Is it. Wouldn't we be arguing the year of though? Not the next year until you're around

[Big Cat]

one super bowl with the Bucks. Am I misremembering that?

[Meme]

The year you're.

[Max]

You're getting the math.

[Big Cat]

No, I understand that. I'm just saying he won, not the.

[Meme]

Yeah, yeah, he lived with the curse.

[Max]

The year that you are on the

[Big Cat]

COVID Okay, so what is the. These years are the year. Explain to me like I'm two. Saquon was like if Caleb Williams has a bad year this year, I'm just reading the numbers and it's a year ahead. I got it. I got it. It's a year ahead.

[Max]

Yeah, no, it's the year.

[Meme]

So last year was Saquon 26. Got it. Right?

[Max]

That would be.

[Big Cat]

Yes, but that was the 25 season.

[Meme]

25, 26. It ends.

[Big Cat]

Yes, right.

[Meme]

He played.

[Big Cat]

That's what I'm saying. It was 25 season.

[Meme]

Yeah. Yes, yes, yes.

[Big Cat]

That's why. See, I'm not that crazy looking.

[Meme]

Yes. Memes. That's correct.

[Max]

Yes, that's correct.

[Meme]

It's like when you buy a car, if you go shopping for a car in November, you buy like last year you would have bought a 20, 27 model maybe.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Meme]

It's like, wait, but we're not even there yet.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, football seasons are, are like this. Okay. Either way. I don't know, just ask. Let's see.

[Meme]

It's a good looking cover.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Listen, I'm. Am I a little nervous that all the hype and then the fact that we have like eight standalone games? Yes, of course. But it's also pretty cool that a Bears quarterback is on the COVID of Madden.

[Hank]

Will this be the last year in Chicago or is that even if it happens?

[Meme]

What it takes a few years to build the stadium?

[Big Cat]

Hey, do you think the stadium's ever getting built?

[Max]

I don't know.

[Big Cat]

They bought Arlington Heights like five years ago.

[Meme]

I thought that was real when I thought 9 was gonna be on the COVID Yeah, all right.

[Max]

Probably should be.

[Meme]

He should every year.

[Hank]

All right.

[Big Cat]

This says that Madden curse is still a thing. Okay.

[Meme]

AI.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. It's not great. Yeah, that's not great. Mahomes won a Super bowl when he was on it. Okay, here we go. So that therefore something, something good has happened at some point. You got any other who's backs?

[Zach]

I guess another one would be Arsenal did to piggyback off Arsenal losing Champions League. Me and about 12 million other people online today on the Everything app were convinced that KSI left a sidemen. Did you guys see that?

[Hank]

I did.

[Zach]

Sidemen put out a statement. They put out a statement. Real official. It's got all the verbiage on there. They've been around for about 13 years. Big part of a lot of guys childhoods, a lot of guys upbringings, a lot of guys joy early on in life. And they're saying KSI left. It may be a punishment for Arsenal losing. So I'm holding up out hope personally.

[Meme]

So me and Big Cat understood everything that you just said, but there might be listeners that don't get it. So do you want to like say it Again, but in a way that if they didn't really.

[Hank]

It would be like today if the part of my take account posted a very official notes app looking statement that said PFC commenter and part of my take have leftways. It's all love.

[Meme]

Is that because everybody.

[Hank]

But we're gonna continue to do everything. We're just not gonna be together anymore.

[Meme]

Okay.

[Hank]

No. And that was it.

[Meme]

But it's also fake.

[Hank]

No, if the. It'd be like the part where I take account posting it.

[Meme]

Like, wait. But it's. So this is real.

[Hank]

This actually like the fans.

[Big Cat]

If you.

[Hank]

The fans, you know, saw that and had. Because it was from the official account and stuff obviously were like, this is real. I thought it was real. I still do.

[Big Cat]

I did not. I think it was splitting up.

[Zach]

I'm just kind of coping that it's not. And hopefully I'm just telling myself it could be an arsenal punishment. But I think I thought it was real. A lot of people online thought it was real. They presented it as so.

[Meme]

But it might not be real.

[Zach]

Yeah, that's just. That's I'm coping. Yeah. Might not be real.

[Meme]

Got it. So this is you hoping that because they're such a big part of kids childhoods. Yeah.

[Zach]

A lot of guys who are, I mean, adults now even I watch every Sunday.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, you're not childhood anymore.

[Max]

No, I'm.

[Zach]

I'm a grown man. I was when I started watching them. Now I'm an adult. Still watching every Sunday. I mean, Simon Sunday, if you guys ever have like slow Sunday. Definitely something to check out. I think you'd enjoy it.

[Meme]

What do they do?

[Zach]

Also like variety videos. All sorts of stuff they'll do. Like most recently, they got in their bag of like 100. 100 vacation versus $100,000 vacation. It's pretty fun.

[Meme]

Which one's better?

[Max]

I think you should watch PMTV vlogs. We put out four in the past couple weeks, so you should probably go to that.

[Big Cat]

Watch our stuff.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

PMT Sundays.

[Zach]

Well, yes, of course.

[Big Cat]

Have you done a concrete pours? They must be back.

[Zach]

They did their big first pour of the year. Yeah. Truck driver drove on the form when they were trying to pour. They had a rookie driver. Guys, that was a bummer.

[Big Cat]

Do you think that was fake? No, it was super real.

[Zach]

Ryan was pissed.

[Big Cat]

Okay. He was. Yeah. Ryan does get. He's a little hothead a little bit. But you.

[Zach]

I mean, you got to run a business a certain kind of way. You know, you got to come with a little bit of energy.

[Meme]

No I get it. I get it for sure. But like, why did this guy. Like, that's rule number one. I would have to think of concrete pores. It's like don't drive on it.

[Zach]

Yeah, he. He hit the form and also like he. This guy was spinning his wheels on the. On the mesh too, which is like, what are we doing? You're messing up the rebar. Not cool. But they'll move past it.

[Keith Yandel]

Poor look good.

[Zach]

They got it all broomed and everything. It was awesome. I can't wait for season. Season just got started, boys.

[Meme]

Have you ever done a poor Zach?

[Zach]

We did a small pour with like some umbrellas in my backyard. Okay, that was cool.

[Meme]

I would like to see you do a pour.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, let's get you. That sounds like these guys are in Wisconsin.

[Meme]

That would be a good video. Get you porn.

[Zach]

I'll lay some foundation for beauty.

[Meme]

Big porn guy.

[Zach]

Yeah, Big porn guy. Yeah, yeah, yep. Big porn guy.

[Meme]

You love porn.

[Zach]

Yeah, Yep.

[Big Cat]

Always have.

[Meme]

Are you a gooner?

[Zach]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Meme]

Just a gooner that loves porn.

[Zach]

Yep. Gooner loves porn.

[Meme]

Yep.

[Zach]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

Love that for you, Zach. All right, let's get to our interviews. We got Mike Breen and then Keith Yandel.

[Meme]

We'll get to Mike Breen in a second. He's brought to you by our great friends. Or it's Simply Safe. Traditional security locks you into long term multi year contracts with huge cancellation fees. Simply Safe change the game. They've got 24. 7 professional monitoring. It's affordable. No long term contracts. It is the best bet in the security business. The setup's so easy, it's fully customizable and it's backed by Simply Safe's 24. 7 professional monitoring agents who dispatch emergency help whenever you need it. Over 5 million people value and trust Simply Safe with their home security every day. I don't put my name behind many brands. I do trust Simply safe. My listeners get 50 off a new system. When you sign up for professional monitoring. The first month it's free by visiting simplisafe.com pmt that's half [e-mail] pmt. There's no safe like Simply Safe. And Mike Breen is also brought to you by our great friends over at Jose Cuervo. Make every moment matter with Jose Cuervo. We all know the Cuervo moments. Everybody reacts like you got just got the same text at the same time. You find yourself in the center of that dance floor and you can't help but stand up and high five those around you. You Stop checking the time. Suddenly, 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. And now, here is Mike Green.

[Big Cat]

Okay. We now welcome on a very, very, very, very, very special guest. He's a recurring guest. He is the voice of the New York Knicks and the voice of the NBA. I'll just say in general, but you will hear him. For the NBA Finals. It is the incomparable Mike Breen. And, Mike, thank you for joining us. I actually wanted to start. How do you think I did with the incomparable? Because I tried to be like, hey, I need a big word for Mike Breen. Did I do it? Did I pull it off?

[Mike Breen]

That was great. But it was. The recurring part bothered me because it's been a long time since I was on. I. I got the feeling maybe you didn't like the last appearance.

[Big Cat]

No, that's. No, listen, recurring. All you have to do is just one time, and then you're recurring for life. And that means when we call you, you come on. But I actually had a really dumb question to start. We're going to talk about the NBA Finals. We're so excited. My dumb question was, I was thinking about this because I was like, I'm going to try to say incomparable to introduce Mike Breen. How. How many words do you think you know?

[Meme]

I.

[Big Cat]

That is a dumb question. Yeah, I know. Thank you. I agree.

[Mike Breen]

I have no idea. It's less than most. I'll. I'll say it that way.

[Big Cat]

Okay, here. Here's a better question off of that. How often do you add new words? And what's like, a recent new word that you've added that you're like, oh, man, I'm crushing this.

[Mike Breen]

You know, I actually. Because I work with Clyde Frazier on MSG network broadcasts, and he's always coming up with new words. So I'm actually starting to use more words than I used to because of him. I got to try and keep up. Like, for example. And I'm going to use this during the finals as a tribute to Clyde, but he calls, like, a really aggressive, fearless rookie. He calls them a precocious neophyte.

[Big Cat]

Ooh, I like that. I like that.

[Mike Breen]

I love that. So I'm gonna use that for. For somebody in the finals this week.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Dylan Harper.

[Meme]

Now, has there been a.

[Mike Breen]

There you go.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Has There been a word that you've tried that you've thought this is gonna, it's gonna knock people's socks off. And then you try it. You're like, didn't really work. Didn't, didn't drive with the float. So we're gonna take that one out multiple times.

[Big Cat]

What about, what do you, have you, have you said a word that you, you're like, practice it? Because I would have. That's what happens to me. I say a word, I practice it, and then when, when the lights turn on, they're too bright for me and I screw it up and I'll say it incorrectly and be like, I really fucked that up.

