Novartis Advertiser (27:27)
This is where I think Stephen A. Has made a grievous error. He just today he said, quote, he'll smile in your face, then stab you in the back. That's why I don't like him. He's bringing up Wade's hall of Fame induction, Kobe's memorial. He's saying, quote, he literally circumvented meritocracy in the NBA. Here's the problem, man. And this is where by continuing to talk about this and not allowing yourself to take the L, you are really putting yourself in a bad spot. You always claimed you had no problem with LeBron. You always claimed he only had a problem with you. Up until six weeks ago, the stance was, oh, nothing but love for LeBron James. I, you know, a. A great, a great person in the community. A great this, a great that. I just, I just think he's not the. I, the greatest basketball player ever. I just think he's only the second greatest player ever. And because of that, he has a problem with me. That's been the public stance. And now the guy makes fun of you on Instagram and takes a couple jokes at your expense on McAfee and you're letting everyone know, actually, no, never liked him. And so if the, if, if we are going to do a full, real telling of the A, the honest answer is, so why? What's been the problem? Was there something personal before? And the answer's no. LeBron wouldn't talk to him. That was the problem. LeBron wouldn't talk to him or acknowledge him. And Michael Jordan texts with him. That's it. That's the whole thing. That's the start of it. And so I. Edie's people ask me all the time, man, do you believe what you say? And my answer always is 100%. Now do I say it louder or more emphatically or add some spice to it or whatever? Do I dress it up? Sure, of course. But the reason, and this is not my quote, but this quote is correct. If you never lie, you don't ever have to remember anything when you do as. And I'm not acting like I'm someone that never lies. I probably have a bit of a I'm probably true character flaw of mine is I am my most honest. Talking to you guys, friends and family, I might, you know what I mean? I might be like, you know what? I can dance through the raindrops here a bit and clean this up later. Um, and that's not. Be honestly. It's self serving. It's not out of some Woodrow and Bernstein Woodward. Woodrow Jesus Woodward and Bernstein journalism ethic. It's because I don't want to have to. It is too difficult to do this much content if you're having to remember, oh, I said that. And if your stance forever, forever has been, I have no problem with that person. He has a problem with me. And then the first time you get pressed, you. You empty the clip about everything you always had a problem with. People are gonna say, you're fucking lying to us. You were lying to us. And I don't. And here is the problem with people in general, who don't have the ability to take an L and who are very online and who are public figures. This applies to, I guess, some of our actual politicians and some of our potentially would be or wannabe politicians. All you can do is keep doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down because you don't have the ability to be like, I was wrong. You constantly are reminded of the incident at hand, and you are constantly reading people make fun of you or rip you. So again, I am not trying to act like I am some. I have, you know, the silver bullet on this stuff. However, I do have one kind of just natural superpower, I guess. And another decision I've made, the natural superpower is this. I am totally fine being wrong. Like, oh, shit, got that one wrong. My bad. Not a problem. And the other one is, I don't read my mentions. So people are like, I'm. I am not finding my. And I'll add a third thing I'm very good at. I'm. I'm on the right side of the great athletes conversation. Like, the other thing is like, I, you know, I, I in the. Hey, LeBron James, good or overrated? I had the foresight to be like, I'll go with good. You know what I mean? I think I'll. I'll plant my flag on good and see how it plays out over the next 15 years. Um, and so that's been help. That's been helpful. But I, I can't believe that this is how these last few weeks have gone. And the fact that. So here's the other piece of it that's important to Monze on one. One party in this is fighting a war of war work. I can never say that. War of words. Okay, reminder, reminder to new people in the audience and young people. I, as someone who my only skill is speaking and arguing, had a really bad speech impediment growing up and couldn't say my R's or my L's. And now I do it for a living. So I. This is kind of a sidebar, but just for, you know, young people out there or whatever. Like, nah, you. You can get over anything. I shouldn't say anything, but you can work on stuff and it won't hold you back. Go ahead. No, I was just flexing on you. No. Well, yeah. And world and girl, anything that has the R L next to each other like that, I still struggle with a bit. And I've told this story. Nothing worse than not being able to say your R's and your last name. Starts with a hard R, and when it's not an R, it sounds like a different word. You don't know how many times I went to basketball camp as a kid. They're like, what's your name? Nick White. They're like, no, white. White. No, white. It was brutal. Maybe that only happened once, but it started seared me. It scarred me. The guy wrote down on my jersey, right? I'm like, it's not white. It's white. Brutal. Doesn't matter. I'm good now. Brutal. Here's the point I was making. In a war. Stephen A. Is fighting a war of words. LeBron gets to actually go out and play the games, and he's still awesome. So think about it. In the couple weeks since this all happened, Lakers had a winning streak. Bronnie drops 39, drops a career high in the NBA, has another good game the other night. Braun last night, hits a game winner. And you have positioned yourself. I can't imagine being this boxed in. You have now positioned yourself where anytime you give fair analysis about a good Laker game or Bronnie or whatever, you're gonna get ripped for that too. Like, you are all. You are so boxed in. And the guy, honest to God, so much of this, as I've said before, so much of the toxicity of sports media across all sports and all our debates is actually about Michael Jordan and that era and that. That era of people who came up in that era being like, man, my childhood was the best, I promise. Like, and not seeing that every single human being ever, it's like, hey, what's your favorite type of music? And for everyone, it just happens to be the exact type of music they were listening to when they first got their car and first were able to drive. Who are the best athletes? And it's like, oh, that. It just happens to be for everyone, myself included. The. The athletes, like, we watched in our formative years and then into adulthood, and not being able to see that, it's not special. It's just how human beings brains are constructed. But point is, this whole thing really generates from MJ's. My buddy, this guy won't talk to me. I must, against all odds, support MJ's legacy. But MJ ain't playing anymore. You're never gonna be able to go on the show and be like, ah, look what Michael did. But this other guy won't fucking quit. He's. He's. He. He is. We are. In a span of 10 days, his son almost drops 40 in the G League and scores a career leads the Lakers in points in the NBA and he has a buzzer beater. And so it's just a war you're not going to win. And it's a war you're not going to win because I think because of your popularity and success and talent, people have want enough. People have watched you for long enough that we know what the record says and we know you have always claimed you have no problem with LeBron. He has a problem with you. And then today you say he will smile in your face, then stab you in the back. That's why I don't like him is that just in the last two weeks. Literally circumvented the meritocracy in the NBA that in the last two weeks.