[Mike Breen]

There are certain ones that you try and avoid and, you know, it's pivotal. I've met, I've, I've stumbled over pivotal. Like, you almost have to raise my pivotal to say it correctly. Otherwise it comes. I said it wrong like two weeks ago and I'm like, I'm never going to use it again. And then I used it again.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Do you, do you find yourself that you have to stop yourself from swearing in your day to day life if it's, if it's around an broadcast or do you, or do you have the ability to sit down at a desk and then just hit that button in your brain and you're like, okay, I'm in FCC mode right now.

[Mike Breen]

And so, so you're insinuating that I

[Meme]

swear I, I didn't know if you did or not and it might be the case that you don't swear.

[Mike Breen]

No, no. I, I, I, I, I've never slipped up. I mispronounced my, my own name once it came out Brun for some. I don't know why it came out Brun. Okay, but you guys know who P.J. colosimo is, right? Of course.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. We actually listened to game one of the Western Conference finals in the car because we were on a big road trip and he was great, great coach,

[Mike Breen]

great broadcaster, great friend, one of my favorite people in the world. But he has achieved the greatest achievement in all of sportscasting in that he has never once dropped an F bomb on the air because there's no human being who uses that word more than pj yet he's never, ever mistakenly dropped one on the air. I think that's the greatest achievement in sports broadcast.

[Big Cat]

I'd agree. If you're, if you're someone who routinely uses it and then be able to turn it off, that's, that's infinitely more impressive than everyone else who's you know, maybe touch on it every now and then. But it's like, hey, I don't use it in my usual lexicon.

[Meme]

Yeah, right.

[Mike Breen]

You'd think once it would slip. I mean he. Junior Soprano. Remember Junior Soprano, Sopranos. How we would like combine all different kinds of curse words together to make. That's pj.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Mike Breen]

And it's, and it's never slipped.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Yeah. I mean we've got a morning show that we do here on FS1 and it starts at 7am and so sometimes we get new guys to join the show. We tell them right before they go on, hey, no cussing. And then every single time, usually within the first block, first block, they'll let one slip. So for PJ to last that long is, it is very impressive. And for you, this is a, this is a huge finals for you.

[Big Cat]

Huge.

[Meme]

I read that article in the Athletic about you growing up a die hard Knicks fan. Your whole family, you know, it was, it was a big thing when, when you were a kid you would watch all the games growing up and now you finally you get to call them. You've never called them in the finals before. How are you going to handle that responsibility? Are you going to try to sound neutral? Because we know that in the back of your head like you, there's no chance that you can be neutral in these finals.

[Mike Breen]

Well, I'm not going to lie. Obviously I'm a Nick fan, so I always want them to do well. And in my lifetime I would like to see them win a title. But I will be neutral in terms of how I call the game. I've done a lot of Nick games over the years. Back when I was at NBC, I did a bunch of them and then I've done it for espn. And you're not going to win. They're going to be fans who think that I'm not being neutral and I'm favoring the Knicks. But every single finals I've ever done, and I mean every single one, it doesn't matter who played if it's the Lakers and the Celtics. The Celtic fans think I hate them and I'm root for the Lakers. The Laker fans think I'm rooting for the Celtics. So you can't win in those situations.

[Big Cat]

Can I give you a tip? And we're, we'll help you here. Okay. So we're willing to, to, to carry a little water for you going into these finals because I, I think you're a consummate pro. I don't think it actually is like weighing on your consumer.

[Mike Breen]

There you go. That's a good word. Yeah, nice.

[Big Cat]

I'm bringing it right now. The you. You are someone that everyone respects and I don't. You know, of course people are always. Joe Buck always gets it. Like everyone always gets it. It's just fans being fans, which I totally understand, but I would imagine there's. Well, let me ask this way. Is it. Is it weighing on you just a little bit where it's like, this is such a big moment. I've. My whole life I wanted to see the Knicks, you know, in the finals again. It's been 25 years. This team is playing incredible basketball, and now I have to be right down the middle. And I wish maybe I was sitting on my couch and having a beer and watching with my family.

[Mike Breen]

No, it really isn't. And that. I'm not just saying. I mean, we've done each other games in each of the first three series and you know, obviously it's not a finals. It's not going to end in a championship. And I don't know how I'm going to feel if they win, but I know if, if the spurs win and they're playing great, I'm going to be screaming my full head off for, for the great plays that they do. Part of it, what makes it easy is my love of basketball. So if I see somebody do something exceptional, and we know when Benyama is going to do countless exceptional things, I'm going to go crazy for him. You know, you mentioned Dylan Harper before that I am. I'm blown away by this kid and how he's. Biggest games of his career, and it's like he's been there over and over again. So I can't wait for a great. I just hope it's a great series, close games, and whatever happens, happens. I'll. I'll deal with the emotions then.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so here's my offer to you. Because when it comes to how social media works, if you can put some numbers behind something in, in a nice screenshot, it doesn't even have to be correct. People will just jump on it. You know what I mean? They'd be like, look at this. This is how many times this, you know, this was called. That was called. I think you got to go into this finals with a concerted effort to.

[Mike Breen]

Here we go.

[Big Cat]

Listen. The spurs have to outbang the Knicks and we will keep track. And when people are saying Mike Breen's rooting for the Knicks, we're going to be like, no, no, no, no, the spurs have had 15 bangs, the Knicks have only had six. It's right here, black and white. And then you're free to say whatever you want. You could be rooting for the Knicks on the broadcast, but if you give the spurs more bangs, people can't argue with that.

[Mike Breen]

You know, it's. It's not a bad idea, but it's really out of my control. Although if, say, the Knicks start.

[Big Cat]

If the Knicks start getting.

[Mike Breen]

If the Knicks start getting the head, I'll just start saying bang on spurs free throws.

[Max]

Right?

[Mike Breen]

That's what I'm saying.

[Big Cat]

It's 100% your control. Just hit a bang on the first shot for the spurs or the opening tip.

[Meme]

I don't think wimby's lost an opening tip.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, just, just. You just gotta lay a base level of banks, like. Yeah, you could actually do all of these bangs in the first five minutes of game one. So that way you stay ahead for the entire series. And we'll just keep tweeting out, being like, anyone who says Mike Breen is being biased. He's clearly got more bangs for.

[Mike Breen]

You would do that for me?

[Big Cat]

Absolutely. We will be the bang a meter for the entire finals.

[Mike Breen]

I'll take it under consideration.

[Big Cat]

Speaking of, how do we feel about the. The bang that almost left your throat and then you, bro, you pulled it back in game one of. I love that moment because I do think that broadcasting, you know, you don't want a broadcaster to be perfect all the time. The human emotion should play into it. It makes the moments better when there are a little, like, oh, it almost went the gate. The ball almost went down. It deserved that, like, sound.

[Mike Breen]

All right, Sam Merrill shot. And when they did the close up of it, half the ball was under the cylinder, half of it. I still don't know how it came out. Now, you clearly want to have a clean call, but I'm okay with that. It's not the first time. I think I've done that two other times, too, where it looks in, you're excited, you want to make a big call and. Oh, no, didn't go. There was a. There was a broadcaster, one I loved, I so admired. Jim Gordon was a New York sportscaster. He did the Rangers, he did the Giants. He did some Knicks as well. And he did New York Giant football for years on the radio. And he would, several times a game, he would call, you know, Phil Sims throwing downfield to McConkey. He'd go, Sims throws. Complete, no, incomplete. He would do it several times, and I loved it. Because he thought it was complete. He was fired up that they made a great pass play and then oh no, it didn't happen.

[Big Cat]

So yeah, it happens.

[Meme]

And in that play it did look, it added, I think to the moment because we all felt that alongside you. As you said it. I'm curious to know because you've seen so much Knicks basketball over the years. We talked about this a little bit on, on this show last week. But if the Knicks do win a championship, where does that put Jalen Brunson in terms of all time Knicks for you?

[Mike Breen]

He's in the conversation as one of the greats. Can I put him ahead of Clyde or Patrick Ewing? I think that might be early even though he wins the title. But when you look at it 53 years, say they win it 53 years and he's the one that leads him to a title. Not only that, but when he arrived they were on one of the darkest stretches that the franchise has ever been on. They were one of the worst teams in NBA and he's the number one reason why he's changed the direction and perception of the franchise. So it's not just winning a title, it's where he started and where he brought them to. So he's absolutely in the conversation. He's one of the most amazing players in 30 plus years of covering the NBA. When you look at his size, his athleticism, the fact that he's not tall, that he's not fast yet he gets pretty much anywhere he wants to go to get off a quality shot and he does it with such humility, not interested in the attention. He's an amazing, special player.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

How much credit can the University of Villanova take for this championship if the Knicks win?

[Mike Breen]

Jay Wright, all three guys, Bridges, Hart and Brunson will all tell you that the things that he installed in the both his players in terms of technical stuff, both in terms of mental approach to the game, work ethic, they all credit him for so much of the success and they, they constantly quote about different things that he did. So every Nick fan, whether they win the championship or not, every Nick fan, if they see Jay Wright should go over, shake his hand and say thank you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I'd have to imagine walking around in New York City right now is like it, it's got quite a buzz because that is the, it is New York is one of those cities that it's a basketball city. There's a lot of other teams and there's, you know, Giants and Jets and split Yankees and Mets. The Knicks are The team does it. Can you just feel it in the air when you're, you know, going into MSG to call the Eastern Conference final and day to day stuff, like people just buzzing about it?

[Mike Breen]

Yeah. I've never seen it like this. Now part of it has to do with, you know, the last time they were in the finals, 99. There wasn't social media. Now you have social media and everybody is. You're seeing all the different celebrations and the things that, the way they're going about rooting for their team. So it's a little more pronounced in terms of being out in the public, but the electricity is phenomenal. The building, during the playoffs, that game won against the Cavs when they came back from 22 down with seven and a half to go. That's one of the loudest, maybe the loudest I've ever heard the building, that stretch run there. And it's because, again, what we said earlier, the fans never left. Even the dark years, they never left. They stayed with it. So now they're being rewarded. So this, this unfiltered joy is everywhere. And it's, it's, it's really cool to see. I mean, I've lived in New York my whole life, so to see the fans get rewarded with a team that, that gives them a shot at winning a title is pretty, Pretty cool to watch.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Was there a moment this season, you know, because you're, you're calling the Knicks all year, you're seeing them up and down. Was there a moment where you could be like, hey, I think this might be a team that could, could do this? Because I don't. I'm not saying that I watched every Knicks game, and I don't. I'm not familiar with the team in the regular season, but what they've done in the playoffs, it's. They're playing perfect basketball ever since being down 2:1 to the Hawks.

[Mike Breen]

You know what the interesting thing, guys, is that during the regular season there, it was really uneven. They had stretches where you thought they can beat anybody, and they also had a number of stretches we like. I don't know if this team's as good as last year. Again, the coaching change switched a lot of things. Mike Brown, who is, he's the most collaborative coach I've ever watched in covering the NBA. He's so open to suggestions, and not just from assistant coaches, from the players. And not only is he open to suggestions, he's not afraid to install them and try them. And if he installs them and he tries them, all of a sudden, he's not saying, it's my idea. He's given credit to everybody else, but when things go wrong, he's the first one to say, you know what? I need to be better at this. So the changes with Mike Brown, there were a lot of growing pains during the course of the season, and it took a while. So they had some stretches where, yep, they can beat anybody, and they had some stretches where you were worried. So the regular season was a little funky that way.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

So going into these Finals, you're obviously more familiar with the Knicks, but you've watched a lot of spurs basketball over the years, and you've seen them kind of how they've developed as a team, especially in the last few years. Where. Where do you see this matchup being a problem for the Knicks? I. I know that obviously Wimby is the unsolvable riddle, but the Knicks are going to try. But outside of that, specifically, where do you see the Knicks having to come up with something new that they haven't done to. To figure out how to defend the Spurs?

[Mike Breen]

Well, the thing is, during the regular season, Wemby missed a bunch of games, and they went one stretch where they won 11 of 14 games without him. They're as great as this player is, and he could be one of the greats of all time. They are so much more than just Victor Wembanyama. They've got a lot of terrific players and especially defensive hawks, and that's going to be a problem the Knicks are going to have to deal with because you have Castle and Harper, and those guys are so tenacious defensively. They put a lot of pressure on the opposing point guards, opposing shooting guards. So that's. The Knicks are going to have to deal with that because the first three teams they played, although they were all good teams, none of them play at this level defensively that the spurs play. So that's going to be the biggest, biggest adjustment.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Have you. Have you looked up new words to describe Wimby? Because I feel like that's a guy that you would run out of words for.

[Mike Breen]

Yeah, it's. And it's. This is his third year. I remember doing, like. How can you describe him right now? I'm calling him a force of nature, but I'm sure everybody else has used that, too. It's hard to do because he's one of those guys that. He's so unique. We've never seen anybody like him that you have to try and focus on one thing at a time, like whether it's his ball handling. For a guy that's 7 foot 4 or 5 or whatever he is now, to be able to handle a ball like that, to be able to shoot so effortlessly from three. There's another word I shouldn't say on the air. Effortlessly from three and then. But his whole thing is the way he impacts defense. That's his number one strength. He's the great discourager, for crying out loud. Guys driving the paint, they want no business of putting up a shot. And there are very few players who have that impact.

[Meme]

That's great. The Great discourager. Fantastic nickname. I was just looking up synonyms for him to see if I could toss you one. Have you thought about preternatural?

[Mike Breen]

Say it again.

[Meme]

Preternatural. It's like supernatural, but P, R, E, it kind of implies, like, maybe he's an alien. Because it sounds like supernatural. It just means, like, extraordinary. I feel like that might be a good one.

[Mike Breen]

Yeah, that's not bad. Aliens. Aliens have been used so much, and I don't particularly. I don't know if he likes it, but I, I've got a couple of days. I'll see. What if I can come up. I'm gonna, I'm gonna try saying yours out loud so I get used to it.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah.

[Mike Breen]

So it comes out flow. It comes out in a flow.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Mike, I've seen you've done some different media because this is obviously a big moment in your career. Big moment for the Knicks. And the, the thing you did with the New York Times is great. The athletic. Has anyone, though, like, we're a little different. Has anyone given you a prep about the possibility of the shot when Mitch Johnson is on the sidelines in San Antonio coming up? All right.

[Mike Breen]

Where are you leading me on this one?

[Big Cat]

There have just been two, four gigantic breasts behind him every single time. So I don't know if you want. I just want you to be prepared. I want you to be ready. I don't, I don't know. Like, maybe just don't even talk about it. I guess don't talk about it would probably be the way to do it.

[Meme]

Advice.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah, that's my advice.

[Meme]

Great advice.

[Big Cat]

But now you know, so that when they show, when the camera in front of you shows, you're like, okay, I'm not gonna talk about that.

[Mike Breen]

I, I, I'm, I'm so touched by how you're looking out for me. Yes, I, I came and I'm gonna get emotional.

[Big Cat]

Thank you. That would be funny if just like, a bang, you're just like boobs.

[Mike Breen]

All the time, you know, when you do tv, you obviously have to constantly look at the monitor because you want to. You want to be looking at the same thing, the viewers at home. And there's stuff that comes up every once in a while that you do say, all right, do I. Do. I'm. Should I make mention of that or not?

[Meme]

Right.

[Big Cat]

Right. Yeah. That's a tough job to do because

[Mike Breen]

everybody at home is seeing the same things.

[Meme]

You see them, and maybe you just say, like, and. And two teams on a quest to get to the top of that mountain.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

And the NBA Finals, just like a little something for the. For the fans at home.

[Big Cat]

I'm hoping. Now, when. When you. When you. When game one starts and you see the monitor, you think of us, and that would be nice. It feels like we're at the NBA Finals, too.

[Meme]

Don't slip up. And if, like, cat's having a huge game, don't. Don't say nipple double, because that would be bad. We will jump all over you for that one.

[Mike Breen]

Well, maybe the finals tickets are very expensive, so maybe they'll. They'll be different people.

[Big Cat]

I don't know. They were. They were there for every single game in the Western Conference final. It was quite something. They were just kept on showing up.

[Meme]

I think they put a lot of work into their body. I think they might have some money line.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, they're ready to go. All right, so. So the. The. Let's talk about the other celebrity row in New York. Is chalamet. Like, he's 11 now, right? And I'm not saying 1 1. Like, Ben Stiller's been there forever. There's other guys who've been there forever. But in terms of aura, like, it feels like he has eclipsed everyone where the camera always finds him, and he just kind of effortlessly cool in being a diehard Knicks fan.

[Mike Breen]

Yeah, he. He's. He gets great. When they put him up on the big screen, it's just a roar. But I'll say this about him and Ben Stiller and a lot of the other ones. There are games in February when the Knicks are playing the Wizards.

[Keith Yandel]

They're not.

[Mike Breen]

They're real fans. They're not there to be on camera, and they're not cheering or going crazy because they want to be on camera. They really love the team. They care deeply about the team. And. And that's what I love about the celebrity Knick fans, is most of them, they're going to games all season long, regardless of the opponent, regardless of the night and. And now they're being rewarded because. Because they're seeing the big games. It's great.

[Meme]

That's going to be a rivalry to keep your eye on, though. By the way, Trey Young. They don't like Trey Young at Madison Square Garden now. He's a wizard. Like, that's. If I'm buying stock in rivalries, that's 1A for me.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Breen]

He's taken over Tyrese Halliburton, who, by the way, is just a great dude. A great dude. He. Because of the. The. The choke sign last year, he's up there in terms of public enemies and for Nick fans.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Is there a chance that Charles Oakley comes back?

[Mike Breen]

I don't.

[Keith Yandel]

That one.

[Mike Breen]

I have no idea.

[Big Cat]

Could you imagine the pop, though? It feels like this is the moment where you. I don't know if. If sides can be mended here. And, you know, Oak is obviously a different cat in that. If he feels disrespected, he might not want to. And you don't know if James don't. But it would be an incredible moment if you can have him be part of that whole crew under the. Under the hoop that is like the alumni of the. Of the New York Knicks.

[Mike Breen]

Well, forgiveness is a. Is a powerful thing to have. So let's. Let's hope for forgiveness.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah.

[Meme]

So. So you're a Knicks fan, You're a Mets fan. Are you a Giants or Jets?

[Mike Breen]

Giants.

[Meme]

Giants. Okay. And then Rangers.

[Mike Breen]

Rangers, yeah.

[Meme]

So in terms of those four teams, where would a Knicks championship rank and what would it mean to the city? Like, if you were to put in an order in those four. Those four teams?

[Mike Breen]

Yeah, I think it would be number one. I mean. You mean for the city?

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Mike Breen]

Or for myself?

[Meme]

I guess you can. You can do both, but yeah, for the city.

[Mike Breen]

You know, like you guys said, it's such a basketball town, and there's. They really are so crazy. Knicks. And to think that it's been 53 years since they won it all, that would just be over the top. And again, because of this particular team, the way they play, the way they carry themselves, you know, they. They feel like they're New Yorkers. Like a guy like Josh Hart, like, they feel like he's a New Yorker his whole life, and he's one of those guys that he could have played with the Ewing group back in the. In the 90s. He could have played with the championship group. He's that type of guy that can do a little bit of everything, a great team player. So there's a special affinity for the particular players on this team. So I think, I think it would be number one.

[Meme]

Yeah, yeah.

[Big Cat]

You, you, ha. So you have called the Knicks in the finals. Just not on TV, on radio, radio.

[Mike Breen]

94.

[Big Cat]

I heard the story in 94. You almost screwed up that call. If John Starks had hit that shot. Can you explain that? Because it's, it's unbelievable to think about if that shot goes in and the Knicks win that title and you, you go ahead. Yeah, because it's an incredible story.

[Mike Breen]

It's a career, it could have been a career ending call. So back then it's 21 years since they won a title and we're thinking, oh, that's a long time. And it's game six and Starks with an X down two has a shot in the corner, a three pointer in the final seconds that if it goes in, if it's a three pointer, they win a championship. If it goes in and it's a two pointer, it's a tie game. We're going to go to overtime. My broadcast location is down the other side of the floor. I'm right next to the nick bench and they're shooting way down the other end and I'm on the near side where Starks is on. So you can't. There's so many things in between them and Starks, I can't tell if his feet, when he gets set to shoot it are behind the three point mark. Now that happens sometimes because fans stand up. So normally now with TV you look at the monitor and that tells you. But there's no monitor. We don't have a monitor. So then you look at the referees because the referee has the hand up to signal three point attempt. But all three referees at this particular time are blocked. I can't see them. Now this is all going on in seconds. So the shot is up. That could potentially win the championship for the knicks and the 21 year drought. And I have no idea if it's two or three point.

[Big Cat]

So what was your plan?

[Mike Breen]

My plan would have been, I probably would have screamed, it's good, it's good, it's good. As many times as I needed to or bang as many times as I needed to until they put the score up on the scoreboard. That that was the plan. But I mean, there was such potential to completely destroy what have been one of the great moments in the history of New York sports.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, because it would have been such an incredible moment for a buzzer beater for their first title in 20 years.

[Meme]

Like you just gotta bang your way out of that situation. Just keep saying bang until, until you get a definitive answer. And meanwhile, everybody's at home listen to radio. Like what? What is it? What is it? Yeah, tell us. Stop saying bang, Mike. From like a broad. A broadcasting perspect terms of your prep for every game. How, how much sleep do you try to get before a big game?

[Mike Breen]

All the usual. I mean at my age, if I get seven hours, I'm thrilled. So I try and get as much as I can and then take that player afternoon nap is always important.

[Meme]

You take a little nap before. What about like a pregame meal? Like do you eat the same thing on game days?

[Mike Breen]

No, but I eat before. Like when I get to the arena, I like to have a big meal. Then I can't, I can't call a game on an empty stomach.

[Meme]

Are there certain foods that you have to stay away from? Like I, I think I would probably stay away from anything spicy or anything that's going to give me like the acid reflux.

[Mike Breen]

Right. Like, can't. You can't have a milkshake because that's, that's, that's the worst thing you could.

[Meme]

Why is a milkshake the worst? I feel like that.

[Mike Breen]

Not because it's all a dairy.

[Big Cat]

It's just.

[Mike Breen]

It's not, it's not good for the throat.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Mike Breen]

So green tea. Green tea is my key. I have. I have a, some green tea before every game.

[Meme]

And then what about during the game? What is just standard. Water.

[Mike Breen]

Water. Just water. That's it.

[Big Cat]

How much going into this NBA Finals do you take into account the NBA cup final? Because it is a rematch. First time ever.

[Mike Breen]

I love the NBA cup, but its impact on this series is nil. Nothing.

[Meme]

Oh, wow.

[Big Cat]

We have some Knicks fans that aren't going to agree with that. We have one Knicks fan in this office specifically who's been talking about how the NBA cup they. The Knicks learned how to beat the spurs in it.

[Mike Breen]

Well, I mean you could, I suppose individual players can gain confidence saying, okay, I figured out a way. Jalen Brunson said, I figured out a way to get away from Castle. But both teams are so dramatically different. I mean, that's way. That's many months ago. The Knicks are so much better, but so are the Spurs. So much better. And again, with the way the schedule works, there's so many other intangibles that go into it that rarely has any regular season game, even an NBA cup game I thought had an impact on a potential playoff matchup.

[Meme]

Yeah, it's a one time that they played when they've tried to empty the tank and try to beat each other. I put a lot of stock into that.

[Big Cat]

A lot of stocks.

[Meme]

The courts are good.

[Mike Breen]

Knicks did play them well. The Knicks play them well. But how many times have we seen a team, they go all in, four against a team in a regular season, and then they get swept in the playoffs? It's just, there's no rhyme or reason to it. There's no carryover. In my opinion. In my opinion.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. We have two diehard Knicks fans in our booth. Memes and Zach. Actually, let's go with Memes. Cause, Zach, I'll do the robot question with you. Memes. Do you have any questions for Mike Breen or questions about the Knicks? He's not ready. He's, he. Memes has been very excited. He's been talking about the Knicks non stop. I actually had to last week. I had to say, I'm not having conversations with them anymore. Because I would be like, a simple thing like, what do you want to get for dinner? And he'd be like, how about the Knicks? I'm like, all right, I can't, we can't even converse right now.

[Mike Breen]

But you can't fall.

[Big Cat]

How can you fall? I don't, I don't fault him. I, I, I had to make that, I had to take that measure because I didn't want to get to a point where I got frustrated that he would only talk about the Knicks. So I was like, you know what? I won't come to you for anything in these next couple of weeks. This is Nick's time.

[Mike Breen]

That's a good friend doing that. That's a good friend.

[Big Cat]

Memes. You have one. No, he doesn't. All right, Zach, let's go to you.

[Zach]

What's going on? Mike, how are you today, my man?

[Mike Breen]

Good, Zach.

[Big Cat]

Oh, my man.

[Meme]

My man.

[Big Cat]

To a guy like Mike Breen, My guy.

[Zach]

If that, Mike, if that was overstepping in the beginning of this relationship, I'll step all the. Will never say that again.

[Mike Breen]

Don't even think twice about it, Zach.

[Zach]

That's awesome. You're looking great today, by the way, Mike.

[Mike Breen]

Thank you. It's kind of you.

[Zach]

I was, I was curious, just maybe a little bit off topic. Would you be willing to maybe hop in a time machine with me real quick?

[Mike Breen]

Where are we going?

[Zach]

All right, we're going to go to January 24, 2014 game I believe you were on the call for. So it's Knicks, Bobcats and a former Member of the Knicks, Carmel Anthony, decides to put up 62 points that game. Single player record, Garden record. Was there a moment in that where like the entire Garden knew that he was up to something special or more so you guys just all along for the ride.

[Big Cat]

How was that, those games?

[Mike Breen]

Because they now they put the, how many points each guy has up on the score throughout. So people were just waiting for him to get there. And so it was, it was. And if anybody on the team at that time was going to set the record, he was the guy.

[Big Cat]

Certainly.

[Mike Breen]

But it was one of those nights where it was crazy. Not against a good team, but the building was, it was electric. That's the thing about Nick Van Zack. Even like games like that in the middle of a season when they're not particularly one of the better teams, the place is still off the charts in terms of electricity on something like that. Especially on something like that. But that was a special night.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Zach has Carmel Anthony ranked ahead of LeBron James all time.

[Mike Breen]

Okay, I respect the opinion.

[Zach]

I respect you as well.

[Big Cat]

You got to follow up. Zach,

[Zach]

quick follow up question. Is there a world where the Knicks never lose again?

[Meme]

Zach, are you reading off your phone

[Mike Breen]

or is this off the top of your head?

[Zach]

I, I, I read off the phone sometimes. Yes, I do. I do. You're a professional. I'm an amateur. I'm trying to get like you. But you, I appreciate you. I did see something. There was a world where like, maybe you, early on in your career you thought about, like, hey, I don't know if I could do this. I don't know if the bills are getting paid. I might just go. Pipefitters union. Have you, you ever think back and look at, like, what life could have been like if you didn't stick, stick with it and kind of just give it your all and maybe just go to the union?

[Mike Breen]

Yeah, I have my dad to thank for that because when I first started going into the, to the business, when I told him after I graduated college I wanted to go into it, he didn't think it was a good idea because it was so hard to get a job. So he had some of his friends and other businesses trying to set me up. Hey, I can help you here. I can get you a job here. Because he was worried, he was worried I was going to be unemployed. But then once I got going, he saw how much I liked it and I had told him I was going to give it five years and two and a half years in. I'm thinking now this is going nowhere. I'm not making enough money to pay my rent. I had to borrow from, from my parents. And he's like, hey, didn't you tell me five years? I said, yeah. He goes, well, why don't you stick with a little bit longer? So instead of giving me the steamfitters union which he worked for, he was a steam fitter. I kept going and fortunately a couple of things started happening after that.

[Meme]

Yeah. Do you ever think like maybe you would have been the best team fitter of all time though? Like maybe, maybe the world lost a great steam fitter.

[Mike Breen]

I think I would have been an awful steam fitter. Awful. My father was great, but I would have been awful. It's funny, like everybody has stories. I'm sure you guys have to like the job that you don't get how that turns out. Like I was working at Sports Channel America, which there was trying to compete with ESPN and the new New Jersey Nets. They were New Jersey Nets job. Their TV job came open and it was me and Spencer Ross that were the final two candidates. And I'm thinking, this is my ticket. I'm going to get to the NBA. And I thought for sure I was going to get it because the guy that was interviewing me gave me feelings that I was going to get it. And they decided to go with the veteran. Spencer Ross is a legendary New York sportscaster. And they gave it to Spencer Ross and then a couple years later I got the Knick job. So what happens if I get the New Jersey Nets job? I mean, my life goes in a different path. It's, it's crazy how stuff like that happens. And you know what? You, you just, you deal with it, you move on and it turned out to be good for me.

[Meme]

Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome memes. I'm going to give you one last shot.

[Big Cat]

You now have a question.

[Meme]

He's ready for Mr. Mike Breen.

[Biz]

How you doing, Mr. Mike Breen? Have you thought about what the game, winning the game, the series clinching call would be for the Knicks at all?

[Mike Breen]

No, no, not yet. Once, once the finals gets going for both teams, you kind of set a plan for once you. What's going to happen if team A wins or team B wins in terms of what you want to say at the end. And I usually wait for a couple of games before I kind of hone in on it because you want to see get a little feel for the, for the finals first. But that's something you should like. Some, some play by play voices will tell you that they don't think about it. They want it to be completely spontaneous. I don't believe that. I think you should have an idea. I don't think you should rehearse it and have it, you know, written out, particularly what you want to say. But I think you should have an idea of how you frame what this means for this team or this particular player.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I feel like you have to get a little bit of something in your head because otherwise, like if I, you know, if I were calling last night, I would have been like, well, that was fucking awesome. By the Spurs.

[Mike Breen]

Well, that was a possibility a couple of years ago when, when Boston was. That was, that was something I thought,

[Meme]

is there a name on either one of these teams that gives you fits that you get, you get the yips for?

[Biz]

Ooh.

[Mike Breen]

Well, it took. It took. Actually the first season with Wembanyama was not easy because it just, it was atetta kumpo was, was like that. It took a couple of years before it just kind of rolled off the tongue. But no, everybody else is this pretty, pretty basic.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Mike, this is so awesome that you were able to join us. We love having you on. I got one last question. Roback question. R H O B A C K.com promo code take 20% off your first purchase. Q Zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code take. You are obviously have seen a ton of basketball, been in the league. You love basketball. Is there part of you? Have you, have you started to think about history and going into these finals, the fact that we are year two of a phenom in San Antonio now, going up against the New York Knicks, which is basically a replica of the 1999 Finals, even though this next team is different, but it feels like, wow, we could be, if this goes to spurs way, we could be just walking into another set of years and years of domination by a Wemby Tim Duncan kind of correlation?

[Mike Breen]

No, that's exactly what you think going in. You know, when you want to kind of frame what it is, it's one team trying to end a 53 year championship drought against another team that might be on the verge of a dynasty. I mean that's, it's like the perfect scenario. It's such a compelling storyline for these two teams in terms of where they are. And now you never know. I mean, we thought, remember in 2012, OKC when they had Durant, Westbrook and Harden, they went to the finals. I think I even said on the air, we'll probably See them in the finals a lot in the coming years, and it just didn't happen. So you don't. Don't know. But that potential for them to start this as the number one, and what they did in this last series to win Game 7 on the road, the way they did it, that's a possibility. And for the Knicks to end this, unbelievable. It's a over a half century drought. So to me, that's. That's the whole storyline just to start, and then we'll see where it takes us.

[Big Cat]

It is pretty amazing knowing, like we went through the, you know, the heat with LeBron and then. And then the warriors in Cavs playing each other every single year. And I think this is. I saw the stat. I think it's the seventh or eighth year where we have two new teams in the finals, you know, consecutive years. It's crazy, the parody.

[Mike Breen]

It's the eighth year we'll have a new champion, but the last, previous four final. It's eight different teams.

[Big Cat]

Right.

[Mike Breen]

There has not been a single same team over the last four finals. And that's crazy.

[Big Cat]

It really is.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

With the, with the Knicks there. Was that the other time in these playoffs where they had a big period of rest before they started a new series? They came out flat the first three quarters against the Cavaliers, it looked like they were getting their teeth kicked in. Do you expect a similar thing to happen, or is this something that you think that the team's addressed going forward into the finals?

[Mike Breen]

I think they probably learned from that, but it is hard. You can't simulate the intensity of a playoff game. And again, what I said earlier, I think the biggest thing that they have to acclimate to is the tenacity on this team defensively. They haven't seen a team that's this good defensively since the regular season. Not that Cleveland, Philly and Atlanta were bad defensively. Atlanta probably the best of the three of them, but they're not at San Antonio's level defensively, so that's something that they have to acclimate to pretty quickly.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right, well, Mike, thank you so much. We really appreciate you joining us. And get. Get ahead of. Get ahead of those bangs. Get. Just rip a few and then we'll got. We'll carry you the rest of the way.

[Mike Breen]

You guys are the best. I always have fun.

[Big Cat]

Thank you. All right, thanks so much, Mike.

[Meme]

Mike Brain was brought to you by Microsoft 365 copilot before we get back to more chaos, we got to tell you about something that helps people focus on what's most important and that is Microsoft 365 copilot. What if you can add an AI assistant to your work without leaving your workflow? Well, it's built right into Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook. Copilot works where you work work. It helps you do more in the apps that you already use in Word. Copilot helps turn scattered notes into a very first draft in Excel. It generates insights from all your data and an Outlook. It cuts through the noise to help you get up to speed faster. The apps that you know go further with Copilot and you can learn [e-mail] work that's m365copilot.com work and Keith the Angel is going to be brought to you by Reese's. Everything happens. For Reese's, nothing beats 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 grown up. 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 Reese's Strawberry, P.B. and J. Plus the all new Reese's marshmallow cup, which is delicious. Both taste just like your childhood. So grab one before they're gone because they're fleeting just like your youth. Reese's the official candy partner of barstool sports. Get [e-mail] Reese's okay, we now welcome

[Big Cat]

on a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very. He's lost count. He can't count.

[Keith Yandel]

You're gonna have to take off big time.

[Big Cat]

You're gonna have to take off your shoes. It is Keith Yandel, a very special guest talking Stanley cup final. Yans, we're here. We're ready. How are you feeling? 1 to 10. How do you feel about this matchup? Cause we didn't have the best conference finals. Well, let's just be honest. They weren't the best conference finals.

[Keith Yandel]

Not the best, right. We got a sweep and then we get a five game series. You want to see those go a little longer? I have been really down on Carolina, but they. I've totally switched my tune on them. The way that they play. You know, I once said I wouldn't watch them if they were playing in my backyard. But I'm kind of. I'm kind of in on them now. The way that they play, the way that they've galvanized each other, came together as a group. Their coach is unreal. Rod.

[Big Cat]

Rod.

[Keith Yandel]

The bawd. Fun group to watch. Just because they all play the same way. They're like a true old school hockey team that everyone, you know the saying, everyone ropes, everybody rides. Nobody rides for free. That's. That's them to a T. They just go out there and play their game. They do it every single game. They got away from it one time in the, in the playoffs this year and it was the first game against Montreal and you know, they lost that game. It's the only game they've lost. And then Vegas is one of those teams, man. Like, I think I heard you guys saying it when you were talking to Osh. Like, they wouldn't even have made the playoffs if they were in the East. So it's, it's one of those things that you get in. They remind us a lot of the, the LA Kings. And I think, I think it was 13, like kind of just barely get in and then roll their way to a Stanley cup championship. So it's going to be a fun series. You got North Carolina, sleepy town, and then you got Vegas where, you know, you go to have fun. So it's kind of got a little bit of everything and I'm excited for it to start on Tuesday.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Was there an instant where you saw Carolina and you're like, okay, I think I kind of like him now because I, I agreed with you for a very long time and I'm. For me, it was probably more personal. Just like watching them kick our teeth in, in the playoffs. It's just like I get this team out of my face. But from, from your standpoint, like, was there a moment where you watch me, you're like, this is actually like a different type of hockey than they play in the past?

[Keith Yandel]

Well, I think it was the first two series, like the Ottawa series. I, looking back now, I'm putting it more on the other teams that they played. You know, Ottawa was brutal, like, couldn't get anything going. And, and Carolina is one of those teams if they don't have to do anything, they just play their game. So it was, it was, honestly, it was Game 1 and then bled into Game 2 in the Montreal series because Montreal played a different style, a little high tempo off the rush, trying to, trying to, you know, score goals and stuff like that that way as opposed to the way Carolina plays. And then Carolina showed me a little bit that they can play high flying their D or getting up in the play. I, I really like their Decor. Keandre Miller came over from New York. He's been, been awesome. Just a guy up in the play. So I think it was game one and game two of the, the Montreal series that kind of, you know, flipped my switch with them. And I'm, I'm actually, I'm really excited to watch them, to watch them go to battle with Vegas.

[Big Cat]

What, what is it about Carolina that people don't genuinely like them? Because I, everything that is described to me, they just stay on your ass, which is kind of fun. Like they're just got guys who just, they're going to always for check. They're always going to be in your zone. Just pressure, pressure, pressure. It's almost like a, a basketball team going full court press. Those are fun teams to watch.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, but it's like you, you watch that for two weeks in, in March Madness and you're like, oh my God, that's too much. I can't handle that. But if a team's doing it for 82 games, you're like, what are we doing here? Let's let the guys have a little fun. But the, the majority of why you ask most NHL players why they don't like Carolina, it's because shitty, actually. There's a good hotel there now. The Umpstead's nice that a lot of teams stay up, but it was a shitty hotel. The locker room was the visitors room. It's the, it's the chain food capital of the world.

[Big Cat]

That's bad.

[Keith Yandel]

Hey, listen, when you're in the NHL, you want a little farm to table or a, a nice sushi spot. You ain't getting it in Carolina, but guys love playing there. I know everyone that I know that has played there loves it. Great place to raise a family and all that. And yeah, it's, it's just one of those things where I don't think NHL guys like, like the wind tunnel. You hear a lot of the wind tunnel when you're walking out. The wind is coming as you're walking out onto the ice, which is a, you know, little nuanced things, but guys like to stand out there a little bit before a game, get ready, and then you can't get ready because you're getting cold standing in the wind tunnel. So little things like that. But I, I, I truly do like just how they're a team and they play as a team and you know, it really looks like they love each other too.

[Meme]

And the owner is also the owner of the, the Portland Trailblazers in the NBA.

[Big Cat]

Dundon.

[Meme]

So yeah, Dundon, people don't like him in the NBA. They think he's cheap. I don't know if he's got that same reputation around hockey, but he didn't know like a lot of the rules for like flying certain guys out to a play in game, things like that. So people in the NBA got very upset with him. But I didn't know what the reputation was around, around hockey.

[Keith Yandel]

Honestly, I haven't heard much about. I know maybe when he first started with Carolina, I know he, he was talking about getting rid of Scar, not paying for scouts to go and watch team, like younger, like college or junior games because he thought you could scout from watching on your computer or on tv. So he was trying to make cut, cut and cost that way. I had heard. I don't know if they ever did that, like not paying their cell phone bills. But I think when it comes out in the media and you got, you know, jerks like you guys and us that make it a big deal, you probably have to switch your tun a little bit and, and you know, there's stuff in the CBA that doesn't allow things like that. So usually the players aren't getting it too bad. Maybe. What was it in the NBA? He wasn't, he wasn't letting like the media people get late checkup.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he also just like he went down a spreadsheet and fired half the, half the like team behind the scenes. People's like, oh, you make this, you're gone.

[Meme]

He fired some PR people and the PR people are always the ones, you know, that have like the, the most connections in the media. So if you fire a good PR person, then you get everybody in the media to be like, oh, this guy sucks.

[Keith Yandel]

Also those guys usually have a lot of dirt on the players. If the guys ever get into some or whatever, they're usually the ones who are sweeping things under the rug, you know, so you got to be careful firing those guys. You almost gotta promote them if anything.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We actually don't know explain how that works. What was the situation where something got swept under the rug? Yance?

[Keith Yandel]

Well, this one night, we were at night, I got nothing. I was a boring guy.

[Big Cat]

You mentioned Keandre Miller. I saw a stat. It's pretty insane this postseason. Five on five with KeAndre Miller on the ice. Carolina has 128 shots to 69. They have 133 scoring chances to 72 and they have 15 goals to three. It's like, is that just. What is he doing? That's that those are. It basically just says every time he's on the ice full strength the other team is, is doing like half the output or even less when it comes to actual goals.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, I mean him, him and Jacob Slaven, they're human erasers. They erase everything on the defensive side. You know you can't get in, in the zone on these guys. They're big, they're long, their reaches are unreal. They're not like, like crazy overly physical but you know I don't think any of their doctor really maybe Chatfield a little bit but they just get in the way and they piss. You know, if you're a skilled player playing against the guy who's just always in the way and, and breaking pucks up and it makes it frustrating. You see, you see these high end skill guys get frustrated and then for him on the offensive side he's an unbelievable skater. I believe he was a, he was a forward till he was probably like 16, 17 years old and then or whatever he was in College at 17 then made the switch to D. So you know he's got the offensive skill too. And I think you're seeing it a little more now in Carolina just because the way they play a man on man type game where in the D zone. So it's basically whoever if you get beat then you know there's probably going to be an opportunity and you know those guys don't get beat because they're so big and they can skate so well.

[Big Cat]

What question about that, how many guys, how often is it that a guy switches from offensive defense? We know Biz did. Were you always defense like even as at a young age?

[Keith Yandel]

I was actually a goalie. I was a goalie till I was 12. I used to do both. So I would play the first half goalie and then go on the bench and then they'd take my pads off, the coaches would take my pads off and I'd put. I wore a regular skates and then I'd go and play D for the rest. But that's crazy. Yeah, it was is it's mostly forward switching or D switching to forward because not a lot of forwards can play D just because of the whole skating backwards and all that. Because it's a lot tougher than skating forwards obviously. So it majority of the time it's, it's a demand switching to forward. Like you remember Bufflin used to do it a little bit in Chicago. There's been guy, even a guy like Brent Burns who's still playing like he, he Played forward a little bit when he was in Minnesota, so. So to go from forward to D is a lot tougher just because the whole skating backwards. But he's an incredible skater and it hasn't hindered him at all.

[Big Cat]

Are dudes just like, Are there dudes that just can't skate backwards?

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, all the forwards. It drives me insane. Watch, watch like, watch. On a power play, if a D is. If a forward has to cover for the D or a lot of teams, actually every team does four forwards and one D. So if it's that, if a forwards getting caught skating backwards, they usually get toast. Like, I remember an unreal. Jonathan Hubert, one of my all time favorite players.

[Zach]

He's.

[Keith Yandel]

We're on the power play. It's a two on two. So a guy coming on him and then a guy coming on me. So you're kind of just worried about the guys in front of you?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we'll clip that.

[Keith Yandel]

And then I turn, I look at my guy and then I look over at Hubie to make sure he's gapped up. All right. I look back, the guy's going in to score and Hubie, they. They don't know how to pivot as good. Like, they just. I don't know if it's. They're not used to it. Their hips don't move the way that ours do, but it's really bad. But you know, obviously Deacons skate forward is just as well.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Why did you stop playing goalie?

[Keith Yandel]

Too expensive.

[Meme]

To the pads.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, the equipment, the pads, all that stuff. So my, I had an older brother that played. My dad was like, yeah, you can just use his hand me down equipment. And I'm not buying you any. Any real stuff.

[Meme]

Were.

[Mike Breen]

Were you.

[Meme]

Were you good? Because I've always heard that people that, that gravitate towards playing goalie are like crazy, that are insane. And I've. I've never gotten like crazy vibes from you, but maybe I'm just way off.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, I, I was a little bit of a. Of a loose cannon when I was probably, you know, from 8 to 16, 17. Then I. Then I slowed down a little bit, so I. You're happy. It's not the way it used to be. I used to be a skateboarder guy like you wearing the Janco.

[Meme]

Yeah, that's. That's kind of sick that you thought I was a skateboarder. I appreciate that.

[Big Cat]

So who's the best goalie in this series?

[Keith Yandel]

I think they're the only two that haven't been pulled. They've I think they've both played every minute of every game. Unless. Unless I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure I'm right on that. So I, I think it's Carter heart. I mean Freddie Andersen's been unbelievable. He's been just a rock solid. He's. He's such a calm tempered guy. Like you look at him during the game and it doesn't even look like he's really trying because he's that good. He's just, just. He's a big man. Just gets in the way of pucks. He's really good at, at. At stopping pucks behind the net on rims. And Carolina does a really good job at the blue lines to make them have bad dumps. And when a goalie can come out and stop it, make a pass to the forwards and you can get out of your own end. That's a huge advantage. It's just less time in your own end. I think Heartsy's probably the better goalie maybe. Overall, I think if you were starting a team, you might take Heartsy. But Freddy's been unreal, man. Like the knock on him is he's had some injuries, you know, the last few years in playoffs or during the regular season. But he's been healthy, he's been kicking. He's an unbelievable guy too. You know, easy got a root for. But if you had to pick a guy, you'd go with, you'd go with Heartsey.

[Big Cat]

Hey, can you explain? We, we talked about it a little bit on Friday. Probably did a bad job. But everyone complaining about the Knights expansion draft and how they basically got rules that no one else got and that's why they're so good. But I, like I said at the time, everyone was like this, the expansion draft. They suck like they. Everyone said they did a bad job in the expansion draft, then they ended up being really good. So it feels like revision is history. But what is it that everyone's pissed about with, with the Gold Knights and how they've been able to. They've only missed the playoff one time. They've been to the cup final three times out of nine years. It's nuts how good they are as an organization.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, I mean there's that famous clip like Whit had this year against, you know, saying that Buffalo had 0.000% chance of getting into the playoffs. And I, I believe Whit said something about Vegas, that they were going to be the doormat of the league or something like that. And I, I don't think Even when it was happening, you weren't like, oh my God, the, these, this team's going to be absolutely stacked. Like how many guys I think Riley Smith might be who's or Theodore is still there? There's not many guys still from that original team. So it's not like, you know, they got handed all these superstars. They did a great job. Like you had to, I can't remember exactly the rules. It was like you had to to you could protect 12 guys and then obviously guys on entry level, the younger guys couldn't, couldn't get picked up by Vegas. So they just took advantage of, of, of the rules. And I don't think they did anything shady. You know, I could be wrong. It is Vegas. They are very, very cutthroat and they've proven that. But listen, if you're a fan of that team, you get in the playoffs every year except for one, you're in your third Stanley cup in nine years. Like, like what's not to be excited for? And if you want to listen to other people and complain about it, you're just laughing watching games.

[Meme]

What do you mean by that? That they're cutthroat? That they're known as being a cutthroat organization?

[Keith Yandel]

Well, the whole like Mark Andre flurry, he was, yeah, he was probably the biggest name I think to go there during the expansion.

[Big Cat]

Like they, they fired their coach two months ago.

[Keith Yandel]

They fired their coach with what?

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I mean so it's been there since like, I think it was like the end, the very end of March.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, yeah. And we just had on their old coach Bruce Cassidy, who rightfully so wasn't very happy about it. Obviously would, would have liked to seen it out and be with his, the team that he started in the beginning of the year. But yeah, they're, they're one of those teams like they, if you're not producing for it, they'll get rid of you. Like Jonathan Marcheso won the con smite for them. I think he's their all time leading goal scorer and you know it's. If they don't think that you're going to produce for them, they let you go. And he's in Nashville now that you know there's, there's been guys that have came in there and they'll get rid of you. And then if you're drafted by them, you might as well not even get the jersey because you're getting traded or you know, they're trading all their draft picks because they want to win, they want to Win now. And I don't see it stopping. I just see the way that they are able to reload every year. Like, like even going out and getting a guy like Carter Hart this year, like, you know, he had some issues off the ice, you know, obviously found not guilty, but he, he's one of those guys a lot of teams didn't want to take the chance on. And I played with Hartzie. He's an unbelievable guy. You know, I'm rooting for him this, this, this series. But yeah, a lot of teams didn't want to take a chance on him. And then he, he came in and he's been unbelievable and he's been towards his guy torts has been riding him the entire playoffs and, and I just think that they're an organization that wants to win and if you're a fan of that team, you know, you're not worried every summer, like, oh, we're going to be all right. Like, they're going to be good every year.

[Meme]

What about, what about Mitch Marner? What's the discourse around the NHL been about Mitch? Like, are people rooting for Mitch now?

[Keith Yandel]

I think everybody in hockey except for Toronto, people are rooting for Mitch. I think it'll be outstanding. And like, the best part about it is he, he's, if he wins the cup, like he's from Toronto, you get your day with the cup, it's gonna be in Toronto. Like, I literally might try everything in my power to get invited to that party just to see people because you know how like, he was playing in his hometown team, he was making a lot of money. He was unbelievable. He had some struggles in playoffs, whatever it is their whole team did. He's been unbelievable. So I think with the abuse that he's taken in the media, I think he's a guy you want, you want to see him win that cup just because of, you know, as a player, as a former player, like, when you're getting it from the media and you know, people are telling you how bad you are and all this, like, it must have been a lot on him. And he just looks like he's playing with, he's playing free. He's playing with the house's money right now, and he's just having fun and he's playing really well too. So I, I, I, I really hope he gets it it.

[Big Cat]

You said Bruce Cassie was on the show. What is, did he see this coming? Like, what did he have? It's like one of those tough situations because you can't if you're Bruce Cassie, you can't say that like, oh yeah, I would have been in the Stanley Cup Final. Clearly they needed some type of change. But he was like, what was his take on the whole thing? It's got to be so weird.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, it is because I mean, they went on a good run with Torts. They might have went like 7 and 2 with him there. You could double check that. But he, they had a, they had a great run and if Bruce was still there, maybe they don't win those games, they don't get in the playoffs. They miss by a point or two. So it wasn't an automatic lock that they were in the playoffs. So I think for them they, they had to make some sort of change. It was after the deadline, so you can't get rid of any players. You know, maybe you could send some younger guys down, but like a big splash that could turn up your group. And bringing in a guy like Tor to, you know, he's had the reputation of being hard on his guys, you know, and you know, his, maybe his message runs, you know, thin after a little while. But I think it's the perfect sample size for him being there. He's been there for two weeks before the playoffs start and then you get right into it and you know, he's a guy that he demands a lot out of, out of his players, blocking shots and finishing checks and playing the right way. But I think guys realize now, like, if you want to win, you're going to have to play that way. And, and, and I'm sure they're excited to have him. And I also think too like Torts went over to with the four nations team, Team USA and then at Olympics and he was an assistant coach. So you know, the assistant coaches have to be more buddy, buddy with the players. And I think he, it looks anyways outside looking in that he's got a little more of the assistant coach in him where he's patting guys on the back, he's smiling on the bench, where before you saw him in Columbus or Philly, he was, was, you know, grumpy all the time, looked pissed off. But now he, he, he looks like, hey, listen, I'm coming in here, I got a, you know, handful of games to end the season and my team goes on a run, I win a Stanley cup. Like how good is that? And I mean, I mean, I don't know exactly how old he is, but like, how much longer does he even want to do that? He was right. He was good on espn. He did a great job and then it's like, you know, if I come in there, win a Stanley cup, he might not even come back. He might just be like, you know what? I'll go out on top.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, he was. Yeah, they were 7, 0 and 1 down the stretch when Torts took over. And so, yeah, they might not. I mean, they probably still would have made the playoffs, but it's for a team that wasn't lighting it up.

[Keith Yandel]

Right.

[Big Cat]

It's clear the change. And now they've. They've just been dummying teams down the. In the playoffs, like they're just on a roll. What. Most important question. I don't know if you. You've broken down this entire matchup, have you? You cited one way or the other on who's going to win the crank off. Oh, the.

[Keith Yandel]

Oh, I mean, with Liam Blutman.

[Big Cat]

I'm just saying, these are the only two teams in the NHL that have the crank. The siren. It's the first ever crank off in the Stanley Cup Final.

[Keith Yandel]

See, I feel like Carolina's is too small. Like, why wouldn't you have it obnoxiously big?

[Hank]

I.

[Keith Yandel]

Listen the little cr. Like, make it even if it.

[Big Cat]

But don't Chick say that like it doesn't matter. The size doesn't matter.

[Meme]

I feel like Tom Dundon just cheaped out on the side of the print.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, he got the teemu one.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

But yeah, chicks say all the time, they're like, oh, no, that's fine.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, they are. And that's what we tell ourselves. Yeah, I don't know. That's a great question. And thank you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, the crank off. It's. I mean, people are going to be talking about the crank off.

[Keith Yandel]

I think. I think obviously Vegas is going to have more star power with the cranking off then, you know, then Carolina, like, who would be Carolina's famous person? Petey Pablo would be a nice.

[Big Cat]

You just have to go with, like, best. The best Panthers. It's really Smith.

[Meme]

If you, if you look up the. The history of people from Raleigh, I believe Brandy Love is from North Carolina. She's got good experience cranking.

[Keith Yandel]

Who's that?

[Meme]

You.

[Biz]

Don't you.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Nice.

[Meme]

Very classy move.

[Big Cat]

Is your wife on the other side of this computer, though?

[Meme]

You know Brandy Love?

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, I don't. I don't. You know who I've seen it. You know who I've seen do the crank off and I actually was with him last night is Ric Flair. I was at the Kid Rock concert last night and was hanging with Ric Flair. What an absolute Gentleman. This guy. How, how is he still kicking?

[Meme]

I don't know. I, I'm shocked that like Gentleman would not be the first. But yes, you're right. He is a, he's a classy gentleman dude.

[Keith Yandel]

He was awesome. He was a great guy.

[Big Cat]

The, the. I, I just looked on like, who. Notable crankers for the Hurricanes, Luke Keakley, Kara Lawson, Scott McCreary, Chancellor Howell. That's the NC state chancellor. They're gonna have to dig deep for this.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandel]

You know who they should do is that. Who is the big fella on North Carolina basketball?

[Meme]

D.J. burns.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, D.J. burns. They should have him do it.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, that'd be good.

[Meme]

Get him involved maybe. I mean they should. You have to make Michael Jordan say no.

[Big Cat]

Absolutely right.

[Meme]

You have to make him say no.

[Big Cat]

Gotta make Brad Stevens say no. Yep.

[Meme]

Make everybody say no.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know who the hell they could get.

[Meme]

There's gotta be some like. Yeah, Ric Flair's a good one also. I believe that this is. Since Paul Bissnet came on this show and, and referred to Colorado as being the South, I think that this will make for what, seven Stanley cup champions in a row that are located at least at, at Colorado latitude or below. So like biz was just early. What is it about the South? Why is the south dominating hockey now?

[Keith Yandel]

I think it's, it's got to the point where like guys don't want to be in these big time markets where you're getting like a Mitch Marner for example, like he's in Toronto, like the big thing. And like when, when I was coming in the league, it's like, dude, if you play in Toronto, if you play in Montreal, you get all these card deals, you get a free car, you get, you can make a ton of money off the ice. But nowadays with guys having, you know, their Instagrams or Tik Toks, like you can make your money elsewhere if you need to. So from any city. So I, I think the draw of playing in those big cities is, has came down a little bit. And you know, guys want to live in nice weather. You know, guys wives want to live in nice weather. The kids want to live in nice weather. So, so I think just having the nice weather, having less media attention, you know, you can go on a five game skid where you're not hearing about it. You know, if you're going to pick up a coffee at Starbucks and, or get grabbing a Stella Blue. There we go, boys.

[Meme]

Nice.

[Keith Yandel]

So, yeah, so it's one of Those things where I think guys enjoy just kind of not having to be on 24 7, you can kind of live your life. And, you know, you can't do that in a place like Toronto, you know, Calgary, Edmonton, but if you're in Tampa or Fort Lauderdale or Vegas or even more South Colorado like those. Those guys can. They can. They can live their lives and. And also enjoy the. The fruits and labor of being in the NHL.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. All right, Yance, last question. Rollback question. R, H, O, B, A, C, K.com promo code. Take 20% off your first purchase. Q, zips, polos, hoodies, joggers, shorts. Roback.com promo code. Take, take. I'm not going to make you ask a question, Zach, unless you have one.

[Zach]

What's up, Yan's?

[Big Cat]

How are we?

[Keith Yandel]

Zach, are you from. Are you from Lando Lakes?

[Zach]

I'm not from Land o Lakes. That's about an hour and a half for me.

[Meme]

Place like the Butter.

[Keith Yandel]

I was just there and I. I was. That's where I just came from, and I thought. When I saw the sign on the exit, I thought you were from there.

[Big Cat]

He's from Lake.

[Keith Yandel]

Lakeland Lake. So beautiful area.

[Big Cat]

Is there just butter everywhere?

[Zach]

Not, Not. Not a little bit.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Zach]

Some lakes, some butter, so some dairy, some water.

[Big Cat]

Okay.

[Keith Yandel]

And the next town over is like Zephyr Hills. You know that the worst water in America.

[Zach]

Oh, well, she's ever hills. It used to. Used to be a spring, but it's not. They. I think the spring has dried up and they're just still putting spring water on the bottle. So not cool. Wow, Misinformation on the waterfront from Zephyr Hills. I think I could be wrong. I'll redact that. Allegedly.

[Meme]

All right.

[Big Cat]

Do you have a question?

[Zach]

Yan just has been a lot of fun talking finals. I was curious.

[Mike Breen]

Final.

[Big Cat]

People get mad about that.

[Zach]

All right, so we'll pivot, we'll talk finals. Do you have an early prediction on the New York Knicks and the spurs series?

[Keith Yandel]

You know what? Even being a guy from Boston, I'm gonna. I'm gonna ride with the Knicks here, mostly because I don't want memes to, you know, fly down here and. And beat up my. My whole family. Very, very scared of that man. As you should be. But I'm. I'm rooting for the. The Knicks. My good buddy John in the neighborhood. He's a big. He's a big Knicks fan. So we'll watch some of the games and. Yeah, I don't know, can they do it? Who is San Antonio definitely do it. They can win.

[Big Cat]

How many nights a week is John over your house?

[Keith Yandel]

It's actually, it's been a little bit, man, because I've been having a dial in. I've been having a dial in on the, on the hockey, so. But now hopefully they won't play on the same nights and we can just do every other night. Yeah, yeah, but because I feel like it was you guys, I heard like if Oklahoma City won it, there was no chance the Knicks were winning.

[Big Cat]

No, no. I thought the Knicks, Knicks can beat either of these teams. It's going to be an awesome finals. Like it's going to be. It's basically a dream for the NBA. You have the number one rising star, future face of this league and the Knicks. So it's going to be sick. All right, so what's your, what's your prediction for this for the Stanley Cup Final Final?

[Keith Yandel]

I'm going Vegas in six. I hope it goes seven, but I'm going Vegas in six. I, I think they, I think they got the mojo going right now. And at the end of the day, man, can you, can you root against your guy, Liam Blutman?

[Big Cat]

Well, that was gonna say. I was gonna ask a follow up. If you take Liam Blutman out of this series, pretend he just doesn't exist, is it still Vegas in six?

[Keith Yandel]

Maybe Vegas in seven.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Okay. So he's, he's worth the game.

[Keith Yandel]

He. Oh, 100%. I love it.

[Big Cat]

Shocked.

[Keith Yandel]

If they don't bring them out there.

[Big Cat]

That's some good analytics at least.

[Meme]

Keith. We also went through this last year with the NBA where they didn't put the, the Larry o' Brien trophy on the court for the NBA Finals. And then I saw that the NHL hasn't had the Stanley cup logo on the ice since 2020. Is that something that we should be bullying Gary Bettman about? Because is Adam Silver got bullied and this year he put it back. So we could do that for the NHL if you wanted us to.

[Keith Yandel]

What do you mean on the ice?

[Meme]

Like the, the image of where it says like Stanley cup playoffs with the Stanley cup trophy right below the blue line. They used to have that on the ice.

[Keith Yandel]

Yeah, well, now they don't do anything on the ice because it's all like AI. However they put it in. Right. Because I used to, I used to hate the, when the, it was like the playoffs, they'd have like signing right away. I hated it on there there. So it's good, it's way better now when the ice is clean. There's no. There's no markings on the ice obvious except for at center ice with the team logo. But I'm sure they would. They won't have anything. I don't know. I've never thought of. That's a crazy thing to even think about.

[Meme]

No, it is crazy. But this is the stuff that we think about watching sports on TV and the fact that they don't have the trophy on the. I think it would look nice if the trophy was on the ice. That's all I'm saying.

[Big Cat]

Put the trophy on the ice.

[Keith Yandel]

It's a sharp looking trophy too.

[Big Cat]

It's a really nice looking trophy.

[Keith Yandel]

How about. How nice. And they don't. I feel bad for them. The Eastern Conference Conference. In the Western Conference trophy. I think it's the King Clancy and the. What's the other one? Clearly I never won one. But those are beautiful too. And they don't get enough love. Like they'd be better than every other trophy in. In the. In, you know, the major sports.

[Big Cat]

Yeah. Hockey does trophies better than everyone. That's a fact.

[Meme]

The Prince of Wales trophy.

[Keith Yandel]

Prince of Wales, that's right.

[Meme]

And the Clarence Campbell bowl for the Western. But yeah, people don't like him because you don't touch them. You're not allowed to touch them before his like, bad luck.

[Keith Yandel]

You can touch him. You can touch him. But so you. Some people don't. I think both teams didn't. Didn't touch it this year, which I. I like it when one team does and one team doesn't because I was very superstitious. Where I would be thinking about that if I was playing. I'd be like, oh my God, we touched it. They didn't. If they go up, well, God, we're done. But I like how they both didn't. Or this year they. They both didn't touch it. So we'll see what happens.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, I'm looking at pictures right now. They both did not touch it. Smart. Smart.

[Keith Yandel]

What's. What's Meatball Max doing?

[Big Cat]

Meatball Max is hanging out. He's. He's just doing. He, He. He got married again this weekend.

[Max]

I got married for. For the first time this weekend.

[Keith Yandel]

Congratulations, guys.

[Max]

Getting married last year I got a lot.

[Zach]

Twice.

[Max]

I'm getting married twice every.

[Big Cat]

We've had two Bach parties, three weddings. Same girl. Same girl. Yeah. Yeah, you.

[Max]

I'm getting married over, over, over. I'm getting married outside of the country. Can't legally get married outside of the country. So I did.

[Big Cat]

Are you wearing a ring right now?

[Keith Yandel]

That's why I married outside the country.

[Big Cat]

Oh, so you're not even married? There you go. Yeah.

[Keith Yandel]

Where are you getting married if. It's obviously Italy. But where.

[Max]

No, it's not in Italy, honey. Honeymoon is Italy, though. Honeymoon is Italy.

[Keith Yandel]

North Philly.

[Max]

North Italy.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Max]

No, in the Caribbean.

[Keith Yandel]

Oh, nice. Where?

[Max]

St. Martin.

[Keith Yandel]

Oh, nice. I got married in St. John.

[Big Cat]

Hell, yeah. Look at us. Look at you guys.

[Meme]

Yeah, that's outside the country.

[Keith Yandel]

No, that's a U. S. That's a US Territory.

[Meme]

Yeah. Gotcha.

[Keith Yandel]

But I had to get on a

[Big Cat]

plane that's outside the country that's actually

[Meme]

really close to Epstein Island. That's kind of great. Yeah, that's. Oh, that's a good thing.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Is it?

[Keith Yandel]

Wow.

[Meme]

What's Epstein Island? Got it. Wow.

[Big Cat]

Loud and clear. Oh, man. All right. Yeah. And you're the best. We're gonna enjoy the hell out of this Hockey. Go. Go nights, I think. Yeah, I think it's. It's got to be vg. Vg.

[Meme]

It's definitely go nights.

[Hank]

Yeah.

[Big Cat]

Who's every.

[Keith Yandel]

Who's everybody got?

[Big Cat]

I. I got VGK in. In seven.

[Meme]

I got nights in six,

[Keith Yandel]

Boys in the studio.

[Hank]

I guess I'll take Hurricanes because everyone's taking the nights.

[Keith Yandel]

You're actually a piece of. It's Liam Bluntman, dude. Like, the guy bleeds red.

[Meme]

Wait, you guys know his name's Blutman, right?

[Big Cat]

Biz does not.

[Meme]

Okay, that's fine. So don't tell. Don't tell this.

[Big Cat]

Otherwise, Biz definitely thinks that. That Blutman smokes a shitload of weed and, like, is his nickname. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Breen]

Yes.

[Big Cat]

Dude.

[Keith Yandel]

I was faced. I was FaceTiming with Liam the other night, and it was him and. What's his brother's name?

[Meme]

Luke.

[Keith Yandel]

Luke Luki. Yeah, it was him. And Luke. Luke's laying on the ground, not even looking at the tv. They're in their living room, and I'm like, do you guys tell each other you love each other? And he's like, no. Never said it once. Never said it one. I was like, what about to your parents? He was like, no, never said it once. Do you love them? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I love them, but just doesn't say it.

[Big Cat]

No, it's not about ball, so why would you. Why would you be talking about that? All right, Booth, go. Real quick memes.

[Biz]

I think the Hurricanes are going to win, but I'm rooting for Blunt Man.

[Big Cat]

Okay, so that was a non answer.

[Max]

Yeah.

[Keith Yandel]

Am I taking back my Knicks thing?

[Biz]

You're right. Go Knights.

[Keith Yandel]

Okay.

[Big Cat]

Okay. There we go meet Max. Knights and four. Knights and four. Nice. Vgk.

[Zach]

I'll retweet. Knights and four.

[Big Cat]

Okay. Nice. All right, so Hank

[Meme]

end up winning, and then everyone put up the graphic.

[Big Cat]

This is the death graphic because Hank got one.

[Max]

What the death graphic is if. Is if everyone picks the same side.

[Meme]

Yeah, it's not death.

[Big Cat]

Oh, yeah.

[Max]

Yeah. That was actually big.

[Big Cat]

But he's gonna also be right.

[Meme]

Soggy sorrows.

[Big Cat]

If you lose, Hank, it's hurricanes.

[Meme]

I don't think so. No.

[Big Cat]

All right, Yans, you're the best. Thank you. As always.

[Keith Yandel]

Get some burgers in you. Love you, boys.

[Big Cat]

All right, See ya. Okay. Good show, boys. We got the finals starting Tuesday and Wednesday.

[Meme]

Can't wait.

[Big Cat]

Excited. And then we're. We're. We're two weeks away from Rushmore season, which we got to figure that out.

[Meme]

Damn. Best time of the year, right?

[Big Cat]

Hank, We.

[Max]

We should do something.

[Big Cat]

What? We should.

[Max]

I don't know. We should do something fun.

[Big Cat]

I. I agree with you there. I'm saying we got to figure out. I. I agree. I don't think. I think we should make the punishment something fun that we can run with.

[Biz]

Frosted tips was cool.

[Big Cat]

Frosted tips is fun.

[Biz]

Maybe just go more orange next time.

[Meme]

I kind of want to get them again.

[Big Cat]

Yeah, we. But we have to figure out what the teams are. Whatever. What the format. What we're.

[Max]

Yeah, we have the format. Yeah, we should. We should figure it out. We should figure that out.

[Meme]

I think we got to go solo again.

[Big Cat]

Six of us. Hey, solos.

[Meme]

Solo's a lot.

[Max]

Solo's a lot.

[Big Cat]

Six with take hours to do. What are you gonna say, Hank?

[Max]

Nothing.

[Big Cat]

What? Yeah, we figured out what's wrong.

[Meme]

We should figure it out.

[Max]

What if we did? Like, I haven't.

[Big Cat]

Something's wrong.

[Max]

I. I have thoughts, but I don't want to say thoughts.

[Meme]

I don't say thoughts.

[Hank]

I know. That's why I'm laughing at you starting this conversation on there.

[Max]

What if we did eight and then,

[Big Cat]

like, we shouldn't talk about this?

[Max]

I didn't start this conversation.

[Big Cat]

No, but you kind of.

[Meme]

Kind of did.

[Hank]

No, you did.

[Max]

Like, that's a lie. Big cat said we gotta figure this out.

[Big Cat]

Out.

[Meme]

Yeah, but then you started the conversation about it.

[Max]

That's him starting the conversation. You guys don't listen.

[Big Cat]

No, I don't think so, dude.

[Biz]

I think he might have started 44.

[Meme]

What are you thinking, Max? What do you think about.

[Big Cat]

I don't actually know who started, so I don't want to start.

[Max]

I. I continued It.

[Big Cat]

Mount Rushmore season is coming up and we got to figure it out. But then you started talking about figuring it out.

[Meme]

You started the conversation.

[Big Cat]

I think.

[Meme]

I think both you guys started the conversation. I. Max, you got to finish the conversation.

[Mike Breen]

You know what?

[Max]

Now I'm saying nothing about the conversation. I don't know why I got so angry.

[Meme]

And that's.

[Big Cat]

That.

[Meme]

That's a good way to end a conference.

[Max]

That was an unnecessary. That was an unnecessary.

[Big Cat]

You know what, though?

[Max]

That was an unnecessary.

[Big Cat]

A married man Feels good.

[Max]

Yep.

[Meme]

Still got it.

[Big Cat]

Still got it. You just tested out the ring.

[Max]

I don't know why I yelled. I shouldn't have yelled.

[Mike Breen]

It was great. It was.

[Hank]

Was.

[Max]

That was crazy.

[Big Cat]

A lot of times your yells make sense because agonizing you. That was.

[Max]

Well, Hank does his stupid little faces.

[Meme]

Yeah, it was. That's true.

[Hank]

No, Max, we did this. We did this already. You just did a pfd. Did pft.

[Big Cat]

What?

[Hank]

We talked about the faces already. But we did that two weeks ago.

[Meme]

Yeah, we have talked about Hanks dementia.

[Max]

You guys do this all. All the time.

[Meme]

Do what?

[Max]

Just try to get me mad.

[Big Cat]

No.

[Max]

Yeah, we did. Every. Every episode.

[Big Cat]

Zero try.

[Meme]

This one was on me. This one you were maximum.

[Max]

This one. This one was on me.

[Big Cat]

Hand up. There's zero attempt at that.

[Meme]

15.

[Biz]

Go. 11.

[Zach]

26.

[Big Cat]

Happy belated birthday to Mike Breen. 21 last week.

[Meme]

56.

[Big Cat]

17.

[Meme]

Great guy. Very belated related. Yeah, he's on the show every birthday to Mincy.

[Big Cat]

It's today.

[Meme]

But you know by the time this episode comes out, won't be his birthday anymore. But figured that guy needs as much credit as he can get.

[Keith Yandel]

Yep.

[Big Cat]

72. 44. 75. 75. Anyone?

[Meme]

Anyone? Anyone?

[Max]

Same number.

[Big Cat]

Jacob, you think anyone else is gonna ever get this?

[Max]

Jacob, do you think anyone else is gonna get this?

[Keith Yandel]

I'm gonna say yes.

[Big Cat]

He. 38.

[Max]

38. 38.

[Mike Breen]

Nothing.

[Max]

Nothing.

[Biz]

37. 36.

[Meme]

Happy birthday to Santana Moss. And happy birthday to Swaggy P. Nick Young. Happy birthday Nate Robinson. And happy birthday on Wednesday. I know. It's a show day. And we can wait for Wednesdays. We'll wait for Wednesday. Happy birthday. Oh, yeah. A barstool one on Wednesday. You know what? I'll say it so we can buy our presents. Happy birthday to Kate on Wednesday. Tuesday. Happy birthday to Eddie Lacy. Go get some china food, buddy.

[Big Cat]

Listen, that when. When. When the packers had a running back that was a little too fat. That was. That was a good, good problem.

[Meme]

Good problem to have.

[Big Cat]

Yeah.

[Meme]

Yep.

[Max]

You.

[Meme]

Boy, it really makes you miss those days. Love you guys.

[Max]

It.